Privacy notice

In short

The North Pole HQ app does not collect personal data. There are no accounts, no advertising, no analytics and no tracking, in the free version or with the North Pole Pass. Your family’s details are kept on your own devices and in your own iCloud, where we cannot see them, and nothing your child says or types is sent to us or to anyone else.

This website uses no cookies and no analytics. If you email us, we use what you send only to answer you.

Who we are

North Pole HQ is made by Wonder Media Ltd, a company registered in England and Wales under company number 06489006. Our registered office is 48 Church Avenue, Harrogate, North Yorkshire, HG1 4HG. Our VAT number is 983 5674 67, and we are registered with the Information Commissioner’s Office under registration number ZA902438.

Wonder Media Ltd is the controller of the personal data described in this notice. If you have any questions about it, please contact us at support@northpolehq.app.

The North Pole HQ app

No account, and nothing about your family reaches us

You do not create an account to use North Pole HQ. When a grown-up sets it up, they can tell the app about the children in the family (their names, ages and the things they enjoy), who Santa should say hello to, your town or city, and a PIN that keeps the grown-ups’ area private, along with your settings. These are stored on your device, and your PIN is stored in scrambled form rather than as the digits themselves. We never receive any of them.

So that your iPhone, iPad and Apple TV all know your family, the app also keeps these details in your own iCloud account, using Apple’s iCloud key-value storage, together with a record of which free features you have used this year. Only devices signed in to your Apple Account can read them. Apple stores them, under Apple’s privacy policy, and may store them outside the UK. We cannot see them. If a device is not signed in to iCloud, the details simply stay on that device.

Calls and the microphone

During a call with Santa, if you allow the microphone and leave Let Santa listen switched on, the app listens only to tell when someone is talking, so that Santa knows when your child has finished answering. It does this by measuring how loud the sound is, on the device. It does not recognise speech or work out what is said, and nothing is sent to us or to anyone else. If you switch listening off, Santa leaves a pause for your child to answer instead.

Calls are only recorded if you switch on Keep call recordings, which is off until you choose it. A recording is sound only, never video: Santa’s voice and your child’s answers, or a message left on Santa’s answering machine. It is stored on that device and included in the device’s iCloud backup, if you use iCloud Backup. We never receive it. You can play, share or delete recordings in the grown-ups’ area, under Calls; if you share one, it goes wherever you choose to send it.

Video calls and the camera

On a video call, if you allow the camera, your child’s picture appears on their own screen, as it would on any video call. The picture is shown on the device only. It is never recorded, stored or sent anywhere. You can switch video calls off in the grown-ups’ area, under Calls.

Message Santa

When your child writes to Santa in Message Santa, his replies are worked out on the device itself, from a library of replies built into the app. Nothing your child types is sent to us or to anyone else.

Chats are saved on the device and in its iCloud backup, so that your child can read them again. We can never see them. Only a grown-up can delete them, in the grown-ups’ area, under Message Santa.

Your town and the Sleigh Tracker

You choose your town or city from a list in the app, so that the Sleigh Tracker can show how far Santa is from your home and bring him to you at midnight. It is kept with your family’s other details, on your devices and in your iCloud. The app never asks for your device’s location. If you have not chosen a town, the app uses the time zone set on your device to work out when Santa arrives, on the device.

The North Pole Cams and motion

On iPhone and iPad, the cams use the device’s motion sensors, so that moving the device looks around the room. The readings are used on the device only while a cam is open, and are not stored or sent anywhere.

Notifications, the widget and the Top Shelf

If you schedule a call from Santa or switch on the Christmas Eve bedtime reminder, the app asks to send notifications and schedules them on the device itself; nothing is sent to it from us. The countdown widget on iPhone and iPad and the Top Shelf on Apple TV use only today’s date and pictures inside the app.

What the app connects to

The app does not connect to any server of ours. Everything it needs, from Santa’s voice to the cams and the map of the world, is inside the app. The only services it uses are Apple’s: the App Store, for the North Pole Pass, and iCloud, as described above. Links to this notice and our terms open in your browser.

Purchases

The North Pole Pass is a subscription sold by Apple through the App Store. We never see your payment details. Apple tells the app whether your Pass is active and when it renews, and that information stays on your device. Family Sharing and refunds are handled by Apple.

Children

North Pole HQ is made for children to enjoy with their family, and it is set up by a grown-up. The app collects no personal data from anyone, children included. The grown-ups’ area, where the family’s details and purchases are, is behind the PIN.

The App Store privacy label

Because the app collects no data, its App Store listing says “Data Not Collected”.

This website

northpolehq.app does not use cookies, analytics or any form of tracking, and it loads nothing from any other website. Like any website, our hosting provider, Cloudflare, receives your IP address in order to deliver the site to you and to protect it from attack. We do not log or keep it.

Emailing us

If you email us at support@northpolehq.app, we use your email address and message only to answer you, and we delete them when we no longer need them to do that.

Our lawful bases

Under the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR), we may only use personal data where we have a lawful basis to do so. We rely on legitimate interests:

• to answer your emails, which is how we support North Pole HQ; and
• to keep this website secure.

We have assessed that these interests do not override your rights.

Who we share information with

We do not sell personal data or share it for marketing. We use the following service providers, which process personal data only on our instructions:

• Cloudflare, for hosting this website and forwarding email.
• Proton (Switzerland), for receiving email.
• Apple, for distributing the app, taking payments and providing iCloud. Apple acts as a controller of personal data under its own privacy policy.

We will disclose personal data to the police, regulators or other authorities where the law requires it.

International transfers

Cloudflare operates a global network, and Proton is based in Switzerland. Where personal data is transferred outside the UK, we rely on the UK’s adequacy regulations or on the International Data Transfer Agreement or Addendum approved by the ICO. Your family’s details in iCloud are held by Apple under your own agreement with Apple.

How long we keep information

• Emails, with your email address: for as long as we need them to answer you, and then deleted.
• The app: we hold nothing about you or your family, because the app sends us nothing.

Your rights

Under data protection law you have the following rights:

• The right of access: to ask for a copy of your personal data.
• The right to rectification: to ask us to correct information you think is inaccurate or incomplete.
• The right to erasure: to ask us to delete your personal data.
• The right to restriction of processing: to ask us to limit how we use your personal data.
• The right to object: where we rely on legitimate interests, to object to our use of your personal data. We will stop unless we have compelling grounds to continue.

To exercise any of these rights, contact support@northpolehq.app. There is no charge. We will respond without undue delay and in any event within one month. Because the app sends us nothing, we hold no data about your family or how you use it; the details on your devices and in your iCloud are yours to change or remove at any time, in the grown-ups’ area.

Complaints

If you have a concern about how we use your personal data, please contact us first at support@northpolehq.app. We will acknowledge your complaint within 30 days and let you know the outcome.

You also have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office: ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint, telephone 0303 123 1113.

Changes to this notice

We will update this notice if how we handle personal data changes, before any such change reaches the app, and the date below will show when it was last revised.

Last updated 13 November 2026.