The best AI story app for kids, if safety and privacy come first (2026)
Full disclosure: we make one of these, and we care about this question more than most, so read with the right amount of suspicion. We've stuck to what each company says in its own policies and app store listings, and we say where another app does something we don't.
| App | Best for | Price | What it promises about children's data |
|---|---|---|---|
| Giant | an independent children's privacy certification | $9.99/month; yearly plans listed at $59.99 and $79.99; star packs; free daily stars | PRIVO COPPA Safe Harbor; the photo is deleted once the avatar is made; no ads |
| Branchlings (ours) | no AI chat, nothing public, and grown-ups setting the edges | From $9.99/month; sample stories free to read, no free trial | A grown-up agrees first; never used to train AI; no ads; no outside certification yet |
| Oscar Stories | a European privacy approach at a low price | $4.99/month or $39.99/year on iPhone; coin packs; first stories free | GDPR-based policy; says it doesn't train models on your data; no COPPA statement |
| Night Night by StoryHero | stories checked by a person, with no ads | Free story library; Pro $6.99/month or $59.99/year; credit packs from $1.99 | No advertising or tracking SDKs; says uploads never train models; photos not saved |
| Gemini Storybook | grown-ups making a story for a child | Free | Users 18 and over; activity may be used to improve Google's AI unless you turn it off |
The four questions to ask any AI story app
- Is it made for children to use? Some AI story tools are for grown-ups only. That's not a flaw, but it changes who should be holding the phone.
- Can your child chat with an AI? Open conversation with an AI character is a different kind of risk from a story with choices. Some apps are built around it; some leave it out.
- What happens to your child's words and photos? Look for how long they're kept, whether they train AI, and who else receives them.
- Has anyone outside checked? A COPPA Safe Harbor program, approved by the US Federal Trade Commission, reviews an app's children's privacy practices. Few AI story apps have one.
1. Giant
- Best for
- an independent children's privacy certification
- Price
- $9.99/month; yearly plans listed at $59.99 and $79.99; star packs; free daily stars
- What it promises about children's data
- PRIVO COPPA Safe Harbor; the photo is deleted once the avatar is made; no ads
Giant is the only AI story app here in a COPPA Safe Harbor program (PRIVO's). A parent sets up the account, and if the parent doesn't consent within 48 hours the child's details are deleted. It makes a cartoon avatar from a parent's photo and says the photo is deleted straight after. No ads.
The trade-off: Giant is built around live voice conversations with AI characters, and it keeps text transcripts of those chats for moderation and to improve the feature, with flagged ones shown to parents. It also has friends lists and sharing. If those are what worry you, that matters more than the certificate.
2. Branchlings ours
- Best for
- no AI chat, nothing public, and grown-ups setting the edges
- Price
- From $9.99/month; sample stories free to read, no free trial
- What it promises about children's data
- A grown-up agrees first; never used to train AI; no ads; no outside certification yet
This is ours. Nothing about a child is kept until a grown-up has agreed, and the app signs in a grown-up before anything reaches the AI. Stories need only first names: email addresses, phone numbers, addresses and schools are kept out. Everything typed and everything written is checked for safety before your child sees it, and you can report any picture. If a grown-up paints a character from a photo, the photo is only used to check it's safe and paint the character, and it's deleted within 7 days.
There's no chat with AI characters, no friends list and nothing public. The only thing your child says to Branchlings is an idea at a fork, typed in with a grown-up. Grown-ups set words and topics to leave out, and can switch "My idea!" off for each child.
Our AI provider (OpenAI, named in our privacy policy) doesn't train its AI on your family's stories. What we don't have yet is an outside certification like Giant's.
3. Oscar Stories
- Best for
- a European privacy approach at a low price
- Price
- $4.99/month or $39.99/year on iPhone; coin packs; first stories free
- What it promises about children's data
- GDPR-based policy; says it doesn't train models on your data; no COPPA statement
Oscar Stories is made in Austria, with a GDPR-based privacy policy, data stored in the EU, and a parent's permission in the app before anything goes to its AI providers. Its FAQ says it doesn't train models on your data or sell it, and it doesn't use third-party ad SDKs.
The gap, for US families: its policy doesn't mention COPPA, and it doesn't name its AI providers.
4. Night Night by StoryHero
- Best for
- stories checked by a person, with no ads
- Price
- Free story library; Pro $6.99/month or $59.99/year; credit packs from $1.99
- What it promises about children's data
- No advertising or tracking SDKs; says uploads never train models; photos not saved
Night Night, from the team behind the former StoryHero app, is a library of bedtime stories, each checked by a person before it's published, with an AI-made last chapter starring your child. It says the app has no advertising or tracking SDKs, nothing you upload trains its AI, and photos aren't saved: they go to OpenAI, which keeps them up to 30 days and doesn't train on them. It names its AI providers.
The gaps: its privacy policy is written under European law and doesn't mention COPPA, and the app is new (July 2026), with no ratings yet.
5. Gemini Storybook
- Best for
- grown-ups making a story for a child
- Price
- Free
- What it promises about children's data
- Users 18 and over; activity may be used to improve Google's AI unless you turn it off
Gemini Storybook is for users over 18 by Google's own rule, which is the clearest answer of all to "should my child use this?": not by themselves.
If you use it, know the settings: with Gemini's Keep Activity on, Google may use your activity to improve its services, including training its AI, and chats reviewed by people are kept for up to three years. With it off, Google keeps chats for 72 hours.
Our pick
If an independent certificate matters most to you, Giant has one and we don't yet. If what worries you is your child chatting with an AI or sharing what they make, Branchlings has neither.
Whatever you pick, read its privacy page before your child's name goes in. Every app on this list publishes one, and the good ones are short.
What we'd do today
- Open the app's privacy policy and find three things: how long it keeps what your child types, whether it trains AI on it, and who else receives it. (Ours: privacy policy.)
- Check whether your child can chat with an AI or share with other users, and whether you can switch that off.
- Look for an outside check, like a COPPA Safe Harbor seal (PRIVO, kidSAFE and others).
- Set a grown-up PIN on purchases and settings, whatever app you choose.
Questions
- Are AI story apps safe for kids?
- They can be, if they're made for children to use, keep conversations with AI on a tight rein, collect as little as possible, and let you see and delete what's kept. Read each app's privacy policy, and set a grown-up PIN. Gemini Storybook, for one, is for users 18 and over.
- What is COPPA Safe Harbor?
- Programs approved by the US Federal Trade Commission that review and monitor how an app handles children's personal information under COPPA. PRIVO and kidSAFE are two of them. Giant and Toca Boca are in PRIVO's.
- Does Branchlings use my child's stories to train AI?
- No. Our AI provider doesn't train its AI on your family's stories, and neither do we. See our privacy policy.
- Can my child chat with an AI in Branchlings?
- No. There's no chat of any kind. Your child can add their own idea at a fork, typed in with a grown-up and checked for safety before the story uses it.
Try Branchlings
Your child dreams up the story and picks what happens at every fork, and Branchlings writes and paints it. Free to download, with in-app purchases. You can read the sample stories before you choose a plan. Painting your character and new stories come with a plan. Plans start at $9.99 a month, and there's no free trial. For iPhone and iPad in the US.
We checked prices and features for every app here in October 2026. Apps change fast, so double-check on each app's own site before you buy. Names of other apps are trademarks of their owners and are used here only to identify them; we're not connected with any of them.