Safety and AI

Squigglestick is made for families, so we’ve kept it simple on purpose: a drawing goes in, a sticker comes out, and nothing else happens along the way. Here’s how it works and how we keep it safe.

The short version

No chat and no typing to the AI. It only ever sees the drawing and a style you pick from our list.
Every picture is checked automatically before anything is made.
Your stickers are private to you. There’s no public gallery and no sharing between users.
No ads and no tracking cookies. We never sell data, and we never use your drawings to train AI.

How your sticker is made

Your photo is tidied up. We straighten it, crop it to the drawing, whiten the paper, and remove hidden details such as where the photo was taken.
A safety check. An AI model checks the picture before anything else happens (see below).
A close look at the drawing. An AI model notes what’s in it: the subject, the colours and any writing, letter by letter. These notes are what keep the sticker faithful to your child’s work.
The drawing becomes a sticker. An image model redraws it in the style you chose, following those notes.
Cutting out. Another model removes the background, and we add the white sticker border.

Clay, plush, 3D toy and watercolour stickers are made from the cartoon version, so every style stays close to the same drawing.

What the AI will and won’t do

It works only from your drawing. There’s no box where anyone can type a request to it, so it can’t be asked to make something else. Words typed on the drawing pad become part of the drawing and are checked like everything else.
It follows the drawing. We tell it to keep your child’s subject, pose, details and colours, not to add faces to things that don’t have them, and not to guess at marks it can’t make out.
It copies writing exactly. Names and words keep your child’s own spelling. We never “correct” them.
It isn’t perfect. Now and then it may miss a small detail, add something, or change a letter. You can try again, and nothing is printed unless you choose to order it.

A note from us: the sticker is a fun version made with AI. The original drawing is the real treasure, so do keep it!

Safety checks

Every picture is checked automatically before we make anything. We turn away pictures that show:

nudity or sexual content
graphic violence or gore
hateful symbols or words
self-harm
private details: a home address, phone number, email address or school name

Monsters, dinosaurs, superheroes, scary faces and cartoon battles are all normal in children’s art, and they’re fine.

If the check can’t run for any reason, we don’t make anything, and we ask you to try again a moment later. We never skip it.

We won’t print well-known characters, brands or logos, because they belong to someone else.

Automatic checks can get it wrong. If an innocent picture was turned away, or you see something in a result that worries you, email support@squigglestick.co.uk with “Safety” in the subject. We read every message and act on it.

Private by design

No accounts, so we don’t need your name or email just to make a sticker.
Only you can see your stickers. Every link to a picture is private and stops working after 24 hours.
We remove location and camera details from every photo.
No advertising, no tracking cookies and no selling data. The only cookie we use is the one that makes the site work.
We never use your drawings to train AI.
While we test, we keep drawings until you ask us to delete them. Automatic deletion after 30 days is on its way.

The full details are in our privacy notice.

Keeping your data secure

Everything between your device and our site is encrypted (HTTPS).
Our website and picture storage are hosted in Europe. Pictures are stored privately and encrypted, never in public folders.
Payments are handled by Stripe. We never see or store your card number.
Only the people who run Squigglestick can access our systems.
The companies that handle your pictures work under data protection contracts.

If something goes wrong

If we ever find that personal information may have been exposed, we’ll act straight away to contain it. We’ll report it to the Information Commissioner’s Office within 72 hours where the law requires, and tell you without delay if it affects you.

Found a security problem?

Please email support@squigglestick.co.uk with “Security” in the subject and the steps to reproduce it. We’ll reply within 3 working days. We won’t take action against anyone who reports a problem in good faith, doesn’t access other people’s data, and gives us reasonable time to fix it.

Tips for parents

Take the photo yourself, and photograph just the drawing.
First names look lovely on stickers. Surnames, addresses and school names are best left off.
Stay nearby while your child uses the site, and do any ordering yourself.
Keep printed stickers away from children under 3.

The rules we follow

We’re a UK business and we follow UK data protection law (the UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018). We’ve designed Squigglestick with the Information Commissioner’s Office’s Age Appropriate Design Code in mind. Known as the Children’s code, it sets out how online services should protect children. We’ve also written a risk assessment of how we handle children’s drawings.

Questions or worries? Get in touch. We’d much rather hear from you than not.