Study Surge

1. Scope

This Privacy Policy applies to the Study Surge apps, website pages that link to this policy, and related learning, social, messaging, tutor, study partner, advertising, notification, and support features provided by Galane.

Some features link to third-party services such as WhatsApp, email apps, university websites, app stores, or external application portals. Those services are controlled by their own providers and their own privacy policies.

2. Information We Collect

Account and profile information

• Name, display name, username or handle, email address, password authentication details handled by Firebase Authentication, school, grade, subjects, bio, profile photo, cover photo, and profile settings.
• Information you add to your learner profile, tutor profile, extra-lesson school profile, or study partner profile, such as location, tutoring methods, prices, subjects offered, goals, study style, availability, phone number, email address, or WhatsApp number.

Learning and progress information

• Subjects, chapters, timetable items, downloaded learning resources, quiz attempts, scores, accuracy, streaks, leaderboard entries, study goals, and study-time totals.
• Study-time information, including time spent by app area and when you studied. Study-time summaries and leaderboard-related information may be visible to other users.
• Marks or subject results entered into the Course Finder feature. These are used to match you with possible university courses. Unless a feature clearly asks to save or share them, they are intended to be processed locally on your device.

Social and user-generated content

• Posts, stories, comments, replies, polls, quizzes, help requests, shared resources, announcements, mentions, likes, follows, bookmarks, reports, blocks, and other interactions.
• Messages and school chat content, including attachments you choose to send.
• Photos, videos, PDFs, links, voice or video content, and other files you choose to upload or attach.

Device, app, and diagnostics information

• Device type, operating system, app version, language, crash logs, performance information, approximate network information, and identifiers needed for app security, notifications, ads, subscriptions, and diagnostics.
• Firebase Cloud Messaging tokens used to deliver push notifications.
• Advertising identifiers or ad interaction information where permitted by your device settings and applicable law.

Purchase and ad-credit information

• Subscription status, purchase receipts or tokens, entitlement status, rewarded-ad credit events, and related transaction metadata from Apple, Google, or our payment verification systems.

AI assistant information

• Prompts, questions, messages, selected study material, images, PDFs, and related attachments you send to AI-powered study features.
• AI chat history and generated responses where saved to your account so you can continue learning later.

3. How We Use Information

• To create and manage your account, profile, school hub, learning progress, saved content, notifications, messages, tutor profiles, study partner matching, and social features.
• To show relevant learning content, course matches, posts, help requests, tutors, study partners, leaderboards, announcements, and recommendations.
• To upload, store, display, compress, moderate, and deliver media and files you choose to share.
• To send important account, school, mention, message, post, study partner, tutor verification, and activity notifications.
• To provide ads to non-pro users, reward ad-credit actions, measure ad performance, and prevent ad abuse.
• To verify purchases, manage subscriptions or ad credits, and restore entitlements.
• To protect users, investigate abuse, enforce rules, detect spam, review reports, and improve safety.
• To improve app performance, fix bugs, understand feature usage, and develop better learning tools.
• To provide AI study assistance when you choose to use AI features.
• To comply with legal obligations and respond to lawful requests.

4. Public Information

Study Surge includes social and community features. The following information may be visible to other users, depending on the feature and your actions:

• Your display name, username, profile photo, cover photo, school, grade, subjects, bio, follower information, and public profile details.
• Posts, stories, comments, replies, help requests, polls, quiz posts, shared resources, announcements, mentions, and public interactions.
• Study-time summaries, top learner displays, quiz leaderboard entries, study streaks, helpful points, and other achievement information.
• Tutor or extra-lesson school profile details, including contact information, if you create and submit such a profile for public listing.

Please do not post private, sensitive, or unsafe information in public areas.

5. Third-Party Services

We use trusted service providers to operate Study Surge. These providers may process information according to their own policies and our instructions where applicable.

• Firebase and Google Cloud: authentication, database, storage, cloud functions, push notifications, purchase verification, security, and app infrastructure.
• Google AdMob: banner, native, rewarded, and app-open ads for users who are not pro users or where ads are used for ad-credit features.
• Google Gemini / Generative AI: AI-powered study help when you choose to send questions, files, or images to AI features.
• Apple App Store and Google Play: subscriptions, purchases, refunds, app distribution, and purchase validation.
• External links: WhatsApp, email, phone, browser links, university application portals, and learning resources when you choose to open them.

We do not sell your name or email address. Advertising partners may process device identifiers, ad interaction data, and approximate information to serve, limit, and measure ads, subject to your device permissions and applicable law.

6. Ads, Tracking, and Your Choices

Study Surge may show ads to users who are not pro users and may offer rewarded ads for ad credits. Ads help keep learning features available.

On iOS, if we or our advertising partners request permission to track your activity across other companies' apps or websites, we will ask through Apple's App Tracking Transparency prompt where required. If you do not allow tracking, you may still see ads, but they may be less personalized.

You can manage app permissions, notification permissions, and advertising choices in your device settings.

7. Push Notifications

If you allow notifications, we may send notifications for messages, mentions, posts, comments, follows, school announcements, study partner requests, tutor verification, learning reminders, and important account or safety updates. You can turn notifications off in your device settings.

8. AI Study Features

When you use AI study features, the text, files, images, and questions you submit may be sent to an AI service provider to generate a response. Do not submit highly sensitive personal information through AI features. AI responses can be incorrect, so you should verify important academic, university, or exam information with official sources.

9. Data Retention and Account Deletion

We keep information for as long as needed to provide the app, maintain security, comply with legal obligations, resolve disputes, enforce rules, and improve services.

You can request account deletion in the app where available or by emailing welcomegalane@gmail.com from the email address linked to your account. When your account is deleted, we will delete or anonymize account information where reasonably possible. Some information may remain for a limited time in backups, logs, moderation records, transaction records, or content already shared with other users where deletion is technically or legally limited.

If you created public tutor or extra-lesson school listings, public posts, comments, reports, or messages, please tell us if you want specific content reviewed or removed as part of your deletion request.

10. Safety, Moderation, and User Content

Study Surge is built for learning. We may review, remove, restrict, or report content and accounts that appear unsafe, abusive, fraudulent, illegal, spammy, sexually explicit, exploitative, or harmful to learners.

Users can report or block other users where those controls are available. You can also report urgent safety concerns by emailing welcomegalane@gmail.com.

11. Children and Young Learners

Study Surge is intended for high school learners and matriculants. It is not intended for children under 13. If you are under the age required to consent to data processing in your country, you should use the app with permission from a parent or guardian.

Learners should avoid sharing home addresses, identity numbers, private contact details, or sensitive personal information in public areas, comments, school chats, messages, or AI prompts.

12. Security

We use technical and organizational measures designed to protect information, including Firebase security controls, authentication, access rules, and restricted administrative access. No app or internet service can be guaranteed to be completely secure.

13. International Processing

Our service providers may process and store information in South Africa, the United States, Europe, or other countries where they operate. Data protection laws may differ by country, but we take steps to use reputable providers and protect information as described in this policy.

14. Your Rights

Depending on your location, you may have rights to access, correct, delete, export, restrict, or object to certain uses of your personal information. You may also withdraw certain permissions through your device settings. To make a privacy request, contact welcomegalane@gmail.com.

15. Changes to This Policy

We may update this policy when the app changes or when legal, platform, or operational requirements change. The updated policy will be posted on this page with a new "Last updated" date. If a change is material, we may also notify users in the app or by another appropriate method.