Privacy Policy

1. Information We Collect

We collect only the information strictly necessary to provide an adaptive, personalized, and safe learning experience:

• Parent / Guardian Account & Contact Data: When registering an account, we collect the parent's email address and securely hashed authentication credentials managed via our authentication provider (Supabase). Passwords are never stored in plaintext. Parents may also optionally provide a mobile phone number to receive WhatsApp updates and study notes for their child. Providing a phone number is entirely optional and requires explicit consent. You can opt out or revoke consent anytime in settings. Parent phone numbers are never shared with third parties or advertisers.
• Learner Profiles: Under the parent account, parents may configure learner profiles containing the student's preferred first name, class/grade band (Class 5 to 12), preferred learning language (e.g. English, Kannada), and study subjects.
• Learning Personalisation & Preferences: Student preferences such as learning style (interactive, visual, auditory), response style, reading font preference, and topic interests (e.g. Science, Mathematics, Space, Robotics) to tailor AI explanations.
• AI Educational Interactions: Transcripts of questions asked to Appu and the educational explanations generated, enabling context continuity and homework guidance.
• Subscription & Billing Metadata: Plan code (e.g. Free, Evolve, Evolve+), subscription lifecycle status, session usage accounting (AI session counts, voice minutes). Payment processing is handled exclusively by Razorpay; we do not store full payment card numbers or banking passwords.
• Guest Usage Token: For visitors exploring complimentary discovery chats, a temporary pseudonymous session token is stored in the browser to enforce fair usage limits.

2. How We Use Information

The collected information is used solely for legitimate educational and service delivery purposes:

• To generate syllabus-aligned, child-friendly explanations in English and Kannada.
• To maintain student learning progress and adaptive difficulty across sessions.
• To deliver optional WhatsApp learning updates and study notes when explicitly consented by the parent.
• To provide parents with visibility into their household's learning journey and quota utilization.
• To authenticate parent access and process subscription upgrades via Razorpay.
• To ensure platform security, prevent abuse, and maintain service reliability.

3. Payment Processing via Razorpay

All monetary transactions and subscription billings on APPU are processed securely through Razorpay Software Private Limited, an RBI-authorized, PCI-DSS Level 1 compliant payment gateway.

• When you subscribe to a paid tier, payment card details, UPI handles, and net banking credentials are submitted directly to Razorpay's secure encryption environment.
• APPU only receives transaction tokens, subscription IDs, payment verification signatures, and invoice statuses. We never have access to or store your sensitive card CVV or banking PINs.

4. Infrastructure, Security & Storage

We employ industry-standard technical and organizational security controls to protect student and parent information:

• Encryption in Transit: All communications between your browser, backend APIs, and database occur over TLS/HTTPS (256-bit encryption).
• Authentication & Access Control: Parent authentication utilizes cryptographic JWT tokens. Sensitive administrative operations require strict authorization.
• Zero Plaintext Storage: Sensitive credentials and secrets are encrypted. Browser storage is used only for UI theme preferences and ephemeral session tokens.

5. Cookies & Local Storage

APPU uses minimal, essential browser local storage strictly for operational needs:

• Maintaining user session state across browser tabs.
• Storing audio volume, voice speed, and visual theme preferences.
• Tracking guest discovery chat counts before account creation.

We do not use third-party tracking cookies or marketing pixels.

6. Parent Rights & Data Control

Parents and legal guardians retain complete control over their household's data at all times:

• Access & Review: View learner profiles, personalization settings, and usage metrics anytime in the Parent Zone.
• Update & Edit: Modify learner preferences, grade bands, or learning styles directly from the dashboard.
• Data Retention & Deletion: For signed-in learners, APPU stores the latest 30 text conversation threads for each child profile for up to 90 days after the most recent activity, so chats can continue across the website and app. Parents and learners can delete one conversation or clear that child's conversation history. Uploaded image bytes are processed to answer the current request but are not retained in conversation history. Required billing, security, and audit records follow their separate legal retention periods.
• Account & Data Deletion: Parents may request full deletion of their household account, student profiles, and associated chat history by contacting our support team.

7. Contact & Grievance Officer

For questions, privacy inquiries, data deletion requests, or grievance redressal regarding this policy, please reach out to us: