Privacy Policy

1. Introduction

At Study Van, we respect your privacy and are committed to protecting your personal data. This privacy policy will inform you about how we look after your personal data when you visit our platform and tell you about your privacy rights.

2. Data We Collect

We collect and process the following categories of personal data:

• Identity Data includes username, display name, gender preference, and profile image.
• Contact Data includes email address.
• Technical Data includes IP address, browser type, device information, and session data.
• Profile Data includes preferences, theme settings, and study-related configurations.
• Usage Data includes study sessions, focus time, notes, todos, diary entries, and platform interactions.
• Feedback Data includes feedback submissions and support communications.
• Payment Data (processed by Stripe) includes subscription information for premium features.

Google OAuth Data: When you sign in with Google, we receive your email address, name, and profile picture. We do not store your Google password or access your other Google services.

Chat Messages: Messages sent in study groups are temporarily processed for delivery but are automatically deleted after 7 days. We do not permanently store or collect chat message content.

3. How We Use Your Data

We use your data to provide and improve our service. By using Study Van, you agree to the collection and use of information in accordance with this policy. We use your data for the following purposes:

• To provide and maintain our service
• To notify you about changes to our service
• To allow you to participate in interactive features of our service when you choose to do so
• To provide customer support
• To gather analysis or valuable information so that we can improve our service
• To monitor the usage of our service
• To detect, prevent and address technical issues

4. Data Security

We have implemented appropriate security measures to prevent your personal data from being accidentally lost, used, or accessed in an unauthorized way, altered, or disclosed. In addition, we limit access to your personal data to those employees, agents, contractors, and other third parties who have a business need to know.

5. Cookies

We use cookies and similar tracking technologies to track the activity on our service and hold certain information. Cookies are files with a small amount of data which may include an anonymous unique identifier. You can instruct your browser to refuse all cookies or to indicate when a cookie is being sent. However, if you do not accept cookies, you may not be able to use some portions of our service.

6. Data Retention

We retain your personal data only as long as necessary for the purposes outlined in this policy:

• Account Data: Retained while your account is active and for 30 days after deactivation for potential reactivation.
• Study Data: Retained while your account is active to provide continuous service.
• Messages: Automatically deleted after 7 days as per our chat policy.
• Session Data: Retained for security purposes for up to 90 days.
• Legal Compliance: Some data may be retained longer if required by law.

After account deletion, all personal data is permanently removed from our systems within 30 days, except where retention is required by law.

7. Your Data Protection Rights (GDPR)

Under GDPR and other data protection laws, you have the following rights regarding your personal data:

• Right of Access: Request a copy of all personal data we hold about you
• Right to Rectification: Request correction of inaccurate or incomplete data
• Right to Erasure: Request deletion of your personal data ("right to be forgotten")
• Right to Restrict Processing: Request limitation of how we process your data
• Right to Data Portability: Request transfer of your data in a machine-readable format
• Right to Object: Object to processing based on legitimate interests
• Right to Withdraw Consent: Withdraw consent for data processing at any time

How to Exercise Your Rights: You can exercise these rights by contacting us through our support channels. We will respond to your requests within the timeframes required by applicable data protection laws.

8. Legal Basis for Processing

We process your personal data based on the following legal grounds:

• Contract Performance: To provide our study platform services
• Consent: For marketing communications and optional features
• Legitimate Interest: For platform security, fraud prevention, and service improvement
• Legal Obligation: To comply with applicable laws and regulations

9. International Data Transfers

Your data may be processed in countries outside your residence. We ensure appropriate safeguards are in place, including standard contractual clauses approved by the European Commission for transfers outside the EEA.

10. Third-Party Links

Our service may contain links to other websites that are not operated by us. If you click on a third-party link, you will be directed to that third party's site. We strongly advise you to review the Privacy Policy of every site you visit. We have no control over and assume no responsibility for the content, privacy policies, or practices of any third-party sites or services.

11. Changes to This Privacy Policy

We may update our Privacy Policy from time to time. We will notify you of any changes by posting the new Privacy Policy on this page. We will let you know via email and/or a prominent notice on our service, prior to the change becoming effective and update the "Last updated" date at the top of this Privacy Policy.

12. Contact Us

If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy, please contact us.