Privacy policy
What we store when you study, what goes to OpenAI and the other services we use, what stays in your browser, and how to get a copy of your data or delete it.
Last updated
The short version
- You can study without an account. Your progress then stays in your browser, and we never see it.
- If you sign in, we keep your email address, your first name (and last name if you give it), a username, your study progress and the decks you make, so you can study on any device.
- Text you send to AI features goes to OpenAI to write your cards or check your answer. OpenAI doesn't train its models on it.
- We don't sell your data, show ads or use tracking cookies. We count page visits only if you press Accept on the cookie banner.
- In My account you can download all your data and delete your account (it is removed after 7 days). For anything else, email contact@studyvisually.com. We answer within 7 days.
1.Who we are
StudyVisually is a study app run from the United States. In this policy, "we" means the people who run StudyVisually, and "you" means anyone who uses the site or the app.
We decide what data is collected and why, so under data protection laws such as the GDPR (the EU's privacy law) we are the "controller" of your data. The companies listed below handle it only on our instructions.
For any question about your data, email contact@studyvisually.com.
2.Ages 13 and up
StudyVisually is for people aged 13 and older. If you are under 18, or under the age where your country lets you agree to data use yourself, a parent or guardian must say yes before you make an account.
If we learn that someone under 13 has made an account, we delete it and everything linked to it. A parent who thinks this has happened can email us.
3.What stays in your browser
Without an account, the app saves everything in your browser's own storage on your device. It is not sent to us. Clearing your browser data deletes it. Signing in keeps a copy in your account.
The app keeps these in your browser:
- Your study progress: days studied, minutes studied per day and per subject or deck, cards read, flashcard schedules, answers, ratings, missions and the subject you picked.
- A backup of saved progress that couldn't be read, so nothing is lost if a save breaks.
- Your light or dark theme.
- A playful guest name (such as "Curious Otter") that Home greets you with until you sign in.
- The notes you are typing into the deck form, so they survive a reload. Signing out clears them.
- A random visitor number, made only when you open a teacher's class link. It lets the class count you without knowing who you are (more under "Class links").
- Your answer to the cookie banner (Accept or Decline), and which visit it first showed on, so it stops asking after a few visits.
4.What we keep when you sign in
Signing in needs an email address. After your first sign-in we ask for your first name; your last name is optional. We don't ask for your school, phone number or a password. With an account we keep:
- Your email address, to send sign-in codes and to know which account is yours.
- Your first name, so Home can greet you, and your last name if you chose to give it. You can change either from Home.
- A username, made from your first name plus a number (such as amina-4821). It is the address of your private dashboard, and you can change it once every 30 days. For 30 days after a change the old name still opens your dashboard, then someone else can take it. Anyone else who opens your dashboard's address, or an address that doesn't exist, sees the same "This dashboard is private" page.
- Your study progress (the same things listed above), so it follows you to other devices.
- Your study minutes: how many minutes you studied each day in each subject or deck. A minute counts only while a study screen is open, the tab is visible, and you typed, tapped or scrolled in the last minute.
- Decks you make: their title, the text of the material you added and the cards AI wrote from it. We keep the text so you can remake the deck without uploading it again.
- A record of each AI action (which kind, which day, what it cost us), to count your monthly limits and the fair-use ceiling. It never holds the text you sent.
- Your time zone, sent with AI requests, so limits reset on your own calendar.
- If you pay for Basic or Premium: your plan, how often you pay, and the customer and subscription numbers Creem gives us. Card details never reach us.
- If you apply for the Teacher plan: your school's name and web address, your note, our decision with its reason, and two photos: your school staff card and a selfie holding it (more under "Teacher verification photos").
5.What we send to AI
AI features run only when you press their button, and only for signed-in learners. Each one sends the following to OpenAI:
- Making or remaking a deck: the text of your material.
- Reading a scanned PDF (Premium): a picture of each page. We don't keep the pictures, only the text read from them.
- Grading an interview answer: the question, the model answer and what you wrote. We keep the grade, not your answer.
- Speaking an answer (Premium): the recording, when your browser can't turn speech into text on its own. We don't keep the recording.
- Explaining a wrong predict answer: the question and the option you picked. Explanations for ready-made questions are saved and shown to everyone who picks the same option. They hold nothing about you.
6.Companies that handle your data for us
We use these companies to run the app. Each one gets only what it needs for its job.
OpenAI says it doesn't use data sent through its API to train its models, and keeps it for up to 30 days to check for abuse.
| Company | What it does for us | What it receives |
|---|---|---|
| Supabase | What it does for usSign-in, our database and private file storage | What it receivesYour email address, sign-in codes, everything we keep for signed-in learners, and the two photos of a teacher application |
| Vercel | What it does for usHosts the site and the app | What it receivesEvery request to the site, including your IP address, in short-lived server logs |
| OpenAI | What it does for usWrites decks, grades answers, reads scanned pages and recordings | What it receivesWhat you send to AI features (see "What we send to AI") |
| Resend | What it does for usSends email | What it receivesYour email address and the message: sign-in codes, Teacher plan decisions, messages you send through the contact form, the one email when a subject you asked about opens, and the results and reminders you ask for from the free tools. Teacher verification photos are never emailed |
| Creem | What it does for usTakes payments as the seller of record, including tax | What it receivesYour name, email, card and billing address, entered on Creem's own checkout page |
| Cloudflare Turnstile | What it does for usChecks that visitors using our forms are people, not bots | What it receivesYour IP address and details about your browser, only on the contact form, the subject waitlist and the free tools' email forms |
| Vercel Web Analytics | What it does for usCounts page visits | What it receivesOnly if you press Accept on the cookie banner: the page, the site that sent you, your country, device and browser. No cookies; the visitor fingerprint is thrown away after 24 hours |
7.Class links
When you open a deck a teacher shared by link, we note how much of it you have read, so the teacher can see how the class is doing. We record your account if you are signed in, or the random visitor number if you are not. Never your name or email.
The teacher sees only class totals: how many students opened the deck, the average read and how many finished. Those numbers stay hidden until at least 3 students have opened it, so nobody can be picked out.
8.The contact form
When you send a message, we save your email address, the topic and the message, then email them to our own inbox. Saving first means a message isn't lost if the email fails.
To stop spam, we also save a scrambled form of your IP address (a keyed hash). We can tell whether two messages came from the same address, but we can't turn it back into the address. The same check limits each email address and each network address to a few messages an hour.
9.The subject waitlist
When you press "Notify me" on a subject that isn't open yet, we save your email address, the subject, the level you picked and the time. If you are signed in, we use your account's email address. Like the contact form, we also save a scrambled form of your IP address to limit sign-ups to a few an hour.
When the subject opens, we send you one email to say so, and note that it went out. That is the only email this list is used for: no newsletter, no other subjects, no offers. To have your address taken off the list, email contact@studyvisually.com.
10.Emailing yourself a result from a free tool
The exam planner, the review calculator, the active recall quiz and the flashcard maker have an "Email me" button. When you press it, we save your email address and what you sent with it: your exam plan (the exam day, topics, cards and daily minutes), your calculator choices, your quiz score, or your draft cards. We also save the time and a scrambled form of your IP address (a keyed hash) to limit sign-ups to a few an hour, and the forms use the same bot check as the contact form.
The first email comes at once and has a Confirm button. Until you press it, that is the only email we send. After you confirm, we send the reminders for the tools you used: for an exam plan, a short note when each phase starts, a week before the exam and the day before; for the calculator and the quiz, one note a day later. The product news box is separate and off unless you tick it. Ticking it adds our occasional product news emails after you confirm.
A flashcard draft is stored on our server behind a secret link in your email. Anyone who has the link can open the draft, so keep it to yourself. Only a scrambled form of the link is stored, and the link and the draft are deleted 30 days after you ask for them.
If you later sign in with the same email address, we connect the two. The reminders you asked for carry on, and your exam plan is added to your exams in the app. You can use the free tools, and save results in the app, without an account or an email address.
Every one of these emails has a link to a page where you choose what to stop: product news, the reminders (you can turn them back on there), or everything. Choosing everything deletes your email address and everything saved with it, whether or not you confirmed, after a second press to be sure. Your mail app's own Unsubscribe button stops the reminders on a reminder email and stops product news on a product news email. You can also ask by email.
12.How we use it
We use your data only to:
- run the app and keep your progress in step across devices,
- make decks and give AI feedback when you ask,
- count AI use against your plan's monthly limits and the fair-use ceiling,
- take payments and keep your plan on,
- send sign-in codes, answer your messages, send the one email you asked for when a subject opens, and send the results and reminders you asked for from the free tools,
- stop abuse, such as spam or someone dodging limits.
13.Why we are allowed to use it
Privacy laws such as the GDPR need a reason for every use of personal data. Ours are:
- To give you what you asked for (a contract with you): your account, synced progress, decks, AI features, the Teacher plan and a paid plan.
- To keep the app safe and fair (our legitimate interest, weighed against yours): counting AI use against limits, stopping spam and abuse, the bot check, hashed IP addresses for rate limits, and server logs.
- Because you said yes (consent, which you can take back at any time): counting page visits, product news emails, the waitlist email when a subject opens, and the results and reminders you ask for from the free tools. For those, pressing Confirm in the first email is how you say yes.
- Because the law requires it: payment and tax records, which Creem keeps as the seller.
14.Decisions made by computer
AI grades, explanations and decks are study help. They never decide anything about you beyond your practice.
A Teacher plan can be approved automatically when your school email matches your school's web address. It is never refused by a computer alone: anything that doesn't pass the automatic check is read by a person, and you can always ask a person to look again.
15.Teacher verification photos
To get the Teacher plan you upload a photo of your school staff card and a selfie holding it. We use them for one thing: to check that a real teacher is behind the account. They are JPEG, PNG or PDF files of up to 5 MB each. Your browser shrinks photos before sending, which also removes hidden details such as the place the photo was taken.
They are kept in a private storage area, never in a public link. Only you and the site owner can open them, through links that stop working after a minute. They are never sent by email, so deleting them removes the only copy.
You can replace each photo one time. You can delete both photos yourself on the Teach page: they are removed at once, you stay a teacher but on Basic limits, and you may upload new photos one time. We also delete them when you delete your account.
If you email us instead, we delete them within 5 days at the latest.
16.How long we keep it
- Your account and progress: until you delete the account (it is removed 7 days after you ask) or ask us to.
- A deck and the material inside it: until you delete the deck or the account.
- Records of AI use: while your account exists. We need recent ones to count this month's limits.
- Study minutes: until you delete the account, or the deck they belong to.
- A username you gave up: for 30 days, linked to your account, then it is released.
- Sign-in records (your email address and the time when you ask for a code, sign in, or type a wrong or expired code), so we can help people who can't sign in: 90 days for code requests and sign-ins; wrong codes until you delete your account, or 90 days if no account uses that email address.
- Teacher applications: while your account exists.
- Teacher verification photos: until you delete them on the Teach page, ask us to, or delete your account. They are kept when a teacher approval is taken back, so you can see what you sent.
- Class link counts: until the teacher deletes the deck, or until your account goes.
- Contact messages and our replies: 365 days after you send them, then deleted automatically. You can ask for sooner, and deleting your account also deletes messages sent from its email address.
- Subject waitlist sign-ups: until the subject opens and for 180 days after the one email about it (so you don't get it twice), then deleted automatically. You can ask for sooner, and deleting your account also removes sign-ups with its email address.
- Free-tool emails (your address, the results you sent and the reminder emails): until you choose to delete everything on the page the link in one of our emails opens, or ask us to. Stopping only product news or only the reminders keeps your saved results. We also delete it on our own: if you never pressed Confirm, after 30 days; if you confirmed but have not used a tool for 365 days, unless you ticked product news, have an account, or still have reminders waiting. A stored flashcard draft goes 30 days after you ask for it, automatically. Deleting your account also removes the entry with its email address.
- Exam emails you switch on for an exam in the app: until you switch them off, remove the exam or delete the account.
- Server logs: as long as Vercel keeps them (see its policy above). Page visit counts, only if you accepted them, under Vercel's analytics policy.
17.Getting a copy, fixing or deleting your data
When signed in, you can do these yourself in My account: download all your data as one file (your account, progress, decks, AI use, Teacher application, and the contact messages, waitlist sign-ups and free-tool entries sent from your email), export your progress, change your name, username or email address, and delete your account. You can delete any deck yourself too.
Changing your email: we send a code to the new address (and, for safety, sometimes one to the old address too). The change happens once you enter the code. Your account, progress and plan stay the same; only the address you sign in with changes.
Deleting your account: you type "delete" to confirm. A paid plan is cancelled straight away. Your account keeps working for 7 days in case you change your mind (sign in and tap Keep my account). After that we remove it and everything linked to it, as described below.
For anything else, email contact@studyvisually.com from the address on your account:
- a copy of anything the download leaves out, such as notes the site owner keeps about support requests,
- a correction to something we got wrong,
- deleting your account for you, if you can't sign in.
18.How requests work
We do each emailed request by hand within 7 days. Deleting an account, by you or by us, removes the sign-in and every row linked to it: progress, decks, AI records, the Teacher application and its photos, class link counts, and contact messages, waitlist sign-ups and free-tool entries with that email. A paid plan is cancelled so Creem stops charging. Creem keeps its own payment records, as the law requires.
If the law where you live gives you more rights over your data (for example in the EU, the UK or California), ask and we will honour them. We don't sell or share personal data for advertising.
19.Your rights
Wherever you live, you can ask us to do any of these. People in the EU, the UK and similar places have them by law under the GDPR. Email contact@studyvisually.com from the address on your account and we answer within 7 days.
- See your data: get a copy of what we keep (or download it yourself in My account).
- Fix it: correct anything that is wrong or out of date.
- Delete it: remove your account and everything linked to it.
- Pause it: ask us to stop using your data while a question about it is sorted out.
- Object: ask us to stop a use based on our legitimate interest, such as abuse checks, unless we have a strong reason that outweighs yours.
- Take it with you: the download is a JSON file, a common format other apps can read.
- Take back a yes: change your cookie answer in Cookie settings, untick product news in My account, or ask to leave the waitlist. What happened before stays lawful.
- Complain: you can complain to the data protection authority where you live (in the EU, your country's authority; in the UK, the ICO). We'd like the chance to fix it first, but you don't have to ask us before you complain.
20.Where your data is stored
Our database and file storage (Supabase) are in the United States, and the other companies above run servers in the United States and other countries. So if you live in the EU, the UK or elsewhere, your data is sent to and kept in the United States.
These transfers rely on the safeguards each company offers in its data processing terms, such as the European Commission's Standard Contractual Clauses or the EU-US Data Privacy Framework where the company has joined it. Ask us for details of any of them.
21.Keeping it safe
You sign in with a code sent to your inbox, so there is no password to leak. Your browser never talks to the database directly. Every request goes through our own server, which checks your sign-in first and only ever reads your own rows. No system is perfectly safe, so if something goes wrong we will tell the people affected.
22.Changes to this policy
When this policy changes, the "last updated" date at the top changes too. If a change affects what we collect or who receives it, we will also show a note in the app before it applies.
Questions, a copy of your data, or deleting your account: email contact@studyvisually.com.