Privacy Policy

This page explains, in plain language, what Studies Hub collects and why. It covers what this site actually does today -- nothing more, nothing hidden.

What we collect

• Account details: your name and email address, and a password (we never store your actual password -- only a one-way scrambled/hashed version that can't be reversed).
• Google sign-in: if you use "Continue with Google," Google shares your name, email address, and whether Google has verified that email -- we don't see or store your Google password.
• A username (like @yourname) that other members use to find and add you as a friend. It is visible to any logged-in member.
• Student details: your university, department and level, so we can show you the pages and CBT practice meant for your course. If you tell us you hold a position (like "Director of Socials"), that claim is checked by a school-authority admin before it shows beside your name.
• Lecturer details: if you register as a lecturer, we collect your institution and the courses you select, plus an optional staff/registration number. A full admin reviews your lecturer details before upload permissions are enabled.
• Educational materials: files or HTML learning materials you upload, their titles, course links, and the department/level audience you select.
• Profile details you choose to add: a profile picture, from the Settings page. Other logged-in members can see your profile (picture, username, university, department, level, verified position) and your online/offline status.
• Activity used to run the site: when you were last active, and, if you submit news or a payment claim, that submission and its status (pending/approved/rejected).
• Friends and groups: who you have sent or received a friend request with, who you are friends with, and any group you create or are added to (its name and member list).
• Messages: if you chat with a friend or in a group, your text messages, voice notes and stickers are stored so the conversation can be shown to the people in it -- including whether a message has been delivered or read, any reactions, edits, and deletions. If you build a sticker board, the pictures you add to it are stored for you.
• Push notifications: if you turn notifications on, your browser gives us a subscription address so we can alert your device about messages, friend requests, new uploads and similar activity. We never see the notification after it leaves our server -- only your browser can read what it says.

How we use it

• To create and secure your account, verify your email, and let you reset your password.
• To personalize your dashboard and show you educational materials sorted for your department and level.
• To verify lecturer accounts, link lecturers to their selected courses, and publish the learning materials they choose to upload.
• To show your name, photo, profile details and online/offline status to other logged-in members -- not to the public.
• To let you find and message friends, and to run groups you are part of.
• To send you a notification (if you turned them on) about things like a new message, friend request or upload.
• To review content before it goes public: news you submit, a claimed school position, and payment claims are checked by an admin before they're approved. Some admins only handle one job (files, news, positions and departments, or helping people who can't log in); helping with login can include sending you a verification link or a password-reset code by email, or signing you out of your devices.

Payments

Studies Hub does not use a card payment processor and does not collect your card or bank details. Some content is unlocked via manual bank transfer: we show our own account details, you pay directly through your own bank, and an admin manually confirms and unlocks the content. We don't see your banking information at any point in that process.

Chat and messages

You can only message someone once you are friends, or in a group you both belong to. Text messages, voice notes and stickers are stored encrypted (scrambled so a stolen copy of our database would be unreadable) -- but this is not "end-to-end" encryption. The site itself is still able to decrypt and read messages when needed, for example to look into abuse reports. Please don't send anything in chat you wouldn't want anyone but the people in that conversation to ever see. A group has its own admin, chosen by whoever creates it, who can add or remove members and rename the group.

Cookies

We use one cookie to keep you logged in between visits. We don't use advertising or tracking cookies, and there are currently no ads on this site.

Who else sees your data

We share information only with the outside services that make the site work, such as Resend for sending verification and password-reset emails, and Google for sign-in, plus our hosting provider, which stores the site's data on our behalf. We do not sell your data to anyone.

Google API data and email sending

When Google API services are enabled, Studies Hub will describe the specific Google data accessed, the purpose, and the permission requested before use. We do not request access to Gmail messages for reading or searching as part of the email-sending feature.

Data protection and security

• Password protection: account passwords are stored as bcrypt hashes rather than in readable form.
• Encrypted messages: chat text, voice notes and sticker media are encrypted by the application using AES-256-GCM while stored. This is not end-to-end encryption; the application can decrypt messages to provide the service.
• Secure transmission: use the HTTPS version of Studies Hub to protect information sent between your device and the website.
• Access controls: account areas and administrative actions are restricted by sign-in and role checks within the application.
• Limited collection and use: information is used to operate the features described in this policy and shared with service providers only where needed to operate those features.

We review and maintain safeguards appropriate to the information we handle. No online service can guarantee absolute security. Protection of stored data also depends on the security of the hosting environment, database access, and any configured encryption-key management.

How long we keep it

We keep your account and its data for as long as your account exists. We don't currently have an automatic "delete my account" button -- if you'd like your data reviewed, corrected, or removed, contact us (below) and we'll handle it by hand.

Children

Studies Hub is intended for students old enough to independently create an account and is not directed at young children.

Changes to this policy

If how we handle your data changes meaningfully, we'll update this page and change the date above.

Contact us