Privacy Policy

Effective date: July 31, 2026

This policy explains what ClassNotes collects, why, and what you can do about it. The short version: ClassNotes is built to know as little about you as possible. We ask for an email address for one reason only — so you can reset a forgotten password — and we don't ask for your real name. We don't run ads, analytics, or trackers, and we don't sell or share your data — except the service providers needed to make the app work, which are listed below.

Who we are

ClassNotes is a free study app run by one person — a student — not a company. We're the "data controller" for the information described here. You can reach us at jacksonveljkovic@gmail.com.

What we collect

We keep this deliberately short. We store:

Your username (please don't make it your full real name).
Your password, stored only as a secure one-way hash (bcrypt). We never store or see your actual password.
Your email address, used only to send password-reset links. We don't email you anything else, and we never share or sell it.
The content you create — your notes, assignments, and flashcards — saved as a data file tied to your account.
Photos and documents you add to a note, and any text pulled out of them.
Your study plans — the plan itself, and the study material it generates (cards, practice questions, written notes).
The copy of your source material a plan keeps. When you build a plan from notes, decks, pasted text or a file, the plan saves its own copy of that material so it can keep working from it. That copy lives with the plan: deleting the original note does not remove it — deleting the plan does.
Your tutor chat with a plan — the messages you send and the replies you get back, kept with that plan.
Your podcasts — the script and the audio file we make for you.
Your school level and grade from Settings, if you set them, so the AI explains things at the right level. Neither one identifies you.
A session cookie to keep you signed in.
A daily count of AI requests, so we can apply a fair-use limit.

What we do NOT collect: no real name (please don't provide one), no phone number, no address, no payment info (nothing in the app is sold). We run no analytics, no advertising, and no third-party tracking on the site or the app. Your browser and our host may keep basic technical logs (like an IP address) as a normal part of serving any website; we don't use those to profile or track you.

Cookies and local storage

ClassNotes uses one essential cookie to keep you signed in. It's strictly necessary to run the Service, so it doesn't need a cookie-consent banner. We use no advertising or analytics cookies. The app also uses your browser's local storage to keep a copy of your notes on your own device so it's fast and works offline; you can clear that anytime in your browser settings.

How we use your data

We use your information for one purpose: to run the Service for you — signing you in, saving and syncing your notes, running the study features, and applying the AI fair-use limit. That's it. We do not sell your data, share it for advertising, or build marketing profiles.

Who else touches your data

We use a short, functional list of service providers:

Our host (DreamHost). ClassNotes runs on U.S.-based shared hosting from DreamHost, which stores your data and serves the site for us. They act as our service provider and don't use your data for their own purposes.
Anthropic (only when you use an AI feature). AI features send the content you're working on to Anthropic's Claude API to process it, under Anthropic's API terms. That means:
- Note clean-up sends the text of that note.
- Photo-to-notes sends the photo.
- Study plans send the material you attach: text you paste, and any PDF you upload, in full. The plan also sends a copy of the notes and decks you picked — up to 20,000 characters of them — when the plan is created, again every time a block generates cards or questions, and again with every message you send the tutor chat, along with the last few messages of that conversation.
- Podcasts send the material the episode is built from, to write the script.
This only happens when you actively use those features, and only the content involved is shared — not your whole account. If you never use them, nothing goes to Anthropic.
OpenAI (only when you make a podcast). Once the script is written, the script text is sent to OpenAI's text-to-speech API to be read aloud, under OpenAI's API terms. Nothing else goes to OpenAI, and nothing goes there if you never make a podcast.

We may also disclose information if the law requires it, or to protect the safety and security of our users, the public, or the Service.

Voice dictation

If you use voice dictation, the speech-to-text is handled by your own web browser's built-in speech feature — not by our servers. Depending on your browser (for example, Chrome), your device may send the audio to the browser or operating system maker's own servers (such as Google's) to turn speech into text. That processing is outside our control and is governed by your browser's and device's privacy settings and policies, not ours. We only receive the finished text once it appears in your note.

How sensitive is this data?

Your notes are personal, so we treat them confidentially and don't share them beyond what's described above. ClassNotes is a general study tool, not a medical, counseling, or official school records service. Please don't put highly sensitive information (like medical, financial, or government-ID details, or other people's private information) into your notes.

How long we keep it and deleting your account

We keep your account and notes for as long as your account exists, so they're there when you come back. You can delete your account and all of its data anytime from Settings — this removes it from our system. Ordinary server backups and technical logs may hold copies for a short time before they rotate out. Because free, hobby-run services can shut down, please keep your own copies using the Backup button.

Your rights and choices

You control your account: you can edit your notes anytime, export them with the Backup button, and delete everything from Settings. Depending on where you live, you may have extra rights — for example, under the EU/UK GDPR or California's CCPA/CPRA — such as the right to access, correct, delete, or receive a copy of your data, to object to or restrict certain processing, and not to be treated differently for exercising your rights. We honor these rights for everyone who asks.

For EU/UK users, our lawful basis for processing your account and notes is performing our agreement with you (running the app you signed up for) and our legitimate interest in keeping ClassNotes secure and working; the AI features run only on your request when you use them. You can complain to your local data protection authority. Because we don't sell data or serve ads, there's no "sale" or "sharing" of personal information to opt out of.

Most of this is self-serve in the app. If you need help, email jacksonveljkovic@gmail.com. Note that because we collect only an email and no real name, we may not be able to verify who owns an account beyond the login itself.

How we protect your data

We take reasonable steps to protect your information: passwords are stored only as bcrypt hashes, the site is served over HTTPS, and your data file is stored outside the public web directory so it isn't directly reachable from the web. That said, no method of storage or transmission is 100% secure, and we can't guarantee absolute security. A strong, unique password helps protect your account. If you forget it, we email a one-time reset link to the address on your account; the link expires after an hour and can be used only once.

Children

You must be at least 13 years old to use ClassNotes. We do not knowingly collect data from children under 13. If you're under 18, please get a parent or guardian's permission first. If you believe someone under 13 has created an account, email jacksonveljkovic@gmail.com and we'll delete it.

International users

ClassNotes is hosted in the United States, and your data is stored and processed there. If you use ClassNotes from outside the U.S., you understand your information will be transferred to and handled in the United States, which may have different data protection laws than your country. By using the Service, you consent to that transfer.

Changes to this policy

We may update this policy as ClassNotes grows or the law changes. When we do, we'll update the "Effective date" above, and for meaningful changes we'll try to give notice in the app.

Contact

Questions, or want to exercise your rights? Email jacksonveljkovic@gmail.com.