Privacy Policy

1. Introduction

Welcome to alcedo: your education partner ("we," "our," or "us"). We are committed to protecting your privacy and ensuring the security of your personal information. This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, disclose, and safeguard your information when you use our mobile application and website (collectively, the "Service").

By using alcedo: your education partner, you agree to the collection and use of information in accordance with this policy. If you do not agree with our policies and practices, please do not use our Service.

2. Information We Collect

2.1 Personal Information

We collect the following types of personal information:

• Account information (name, email address, mobile number, password, and — if you sign in with Google or Apple — the account identifier those services return to us)
• Profile information (user type, date of birth, gender, age group, state and city, education level, class or standard, education board, specialisation, career interest, aspiration, personal interests, profile photo)
• Family information, where you choose to provide it (parent or guardian, family education background, number of siblings, and each sibling's name and age)
• Location data (to provide nearby college and institute discovery features)
• Device information (device platform and the push notification token for your device)
• Usage data (app interactions, features used, practice and test results, career reports, chat history, community posts, feedback, learning progress)

2.2 Institute Registration Data

For educational institutions registering on our platform, we collect:

• Institute name, type, category, and education board affiliation
• Authorized person details (name, designation, contact information)
• Location and address information
• Academic details (levels offered, streams, medium of instruction)
• Facilities, admission status, and fee information

2.3 AI-Generated Content

When you use our AI-powered features (Practice Zone, EduChat AI - Edo), your queries — together with profile details such as your education level, specialisation and age — are sent to OpenAI to generate the response, and the resulting practice results and chat history are stored on your account.

2.4 Automatically Collected Information

• Log data (IP address, browser type, pages visited, time stamps)
• Cookies and similar tracking technologies
• Analytics data (app performance, crash reports, user engagement metrics)

3. How We Use Your Information

We use the collected information for the following purposes:

• To provide, maintain, and improve our Service
• To personalize your learning experience with AI-powered recommendations
• To generate Career Fit Reports based on your assessments
• To show nearby colleges, schools, and institutes using location services
• To facilitate communication between students and educational institutions
• To send notifications about daily challenges, achievements, and updates
• To maintain leaderboards and track learning progress
• To respond to your inquiries and provide customer support
• To detect, prevent, and address technical issues and security threats
• To comply with legal obligations and enforce our Terms of Service

4. Third-Party Services

We integrate with the following third-party services:

• OpenAI: Powers our AI Practice Zone, EduChat AI and AI-generated notification content
• Google Places API: Enables discovery of nearby educational institutions
• Firebase Authentication (Google): Verifies Google sign-in
• Sign in with Apple: Verifies Apple sign-in
• Amazon Web Services (S3): Stores images and documents uploaded to the Service
• Razorpay: Processes subscription payments made on Android and on the web
• Apple App Store: Processes in-app subscription and Career Fit purchases made on iOS
• ZeptoMail (Zoho) and Gmail SMTP: Send transactional email such as sign-up links, verification codes and password resets
• 2Factor: Sends mobile OTP messages
• Expo push notification service: Delivers push notifications to your device

These third parties have their own privacy policies. We encourage you to review their policies before using our Service.

5. Data Sharing and Disclosure

We may share your information in the following circumstances:

• With Educational Institutions: When you open the alcedo profile of a registered institution in the app, we create an enquiry (lead) record for that institution containing your name, mobile number, email address, user type, education details, city, state, gender and age group, together with how many times you have viewed the profile. The institution can read that record in its dashboard. This happens when you view the profile — you do not have to submit an enquiry form first.
• Service Providers: With trusted third-party vendors who assist in operating our Service
• Legal Requirements: When required by law, court order, or government regulation
• Business Transfers: In connection with a merger, acquisition, or sale of assets
• With Your Consent: When you explicitly authorize us to share your information

We do not sell your personal information to third parties for marketing purposes.

6. Data Security

We implement industry-standard security measures to protect your personal information, including:

• Encryption of data in transit and at rest
• Secure authentication and password protection
• Regular security audits and vulnerability assessments
• Access controls and employee training on data protection

However, no method of transmission over the internet is 100% secure. While we strive to protect your information, we cannot guarantee absolute security.

7. Your Rights and Choices

You have the following rights regarding your personal information:

• Access: Request a copy of the personal information we hold about you
• Correction: Update or correct inaccurate information
• Deletion: Request deletion of your account and associated data
• Opt-Out: Unsubscribe from marketing communications
• Data Portability: Request your data in a machine-readable format
• Location Services: Disable location access through your device settings

To exercise these rights, please contact us at the email address provided below.

8. Children's Privacy

Our Service is designed for students of all ages, including school-age children. We ask for a date of birth during sign-up, but we do not currently operate an age gate, and we do not have a mechanism to obtain or verify parental or guardian consent before an account is created. If you are a parent or lawful guardian and a child has created an account, you can delete the account from within the app or contact us at the email address below and we will delete it and the data held against it.

Our full child-safety commitments — age-appropriate design, parental involvement, community standards and how to report a concern — are set out in our Privacy & Child Safety framework.

9. Data Retention

We retain your personal information for as long as necessary to provide our Service and fulfill the purposes outlined in this Privacy Policy, except where we are required to retain it for legal or regulatory purposes.

Deleting your account from the app removes your account record and the data held against it — subscription records, practice and test results, career reports, chat history, community posts, feedback and notification history — at the time of the request. Enquiry (lead) records already created for institutions under Section 5 are not removed by that deletion; to have those removed as well, contact us at the email address below.

10. International Data Transfers

Your information may be transferred to and processed in countries other than your country of residence. These countries may have different data protection laws. By using our Service, you consent to the transfer of your information to these countries.

11. Changes to This Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. We will notify you of any changes by posting the new Privacy Policy on this page and updating the "Last Updated" date. We encourage you to review this Privacy Policy periodically for any changes.

12. Contact Us

If you have any questions, concerns, or requests regarding this Privacy Policy or our data practices, please contact us at: