General Privacy Policy

Nerd Notes General Privacy Policy

Effective Date: May 30, 2026

This General Privacy Policy explains how Nerd Notes (“we”, “us”, or “our”) collects, uses, stores, and discloses your information when you use our website at https://nerd-notes.com and its related services, including Professor Phy AI and tutoring tools.

Scope. This policy applies to individuals who use Nerd Notes directly — visitors, students, parents, and customers who create their own accounts. If your account was created, assigned, or managed by a school, district, or other institution, your data is instead governed by our School Data Privacy Policy and the agreement between Nerd Notes and your institution; where the two policies differ, the School Data Privacy Policy controls for school-provisioned accounts.

By using our site or services, you consent to the collection and use of your data in accordance with this policy.

1. Information We Collect

1.1. Personal Data

We may collect personal information you voluntarily provide, such as:

• Your email address
• First and last name
• Grade level, subject preferences, or course details (via nerd-notes.com/lab)
• Account data when you sign in via Google, Facebook, or X.com
• Content submitted via forms, messages, or support requests

Account creation is optional for free content, but may be required for saving progress, using AI tools, or accessing paid services.

1.2. Automatically Collected Data

We automatically collect technical and usage data to ensure our site operates efficiently:

• IP address
• Browser type and version
• Pages visited and time spent
• Device and operating system
• Error logs and diagnostics

We use this data for performance monitoring, security, analytics, and fraud prevention.

1.3. Cookies

We use cookies and similar tracking technologies for session management and basic site functionality. These include:

• Session cookies (to keep you logged in)
• Preference cookies (to remember settings)
• Security cookies (to protect your account)

Third-party tools (e.g. Google Analytics, Google Ads) may also place cookies on your device to serve personalized content or advertising.

You may disable cookies through your browser settings, but doing so may affect site functionality.

2. How We Use Your Data

We use your information to:

• Deliver and maintain our services (including Phy AI and tutoring tools)
• Provide customer support and respond to inquiries
• Improve content quality, performance, and functionality
• Monitor usage, troubleshoot issues, and maintain security
• Send important updates or service-related messages
• Comply with legal obligations or resolve disputes

We do not sell or rent your personal data to third parties.

3. Professor Phy AI and User-Submitted Content

3.1. What We Collect

When you use Phy AI or grading tools, we may collect:

• Uploaded images (e.g., homework problems or handwritten work)
• Text prompts, questions, and typed responses
• Session history and AI-generated content

3.2. Use and Retention

This content is used solely to deliver AI-powered assistance. We do not use it to train or improve generalized AI models, and our AI providers process it under business API terms that do not permit such training. If we ever introduce any training use for consumer accounts in the future, we will update this policy and provide notice before it takes effect. Content from school-provisioned accounts is never used for AI training (see our School Data Privacy Policy).

This section applies only to content you submit directly to Phy AI and our grading tools. It does not apply to data obtained through Google APIs, which is governed separately by Section 5 (Google API Services — Limited Use Disclosure) and is never used to train or improve AI/ML models.

Session history and uploaded content are stored securely. We do not share this data without your consent unless required by law.

3.3. Consent

By using Phy AI, you consent to the collection, processing, and storage of the content you submit. You may request deletion of this data at any time (see Section 7).

4. Data Sharing and Third-Party Tools

We use trusted third-party services to operate Nerd Notes. These services may process or store your data on our behalf:

• Hostinger – web hosting and database for the core platform
• Stripe – for secure payment processing (we do not store your card details)
• Google Analytics – for site traffic and usage analytics
• Google Ads – for targeted advertising, including ads served by Google on parts of our site
• OpenAI – to generate responses for certain AI-powered tools
• Google (Gemini API) – to generate responses for AI grading, chat, and feedback features
• Railway – application hosting and data storage for some of our platform services, including the middleware that relays AI submissions to the providers above
• BunnyCDN – video storage and streaming for the course platform (receives standard playback data such as your IP address and the videos requested)

Data obtained through Google APIs is not shared with the advertising or marketing services listed above (including Google Ads), and is handled only as described in Section 5.

These providers are obligated to keep your data confidential and may only use it to perform their assigned tasks.

5. Google API Services — Limited Use Disclosure

Nerd Notes’ use and transfer of information received from Google APIs to any other app will adhere to the Google API Services User Data Policy, including the Limited Use requirements.

The Google account data we access depends on the type of account and the permissions you grant:

• Basic sign-in (all users): When you sign in with Google, we access your basic profile information — your name and email address — to create and identify your account.
• Tutor accounts (Google Calendar access): If you are a tutor, you may additionally grant Nerd Notes access to your Google Calendar. With your permission, we read your calendar events, create and manage calendars, write and update events across your calendars, and delete events, in order to schedule, sync, and manage your tutoring sessions within Nerd Notes. This two-way Calendar access is requested only for tutor accounts and only after you explicitly approve it.

Regardless of account type, we only use Google account data to provide and improve user-facing features within Nerd Notes. We do not:

• transfer or sell this data to third parties for advertising, marketing, or other purposes;
• use this data for serving advertisements;
• use this data to train or improve generalized and/or non-personalized AI and/or ML models; or
• allow humans to read this data, unless we have your affirmative consent, it is necessary for security purposes (such as investigating abuse), it is required to comply with applicable law, or the data has been aggregated and anonymized.

Data obtained through Google APIs is retained only for as long as needed to provide the relevant feature, and is deleted upon your request or upon revocation of access. You can revoke Nerd Notes’ access to your Google account at any time via your Google Account permissions page.

6. Data Retention

Except for data obtained through Google APIs (which is governed by Section 5 above), we generally retain user-submitted data until you request deletion, with these category-specific practices:

• AI chat session threads – automatically deleted on a rolling basis after 12 months
• Purchase and subscription records – retained as required for tax, accounting, and fraud-prevention obligations
• User profile information, uploaded files and images, other AI interaction records, and tutoring logs and transcripts – retained until you request deletion

We may retain some account-related data after a deletion request to comply with legal obligations, resolve disputes, or respond to chargebacks or fraud claims.

7. Your Data Rights

You have the right to:

• Request deletion of your personal data
• Correct or update your account information
• Opt out of non-essential emails (where applicable)

To request deletion, contact us at: support@nerd-notes.com Please note: deleted accounts may still have certain records retained for fraud, compliance, or billing reasons.

We do not currently support exporting or downloading user data.

8. California Privacy Rights

If you are a California resident, the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA, as amended by the CPRA) gives you additional rights over your personal information:

• Right to know – request the categories and specific pieces of personal information we have collected about you, the sources, and how we use and share them. The categories we collect are described in Sections 1 and 3.
• Right to delete – request deletion of your personal information, subject to the exceptions described in Section 7.
• Right to correct – request correction of inaccurate personal information.
• Right to opt out of sale or sharing – we do not sell personal information for money. Third-party advertising cookies used on our site (see Section 1.3) may constitute "sharing" for cross-context behavioral advertising under California law; you can opt out of these by disabling third-party cookies in your browser or by contacting us at the address in Section 14.
• Non-discrimination – we will not discriminate against you for exercising any of these rights.

To exercise these rights, email us at the address in Section 14 from the email associated with your account (which is how we verify your request). We will respond within 45 days.

9. International Users

Nerd Notes is operated from the United States and intended for users located in the United States. Your information is processed and stored in the United States as described in Section 4. If you access Nerd Notes from outside the United States, you understand that your information will be transferred to and processed in the United States, which may have different data-protection laws than your jurisdiction.

10. Children’s Privacy

Nerd Notes is intended for use by students aged 13 and above. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13 without parental consent. If you are a parent or guardian and believe your child has submitted personal data, please contact us so we can delete it.

If you are between 13 and 17, we encourage you to review this policy together with a parent or guardian.

11. Data Security

We take data security seriously and apply multiple layers of protection, including encryption, firewalls, and access controls. In the event of a data breach:

• Affected users will be notified within a reasonable time
• We will take all reasonable steps to mitigate damage
• We will work with appropriate authorities to investigate and respond

12. Links to Other Sites

Our platform may contain links to third-party websites (e.g., YouTube, external resources). We are not responsible for the content, policies, or practices of these external sites.

We recommend reviewing their privacy policies before submitting any information.

13. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy occasionally to reflect legal, technical, or service-related changes. All updates will be posted on this page with a new effective date.

For material changes, we may provide notice through the site or by email (if available).

You are encouraged to check this page periodically.

14. Contact Us

If you have questions about this Privacy Policy or your data, contact:

Email: support@nerd-notes.com Web: https://nerd-notes.com