Accounts and security
We store your name, email address, password hash, account creation time and email verification status. We use these to provide accounts, verify email ownership, sign you in and help you reset your password.
Verification codes, reset tokens and login sessions have expiry limits. Passwords are hashed; verification codes are protected with a server-held key. Do not share your password or verification code.
Your study activity and contributions
When signed in, paper views and downloads may be saved to My Papers. Comments and replies you post in paper discussions are visible to other visitors with your account name. Uploaded papers and tutor CVs may be reviewed by the administrator; avoid including unnecessary private information.
Contact messages and tutors
Contact forms collect the name, email address and message you submit. Tutor applications collect your teaching profile, contact details and any CV you upload. Tutor requests record your account, the tutor selected and the optional study context you provide.
We use these records to respond, review applications and help arrange contact. Private tutor contact information and CVs are not published in the public directory. Tutors may receive information needed to arrange a request; do not include sensitive personal information in the study context.
Emails and announcements
We send verification, password reset, account and request messages to support the features you use. Announcement preferences are shown during signup and can be changed in your account. Announcements go only to verified subscribed addresses and include an unsubscribe link.
Gmail API delivers TZStudies messages. Only the administrator authorizes the sending mailbox, with send-only permission; this does not give TZStudies access to your Gmail inbox. Delivery records help manage retries and avoid duplicates. Email bodies, reset links and attachments are removed from the outbox after delivery or final failure.
AI study questions
If you use the AI Study Assistant, your question is sent to OpenAI to generate an explanation. Do not enter passwords, contact details or other private information in study questions. Treat AI answers as a study aid and check important answers against your notes or teacher's guidance.
Payments
PayPal handles checkout when payment options are enabled. A screen labelled Sandbox is a test with fake money. TZStudies stores order information such as the account, item, amount, currency, status, provider references and timestamps; it does not store full card numbers, CVVs or mobile-money PINs.
Service providers and external sites
Render hosts the website, Supabase stores the application database, and Redis supports shared rate limits and background email coordination. Google provides email delivery and web fonts; OpenAI provides AI explanations, and PayPal provides checkout. These providers process information needed for their services and may operate outside your country.
Hosting and service providers may process connection details such as IP addresses and technical logs to deliver and secure their services. Links to external resources or tutors lead to services with their own privacy practices.
Retention and your choices
We retain account, request and transaction records as needed to operate the service, respond to requests, prevent abuse and meet applicable obligations. There is no promise here of automatic deletion after a fixed period. Access to private records is restricted to authorized administration and server processes.
Use the contact form to ask about access, correction or deletion of your information, or to raise a privacy concern. We may need to verify account ownership before acting. Parents or guardians can contact us about a child's account. Avoid posting a child's private information in public discussions.
Changes and contact
We may update this policy when the website or its data practices change. The date above identifies this version. Contact TZStudies using the website contact form if you have a question about this policy.