Privacy policy

Student accounts and app practice

Student accounts use a verified email, first name, account identifier, study plan, practice history, and progress. Practice history includes your answers, whether they were correct, time spent, hint and tutor use, and questions you mark or revisit.

At sign-up we ask for your birthday to confirm you are at least 13 and to decide whether optional ad measurement can be offered. We keep only the results of those checks. The app sends your name and birthday with the request for a sign-up code, and the birthday is removed when your account is created. If you request a sign-up code but don’t finish creating your account, we remove that name and birthday within two days of your last sign-up attempt.

App purchases are processed by Apple or Google. We verify purchases directly with the store. Web payments are processed by Stripe. Purchase identifiers and access dates let the same student use Premium across devices.

App analytics

The app sends usage events to our servers so we can understand sign-in, onboarding, practice, ads, purchases, and reliability. Events include details such as the screen or action, a question ID and whether the answer was correct, time spent, time zone, platform, app version, a random install ID, and a session ID. Our server replaces the install and session IDs with keyed hashes. When you are signed in, the server also stores a keyed hash of your account ID with each event, so those events are tied to your account.

Events do not contain your name, email address, the answer you chose, tutor messages, or other free text. Analytics are on in every release of the app, and there is no setting to turn them off. Events are deleted after 13 months. Events tied to your account are deleted when you delete your account.

Ads and ad measurement

Free accounts in the iOS and Android app see ads from Google AdMob. Watching a rewarded ad unlocks the day’s first practice set, and the rest of that day’s free sets open with a full-screen ad between sets. A full-screen ad also plays before reviewing a set’s answers. Premium accounts see no ads. Each time the iOS or Android app opens, it checks Google’s ad consent status and, where allowed, starts the Google Mobile Ads SDK, so Google may receive device identifiers, IP address, and technical information even if you never see an ad. Ad requests ask for non-personalized ads with an age-appropriate content rating. Rewards are verified with a random code, not your name or email. Where the law requires it, for example in the EEA and UK, Settings shows Ad privacy choices.

Students who were 16 or older when they created their account can turn on Ad measurement in Settings. It is off by default. On iPhone, the system then asks for tracking permission, and measurement starts only if you allow it. While it is on, the app sends these events to Meta and to Google Analytics for Firebase to measure our ad campaigns: app opened, account created, signed in, Premium page viewed, checkout started, and purchase completed, with the product, price, and currency for checkout and purchase events. These providers also receive device identifiers, including the advertising identifier, and IP address. Google Analytics for Firebase also records its standard app events, such as session start, while the setting is on. Study answers, skill performance, and tutor content are not sent to these providers. Turning the setting off stops new events.

On iPhone, the app also asks Apple for an Apple Ads attribution token, whether or not Ad measurement is on, so we can tell which Apple Ads campaign, if any, led to the install. Our server exchanges the token with Apple and stores a hash of the token, the campaign details, and a hashed install ID. The raw token is not stored.

Web purchases for a student

A parent or student can buy Premium on the web with the student’s email before signing in. Stripe receives the student’s email and the payer’s email to process the payment and send the receipt. If no student account uses that email yet, we hold the purchase with the email address until the student creates an account with it, and attach it then.

Free website practice

The skill check saves your selected answers in this browser for seven days so you can return to them. Clearing browser data removes them. It does not send these answers to a parent account. No advertising service is loaded in this website skill check.

Information we handle

• Study-plan choices: exam, optional learner first name, test date, target scores, daily study time, and focus. The free builder saves a draft in your browser for seven days. For existing annual accounts, saving a starting plan stores those choices with the account and learner.
• Guardian and account information: name, email address, account identifiers, learner relationship, and support messages.
• Purchase information: order status, receipt or transaction identifiers, access status, and billing details made available by Stripe. Hourly Learning does not receive your full payment-card number.
• Learner information: first name, graduation year, test focus, goals, answers, accuracy, response time, study activity, streaks, and tutor questions and responses.
• Learning estimates: skill proficiency, retention, recommended practice, predicted score range, and confidence in that range.
• Guarantee requests: parent-supplied exam scores and dates, the selected exam, enrollment details, dated study logs, confirmations, and correspondence needed to review a claim.
• Technical information: browser or device type, IP address, app version, diagnostics, security events, and necessary cookie or local storage data.

How we use information

We use information to:

• save requested study plans and respond to information you voluntarily send to support;
• create accounts, verify access, and operate the learner and guardian services;
• adapt study plans, schedule review, explain questions, and measure progress;
• provide the reports included with existing annual family accounts;
• process purchases, issue access, prevent fraud, and provide support;
• review guarantee eligibility and refund claims using submitted information and relevant study records;
• send requested service messages and study reminders;
• protect the service and investigate errors or misuse; and
• evaluate and improve content, accessibility, tutor quality, and reliability.

AI tutor

Premium includes an AI tutor and AI hints. They use DeepSeek, an AI service run by Hangzhou DeepSeek Artificial Intelligence Co., Ltd., which processes these requests for us as a service provider. Before your first tutor message or AI hint, the app asks for your permission to send this information to DeepSeek. Nothing is sent to DeepSeek until you allow it.

DeepSeek processes tutor and hint requests on servers in the People’s Republic of China. If you allow the AI tutor, the information below is transferred to China, which may not have data protection laws equivalent to those where you live. We send it only so DeepSeek can write the tutor’s replies and hints, and we send only what is listed below.

When you open the tutor on a question you answered, we send DeepSeek the question and answer choices, your answer and whether it was correct, the correct answer and explanation, the recent messages in that tutor conversation, and your new message. An AI hint before you answer sends only the question. We do not send your name or email address. Please don’t include personal information in tutor messages.

We store your tutor messages and the tutor’s replies with your account and delete them after 30 days, counted from the start of that conversation. We keep learning signals from the conversation, such as whether you showed understanding and the type of mistake, as part of your practice history. AI hints are not stored.

You can withdraw permission in Settings. The tutor and AI hints then stop sending anything to DeepSeek. Withdrawing does not delete earlier conversations; they are still deleted on the 30-day schedule.

AI replies can be wrong. You can report a reply with the Report button. A report keeps a copy of the reply, the reason, and any note you add for up to 365 days so we can review it. Learner tutor content is not used for targeted advertising or sold to data brokers.

Existing family accounts

Guardians connected to existing annual learner accounts receive learning summaries and support-dependence signals needed to guide study. Hourly Learning does not routinely place full tutor conversations in the guardian dashboard.

Score-guarantee review

Authorized support staff review the scores and study log supplied by the family together with relevant study history and completed work. Full tutor transcripts are not required for a claim. Supply numeric scores and dates as text; do not send official-account passwords, test questions, or score-report screenshots. Claim information is used to administer the guarantee, handle appeals, and prevent fraud, not as a testimonial or marketing result without separate permission.

When information is shared

We may share limited information with:

• service providers that support hosting, payments, communications, AI tutoring (DeepSeek, which processes requests in China), analytics, security, and customer support;
• advertising and measurement partners as described above: Google AdMob for ads in the free app, and Meta and Google Analytics for Firebase only when Ad measurement is on;
• the guardian connected to an existing annual learner account, as covered by that account’s terms;
• authorities or other parties when required by law or needed to protect safety and rights; and
• a successor in a merger, financing, reorganization, or sale, subject to this policy.

We do not sell account contact information or learning content. We do not use answers, progress, or tutor conversations for targeted advertising. Optional campaign measurement is limited to the events described above.

Retention and security

Some information has a set retention period: tutor messages and replies are deleted after 30 days, reports of AI replies after up to 365 days, app analytics events after 13 months, and the name and birthday from an unfinished sign-up within two days. Otherwise, we keep information for as long as reasonably needed to provide the service, maintain learning history, meet legal and accounting obligations, resolve disputes, and protect the service. We delete or de-identify information when it is no longer needed, subject to lawful retention requirements and backup cycles.

We use administrative, technical, and organizational safeguards designed to protect personal information. No storage or transmission method can be guaranteed completely secure.

Learners and families

Hourly Prep is for students age 13 or older. Students create their own accounts and can buy Premium in the app or on the web; students under 18 should get permission from a parent or guardian before buying. Some existing annual accounts were set up and are managed by a guardian. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If you believe a child under 13 has provided information, contact us so we can review and delete it as appropriate.

Your choices

Students and guardians may request access, correction, export, or deletion of their information. We may need to verify the requester and may retain limited records when required by law or needed for security and transaction integrity.

Students can delete their Hourly Prep account in the app under Profile, Delete account (steps at hourlyprep.com/delete-account). This deletes the profile, study plan, practice history, progress, tutor conversations, AI tutor permission and reports, the Ad measurement choice, and app events tied to the account, and cancels any monthly web plan. Records of completed purchases are kept without a name or email address so refunds, taxes, and store records stay correct. A parent-managed account is deleted on request by email.

Your Hourly Learning sign-in is shared with other Hourly Learning apps, such as LyricLearn. Deleting your Hourly Prep account removes Hourly Prep details from that sign-in but does not delete the sign-in itself or your information in those other apps. To delete the shared sign-in too, email us.

To make a privacy request or ask a question, email [email protected] from the email address on the account when possible.

Changes

We may update this policy as Hourly Learning changes. The current version and effective date will remain posted here. We will provide additional notice when a material change requires it.