Privacy Policy
App: Sitbeside
Published by: Peter N
Contact: support@sitbesideapp.com
Last updated: October 6, 2026
Sitbeside is a study app for high school students. This page explains what the app keeps, what it sends, and who can see it. The short version:
- Your classes, notes and results stay on your phone unless you create an account. An account is optional; if you make one, a copy is kept on our server so you can get it back on another phone.
- When you ask the app to read a page, build a practice test or check an answer, that material is sent to an AI service to do the work. It is not used for advertising and is not sold.
- There are no ads, no tracking and no analytics in the app.
What stays on your phone
Without an account, the app stores these on your device only. They are not uploaded to us and we cannot see them. (With an account, see "Your account" below.)
- Your school name, grade and course system.
- Your classes, tests and timetable.
- Notes you scan, photograph, type or import, including the photos themselves.
- Practice tests you take, your answers, and your list of mistakes.
- Which homework items you have ticked off, and your reminder time.
Without an account, deleting the app deletes all of it. We have no copy, so we cannot restore it.
What is sent off your phone, and why
Some features need an AI model to do their work. When you use one, the app sends only what that feature needs:
| When you… | The app sends… |
|---|
| Scan or add a photo of notes | That photo, with your class name and the topics of that class, so the writing can be read |
| Upload a photo or file of a timetable | That photo, or the text of that file |
| Start a practice test | The text of your notes for that class, the test's name and topics, your grade and course system (AP, A Level or IB), and your past mistakes in that class |
| Check a short answer | The question, the model answer and what you typed |
| Add mistakes from a graded page or a missed question | That photo or text, with your class name, your grade and course system, and the topic names already used in that class |
| Do a daily review | The mistakes being reviewed |
| Ask a question about your notes | Your question, the conversation so far, the text of your notes for that class, your grade and course system |
This material goes to our server, which passes it to Google's Gemini API to be processed, and the result comes back to your phone.
- Our server does not store your notes, photos or answers. It keeps brief technical records (such as the size of a request and how long it took) to keep the service working.
- Google processes the material to produce the result. We use Google's paid API, under terms that say this content is not used to improve Google's products. Google may keep it for a limited period to detect abuse, as described in its own terms.
- As with any internet service, the companies that carry these requests (our hosting provider, Cloudflare, and Google) can see your device's IP address while a request is made.
Your school name is not sent. Your name is never asked for. Please do not put personal details about yourself or other people in the notes you scan.
Your account
Creating an account is optional. If you create one:
- We ask for your birthday to check that you are old enough. Only the year is stored. If the birthday is under 13, nothing is sent to us and no account is made.
- One email address can have one account.
- When you create an account we email a code to that address so you can confirm it is yours. Confirming is optional, but an unconfirmed account can be lost: if the address is wrong, a forgotten password cannot be reset, and whoever owns the address could take the account. We store whether the address has been confirmed. The code is sent through the same mail service as password codes (Resend).
- We store your email address and your password. The password is kept only in a scrambled form (a salted hash); we cannot read it.
- We store a copy of what you have added to the app: your school name, grade and course system, your classes, tests and timetable, your notes and the photos of scanned pages, your practice results and your mistakes. This is so it can be restored on another phone.
- This copy is kept on our server, hosted by Cloudflare in the United States, and is sent over an encrypted connection. It is used only to give your data back to you. It is not used for advertising, not sold, and not read by us except where needed to fix a problem you report.
- Your school calendar link is never stored in your account. Assignment titles from your calendar are sent only if you use Seatmates (below).
- Delete account in the Me tab removes your account and everything stored in it from our server straight away. What is on your phone stays until you delete the app.
- If you forget your password, we email a code to the address on your account so you can choose a new one. That email is sent through a mail service (Resend), which is given only your email address and the code.
You must be 13 or older to create an account.
Seatmates
Seatmates lets you show parts of your work to people you choose: a tutor, a teacher or a friend. It is off until you use it, and it needs an account.
- You connect with another student, a tutor or a teacher by giving them a one-time code, or entering theirs. There is no search and no public list: nobody can find you, and nobody is connected to you until you have given them a code and then accepted them by name.
- For each person, you choose what they can see: your due assignments, your upcoming tests, your topics and scores, and your mistakes (the questions, both answers and the explanation). A tutor or teacher starts with all four on; a classmate starts with nothing. You can change this or remove the person at any time.
- Anyone you connect with, or who asks to connect, sees the name you chose and your picture. The picture is either an emoji and a colour, or a photo you choose from your library.
- If you choose a photo, the app sends a small copy of it to our server. Before anyone else can see it, it is checked automatically by Google's Gemini API to make sure it is suitable; a photo that is not suitable is refused and not kept. An accepted photo is stored on our server until you change or remove it, or delete your account. If someone reports you, a copy of your photo is sent to us with the report. Without an account, your photo stays on your phone.
- Seatmates you have accepted can also see your profile: the name you chose, your school, grade and course system, the names of your classes, and an optional line you write about yourself. You can hide your profile from everyone with one switch, in which case it is not sent to our server at all, or hide it from particular people.
- Your notes, the photos of your pages and your school calendar link are never shown to seatmates.
- To make this work, the app sends our server the name you choose to show, your profile (unless hidden), and a summary of those four things, including the titles of assignments from your school calendar. The summary is kept only while you are sharing with at least one person, and each seatmate is sent only the parts you switched on for them.
- There is no messaging in the app.
- Removing a seatmate, or deleting your account, ends their access straight away.
- You can block a seatmate. That ends the connection and stops them connecting with you again. They are not told. Our server keeps a note of who you blocked, with the name they were using, so that the block holds and you can lift it later.
- You can report a seatmate. A report goes to the people who run Sitbeside. It holds the reason you chose, anything you wrote, who sent it and who it is about, and a copy of what that person was showing you at the time (their name and, if they had switched them on for you, their profile and work). It is emailed to us through the same mail service that sends password codes (Resend). The person you report is not told who reported them. Reports are deleted after 180 days, or sooner if either of the two accounts is deleted.
- Seatmates must not be used to bully, harass or impersonate anyone, or to show anything offensive in a name or profile. After a report we may turn Seatmates off for an account, or close the account. Turning Seatmates off removes that person's connections; their own classes, notes and mistakes are not affected. A closed account cannot be signed in to, and its email address is kept so that it cannot be used to register again. To ask for a closed account's data to be deleted, or if you think a decision was a mistake, write to us at the address below.
Only connect with people you know and trust, and only share a code with the person it is for.
Your school calendar
If you connect your school calendar, you give the app a private link from your school's website.
- The link is stored securely on your phone and is never sent to us.
- The app fetches your calendar directly from your school. It reads class times, day types, days off and assignment titles.
- Tapping Disconnect removes the link and everything fetched with it.
Treat that link like a password: anyone who has it can see your schedule.
Camera, photos, files and notifications
The app asks for these only when you use the feature that needs them.
- Camera: to scan pages.
- Photos and files: only the items you pick.
- Notifications: for the daily review reminder and for new homework alerts, if you turn them on. Both are created on your phone: for homework alerts the app checks your school calendar itself, in the background, and nothing is sent to us.
What we do not do
- We do not sell or share your information with advertisers or data brokers.
- We do not show ads.
- We do not track you across apps or websites.
- We do not build a profile of you.
Younger users
The app is intended for high school students and is not directed at children under 13. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If you are under 18, please use the app with a parent's or guardian's knowledge.
Your choices
- You can use the app without scanning anything personal.
- You can edit or delete any note, class, test or mistake in the app.
- You can disconnect your school calendar at any time.
- Deleting the app removes everything stored on your phone.
If you have no account, we hold no copy of your data, so there is nothing for us to look up, export or delete on our side. If you have an account, you can delete it and its data yourself in the Me tab, or write to us at the address below and we will do it.
Changes to this policy
If the app starts handling information differently, this page will be updated before those features are released, and the date at the top will change.
Contact
Questions about privacy: support@sitbesideapp.com