Privacy policy

Last updated: 29 October 2026

This policy explains what information EduSmart collects when you use the EduSmart app (Android and iOS) and the website at www.edusmart.africa, why we need it, and how you can see, change or delete it. It is written for learners and for their parents and guardians.

EduSmart Africa ("EduSmart", "we", "us") runs the app and the website. If you have a question about this policy, email hello@edusmart.africa.

In short: we collect only what we need to give you lessons and track your progress. We don't show ads, we don't sell your information, and we don't use tracking or advertising tools. You can delete your account at any time.

What we collect

When you create an account

Information	Why we need it	Required?
First and last name	To set up your account and show your name in the app	Yes
Phone number or email address	So you can sign in and recover your account	One of the two
Password	To keep your account safe. We store it only in scrambled (hashed) form, so nobody at EduSmart can read it	Yes
Country, curriculum and form or grade	To show the right subjects and lessons for you	Yes
School name	To group learners by school and help schools support their learners	No
Whether you are 18 or older	To know if a parent or guardian must agree	Yes
Parent or guardian's name and phone number, and the date they agreed	For learners under 18, so we have a record that a parent or guardian agreed	Yes, for under-18s

When you use EduSmart

• Your learning progress: lessons you finish, your answers to practice questions, scores, points, streaks and your daily goal. This lets the app show your progress, bring back questions you got wrong, and keep your progress when you change phones.
• Questions you ask Lisa, the AI tutor (EduSmart Plus), including any homework photo you choose to send her on the website. We pass them to our AI provider to get Lisa's answer. We don't keep your questions, photos or Lisa's answers on our servers. We only count how many questions you ask each day, to apply the daily limit.
• Plus codes you redeem and when your Plus access ends.
• Payments on the website: if you pay for something on www.edusmart.africa, the payment is handled by Linkwa (EcoCash and other mobile money). We send Linkwa your name and what you're paying for. Linkwa asks for the phone number you pay with. We receive only whether the payment worked, the amount and a reference, never your mobile money PIN or card details. The app itself doesn't take payments.
• Your phone's make and model (for example "Samsung Galaxy A14"), saved with each sign-in to help keep your account secure.
• Basic technical records that our servers keep for security and to fix problems, such as the time of a request and any error.

What we don't collect

We don't collect your location, contacts, files, microphone recordings or advertising ID, and we don't look at the photos on your phone. The only photos we handle are homework photos you choose to send to Lisa. We don't use analytics, advertising or tracking tools in the app or on the website.

Phone permissions

• Internet: to download study packs, sign in and save your progress online.
• Camera (optional): only to scan the QR code on an EduSmart Plus card. The picture stays on your phone and is never saved or sent. You can type the code instead.

How we use your information

We use your information only to:

• create and manage your account and let you sign in
• give you lessons, practice and the right content for your curriculum
• save your progress and show it to you
• answer your questions through Lisa (Plus)
• turn on Plus when you redeem a code, and process payments made on the website
• keep EduSmart safe, stop misuse and fix problems
• reply when you contact us

We don't use your information for advertising, and we don't sell it or rent it to anyone.

Who we share it with

We share information only with companies that help us run EduSmart, and only what they need:

• Microsoft Azure hosts our servers and database, where your account and progress are stored.
• Anthropic and Microsoft Azure OpenAI Service provide the AI models behind Lisa. When a Plus learner asks Lisa for help, we send the question (and any homework photo), the subject or lesson it is about, and the learner's first name, learning pace and weaker topics (so the explanation fits them). We never send surnames, phone numbers, email addresses or school names. Under their business terms, these providers don't use this information to train their models.
• Linkwa handles payments made on the website (see above).

These companies may handle your information only on our instructions and must keep it safe.

We will also share information if the law requires it, or to protect the safety of a learner or the public.

If your school gave you a Plus code, the school does not get access to your answers or your Lisa questions.

Children and young learners

EduSmart is made for school learners, many of whom are under 18.

• Learners under 18 can only create an account if a parent or guardian agrees. The app asks for the parent or guardian's name and phone number and records the date and wording they agreed to. The website asks for the same details when a learner signs up there.
• We collect only what is needed to teach and track progress. We never show ads to learners and never sell their information.
• Lisa, the AI tutor, is set up to stay on school topics and has safety filters.
• A parent or guardian can ask to see, correct or delete their child's information at any time by emailing hello@edusmart.africa from the phone number or email on the account, or by giving the learner's name and the guardian phone number we hold.

If you believe a child is using EduSmart without a parent or guardian's agreement, email us and we will delete the account.

How long we keep it

We keep your information while your account is open. When you delete your account, we delete your account, your profile and your progress within 30 days. Records of payments made on the website may be kept for as long as tax and accounting laws require. Backups are overwritten within a further 30 days. We may keep a short record that an account was deleted, and anything the law requires us to keep.

Information on your phone

The app stores your study packs, progress and sign-in details on your phone so it can work without internet. Sign-in details are kept in your phone's secure storage. Choosing Sign out of this phone removes that learner's details from the phone.

The website stores your sign-in details in your browser's local storage so you stay signed in. It doesn't use advertising or tracking cookies.

Keeping it safe

All information is sent over an encrypted connection (HTTPS). Passwords are hashed. Access to our database is limited to the staff who need it. No system is perfectly secure, but we work to protect your information and will tell you if a breach affects you.

Your rights and choices

You can:

• See and change your profile details in the app (Settings).
• Delete your account in the app (Settings → Delete my account) or by following the steps on our account deletion page.
• Ask for a copy of your information, or ask us to correct it, by emailing hello@edusmart.africa.
• Withdraw consent (for a parent or guardian) by asking us to delete the learner's account.

We reply within 30 days. These rights apply wherever you live, including under Zimbabwe's Cyber and Data Protection Act, South Africa's POPIA and similar laws.

If you are unhappy with how we handled your information, please contact us first. You can also complain to your country's data protection authority (in Zimbabwe, the Postal and Telecommunications Regulatory Authority, POTRAZ).

International transfers

Our app and website servers run on Microsoft Azure in South Africa. Questions to Lisa are processed by Anthropic and Microsoft, which may process them in other countries, including the United States. Where information leaves your country, we make sure it is protected by contract.

Changes to this policy

If we change this policy, we'll update the date at the top. If the change is important, we'll tell you in the app before it takes effect.

Contact us

EduSmart Africa Email: hello@edusmart.africa Website: www.edusmart.africa