1. Information We Collect
Study Compass is designed to function with minimal data collection. We do not require account registration, and we do not ask for your name, email address, or any other personal identifier to use our free tools. However, we do collect certain non-identifying technical information automatically when you visit:
- Anonymous usage data: aggregate page views, tool interactions, and rough geographic region (country-level), collected via privacy-friendly analytics.
- Theme preference: the cozy theme you select (Morning, Night, Library, or Nature) is stored locally in your browser — see Section 4.
- Form submissions: if you voluntarily contact us through our contact form, your name, email, and message are transmitted to our email via a third-party form processor (see Section 5).
2. How We Use Your Information
We use the limited information we collect for the following purposes: to operate and maintain the website, to improve our tools and blog content based on aggregated usage patterns, to respond to your support inquiries and feedback, to display relevant advertising that supports our free tools, and to comply with applicable legal obligations. We never sell your personal information to anyone.
3. Google AdSense & Third-Party Advertising
Study Compass is a free, ad-supported website. We participate in Google AdSense, a service provided by Google LLC that displays ads on our site. Google AdSense and its approved third-party vendors may use cookies and similar technologies to serve ads based on your prior visits to our website and other websites on the internet.
Specifically, Google's use of advertising cookies enables it and its partners to serve ads to you based on your visit to our site and/or other internet sites. You may opt out of personalized advertising by visiting Google's Ads Settings page, the aboutads.info opt-out page, or by permanently installing the Google Opt-out browser add-on.
Third-party vendors and ad networks that serve ads through Google AdSense may also use cookies to measure ad performance and serve more relevant ads. These vendors include, but are not limited to, Google's advertising partners listed in the Google Advertising Cookies policy.
4. Cookies & Local Storage
Study Compass uses two types of browser storage. The first is localStorage, which we use to remember your selected study theme (Morning Focus, Night Study, Library Mode, or Nature Mode). This data is stored entirely in your browser, never transmitted to our servers, and contains only the keyword of your selected theme. You can clear this at any time by clearing your browser's site data.
The second is cookies, set primarily by Google AdSense and our analytics provider. These cookies may include identifiers used to display personalized ads and to track aggregate traffic. You can control or delete cookies through your browser settings. Disabling cookies will not prevent you from using our study tools — it will only disable personalized advertising and certain analytics features.
5. Third-Party Vendors
We rely on trusted third-party services to operate the website. These include:
- Google AdSense — advertising (see Section 3).
- Google Fonts — typography; may log your IP address when fonts are requested.
- Formspree — processes our contact form submissions and forwards them to our email.
- Payhip — handles all premium product purchases; payment card data is processed by Payhip's PCI-compliant provider and never touches our servers.
- Privacy-friendly analytics — aggregate, anonymous traffic measurement (no cross-site tracking).
Each third-party vendor has its own privacy policy governing how they process data. We encourage you to review their policies.
6. Premium Purchases
Our premium digital products (Student Reset Planner, Digital Habit Trackers, and Google Sheets Budget & Spending Tracker) are sold through our Payhip storefront. When you click a "Get the product" button, you leave Study Compass and are subject to Payhip's terms and privacy policy. We receive your email address and order details from Payhip solely to deliver your purchased files and provide customer support. We do not store your payment information.
7. Children's Privacy
Study Compass is intended for students aged 13 and older, including university and adult learners. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If you believe a child under 13 has provided us with personal information, please contact us using the details in Section 10 and we will promptly delete it.
8. Your Rights
Depending on your jurisdiction (e.g., GDPR in the EU/UK, CCPA in California), you may have the right to: access the personal data we hold about you, request correction or deletion of your data, object to or restrict certain processing, and withdraw consent to processing at any time. To exercise any of these rights, email us at the address in Section 10. We will respond within 30 days.
9. Changes to This Policy
We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our practices, technologies, or legal requirements. When we do, we will revise the "Last updated" date at the top of this page. We encourage you to review this policy periodically to stay informed about how we protect your information.
10. Contact Us
If you have any questions, concerns, or requests regarding this Privacy Policy or your personal data, please reach out through our contact page. We are committed to resolving any issue promptly and transparently.