Privacy Policy

Effective 17 September 2026 · Lagos, Nigeria

1. Who we are and what this covers

ScholarsNode Ink ("the app", "we", "us") is operated by ScholarsNode Edu Tech Limited, Lagos, Nigeria ("ScholarsNode"). This policy covers the Android app (package inv.futuresolutions.scholarsnode), the web app at ink.scholarsnode.ng and the Windows app, the servers behind them at api.scholarsnode.ng and live.scholarsnode.ng, and this website. Your ScholarsNode account is one account: the same sign-in and profile serve the Ink app and the rest of the ScholarsNode platform, and this policy describes what the Ink app reads from and writes to that account.

2. Guest use: what stays on your device

You can use the app without an account. As a guest, your drawings, layers, exported files and settings are stored only on your device: in the app's private storage on Android and Windows, and in your browser's own storage on the web. We do not create an account for you and we do not receive your sheets. A guest device still talks to our servers to load the app itself, brush packs and the extensions catalogue, so our servers see the ordinary technical details of those requests (section 11). Guests can sketch and join a room as a viewer but cannot sign in to rooms as a collaborator, sit CBTs, post reviews or subscribe to classes.

3. Your account

Sign-in. You sign in with Google. We ask Google for your name, email address, profile picture and account identifier only (the openid, profile and email scopes) and we never see your Google password. From that we create your ScholarsNode account and issue our own session tokens. On Android those tokens are encrypted with a key held in the device's hardware-backed keystore; on the web they live in your browser's storage for that site; on Windows they are held for the session.

Profile you add. Everything in Settings is optional and yours to fill or leave blank: phone number, date of birth, gender, nationality, state of origin, a bio and address; an academic profile (student ID, institution, faculty, department, course, level, admission year, expected graduation, CGPA, academic status); an emergency contact (name, relationship, phone, email, address); a display name and profile picture; and your preferences (notifications, display, privacy, study and accessibility settings). We store what you enter, as you enter it.

Points. Your account carries a points total and a rank from platform activity. They appear on your profile.

4. Enrollment and results

If you use the enrollment features you may record your UTME, WAEC and NECO enrollments (exam type and year, registration number, candidate name), your subject scores and grades, and your JAMB institution and programme choices. You may also photograph a UTME result slip or a school report card and let the assistant read it: the image is uploaded to our server and sent to our AI provider (section 9) to extract the enrollment and subject details, which are then saved to your account for you to check and correct. These are your records, entered or confirmed by you; we do not obtain them from JAMB, WAEC or NECO.

5. Your work: drawings, rooms and exports

Drawings stay on your device (section 2) unless you share them. When you go live as a host, your drawing is uploaded to the room: its layers and items become the room's shared sheet, and images embedded in it become files on our file service. Every stroke, move and edit made in the room by any participant is appended to that room record so late joiners catch up. When the room empties, its record is kept for two hours in case people come back, then deleted automatically. Files that were uploaded only for a room are marked temporary and are removed when they expire.

Exports to PNG and .ink are made on your device. Exports to PDF, PSD and DXF are made by our server: the app sends the drawing, the server converts it and returns the file, and nothing is kept.

Cloud sync (part of Pro) is not yet live. When it is, drawings you choose to sync will be stored on our servers, encrypted in transit, so they follow you across devices; this policy will say so on the day it launches.

6. Rooms, classes and voice

What participants see of you: your display name and profile picture, your strokes and cursor position, your chat messages and reactions, and your voice while your microphone is open. Hosts see the participants list and control the room. Chat and direct messages are relayed live between the people in the room and held only in the room's memory while it runs; they are not written to our database and disappear with the room.

Voice and video travel through our own media server, which we run ourselves. Voice is push-to-talk (the host may keep an open mic); you join muted and nothing is sent until you press to speak. Audio is relayed, not recorded. If the host switches on the voice filter, your audio is cleaned on our server in real time and discarded as it passes. If the host switches on live captions, speech is captioned on our own server and shown to the room as it happens; we do not keep the audio. The app has no recording feature. Anyone who records a room by other means needs the consent of the people in it.

Classes and rings. When you subscribe to a class we store the subscription and, when the host rings the class, a ring record for you: whether your device was reached, whether you answered or declined, and when. Your device reports that state back to us so the host can see who was reached.

7. Computer-based tests (CBT)

CBTs are set up by the school or exam body that gives you an access code ("the examiner"), on the ScholarsNode platform. When you join one we store: the code you used and when you joined; your subject choices and sitting settings; each sitting's answers, the order questions were served in, the time you took, your score, per-subject scores and the outcome; and a sitting log: the moments the app lost and regained focus during the paper, and the timing of your moves between questions and your answers. The examiner sees your name, your sitting, your results and that log. It exists so that an examiner can judge whether a sitting was fair, and so that you can review your own pace afterwards.

Secure sittings. While a paper marked secure is open on Android, the app blocks screenshots, screen recording, sharing and mirroring of its window. The web and Windows apps cannot enforce this and say so; the examiner's rules apply regardless.

Proctored sittings. Some examiners run proctored sittings. Before one starts you read and agree to a notice in the app that says exactly what that sitting collects; under 18, a parent or guardian agrees as well. In general: your camera and microphone are streamed live to the examiner's proctors and are not recorded; your surroundings, your screen and your device's internet use are monitored while you sit; before you start, pictures of your room, a few seconds of your voice and a face check against your identity photo may be taken; and everything your camera and microphone can see and hear is monitored throughout, by the proctors and by automated checks that only point things out for a person to review. Pictures, clips and the face check's picture are deleted after 180 days; your answers, your result and the proctors' notes stay with the sitting.

AI in CBT. Practice questions written when you miss one, explanations, the question chat, marking of short and free-text answers, and answer keys for imported papers that came without one are produced by an AI model (section 9). The model receives the question, its options, the correct answer where known, your answer and, in the chat, what you type; it does not receive your name, email or account identifier. Answer keys worked out by the model are marked as such in your review.

8. Extensions and reviews

Ratings and reviews you post on an extension (the CBT app, Science labs) are public inside the app: your display name, profile picture, stars, review text and votes on other reviews are shown to every user. You can edit or delete your review at any time. Science labs run entirely on your device; no experiment data is sent anywhere.

9. Artificial intelligence

AI features are provided through the API of Anthropic, PBC (the Claude models). We send only what the feature needs: for CBT, the question material and your answer; for the enrollment assistant, the slip or report-card image you chose to upload. We never send your name, email, account identifier or anything from your sheets. Anthropic processes API requests under its commercial terms and does not use them to train its models. AI output can be wrong; it is a study aid, not the examiner's paper, and we say so where it appears. We keep a log of each assistant job (which feature, when, whether it succeeded) for the admin panel's history.

10. Notifications

Notifications you receive in the app (rings, results, class notices) are stored with a read state so the list works. To reach your phone when the app is closed we use Firebase Cloud Messaging, a Google service: when you enable push we register your device's push token with our server together with the platform, device model and app version, and we send the ring or notice through Google's delivery network. A class ring is delivered as a call-style notification that can appear over other apps and sound through Do Not Disturb; that is what the "display over other apps" and "notification policy" permissions are for. You can unsubscribe from any class, and turning off notifications in your device settings stops push entirely.

11. Technical data, logs and crash reports

Our servers log the ordinary details of each request: your IP address, the time, the endpoint, the app version and, for signed-in requests, your account identifier. We use these logs to keep the service running, to find faults and to detect abuse, and we keep them for 90 days. The Android app declares the advertising-ID permission because we may add advertising later; this release includes no advertising or analytics SDK and reads no advertising identifier. If advertising is added, this policy and the Play Data safety form will say so first. Crash reporting is switched off in this release. If we switch it on, it will send crash reports to Sentry (device model, operating system version, app version, the stack trace and the sequence of screens before the crash; never your name or email), we will keep them for 90 days, and we will update this policy first.

12. Permissions the Android app asks for, and why

• Microphone — to speak in a room. Off until you press to talk; you can mute at any time.
• Camera — only when you show video in a room. Off by default; the host and you can turn it off at any time.
• Notifications — rings, results and class notices.
• Display over other apps and full-screen notifications — so a class ring can appear like an incoming call.
• Notification policy — so a ring you subscribed to can sound through Do Not Disturb.
• Bluetooth and audio settings — to route room audio to your headset or speaker, and in a proctored sitting to check which devices are near you.
• Location (older Android only, proctored sittings only) — the system requires it to check for nearby devices; your location is never read.
• Sensors (proctored sittings only) — to monitor your surroundings while you sit.
• Foreground service and wake lock — to keep a room's audio alive while the screen is off.
• Photos and files (Android 12 and below only) — to import an image onto the sheet or save an export. On newer Android the system picker is used instead and no permission is needed.
• Network state and vibration — to know when you are offline and to buzz on a ring.

The Android app does not ask for your contacts, your call log or your SMS, and asks for your location only where an older Android version requires it for a proctored sitting's nearby-devices check. On the web, your browser asks you before the microphone or camera is used.

13. Who sees what

Other users see your display name and profile picture in rooms, in the class participants list and on your reviews. They do not see your email address, phone number, date of birth, address, emergency contact, enrollment records or results. Hosts see who is in their room and who was reached by a ring. Examiners see, for their own CBT, your name and your sittings as described in section 7. Our staff can view and correct account data through the ScholarsNode admin panel to run the service and to answer your requests; every admin action is written to an audit log.

14. Who we share with

We share personal data only with the providers that make the app work, each receiving only what its task needs: Google (sign-in and Firebase push delivery); Anthropic (the AI features in section 9); Contabo GmbH, which hosts our servers; the Google Play store, which distributes the Android app and will handle Pro subscriptions when they launch; and, if ever enabled, Sentry for crash reports. Our media server is our own, not a third party. We may also share data with professional advisers under confidentiality, with a buyer if ScholarsNode is ever sold (your protections travel with the data), and with the authorities as section 15 describes. We do not sell personal data and we do not share it with advertisers.

15. Disclosure to schools, examiners, courts and law enforcement

Results and sitting logs belong to the examiner who administered the paper and are disclosed to them as a matter of course. Beyond that, we disclose personal data when the law requires it, on a court order or a lawful request from a competent authority, or where we reasonably believe disclosure is necessary to prevent or investigate fraud, cheating rings, threats to safety or other unlawful use of the service. Where the law forbids telling you, we will not.

16. Where your data lives

Our servers are hosted by Contabo in France, within the European Union. Google and Anthropic process the data described above in their own regions, including the United States. Transfers out of Nigeria are made under the safeguards the Nigeria Data Protection Act 2023 allows: to providers bound by contract to protect the data at least as well as this policy does. Wherever it sits, this policy follows it.

17. How long we keep it

• Account and profile data — while your account exists, then deleted within 30 days of your deletion request (section 19).
• Enrollment records, choices and results you entered — while your account exists, or until you delete them in the app.
• Room records and room files — two hours after the room empties, then deleted; temporary files at their expiry.
• Chat and direct messages — never stored; gone with the room.
• CBT sittings and results — for as long as the examiner keeps the CBT, because the record is theirs as well as yours; after your account is deleted, your name is removed from them.
• Reviews — until you delete them or your account.
• Push tokens — until you sign out, unregister or the token stops working.
• Server logs — 90 days. Crash reports (if enabled) — 90 days.
• Guest data — on your device until you clear the app's data, clear your browser's site data or uninstall.

18. Security

Everything between the app and our servers travels over HTTPS and secure WebSockets; media travels over encrypted WebRTC. Session tokens are encrypted at rest on Android. Secure CBT sittings block screen capture on Android. Access to production data is limited to the people who run the service and logged. No system is perfect: if a breach ever puts you at risk we will tell you, and we will notify the Nigeria Data Protection Commission within the time the Act requires.

19. Your rights and your choices

Under the Nigeria Data Protection Act 2023 you may ask what we hold about you, have it corrected, have it deleted, object to or restrict processing, and withdraw consent you gave for optional features. Most of your data you can edit or remove yourself in Settings and in the enrollment, results and reviews screens. To delete your account, follow the steps on our Delete account page; we act within 30 days. Two honest limits: CBT sittings remain with the examiner who administered them, with your name removed, and we keep what the law obliges us to keep. If you are unhappy with how we handle your data you may complain to the Nigeria Data Protection Commission; we will give you the references you need.

Choices. Push notifications and class subscriptions are yours to switch off. The microphone is off until you press to talk. Every profile field beyond your Google name and email is optional. You may use the app as a guest indefinitely.

20. Children and students under 18

The app is for students, and many students are under 18. We ask for no more than the app needs, we show no advertising, we build no marketing profiles and we do not sell data, whatever your age. Where a parent, guardian or school signs a child in or manages their account, they are responsible for that use and give the consent the Act requires; a school that runs a CBT or a class for its pupils is the controller of what it does with their results and participation. If you believe a child has given us more than the app needs, write to us and we will remove it.

21. Cookies and this website

This website sets no cookies and runs no analytics; its fonts and scripts are served from our own domain. The web app uses your browser's storage to keep your session and, for guests, your drawings; it sets no third-party cookies.

22. Changes and contact

If this policy changes in a way that matters we will tell you in the app before the change takes effect; the date at the top is always the current version. Questions and rights requests: support@scholarsnode.ng · Data Protection Officer, ScholarsNode Edu Tech Limited, Lagos, Nigeria.