Privacy Policy

Effective Date: 2026-10-08

1. Introduction & Scope

PhD Progress Tracker ("we", "our", "us") is committed to protecting your privacy. This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, disclose, and safeguard your information when you use our web application and related services. This policy applies to all users of PhD Progress Tracker, including students, supervisors, and collaborators.

2. Information We Collect

We process account details, academic role, organization membership, optional profile photos and the research content you save or share. This includes assignments, progress, reviews, versioned research records and publication metadata. Authentication is handled by Supabase; we do not store plaintext passwords. Operational logs and essential session/language/theme preferences support security and service delivery. Paddle processes checkout and payment details; we receive the transaction and subscription information needed to manage access.

3. How We Use Your Information

We use the information we collect to: • Provide, maintain, and improve the PhD Progress Tracker service. • Authenticate your identity and manage your account. • Enable collaboration features between students and supervisors. • Generate progress reports based on your research data. • Send notifications related to your tasks, vivas, and meetings. • Respond to your support requests and inquiries.

4. Data Storage & Security

Application records and saved manuscript sections use Supabase. Local manuscript files and frozen release archives use your browser storage unless you explicitly use an available hosted feature or share/export them. Access is checked by account, workspace and resource permissions; sharing may allow authorized collaborators to read your content. Profile photos are re-encoded without original image metadata and stored privately. Keep independent exports, since clearing browser data may remove local files. No system can guarantee absolute security or uninterrupted availability.

5. Data Sharing & Third Parties

We do not sell your personal data. Data is disclosed to the collaborators and verified guests you authorize and to providers needed for enabled features: Supabase, Vercel, Modal, Cloudflare, the selected AI provider/Gateway, Resend, Zoho, Paddle and 8x8/JaaS. Only features you use require their relevant processing; provider configuration and funding may limit availability. AI requests include your prompt and bounded authorized context, rather than automatically reading all research or chat. Calls and peer connections may share participant identity, the chosen photo and connection metadata. Providers may process data in other countries under their applicable terms. We may disclose information when legally required or necessary to address abuse and security incidents.

6. Your Rights

You may request access, correction, export or deletion of your personal information and exercise rights available under applicable law by contacting support. Account settings provide relevant self-service controls. Removing your account does not automatically erase collaborators’ lawful shared records or copies already exported by others. Optional email preferences can be changed without disabling essential authentication or transaction messages.

7. Data Retention

We retain active account and shared research records as needed to provide the service and meet applicable legal obligations. Account and file deletion uses retryable cleanup; shared history may be retained or de-identified where appropriate. Demo access ends six hours after creation, followed by cleanup of temporary records. Backups, required transaction/security records and copies previously downloaded by others may persist according to their applicable retention periods. Contact support for the retention details relevant to your data.

8. Children's Privacy

PhD Progress Tracker is designed for academic researchers and is not intended for use by individuals under the age of 16. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children. If we become aware that a child has provided us with personal data, we will take steps to delete such information.

9. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. We will notify registered users of any material changes via in-app notification or email. The "Effective Date" at the top of this page indicates when the policy was last revised.

10. Contact Us

If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy, please contact us at: • Support: support@phdpt.com • General Inquiries: contact.us@phdpt.com
Privacy Policy | PhD Progress Tracker