Privacy policy

The short version

• Backpack only collects what it needs to show you your classes, assignments, and grades.
• We never sell your information or share it with advertisers.
• Free accounts see one small ad from Google at the bottom of the Study pages, on this website and in the phone app; Plus has no ads. Free tools you use without an account (like the grade calculator) show ads too. Ads never see your grades, classes or notes.
• Backpack is read-only with Canvas, Google Classroom and Google Calendar. It never turns work in, posts, or messages anyone. The one thing it changes: when you mark an assignment done in Backpack, it checks it off on your own Canvas To-Do list (and unchecks it if you undo). Only you see that checkmark; it doesn’t turn anything in.
• You must be 13 or older to use Backpack.
• You can delete your account and everything in it any time from Settings.

What we collect

• Account info: your name, email, and a scrambled (hashed) version of your password. If you sign in with Google, we store the ID Google gives us instead of a password.
• Canvas data: your classes, assignments, due dates, and grades, pulled from your school’s Canvas using the access token you paste in. The token is stored encrypted.
• Google Classroom data: if you connect Google Classroom, your classes, classwork, due dates, and grades, read with two view-only Google permissions (see your classes; see your classwork and grades). Backpack keeps the Google key encrypted and uses this data only to show you your own classes and work, work out your class percent, and send the alerts you turn on. It is never sold, shared, used for ads, or used to train AI, and disconnecting removes the key. Backpack’s use of information from Google APIs follows the Google API Services User Data Policy, including its Limited Use requirements.
• Google Drive files: if you add notes from Google Drive, Backpack reads only the files you pick (or the shared link you paste) once, to turn them into your notes. Picking files asks Google for permission to see just those files, never the rest of your Drive. Backpack doesn’t keep that permission, and it never changes, shares or deletes anything in your Drive. The notes it makes are stored like any other notes you add.
• Imported calendars: if you import a calendar (Google, Apple or Outlook) by pasting its iCal address, Backpack keeps that address encrypted and reads the calendar each time you open your Calendar, only to show you your own events. The events themselves are not stored, and removing the calendar deletes the address.
• Google Calendar data: if you sign in with Google to add your calendars, Backpack uses two view-only Google permissions (see the list of your calendars; see the events on them). It keeps the Google key encrypted, saves only which calendars you picked with the name and color you gave them, and reads their events each time you open your Calendar, only to show them to you next to your schoolwork. The events are not stored. This data is never sold, shared, used for ads, or used to train AI, and disconnecting removes the key. This also follows the Google API Services User Data Policy and its Limited Use requirements (linked above).
• Things you add: classes and assignments you type in, notes, study sets, calendar events, goals, and photos or files you upload for study help.
• AI usage: how many AI actions you use, so we can apply plan limits. If you add your own Anthropic key, it is stored encrypted.
• Device info for alerts: if you turn on push notifications, the subscription your browser gives us (or, in the phone app, a push token from Apple or Google) so we can send them.

How we use it

To run the app: show your assignments and grades, spot grade changes, build practice quizzes from your notes, and send the alerts you asked for. That’s it.

The phone app

• The iPhone and Android apps use the same account and the same rules as this website.
• Camera and photos: only used when you choose to take or pick a picture (a homework page, notes, a screenshot). Nothing is read in the background.
• Sign-in: the app keeps your sign-in in your phone’s secure storage (the iOS Keychain or Android Keystore). Your password is never stored on the phone.
• Chat history with the study helper stays on your phone.
• Ads: on a Free account the app shows one small Google ad at the bottom of the Study screens (never inside a test or on your cards), and, only if you tap it, a short video ad that earns one extra AI action after you have used up the month’s (up to 2 a day and 10 a month). Plus has no ads. They are non-personalized ads only (see Ads below).
• No tracking: the app never asks to track you, has no analytics, and does not track you across other apps or websites.
• Before the first AI feature, the app asks you to agree to sending what you choose to the AI company (OpenAI). You can take that back in Settings.

AI features

When you use a study tool (quiz, flashcards, explain, homework photo help), the notes or photo you chose are sent to the company that runs the AI model: OpenAI (GPT), or Anthropic (Claude) if you added your own Anthropic key. They process it to answer the request and do not use it to train their models. Backpack is built to help you learn, not to do graded work for you.

Ads

Ads come from Google AdSense. On a Free account, one ad sits at the bottom of the Study pages and a few other pages, under everything else, never inside a test or on top of your cards; Plus has no ads. Some tools, like the grade calculator, also work without an account, and people who aren’t signed in see an ad there (signed in, the calculator has none). We ask Google for non-personalized ads only, which means ads aren’t picked based on your browsing history, but Google may still use cookies to count and limit how often an ad shows and to stop fraud. Google only gets the page’s address: never your account, grades, classes, notes, or anything you type. Learn more in how Google uses cookies in advertising.

In the phone app, ads come from Google AdMob, again non-personalized only and only on Free accounts. To show an ad, count it and stop fraud, Google’s ad code on the phone gets basic device info such as the IP address, the kind of phone and app, and how you interact with the ad; on Android that includes the phone’s advertising ID, which you can reset or delete in Android settings. The iPhone app never asks to track you, so Apple’s advertising ID isn’t shared. When you choose to watch an ad for an extra AI action, the app also gives Google your Backpack account number (a random code, not your name or email) so Google can tell Backpack you finished the ad. Google never gets your name, email, grades, classes, notes, or anything you type. Learn more in how Google uses information from apps that use its services.

We also run ads for Backpack on Google. To learn which ads work, the pages you can see without an account (like the front page) and the welcome screen right after sign-up load Google’s measurement tag; it counts visits and new accounts, with ad personalization turned off. It never runs inside the signed-in app and never gets your name, grades, classes or notes.

Who can see your data

• You. Only you can see your classes, grades, and notes.
• People you share with. If you share a study set or a bell schedule, others can see that set or schedule under your username. Nothing else comes with it.
• Services that run Backpack: Vercel (hosting), Neon (database), Vercel Blob (file storage), Anthropic and OpenAI (AI), Stripe (Plus payments; Backpack never sees your card number), Resend (password-reset emails, and the daily alert email if you turn it on), and Expo (delivers phone-app notifications through Apple and Google). They store or process data only to provide the service.
• Google AdSense (website) and Google AdMob (phone app) show the ads (see Ads above). They never get your name, email, classes, grades, or notes.
• The Backpack admin can see account names and emails, plan level, whether Canvas is connected and syncing, AI usage counts and any feedback you send, in order to run the app. Not your grades or notes.
• We do not sell data or share it with advertisers, and we do not share it with your school.

Age

Backpack is for students 13 and older. We do not knowingly collect information from anyone under 13. If you believe a child under 13 has an account, contact us and we will delete it.

Your choices

• Disconnect Canvas, Google Classroom or Google Calendar any time in Settings (Google Calendar: Your calendars → Disconnect), and the token or key is removed. Canvas and Google Classroom classes and classwork are removed too (your notes and study sets stay). You can also remove Backpack from your Google account at myaccount.google.com.
• Turn off alerts in Settings or in your phone’s notification settings. The daily alert email is off unless you turn it on, and every one has a link to turn it off.
• Delete your account in Settings → Account. This removes your account, classes, assignments, notes, study sets, uploads, and alerts right away.

Security

Connections are encrypted (HTTPS). Canvas tokens, Google Classroom and Google Calendar keys, imported calendar addresses and API keys are encrypted in the database. Passwords are hashed and never stored as plain text.

Changes

If this policy changes in a meaningful way, we’ll update the date at the top and note it in the app.

Contact

Questions or deletion requests: email backpackstudy012@gmail.com.