Privacy Policy
Last updated: 20 October 2026
In short.
- We collect what you give us to run KantiNotes: your account, your profile, what you post and the messages you send.
- We do not sell your data and there are no ads. The app and the web app use no analytics tools or tracking. The home page of this website uses Google Analytics to count visits, but only if you agree in its cookie banner.
- Other signed-in students can see your profile and what you post. Your email address is never shown.
- Messages are not end-to-end encrypted. Moderators see a message only if someone reports it.
- You can delete your account at any time, in the app or in a browser, and with it your uploads, messages and files (how).
Contents
- 1. Who we are
- 2. What we collect
- 3. Why we use it
- 4. What other users can see
- 5. Messages
- 6. Service providers
- 7. Data stored outside Switzerland
- 8. How long we keep it
- 9. What we store on your device
- 10. Minimum age
- 11. Security
- 12. Your rights
- 13. Deleting your KantiNotes account
- 14. Your data in someone else's upload
- 15. Changes to this policy
- 16. Contact
1. Who we are
KantiNotes is an app and website where students at Swiss Kantonsschulen aged 14 and over share their own study notes and summaries, ask and answer questions, comment, follow each other and send messages. It is available at kantinotes-app.web.app and as an Android app.
KantiNotes is run privately by Arnavdeep Singh and Ennio Massoni, Switzerland ("we", "us"). We decide how your personal data is processed and are responsible for it. KantiNotes is not affiliated with Kantonsschule Solothurn or any other school.
Contact: arnavdeep23@gmail.com or ennio.massoni@gmail.com.
This policy is written to meet the Swiss Federal Act on Data Protection (FADP) and, where it applies, the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
2. What we collect
What you give us
- Account: your email address and, if you sign in with email, a password. The password is handled by Google Firebase and never reaches our servers. If you sign in with Google, we receive your name and email address from Google.
- Profile: display name, username, and optionally a profile picture and a short bio.
- School details: your school year (1–4), your school and your class, the subjects you choose, and for each subject, if you want, the Kürzel (initials code) of the teacher who teaches it (Teachers' Kürzel). You can change your school, class, subjects and teachers at any time in Settings under "Schule & Klasse" ("School & class").
- Entries in your school's lists: if your class or a teacher's Kürzel is missing, you add it yourself, and it is then there to pick for everyone who chooses that school. If your school is missing, you request it by name; others find it in the list only once we have approved it. We store who made each entry. If you add a class, the subjects you choose and their teachers become that class's list: classmates who pick the class afterwards start from it and change only what is different for them. It is updated whenever you save while you are in the class, and it does not say who made it.
- What you post: notes, summaries and other files you upload, with their title and description; questions, answers and comments; votes and saved notes. A note or question is filed under the school you are at when you post it, and can carry the Kürzel of the teacher whose lessons it is for: your own teacher for that subject is pre-selected, and you can change it or leave it out before you post. Notes and questions you posted before you gave a school are filed under the school you give afterwards; we do not add a teacher to them later.
- Messages: direct and group messages, attachments and reactions.
- Connections: who you follow, follow requests, and who you block.
- Reports and appeals you submit, including anything you write in them.
- Bug reports: during the test phase you can report a bug in the app from the Bugs tab. A bug report holds what you write (where it happened, what went wrong and how it came about), up to four screenshots if you add them, and details the app adds itself: platform, operating system, browser, app version and build, window size, language, theme, the last ten screens you opened in the app, and the last ten requests to our server that failed (address, error code, time and duration). These details are sent only when you send the report, and the form says what goes with it. A screenshot shows whatever was on your screen, so look at it before you send it. Only you and our moderators can see your bug reports, not other users.
Teachers' Kürzel
Who teaches a subject can be given in KantiNotes only by the teacher's Kürzel: 2 to 5 capital letters such as "MÜL". We do not store teachers' names, and there is no field for one. Because many schools publish their teachers together with their Kürzel, a Kürzel can still be linked to a person, so we treat it as that teacher's personal data.
For a Kürzel we store only which school it is listed at, who added it, who has chosen it for which subject and which notes and questions are tagged with it, and no ratings, comments or other information about the teacher. The list of an approved school's Kürzel can be seen by anyone signed in who picks that school, including before they have joined it. On a note or question we show the Kürzel only to readers at the same school, and never on a profile. Who has chosen which teacher in their school details is seen only by that person.
If you are a teacher and want to know whether your Kürzel is listed on KantiNotes, or want us to remove it, email us at one of the addresses in section 16.
What is collected automatically
- Server logs: your IP address, the time and the address of each request your device sends to our server.
- Sign-in records: Firebase records when your account was created and when you last signed in.
- Last activity: when your account last used KantiNotes. We keep a single time for this, overwritten at most once a minute, not a history. We use it only to count how many people use KantiNotes; the app shows it only as a number, never for an individual person.
Device permissions
The app asks for the camera only when you choose to photograph your notes, and for your photos and files only when you pick something to upload, a profile picture or a chat attachment. Both are optional and can be turned off in your device settings.
What we do not collect
We do not collect your phone number, postal address, location, contacts or payment details. When you sign up you confirm that you are at least 14; we check that confirmation but do not store your date of birth or age. The app and the web app use no advertising IDs, analytics tools, automatic crash reporting or push notifications. The home page of this website uses Google Analytics only with your consent (section 9 and our Cookie Policy). We do not ask for sensitive data such as health, religion or political views.
3. Why we use it
| Purpose | Data | Legal basis (GDPR) |
|---|---|---|
| Creating and running your account, and signing you in | Account, profile | Performance of our contract with you |
| Storing and showing what you post, making preview images of your files, and letting others download them | What you post, with a post's school and Kürzel | Contract |
| Messaging between users | Messages, connections | Contract |
| Ranking the "Für dich" feed by your school year, your subjects, your school, your teachers, the people you follow and the notes you have liked | School year, subjects, school and teachers from your school details; the school and Kürzel of posts; connections; votes | Our legitimate interest in showing you useful notes |
| In Browse, showing only posts from your school, in your subjects or for your own teachers when you ask for it (the "For me" filters) | Subjects, school and teachers from your school details; the school and Kürzel of posts | Contract |
| Recording which school and class you are in and who teaches you which subject, so that KantiNotes can serve more than one school | School details | Contract |
| Building each school's lists of classes and teachers from what its students add, and each class's list of subjects and teachers from what the student who added it chose, and showing them when a school or class is chosen | Classes and Kürzel that students add; the subjects and teachers of the student who added a class | Contract; for the Kürzel, the legitimate interest of students and of us in being able to say who teaches a subject, limited to the Kürzel (section 2) |
| Reviewing requested schools and approving or declining them | The school's name, who requested it, how many accounts and classes it already has | Our legitimate interest in deciding which schools KantiNotes is for |
| Moderation: reviewing reports, removing content, muting or suspending accounts, handling appeals | Reports, the content reported, account | Legitimate interest in a safe service; legal obligations for unlawful content |
| Security, preventing abuse and fixing errors, including limits on how often an account can perform certain actions | Server logs, account | Legitimate interest |
| Understanding and fixing the bugs you report to us, and showing you whether they are fixed | Bug reports, with their screenshots and the details the app adds | Our legitimate interest in an app that works |
| Counting how many people use KantiNotes, for example in the last hour or the last 7 days | Last activity | Our legitimate interest in knowing whether and how much KantiNotes is used |
| Sending emails needed for your account, such as email verification and password reset | Email address | Contract |
| Counting visits to the home page of this website and seeing where visitors come from (Google Analytics) | Usage data: pages viewed, time of the visit, the site you came from, device, browser, approximate location derived from your IP address, and a random ID stored in a cookie | Your consent, which you can withdraw at any time (Cookie Policy) |
| Answering your requests and complying with the law | Whatever the request concerns | Legal obligation |
We use your class for none of these purposes: it filters and ranks nothing. Your school, subjects and teachers hide nothing from you; they only set the order of the "Für dich" feed and the filters you turn on yourself.
We do not sell your personal data, use it for advertising, send marketing messages, or make automated decisions about you that have legal or similarly significant effects. Our use of information received from Google APIs follows the Google API Services User Data Policy, including its Limited Use requirements.
4. What other users can see
Other signed-in users can see your display name, username, profile picture and bio, and the notes, questions, answers and comments you post. Your email address is never shown to other users.
Your school, class, subjects and teachers are not on your profile, and other users cannot see them. One exception: if you added your class, classmates who pick it start from the subjects and teachers you chose, without your name. Anyone who knows that you added the class can tell from that which subjects you take. For your notes and questions: the school a post is filed under is not shown, but students at the same school can work it out: the "From my school" filter shows them only their school's posts, and the "Für dich" feed ranks their school's posts higher. That way they can tell that a post comes from their school. A post's Kürzel is seen only by readers at the same school. Classes and Kürzel you add appear in your school's lists without saying who added them. If you request a school, our moderators see your display name and username with the request.
You can set your account to private, so that only followers you approve can see your notes. You can hide your follower and following lists, and share a note with named people only. You can block another user; a block applies in both directions.
5. Messages
Direct and group messages and their attachments are stored on our servers. They are not end-to-end encrypted. Moderators see the content of a message only when someone reports it. A copy of a reported message is kept with the report, even if the sender later unsends it, so that the person reported cannot remove the evidence. The copy is deleted when a moderator deletes the report or when the sender's account is deleted.
6. Service providers
We use the following companies to run KantiNotes. They process data on our behalf and only for that purpose.
| Provider | What it does | Where |
|---|---|---|
| Google Firebase Authentication | Sign-in, email verification, password reset, Google sign-in | Google infrastructure, including the USA |
| Google Firebase Hosting | Serves this website and the web app | Google's global network |
| Google Analytics | Visit statistics for the home page of this website, only with your consent | Google infrastructure, including the USA |
| Neon | Our database | Frankfurt, Germany |
| Supabase | File storage: uploads, profile pictures, attachments, previews, bug report screenshots | Frankfurt, Germany |
| Render | Runs our server | Frankfurt, Germany |
We may also disclose data where the law requires it, to authorities with a valid legal basis, or where needed to establish or defend legal claims. If KantiNotes is ever transferred to someone else, your data may be transferred with it; we will tell you before that happens.
7. Data stored outside Switzerland
Our database, file storage and server are in Germany, which Switzerland recognises as providing adequate data protection. Firebase Authentication and Google Analytics may process data in the USA, and Neon, Supabase and Render are US companies. For transfers to the USA we rely on the Swiss–US Data Privacy Framework where the provider is certified under it, and otherwise on the standard contractual clauses in the provider's data processing terms. You can ask us for details.
8. How long we keep it
- Your account, profile, posts and messages: until you delete them or your account. Deleting your account (Settings → Delete my account, see section 13) permanently removes your profile, uploads, messages, files and your sign-in account.
- A deleted comment that has replies becomes a "[deleted]" placeholder: its text is erased and its author is no longer shown, so the replies stay readable. A comment without replies is deleted completely.
- Reported messages: see section 5.
- Bug reports and their screenshots: until you delete your account, even after the bug is fixed. If you want a single report removed sooner, email us.
- Last activity: only the latest time. It is overwritten as you use KantiNotes and deleted with your account.
- School details: until you change them in Settings or delete your account. If we decline a requested school, we remove the school and class from everyone who chose it, and the app asks them again the next time they open it; their subjects stay, without teachers.
- Classes and Kürzel you added stay in the school's lists after you delete your account, because other students still use them. The record that you added them is deleted, so nothing points back to you. If we decline a requested school, we delete the classes and Kürzel that were added to it. A class's list of subjects and teachers stays with the class when you leave it or delete your account, as you last saved it.
- A post's school and Kürzel last as long as the post and are deleted with it. If we decline a school, its posts lose their school; if a Kürzel is removed, the posts tagged with it lose their Kürzel.
- School requests: an approved school stays in the list. A declined one is kept with its name, as a record that we declined it. That you requested a school is kept until you delete your account.
- Moderation records (what a moderator did and why) are kept after the account they concern is deleted, but only with an account ID that no longer points to anyone.
- Google Analytics data: 2 months, after which Google deletes it. The cookie in your browser expires after 2 years unless you delete it or withdraw your consent.
- Server logs: a few days.
- Backups: our database provider keeps a short restore history, after which deleted data is gone.
9. What we store on your device
The app and website store on your device what they need to work: your sign-in session (kept by Firebase Authentication) and your chosen language, theme and sign-up progress. Because this storage is strictly necessary, we do not ask for consent to it.
The home page of this website uses cookies from Google Analytics for visit statistics, but only if you agree in its cookie banner. Our Cookie Policy lists every cookie, what it is for and how long it lasts, and explains how to change your choice. The legal pages, the app and the web app do not use Google Analytics.
We do not use cookies or similar technologies for advertising, and we do not let anyone else do so. If we ever add other optional cookies, we will ask for your consent first and update this policy and the Cookie Policy.
10. Minimum age
KantiNotes is for students aged 14 and over, and many of our users are under 18. If we learn that an account belongs to someone younger than 14, we delete it. If you are a parent or guardian and believe your child under 14 has an account, please contact us.
11. Security
All connections are encrypted (HTTPS). Every request to our server must carry a sign-in token, which the server verifies. Files can only be fetched through short-lived links our server issues to people allowed to see them. Access to our systems is limited to the two of us. No system is completely secure, and we cannot guarantee that data will never be accessed without authorisation. If a breach puts your data at risk, we will inform you and the authorities as the law requires.
12. Your rights
You have the right to:
- find out what personal data we hold about you and get a copy of it;
- have incorrect data corrected. You can edit your profile and your school details yourself in the app;
- have your data deleted. You can delete your account yourself, in the app or in a browser (section 13);
- receive your data in a common electronic format (data portability);
- object to processing based on our legitimate interests;
- withdraw your consent at any time, without affecting what was done before. For Google Analytics, use Cookie-Einstellungen at the bottom of the home page;
- complain to a data protection authority. In Switzerland, that is the Federal Data Protection and Information Commissioner (FDPIC, edoeb.admin.ch). In the EU, it is the authority in your country.
To use these rights, email us at one of the addresses in section 16. We may ask you to confirm the request from the email address of your account. We answer within 30 days.
13. Deleting your KantiNotes account
You can delete your KantiNotes account at any time, and you do not need to install the app to do it:
- In a browser: sign in at kantinotes-app.web.app, open Settings (on a phone, the gear at the top right of your profile; on a large screen, in the sidebar) and choose "Delete my account". This works in any browser, on a phone too.
- In the Android app: Settings → "Delete my account".
You confirm the deletion once; it then happens straight away and cannot be undone. It permanently removes your profile, uploads, messages and files, your school details, your bug reports and their screenshots, the time of your last activity, and your sign-in account. What remains afterwards, and for how long:
- A comment that has replies becomes a "[deleted]" placeholder: its text is erased and its author is no longer shown, so other people's replies stay readable.
- Classes you added, with their list of subjects and teachers, Kürzel you added, and schools you requested, remain, because others still use them, but nothing in them points back to you.
- Moderation records are kept, but only with an account ID that no longer points to anyone.
- Server logs are gone after a few days, and backups after our database provider's short restore history.
If you can no longer sign in, or cannot delete your account yourself, for example because it is suspended, email us at arnavdeep23@gmail.com or ennio.massoni@gmail.com, ideally from your account's email address. We will delete the account for you and answer within 30 days.
14. Your data in someone else's upload
Users must upload only their own work and remove other people's names, grades and other personal details first. If a note, question, comment or message on KantiNotes contains your personal information without your agreement, use the report button on it or email us, and we will remove it where appropriate. If you are a teacher, section 2 says what we store about your Kürzel and how to have it removed.
15. Changes to this policy
We update this policy when KantiNotes changes. The date at the top shows the latest version. If a change significantly affects how we use your data, we will tell you in the app or by email before it takes effect.
This policy exists in German and English. If the two differ, the German version prevails.
16. Contact
Arnavdeep Singh and Ennio Massoni, Switzerland
arnavdeep23@gmail.com
ennio.massoni@gmail.com
See also our Terms of Use.