Privacy Policy

Hlayiso is an ai-powered educational platform for south african learners owned and operated by MHSquared (Pty) Ltd (registration number 202486249807). This policy explains how we collect, use, disclose, and protect personal information when you use our website, mobile apps (Android and iOS), WhatsApp services, and related support channels.

Depending on how you use our services, we may collect the following categories of data:

Personal information (required)

• Name — your full name, used for your profile, leaderboard display, and personalisation.
• Email address — used for account creation, login, password recovery, and service communications.

Personal information (optional)

• Phone number — optionally provided for account recovery or WhatsApp integration.
• School name — optionally provided during onboarding for personalisation.
• Gender and date of birth — optionally provided for profile customisation.
• Province and city — optionally provided for regional content recommendations.

Financial information

• Purchase history — subscription plan selections, billing cycles, and transaction records. We do not store credit card numbers or bank details directly; these are handled by our payment processors (Paystack, RevenueCat, Google Play, Apple App Store).

Photos

• Camera images — when you use the Snap feature to photograph a problem for AI solving. Images are stored to provide solution history.

App activity

• App interactions — quiz results, flashcard progress, study sessions, note completions, XP earned, streak data, leaderboard rankings, and quest progress.
• In-app search history — searches performed within the app to find content.

App info and performance

• Crash logs — error reports and crash data to diagnose and fix issues.
• Diagnostics — OTA update logs, app version information, and performance metrics.

Device identifiers

• Device IDs — used for push notifications (FCM tokens) and over-the-air update delivery.

We use personal information for the following purposes:

• App functionality — to deliver learning content, AI features, quizzes, flashcards, progress tracking, gamification, and subscriptions.
• Account management — to create and manage accounts, authenticate users, and process account changes or deletions.
• Personalisation — to customise content recommendations, leaderboard display, and learning paths based on your activity and preferences.
• Analytics — to understand how the platform is used, monitor app health, diagnose bugs, and improve performance.
• Developer communications — to send important service updates, security notices, and billing notifications via email.
• Fraud prevention and security — to detect and prevent abuse, unauthorised access, and fraudulent transactions.
• Legal compliance — to comply with applicable laws, regulations, and legal processes.

Where required, we rely on consent, contractual necessity, legitimate business interests, and legal obligations to process personal information. By using our services, you acknowledge that certain processing is necessary for us to provide the platform.

For optional data (phone number, school, gender, date of birth, province), you choose whether to provide this information. You can update or remove optional data from your account settings at any time.

We do not sell personal information. We may share information with trusted service providers where necessary:

• Supabase — database hosting, authentication, and storage infrastructure.
• Cloudflare — content delivery, Workers (serverless compute), R2 storage, and AI Gateway.
• Paystack — payment processing for web subscriptions (purchase history is shared for transaction processing).
• RevenueCat — subscription management for in-app purchases via Google Play and Apple App Store.
• Google (Firebase/AdMob) — push notifications and advertising services.
• Google (Vertex AI / Gemini) — AI model inference for chat and image generation features.

We may also disclose information to law enforcement or regulators where disclosure is legally required.

Two features rely on a third-party AI service to generate responses: AI Chat and Snap Solve. To answer you, these features transmit your input to that service.

What data is sent

• AI Chat — the messages you type and any photos or documents you choose to attach to a chat.
• Snap Solve — the photo you capture (or the problem you type) and, where relevant, the subject you select.

We do not send your name, email address, phone number, or other contact details to the AI service. Snap Solve also includes an on-device solver for simple maths, which is processed locally on your device and is never sent to the AI service.

Who the data is sent to

Your input is sent to Google (Gemini / Vertex AI), our AI processing provider, routed through Cloudflare's AI Gateway. Google processes the input solely to generate the response returned to you and handles it under its own data protection terms, which provide protections consistent with this policy.

Your permission

The first time you use AI Chat or Snap Solve, the app asks for your explicit permission before any data is sent to the AI service. If you do not agree, no data is transmitted and the AI feature is not used. You can withdraw your permission at any time in Settings → Privacy → AI Features; after withdrawing, the app will ask again the next time you try to use an AI feature.

All data transmitted between your device and our servers is encrypted in transit using TLS/HTTPS. Data at rest is protected by the security measures of our infrastructure providers (Supabase, Cloudflare).

We use reasonable technical and organisational safeguards to protect data, including access controls, encrypted connections, and regular security reviews. However, no online system can be guaranteed to be completely secure.

Our services are designed for learners in Grades 8–12. Where accounts are used by minors, parents, guardians, or schools may be involved in setup, billing, consent, and supervision. We take reasonable steps to protect learner data and limit access to authorised users.

We may use cookies, local storage, and similar technologies to keep users signed in, remember preferences, measure performance, and improve the platform experience. Analytics cookies are loaded only after you consent and run under Google Consent Mode v2.

You can change your choice at any time: Manage cookie preferences.

We keep personal information only for as long as needed for service delivery, legal compliance, dispute resolution, and fraud prevention. Specifically:

• Account data is retained while your account is active.
• When you delete your account, all associated personal data is permanently removed within 30 days.
• Anonymised analytics data may be retained indefinitely for platform improvement.
• Payment transaction records are retained as required by financial regulations.

Subject to applicable law, you have the right to:

• Access the personal information we hold about you.
• Correct inaccurate or incomplete information.
• Delete your account and all associated data.
• Object to certain processing of your information.
• Export your data in a portable format.

To delete your account: Go to Settings → Account → Delete Account within the app, or email support@hlayiso.comwith the subject line "Account Deletion Request". Account deletion is permanent and removes all your personal data, learning progress, and subscription information.

For any other privacy requests, contact support@hlayiso.com.

Some of our service providers may process information outside South Africa (including the United States and European Union). Where this happens, we take reasonable steps to ensure an appropriate level of protection consistent with applicable law, including relying on providers with adequate security certifications and data processing agreements.

Our app may display advertisements through Google AdMob. Advertising partners may collect device identifiers and app interaction data to serve relevant ads. You can manage ad personalisation through your device settings (Google Settings → Ads on Android).

We do not share your personal information (name, email, phone) with advertising partners.

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. The updated version will be published on this page with a revised last updated date. Material changes will be communicated via email or in-app notification.

For privacy questions or requests, contact support@hlayiso.com.

For security-specific disclosures, contact security@hlayiso.com.

WhatsApp: +27 64 526 1203