Privacy Policy for CodeConnect

Effective Date: July 1, 2026

CodeConnect ("we," "our," or "us") is committed to protecting your privacy. This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, and safeguard your information when you use our mobile application (the "App") designed to connect students with mentors for assignment and educational assistance.

1. Information We Collect

A. Personal Data Provided Directly by You

• Account Credentials: When you register an account, we collect your email address and password to authenticate your identity.
• Profile Data: Depending on your chosen profile type (Student or Mentor), we collect information necessary to facilitate the service, including your name, role, system notifications, and peer review feedback.
• Communication Data: We collect and store chat logs, connection requests, and messages exchanged between students and mentors within the app's chat rooms to provide core messaging functionality.

B. Automated Security Attestation

To prevent fraudulent activity and protect our network infrastructure, the App utilizes Google Play Integrity services. This service collects hardware, software, and device interaction data directly from your device to ensure that app sessions originate from a genuine, untampered binary running on a legitimate Android device.

2. How We Use Your Information

We process your data to fulfill our platform services, including:

• Creating, authenticating, and managing your user account.
• Verifying your email address to secure platform entry.
• Enabling real-time chat rooms, connection requests, and assignment coordination between users.
• Displaying user profile names and system notifications.
• Displaying student-submitted peer reviews on mentor dashboards to maintain platform quality and rating integrity.

3. Third-Party Service Providers

We rely on secure third-party cloud infrastructure provided by Google LLC to operate the App. Your data is stored and processed using the following services:

• Firebase Authentication: Used to securely handle account registrations, login sessions, and automated email verification/password reset links.
• Firebase Cloud Firestore: A cloud-hosted database used to store and synchronize profile data, notifications, connection requests, chat messages, and reviews.

4. Data Retention and Security

• Security: We employ industry-standard access tokens and cryptographic authentication via the Firebase SDK to prevent unauthorized access, alteration, or disclosure of your credentials.
• Retention: Chat messages, reviews, and user profiles are retained as long as your account remains active to provide ongoing platform continuity.

5. User Controls and Account Deletion

You have control over your data. If you wish to delete your account or request the removal of your personal information from our active databases, you can contact us directly at our support channels. Upon validation, your authentication record and corresponding profile details will be permanently removed from our Firebase systems.

6. Children's Privacy

CodeConnect is intended for academic and mentoring assistance among students and educators. We do not knowingly collect personal data from individuals under the age of 13. If we discover that a child under 13 has provided us with personal information, we will delete it immediately from our servers.

7. Changes to This Privacy Policy

We may update our Privacy Policy from time to time. We will notify you of any changes by updating the "Effective Date" at the top of this page. You are advised to review this page periodically for any changes.

8. Contact Us

If you have any questions or suggestions regarding this Privacy Policy, please reach out to us via our registered developer support contact on the Google Play Store.