Privacy policy

Last updated 4 November 2026 (accounts added)

StudyBug is built for children, so we collect as little as we can. This policy explains what we collect and why, in line with South Africa's Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA).

Before you sign up

Anyone can try one worksheet without an account. Until you sign up, the site only keeps:

• worksheet history and your light or dark mode choice, saved in your browser's local storage on your device (not sent to us)
• a small counter of how many free worksheets have been used on this device

Your free account

To keep practising, a parent or guardian creates a free account. We keep:

• The parent's email address, to log in and to send password-reset emails. We don't send marketing emails unless you ask for them.
• A password, stored only as a secure scrambled hash, never in plain text. If you use "Continue with Google", we get your email and a Google account ID instead, and never your Google password.
• Each child's first name or nickname and grade. You can use a made-up name. We don't ask for surnames, birthdays, schools or photos.
• Each child's marked worksheets (subject, topic, score and date), so you can see progress on any device.
• A login cookie that keeps you signed in on that device for up to 60 days.

Children's accounts are always set up and managed by a parent or guardian, who gives consent for their child when signing up, as POPIA requires.

Anonymous usage counts

To see which grades and topics are used and which are hard, the site also sends small anonymous events: a visit, a worksheet started, a worksheet marked. Each event includes a random code made up by your browser, the grade, subject and topic, the score if marked, the date, and the country the visit came from (worked out by our host; we don't store IP addresses). These aren't linked to your account. We use them only to improve StudyBug, and we never sell them or use them for advertising.

Premium (coming soon)

When Premium opens we will also keep your subscription status. Card and bank details are handled by PayFast and never reach us.

Who helps us run StudyBug

• Cloudflare hosts the site and stores the anonymous counts.
• Google Fonts supplies the lettering on the site. Your browser fetches the fonts from Google.
• Google sign-in, only if you choose "Continue with Google".
• PayFast will process Premium payments.

Some of these providers store data outside South Africa. We only use providers with proper safeguards for personal information.

How long we keep things

We keep anonymous usage counts for up to 2 years. Account information is kept while your account is open and deleted within 30 days of you asking us to close it, except for payment records the law requires us to keep.

Your rights

You can see and change your children's names and grades, remove a child, or delete your whole account at any time under Your family on the site. You can also ask us what information we have about you or your child, ask us to correct or delete it, or object to how we use it. Email support@studybug.co.za and we'll reply within 30 days.

If you're not happy with how we handled your request, you can complain to the Information Regulator.

Changes

If we change this policy, we'll update the date at the top. If accounts exist, we'll email account holders about big changes before they take effect.