Privacy & Safety
Private and safe by design — not as a setting.
Privacy isn’t a toggle here; it’s the architecture. We collect the minimum, keep sensitive content encrypted, and let real identities stay off the product surface.
Tutors are verified to us, then stay pseudonymous to you. Students never see a real identity.
01Principles
How privacy is built in
Pseudonymous identities
Students and tutors interact under handles. Real names stay out of the product surface entirely.
Data minimisation
We collect only what a feature genuinely needs, and avoid what it doesn’t.
Encrypted at rest
Drafts, messages, and other sensitive content are encrypted at rest and scoped to the people involved.
Self-hostable
Built to run on your own infrastructure, with no proprietary cloud lock-in.
No cross-boundary leakage
A tutor’s verification data is never exposed to students; a student’s identity is never exposed to tutors.
On-platform records
Work happens and stays on Instudy, so there’s an auditable record of genuine support — without extra data collection.
02Safety
Safeguarding, taken seriously
Students can be under 18, so safeguarding is a duty, not a feature. Tutors can complete an enhanced disclosure check shown to students as a badge, and the product follows recognised children’s-data-protection standards — age-appropriate, data-minimising, and safe by default.
Disclosure-check badges
Tutors are verified to the platform, and those who complete an enhanced disclosure check show it to students as a badge.
Children’s-data protection
The product is designed to be age-appropriate and safe by default for younger students.
Your data rights
You can export a copy of your account data or delete your account at any time.
Privacy you can verify
Self-hostable and pseudonymous by design. Read how we hold the academic-integrity line, too.