Privacy Policy

UniSearch Effective Date: October 14, 2026

Overview

UniSearch ("the App") is a college search and test preparation tool for iOS and Android. This privacy policy explains what data the App collects, how it is used, and your choices regarding that data.

Information We Collect

Information Stored on Your Device

The App stores the following data locally on your device using standard iOS storage. Except for the AI features described below, this data never leaves your device and is not transmitted to any server:

Saved universities — Schools you bookmark, along with any application status tags (Safety, Target, Reach, Applied, Accepted) and personal notes you add.
Quiz history — Records of practice test attempts, including test type, scores, dates, and per-topic performance breakdowns, plus your daily practice goal and streak.
Reminders — Deadline and scholarship reminders are scheduled locally on your device; no reminder data is sent to a server.
Practice mistakes — Questions you answered incorrectly, kept so you can review them until you answer them correctly.
Student profile and essays — Grades, test scores, and other details you enter to estimate your fit with schools, and essay drafts and brainstorming conversations you write in the Essay Workbench.
App preferences — Sort settings, beta access status, and other local preferences.

You can delete this data at any time by deleting the App from your device (on Android, you can also use Settings → Apps → UniSearch → Storage → Clear data).

Information You Voluntarily Provide

The App includes an optional contact form where you may enter your name, email address, and a message. This form opens your device's native Mail app to send the message — the App itself does not store, transmit, or process this information. Your email is handled entirely by your Mail app and email provider.

AI Features

The Essay Workbench and Campus Insights use a third-party AI service to generate responses — currently xAI's Grok. Requests pass through a relay operated by UniSearch on Cloudflare Workers, which forwards them to xAI and does not store their content. To keep the service free and prevent abuse, the relay counts requests per day against a random install identifier created by the App (not tied to your device or identity) and your IP address; these counters are deleted after one day. The permission prompt names the provider that will receive your request. The App has no account system and sends no name, email address, device identifier, or other identifying information with these requests.

Essay Workbench — Before anything is sent, the App asks for your permission. If you allow it, the brainstorming messages and essay drafts you choose to send are transmitted to the AI provider to generate coaching and feedback. You can withdraw permission at any time in the App's Settings screen; nothing further will be sent.
Campus Insights — Only the name of the school and publicly available Reddit posts about it are sent. No information about you is included.

Each AI provider processes this data under its own privacy policy (xAI: https://x.ai/legal/privacy-policy). Do not include information in your essays that you do not want shared with the provider.

Information We Do Not Collect

The App does not collect, store, or transmit:

Location data
Device identifiers or advertising IDs
Contacts, photos, or camera data
Health, fitness, or biometric data
Browsing or search history
Analytics or usage telemetry
Crash reports

The App contains no analytics SDKs, advertising networks, or user tracking of any kind.

Third-Party Services

The App fetches publicly available educational data from the following third-party services. Only search queries (such as university names or news topics) are sent to these services — no personal information is transmitted.

Service	Purpose	Privacy Policy
College Scorecard (api.data.gov)	University statistics (tuition, test scores, graduation rates)	https://www.data.gov/privacy-policy
Wikipedia (en.wikipedia.org)	University descriptions, images, and alumni information	https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Privacy_policy
Reddit (www.reddit.com)	Student discussions and testimonials	https://www.reddit.com/policies/privacy-policy
YouTube API (googleapis.com)	Campus tour videos	https://policies.google.com/privacy
Google News (news.google.com)	Higher education news articles	https://policies.google.com/privacy
GNews (gnews.io)	News article search	https://gnews.io/privacy
Niche (niche.com)	College grades and rankings	https://www.niche.com/about/privacy
xAI (api.x.ai)	AI essay coaching and campus summaries (see AI Features)	https://x.ai/legal/privacy-policy
Cloudflare Workers (unisearch-ai.hansongm2.workers.dev)	Relay for AI requests and daily usage limits (see AI Features)	https://www.cloudflare.com/privacypolicy/
RapidAPI University Data	University rankings	https://rapidapi.com/privacy
Google Favicons (google.com)	University logo images	https://policies.google.com/privacy
Google Maps Platform (Android only)	Campus map on school pages; only the school's location is requested	https://policies.google.com/privacy

All network requests use HTTPS encryption in transit. The App does not control the data practices of these third-party services, and we encourage you to review their respective privacy policies.

Data Sharing

We do not sell, rent, or share any user data with third parties. The App does not contain advertising. No personal information is transmitted from the App to any server.

Data Retention

All user data is stored locally on your device. There is no server-side data retention because no user data is sent to any server. Deleting the App removes all locally stored data.

Children's Privacy

The App does not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. The App is designed as an educational tool and does not require account creation or the submission of any personal data to function.

Security

The App uses HTTPS for all network communications. API credentials are stored securely within the App bundle and are not exposed to users. All user data remains on-device and is not transmitted externally.

Changes to This Policy

We may update this privacy policy from time to time. Any changes will be reflected by updating the effective date at the top of this page. Continued use of the App after changes constitutes acceptance of the updated policy.

Contact

If you have questions about this privacy policy, you can reach us at:

Email: unisearchapp@gmail.com