Note Echo Privacy Policy
1. Introduction
COD Innovations Ghana ("we", "our", or "us") respects your privacy and is committed to protecting your personal information when you use Note Echo.
Note Echo is an educational application designed to help tertiary students take better notes, understand learning materials, practise questions, and prepare for examinations.
This Privacy Policy explains what information we collect, how we use it, how we store and protect it, when we share it, and the choices available to you regarding your personal information.
By using Note Echo, you acknowledge that you have read this Privacy Policy.
2. Information We Collect
We collect information necessary to provide, maintain, secure, and improve Note Echo.
2.1 Personal Information
When you register for a Note Echo account, we collect the following information:
- First name: Used to identify you and personalise your account.
- Last name: Used to identify you and maintain your account information.
- Phone number: Used for account-related purposes and communication where applicable.
- Email address: Used to manage your account and send important service-related communications.
- Educational institution: Used to record your academic affiliation and support relevant educational services.
- Gender: Collected as part of your account registration information.
We use this information to create and manage your account, authenticate users, manage subscriptions, provide customer support, maintain security, and communicate important information about Note Echo.
2.2 Notes and Learning Materials
When you use Note Echo, you may provide educational content, including:
- Typed or handwritten notes.
- Images of lecture boards and handwritten materials.
- PDF documents, lecture slides, presentations, and other supported documents.
- Text extracted from uploaded documents and images.
- Notes generated, organised, or refined through the application.
- Practice questions, answers, quizzes, and flashcards.
- Conversations with study assistance features.
We process this information to provide the educational services and features you request. For example, you may upload learning materials to generate clearer notes, use study assistance features to understand a topic, or generate questions to prepare for examinations.
Your uploaded materials may contain personal information if you choose to include it. You should avoid uploading sensitive personal information that is unnecessary for your studies.
2.3 Audio Recordings and Transcriptions
When you use audio-based note-taking features, Note Echo may process audio recordings to generate written transcriptions and help prepare your notes. The information processed may include:
- Audio recordings submitted for transcription.
- Text generated from audio recordings.
- Notes created from transcriptions.
- Information necessary to complete audio-processing requests.
Audio recordings and their transcriptions are processed to provide the features you request. Before recording lectures, discussions, or other people, you are responsible for obtaining any permissions required by applicable law or institutional rules.
2.4 Subscription and Payment Information
Note Echo requires an active paid subscription to access its services. We may process subscription-related information, including:
- Subscription status.
- Subscription start and expiration dates.
- Subscription plan information.
- Payment status and transaction references needed to verify subscriptions.
Payments may be processed through third-party payment providers or app store billing services. Payment providers may collect and process payment information under their own privacy policies and terms. We do not intend to collect or store complete payment card details directly through Note Echo.
2.5 Technical and Diagnostic Information
We may collect technical information necessary to operate, maintain, and secure Note Echo. Depending on the technologies implemented, this information may include:
- Device and operating system information.
- Application version.
- Error reports and diagnostic information.
- Technical logs associated with service requests.
- Information needed to investigate technical problems, prevent abuse, and maintain security.
We use this information to troubleshoot problems, maintain reliable services, improve performance, and protect the application.
3. How We Use Your Information
We use the information we collect for the following purposes:
- Providing educational services: To process audio recordings, transcribe speech, analyse learning materials, generate notes, prepare practice questions, and provide other educational features.
- Account management: To register users, maintain account profiles, authenticate users, and provide access to the application.
- Subscription management: To verify subscription status and determine whether an account is eligible to access Note Echo.
- Communication: To send important account notifications, subscription-related information, service announcements, and responses to enquiries.
- Security: To protect accounts, investigate suspicious activity, prevent misuse, and maintain the security of our systems.
- Service improvement: To identify technical problems, improve application performance, and make existing features more reliable and useful.
- Account deletion: To process account deletion requests and manage the removal of associated information.
- Legal compliance: To comply with applicable laws, regulations, and valid legal obligations.
We aim to use personal information only for legitimate purposes related to operating and improving Note Echo.
4. Artificial Intelligence and Third-Party Processing
Some Note Echo features rely on external services and technologies to provide educational functionality.
4.1 AI-Powered Features
Note Echo uses AI-powered services for certain educational features, which may include refining notes, explaining learning materials, generating study questions, creating study content, and answering questions about notes.
When you use these features, relevant information may be sent to an AI service provider for processing. For example, when you request assistance with a document, relevant text or extracted content may be processed to generate the result you requested.
The information processed depends on the feature you use and the content you submit.
4.2 Audio Transcription
Audio submitted for transcription may be processed using transcription technology hosted on our infrastructure or through relevant service providers. The resulting text may then be used to generate, organise, or improve your notes.
4.3 Third-Party Service Providers
We may rely on third-party service providers to support functions such as:
- AI-powered educational processing.
- Audio transcription.
- Cloud hosting and data storage.
- Payment processing.
- Subscription verification.
- App distribution and billing.
- Technical monitoring and diagnostics, where implemented.
These providers may process information necessary to perform their services. We take reasonable steps to work with service providers whose services are appropriate for our operational needs. The handling of information by third-party providers is also subject to their applicable terms, privacy policies, and data-handling practices. We encourage you to review the privacy policies of relevant third-party providers when appropriate.
5. How We Share Your Information
We do not sell your personal information.
We may share information in the following circumstances:
We may share information with service providers that help us operate Note Echo, process learning materials, host information, provide AI features, transcribe audio, or manage subscriptions. Information is shared as necessary for the relevant service.
We may disclose information where required by applicable law, a valid legal process, or a competent authority.
We may use or disclose relevant information where reasonably necessary to investigate fraud, address security threats, enforce our terms, or protect the rights and safety of users and others.
If COD Innovations Ghana undergoes a merger, restructuring, transfer, or other relevant business transaction, personal information may be transferred where legally permitted and subject to appropriate safeguards.
Certain features may allow users to participate in quizzes, competitions, or other shared activities. Where such features are used, information necessary for participation or displaying results may be visible to other participants.
We do not make private account information or personal learning materials publicly available as a general practice.
6. Data Storage and Security
We take reasonable technical and organisational measures to protect personal information against unauthorised access, disclosure, alteration, loss, or destruction.
These measures may include access controls, authentication, secure communication, and server security practices. Information may be stored on infrastructure operated by COD Innovations Ghana or its service providers.
Although we take reasonable steps to protect your information, no method of electronic transmission or storage can be guaranteed to be completely secure. You are responsible for protecting your account credentials and should notify us if you suspect unauthorised access to your account.
7. Data Retention
We retain personal information for as long as necessary to provide our services, manage accounts, fulfil legitimate operational purposes, comply with legal obligations, and resolve disputes. Different categories of information may be retained for different periods depending on their purpose and applicable requirements.
7.1 Active Accounts
While your account remains active, we generally retain the information necessary to provide your account and the features you use.
7.2 Inactive Accounts
We may implement an inactive-account process to help manage stored information and protect user privacy. The planned process is as follows:
- After four months of inactivity, we may send a reminder about your account.
- After five months of inactivity, we may send another reminder.
- After six months of inactivity, we may notify you that your account is scheduled for deletion.
- A 30-day grace period may follow the deletion notice, allowing you to return to the service or take any available action before deletion.
If the account remains inactive after the applicable grace period, we may delete the account and associated information, subject to applicable legal obligations and legitimate retention requirements. Where this process is implemented, we will take reasonable steps to notify affected users.
7.3 Backups and Legal Requirements
Some information may remain in protected backups for a limited period after deletion while those backups expire or are securely removed. We may retain certain information where required by law or reasonably necessary to address security issues, resolve disputes, or meet legitimate legal and financial obligations. Any retained information will be handled in accordance with applicable requirements.
8. Account Deletion
You can delete your Note Echo account. When you initiate account deletion, we will process your request and delete or arrange for the deletion of personal information associated with your account, subject to applicable legal obligations and legitimate data-retention requirements.
Information associated with your account may include:
- Your name and contact information.
- Your educational institution and gender.
- Saved notes and uploaded learning materials.
- Audio recordings and associated transcriptions.
- Generated study materials.
- Practice questions, quizzes, and flashcards.
- Chat history and related educational content.
- Other personal information associated with your account.
The extent and timing of deletion may depend on technical requirements, applicable law, and legitimate retention obligations. Information retained for these purposes will not be kept longer than necessary. Some information may remain in protected backups for a limited period before being removed through the normal backup lifecycle.
Deleting your Note Echo account does not necessarily cancel a subscription purchased through an app store or another payment provider. You may need to cancel your subscription separately through the provider from which you purchased it to avoid future subscription charges.
9. Your Privacy Rights
Subject to applicable law, you may have the right to:
- Request access to your personal information.
- Request correction of inaccurate or incomplete information.
- Request deletion of personal information.
- Object to certain types of processing.
- Request restrictions on certain processing activities.
- Withdraw consent where processing is based on consent.
- Raise concerns or submit a complaint about how your information is handled.
To exercise an applicable right, contact us using the details provided in the Contact Us section. We may need to verify your identity before responding to certain requests. We will handle requests in accordance with applicable data protection laws.
10. Children's Privacy
Note Echo is designed primarily for tertiary students and general educational use. Users are responsible for providing accurate registration information and complying with applicable age requirements.
We do not intend to collect children's personal information in circumstances where doing so would violate applicable law. Where parental consent or other safeguards are required by law, those requirements must be satisfied before the relevant information is collected or processed.
If you believe that a child has provided personal information in circumstances that violate applicable requirements, please contact us so that we can review the matter and take appropriate action.
11. International Data Transfers
Some service providers may process or store information in countries outside Ghana. Where personal information is transferred internationally, we will take steps required by applicable law to ensure that the transfer and subsequent processing are handled appropriately.
The privacy and data protection laws of the destination country may differ from those applicable in Ghana.
12. Changes to This Privacy Policy
We may update this Privacy Policy when we introduce new features, change our service providers, modify our data practices, or need to reflect changes in applicable law.
When material changes are made, we will take reasonable steps to notify users through the application, our website, or another appropriate communication channel. The effective date at the beginning of this policy indicates when the current version takes effect.
We encourage users to review this policy periodically.
13. Contact Us
If you have questions, concerns, or requests relating to this Privacy Policy or the handling of your personal information, please contact us:
We will review privacy-related enquiries and respond as appropriate under applicable law.