PhD Helper — Terms & Conditions

Last updated: 11 March 2026

1. Who we are

PhD Helper is a free app built to help PhD students organise their research journey (roadmap/timeline, reading library, writing tracker, to-dos, and a brain dump for notes). In these Terms, “we”, “us” and “our” refers to the PhD Helper app operator.

2. Acceptance of these Terms

By downloading, accessing, or using PhD Helper, you agree to these Terms. If you do not agree, do not use the app.

3. Eligibility

You must be at least 13 years old (or the minimum age required in your country) to use the app.

4. The service

PhD Helper may include features such as:

A PhD roadmap/timeline with tasks, progress tracking, countdown, and sharing/export.
A reading library to store papers/documents, add tags/notes, generate Harvard references, and export a reference list.
A writing tracker with timed/manual sessions and stats.
A to-do list for university admin.
A “brain dump” for notes, images/screenshots, and voice notes with transcription.
Supervisor invitation/sharing features.

We may add, remove, or change features over time.

5. Accounts and your responsibilities

You are responsible for:

Keeping your login details secure.
Ensuring information you add is accurate enough for your needs.
Backing up any content you consider important.

6. Your content

You retain ownership of the content you upload or create in the app (for example: notes, tasks, PDFs, tags, images/screenshots, voice notes, and any supervisor-shared materials).

You grant us a limited licence to host, store, process, and display your content only to provide and improve the app.

7. Sharing, exporting, and supervisors

If you choose to export content or invite a supervisor to view your roadmap, you are responsible for:

Selecting the correct recipient.
Ensuring you have the right to share any material.
Understanding that once exported or shared outside the app, it may be copied or stored by others.

8. Acceptable use

You agree not to:

Use the app for unlawful purposes.
Upload content that infringes intellectual property rights.
Attempt to reverse engineer, interfere with, or disrupt the app.
Introduce malware or attempt unauthorised access.

9. Intellectual property

The app, its design, branding, and underlying software are owned by us (or our licensors). You may not copy or reuse them except as allowed by law.

10. Disclaimers

PhD Helper is an organisational tool. It does not provide academic, legal, medical, or mental health advice.

We do our best to keep the app available and accurate, but we do not guarantee:

The app will always be uninterrupted or error-free.
Any specific academic outcome.

11. Limitation of liability

To the maximum extent permitted by law, we are not liable for:

Loss of data, loss of profits, or indirect/consequential losses.
Any loss arising from your reliance on app outputs (including timelines, reminders, reference generation, or statistics).

Nothing in these Terms limits liability where it cannot be excluded by law.

12. Termination

You can stop using the app at any time. We may suspend or terminate access if you breach these Terms or if we discontinue the service.

13. Changes to these Terms

We may update these Terms from time to time. If changes are material, we’ll take reasonable steps to notify you (for example, via an in-app notice).

14. Contact

Add your support contact email and postal address here.

15. Governing law

If you are UK-based, you may want these Terms governed by the laws of England and Wales, with courts of England and Wales having jurisdiction (adapt as needed).

PhD Helper — Privacy Policy

Last updated: 11 March 2026

1. Overview

This Privacy Policy explains how PhD Helper collects, uses, shares, and protects your personal data when you use the app.

2. Data we collect

Depending on how you use the app, we may collect:

2.1 Account and profile data

Email address and basic account identifiers.
Optional profile details you choose to add.

2.2 Content you add to the app

Roadmap/timeline tasks, progress, and dates.
Reading library items (including metadata you enter), notes, tags.
Harvard reference data generated from information you provide.
Writing tracker entries (timed/manual sessions) and stats.
To-do items and classifications.
Brain dump entries, including:

Text notes
Images/screenshots
Voice notes and transcriptions

2.3 Sharing data

If you invite a supervisor, we process the invitation and sharing permissions you set.

2.4 Usage and device data

App usage information (e.g., feature usage, crash logs, performance data).
Device and technical identifiers (as required to operate the app).

3. How we use your data

We use your data to:

Provide and operate the app.
Store and display your content across sessions/devices.
Generate features you request (e.g., reference formatting, exports, voice transcription).
Support sharing features (e.g., supervisor viewing of your roadmap).
Maintain security, prevent abuse, and debug issues.
Improve the app (e.g., understanding which features are used).

4. Legal bases (UK GDPR)

If you are in the UK, we rely on:

Contract: to provide the app features you request.
Legitimate interests: to keep the app secure and improve it.
Consent: where required (e.g., optional marketing, certain device permissions).

5. Sharing your data

We do not sell your personal data.

We may share data:

With service providers who help us run the app (e.g., hosting, analytics, transcription). They are required to protect your data.
With supervisors/recipients you choose when you use sharing/export features.
If required by law or to protect rights, safety, and security.

6. International transfers

If our service providers process data outside the UK, we will use appropriate safeguards (such as UK-approved contractual clauses) where required.

7. Data retention

We keep your personal data for as long as:

Your account is active, and
Needed to provide the app.

You can delete your account when you no longer need the app. After deletion, we will delete or anonymise your personal data unless we must keep certain data for legal, security, or fraud-prevention reasons.

8. Security

We use reasonable technical and organisational measures to protect your data. No system is 100% secure, so please avoid storing anything you consider extremely sensitive.

9. Your rights

Depending on your location, you may have rights to:

Access your data.
Correct inaccurate data.
Delete your data.
Object to or restrict processing.
Data portability.
Withdraw consent (where processing is based on consent).

10. Children’s privacy

PhD Helper is not intended for children under 13 (or the minimum age required in your country). If you believe a child has provided personal data, contact us.

11. Third-party links and exports

If the app links to third-party sites or you export/share content, those third parties’ privacy practices apply. Take care when sharing documents that contain personal or confidential information.

12. Contact and complaints

Add your privacy contact email and postal address here.

If you are in the UK, you can complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO).