How StudyMax collects, uses, and protects your personal and academic information
Last Updated: May 2026 | Version 1.0 | Governed by POPIA Act 4 of 2013 | StudyMax
Name: Thabang Maokeng
Role: Director & Information Officer
Email: support@studymax.co.za
Organisation: StudyMax
StudyMax is an academic productivity platform ("we", "us", "our"). StudyMax is the responsible party in terms of POPIA — meaning we determine the purpose and means of processing your personal information.
StudyMax is built specifically for South African university students to help them track assessments, manage study sessions, monitor grades, and improve academic performance.
We collect only the personal information necessary to provide the StudyMax service (the POPIA principle of purpose limitation and minimality). The table below sets out all categories of data we process:
| Category | Specific Data Points | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
| Account Information | First name, last name, email address, bcrypt-hashed password | Account creation, authentication, communication |
| Academic Profile | Institution/university, programme/degree, year of study, phone number | Personalising study tools, module matching, notifications |
| Study & Assessment Data | Modules enrolled, assessment titles, due dates, weights, grades, marks obtained, study session durations, focus ratings, study streaks | Core platform functionality — tracking academic progress |
| Subscription & Billing | Subscription plan, subscription status, expiry date, PayFast transaction references and payment dates | Managing your premium subscription, billing records |
| Technical & Security Data | IP address, last login timestamp, login attempts, session tokens, password change timestamps | Security monitoring, fraud prevention, account protection |
| Activity Logs | Actions performed (login, password reset, assessment updates) with timestamps | Audit trail, account security, support investigations |
| Notification Preferences | Email/push notification settings, reminder preferences | Delivering the notification experience you configured |
| Processing Activity | Lawful Basis (POPIA s.11) |
|---|---|
| Creating and managing your student account | Performance of a contract with you (s.11(1)(b)) |
| Providing study tracking, assessment management, grade monitoring | Performance of a contract (s.11(1)(b)) |
| Processing Premium subscription payments via PayFast | Performance of a contract (s.11(1)(b)) |
| Sending assessment deadline reminders and notifications | Performance of a contract & your consent (s.11(1)(a)(b)) |
| Sending marketing emails about StudyMax features | Your consent (s.11(1)(a)) — with opt-out right |
| Security monitoring, login logging, fraud prevention | Legitimate interest (s.11(1)(f)) |
| Maintaining financial/transaction records | Legal obligation — tax and accounting law (s.11(1)(c)) |
| Improving the platform using anonymised analytics | Legitimate interest (s.11(1)(f)) |
Running the core StudyMax features: storing your modules, assessments, study sessions, grades and streaks; calculating analytics; generating smart notifications; and managing your subscription plan.
Sending transactional emails via our SMTP server (support@studymax.co.za) including: account welcome emails, password reset links, assessment deadline reminders (7 days, 3 days, 1 day before due), trial expiry warnings, subscription confirmations, and weekly study progress digests.
Logging IP addresses and login timestamps to detect suspicious activity, enforce rate-limiting on failed login attempts (5 attempts triggers a 5-minute lockout), and enabling you to identify unauthorised access.
Using anonymised, aggregated data to understand usage patterns, identify most-used features, improve performance, and develop new functionality. This data does not identify you individually.
Maintaining financial records as required by South African tax law; complying with valid court orders, subpoenas or regulatory requests from the Information Regulator of South Africa.
| Third Party | Purpose | Data Shared |
|---|---|---|
| PayFast (Pty) Ltd PCI-DSS Level 1 | Premium subscription payment processing | Name, email address, subscription amount, order reference — no card data stored by us |
| Hostserv (Pty) Ltd Plesk hosting provider | Hosting StudyMax on South African servers | All stored data (encrypted at rest) |
| StudyMax SMTP (mail.studymax.co.za) | Sending transactional and notification emails | Your email address, your first name, notification content |
| Information Regulator of South Africa | Legal regulatory reporting obligation | Only as legally required (e.g. serious data breaches) |
| Law enforcement / courts | Compliance with valid legal process | Only when required by valid court order or warrant |
| Data Category | Retention Period | Reason |
|---|---|---|
| Account & profile data | Duration of account + 30 days after deletion request | Service provision; 30-day grace period for recovery |
| Academic data (modules, assessments, grades) | Duration of account | Core platform service |
| Study session logs | Duration of account | Analytics and progress tracking |
| Payment transaction records | 5 years from transaction date | South African tax and accounting law (SARS) |
| Security and activity logs | 90 days | Security monitoring and incident investigation |
| Password reset tokens | 1 hour (or immediate use) | Security — tokens expire automatically |
| Email logs | 30 days | Delivery troubleshooting |
| Anonymised analytics | Indefinitely | Platform improvement — no personal identifiers |
Request a copy of all personal information we hold about you (POPIA s.23)
Request correction of inaccurate, incomplete or misleading information (POPIA s.24)
Request deletion of your account and personal data, subject to retention obligations (POPIA s.24)
Object to the processing of your personal information on grounds of legitimate interest (POPIA s.11(3))
Withdraw consent to marketing and promotional emails at any time (POPIA s.69)
Lodge a complaint with the Information Regulator of South Africa (POPIA s.73)
| Cookie Name | Type | Purpose | Duration |
|---|---|---|---|
PHPSESSID | Essential | Maintains your login session and authentication state | Browser session (1 hour idle timeout) |
| Session CSRF token | Essential | Protects all forms against cross-site request forgery attacks | Per session |
You can disable cookies in your browser settings, but this will prevent you from logging in to StudyMax as sessions are required for authentication.
Emails about new features, updates, or StudyMax promotions are only sent with your consent. You may withdraw consent at any time by emailing support@studymax.co.za or updating your notification preferences. We will process opt-out requests within 5 business days.
StudyMax is designed for university students and is primarily intended for persons aged 18 years or older. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under the age of 18 without prior consent from a parent or legal guardian.
If you are under 18 and wish to use StudyMax, you must obtain the consent of your parent or legal guardian before registering. POPIA Section 34 prohibits the processing of a child's personal information without such consent.
We encourage you to first contact us directly at support@studymax.co.za. We will do our best to resolve your concern within 30 days. The Information Regulator is the appropriate escalation path if we are unable to resolve it to your satisfaction.
We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. When we make material changes, we will: update the "Last Updated" date, send a notification email to all registered users, and display an in-app notification. Continued use of StudyMax after changes are published constitutes acceptance.
| Version | Date | Summary of Changes |
|---|---|---|
| 1.0 | May 2026 | Initial privacy policy for StudyMax platform launch. Covers account data, academic data, PayFast payments, POPIA rights, SMTP email, session security, and data retention schedules. |
Thabang Maokeng — Director & Information Officer
09 John Chard, Brandwag, Bloemfontein, 9301
studymax.co.za
Last Updated: May 2026 · Version 1.0 · StudyMax — Bloemfontein, Free State, South Africa · Terms & Conditions