Privacy Policy

Effective March 16, 2026

gadgetsthathelp ("we," "us," or "our") is committed to protecting the privacy of all users. This policy explains what information we store, how we use it, and your rights. It is organized into general practices that apply across all of our products, followed by product-specific details.

General Practices

Contact Form

Our contact form on the About page collects a name, email, and message, solely to respond to your inquiry.

Payment Information

Payments are processed by Stripe. We do not store credit card numbers or bank details on our servers. Stripe may collect information as described in their privacy policy.

Cookies and Local Storage

We use cookies strictly for authentication sessions (keeping you signed in). We use browser localStorage to store in-progress work so it persists between visits. We do not use cookies for advertising or third-party tracking.

Analytics and Tracking

We do not use third-party analytics services. We do not track user behavior across sites. We do not serve advertisements.

Third-Party Data Sharing

We do not sell, rent, or share any user information with third parties for marketing or advertising purposes. The only third-party service that receives user data is Stripe, solely for payment processing (see above). No other third party has access to user data.

Your Rights

You have the right to request access to the data we store about you, request correction of inaccurate data, or request deletion of your data. To exercise any of these rights, please reach out through our contact form. We will respond promptly.

Data Security

All traffic is encrypted via HTTPS/TLS. Data is stored on secured servers. Access to user data is restricted to essential operations only.

Changes to This Policy

We may update this policy from time to time. Changes will be posted on this page with an updated effective date.

Contact

If you have any questions about this privacy policy, please reach out through our contact form.

Product-Specific Privacy Details

Select a product to see its specific data practices.

Effective March 16, 2026

The gadgetsthathelp IDE is a browser-based code editor designed for educational use. It supports HTML, Python, and React development and includes classroom features for teachers and students. We designed the IDE so that no personally identifiable information (PII) is ever collected from students.

Teacher Accounts

Teachers sign in with Google OAuth. We receive your name, email address, and profile picture from your Google account. This information is stored on our servers and used to identify you within the application, manage classrooms, and enable features like saving projects.

Student Accounts

Student accounts are created entirely by teachers. The teacher chooses each student's username (e.g. "tortoise" or "blue-rocket"), display name (optional, also chosen by the teacher), and password. The student has no input in this process and no ability to enter personal information — there are no fields for an email address, real name, phone number, or anything else. Students do not sign in with Google. The only action a student takes is logging in with the credentials their teacher provided, via a classroom join code.

The only data we store for a student is the teacher-chosen username, the teacher-chosen display name (if any), and a securely hashed password. No personally identifiable information is collected from students at any point.

Note to administrators: Because usernames and display names are chosen by the teacher, it is the teacher's responsibility to select names that do not contain personally identifiable information (e.g. use "tortoise" instead of a student's real name). We encourage school IT departments to remind teachers of this responsibility as part of their existing COPPA and student privacy training.

Code and Projects

For teachers, code written in the IDE demo pages is stored locally in your browser (via localStorage) until you explicitly save it to a project. Saved projects are stored on our servers and associated with your account.

For students, code and projects created within a classroom are stored on our servers and linked to the teacher-created student account (identified only by the teacher-chosen username). Only the student's teacher can view this work.

How We Use IDE Information

Teacher data (name, email, profile picture) is used to:

Identify you and manage your classrooms
Save and retrieve your projects
Respond to contact form messages
Process payments via Stripe

Student data (teacher-chosen username and display name only) is used solely to:

Log the student into the IDE
Display the teacher-chosen username or display name to their teacher
Associate saved code with the correct student

We do not sell, rent, or share any user information with third parties for marketing purposes.

Children's Privacy (COPPA)

The IDE was built from the ground up so that no personally identifiable information is ever collected from students, including children under 13. There are no sign-up forms, no email fields, no name fields, and no Google sign-in for students. Student accounts are created and fully controlled by teachers, and the only data stored is a teacher-chosen username, optional teacher-chosen display name, and a hashed password. If you believe a child has somehow provided personal information to us, please contact us and we will promptly delete it.

Student Data and FERPA

For schools and districts: we store no student PII. The only student data on our servers is a teacher-chosen username (e.g. "tortoise"), an optional teacher-chosen display name, a hashed password, and any code the student writes in the IDE. No student email addresses, real names, or other identifying information is ever collected — the platform has no mechanism to do so. Student code and project data belong to the student and their school. We do not use student data for advertising or profiling. Teachers control classroom access, manage student accounts, and can delete student data at any time. We will cooperate with schools to fulfill any FERPA-related requests regarding student records.

Data Retention and Deletion

Teachers can delete their own projects and student accounts at any time from within the IDE. Deleting a student account removes the teacher-chosen username, display name, hashed password, classroom memberships, and any saved code or projects. If you wish to delete your teacher account and all associated data, please contact us and we will process your request promptly.