Legal
Privacy policy
This policy covers the SchoolNews CBT apps for JAMB UTME and WAEC SSCE, on Android and iPhone, and this website. It is written to the Nigeria Data Protection Act 2023.
Who we are
The data controller is Schoolnews Web Services Ltd (RC 7065422), 29 Edet Akpan Avenue, by Premier Hospital, Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria. It was incorporated in Nigeria on 23 July 2023. SchoolNews CBT is our brand for exam-practice apps. In this policy "we" and "us" mean that company.
We are an independent publisher. We are not JAMB, WAEC or any examination body.
The short version
- The apps work offline. They never ask for your name, email address or phone number.
- There are no accounts, no adverts, and no analytics or tracking software in the apps.
- Your answers, scores and settings stay on your phone.
- Data leaves your phone only when you send a problem report, when you activate or check your activation, and, in the JAMB app on Android, when the app crashes.
- We do not sell data and we do not share it with advertisers.
What stays on your phone
The question bank, your attempts and scores, the answers you choose, your bookmarks, the reports you write before they are sent, and your settings are kept in the app's private storage. We cannot see them. Uninstalling the app, or clearing its data in your phone's settings, deletes all of it.
Your phone's own backup may include your practice history so a new phone keeps your progress. That copy goes to your Google or Apple account under their terms. It does not come to us.
What we receive, and when
Problem reports and explanation ratings
Sent only when you choose to report a problem with a question or rate an explanation. The app asks before it sends anything. Each record contains the question's identifier, subject and year, the reason you chose, any text you typed, the answer you suggested and the answer the app showed, the app and question-bank versions, your phone model, your language setting, and a random installation ID. We also store the country your connection came from, worked out from your IP address. The IP address itself is not stored.
The installation ID is generated by the app. It is not tied to you, your phone's hardware or your Google or Apple account. You can see it on the app's About screen.
Activation
When you activate, the app sends our licence server a device code, the app it is for, and either your activation key or the store's confirmation of your purchase. The device code is a one-way scramble of an identifier on your phone: the Android ID on Android, or an ID the app creates and keeps in the iPhone keychain. It cannot be turned back into that identifier.
About once a week, when you are online, the app asks the server whether the activation is still valid. With each answer the server notes the date, a shortened form of your IP address that only identifies a network block, your mobile network, and your country. We use this to spot one key shared across many phones.
The server keeps an activation record: the device code, how it was activated, when, and a scrambled copy of your recovery code. That record is what lets you move your activation to a new phone.
Purchases
Payments happen inside Google Play or the App Store. We receive the store's confirmation that a purchase was made and is valid, so we can activate the app. We never see your card or bank details. Google or Apple hold your payment details under their own privacy policies.
Crash reports
The JAMB UTME app on Android uses Firebase Crashlytics, a Google service. If the app crashes, it sends a crash report: your phone model, Android version, what the app was doing when it crashed, the technical crash log, and an identifier Crashlytics creates for the installation. It never includes your answers or scores. We use it only to fix crashes. The WAEC SSCE app and the iPhone app do not send crash reports.
This website
If you use the "Report a problem" form on our support page, we receive your message, the topic and app you chose, the installation ID and email address if you give them, the page you sent it from, your browser's user-agent string, and the country your connection came from. Your IP address is not stored with it. If you email us, we receive your email address and message. The website sets no cookies and runs no adverts. It may use Cloudflare Web Analytics, which counts page views without cookies and without identifying you.
What we never collect
Your name, phone number, contacts, location, photos, IMEI, advertising ID, your scores or your answer sheets. We do not build profiles of you and we make no automated decisions about you.
Why we are allowed to use it
The Nigeria Data Protection Act 2023 lets us use data on these grounds:
- Contract. Activation, purchase checks and the weekly activation check deliver the full app you paid for.
- Consent. Problem reports and ratings are sent only when you choose to send them. You can decline, and you can ask us to delete what you have sent.
- Legitimate interests. Crash reports keep the app working, the shortened network data stops key sharing, and website security logs protect the site. These uses are small and expected, and they do not override your rights.
Companies that process data for us
- Cloudflare hosts this website, our licence server and the storage where problem reports land.
- Google runs Google Play, which handles Android purchases, and Firebase Crashlytics, which handles crash reports from the JAMB UTME Android app.
- Apple runs the App Store, which handles iPhone purchases.
Each of them processes data only to provide its service. Some of this processing happens outside Nigeria. We rely on these providers' contractual data-protection commitments for those transfers, as the Act allows.
How long we keep it
| Data | Kept for |
|---|---|
| Problem reports and explanation ratings | 75 days, then deleted automatically |
| Website "Report a problem" messages | 75 days, then deleted automatically |
| Activation check records: network block, mobile network, country | 30 days |
| Activation record | As long as the activation exists. A cancelled activation is kept so the app can be told it was cancelled, until you ask us to delete it. |
| Crash reports | 90 days, the Crashlytics limit |
| Support emails | 12 months after your last message |
Your rights
Under the Act you can ask us to:
- tell you what data we hold about you and give you a copy;
- correct data that is wrong;
- delete your data;
- stop or limit how we use it, or object to a use based on legitimate interests;
- withdraw consent you gave, without affecting what happened before.
There are no accounts, so we need a way to find your records. For problem reports, quote the installation ID from the app's About screen. For an activation, quote the device code the app shows on its activation screen. Email [email protected]. We answer within 30 days.
Children
Many exam candidates are under 18. The apps collect no personal details from anyone. Report text is free text, so please do not type your name, school or phone number into it. A parent or guardian can contact us about any data a child has sent.
Security
Everything the apps send travels over an encrypted connection. Reports carry no name, email or phone number. Activation records hold scrambled codes, not your phone's real identifiers. Access to stored data is limited to the people who maintain the apps.
Changes to this policy
When this policy changes, the date at the top changes with it. A change that affects what the apps collect ships with an app update.
Contact and complaints
Schoolnews Web Services Ltd, 29 Edet Akpan Avenue, by Premier Hospital, Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria. Email [email protected].
If you are not satisfied with our answer, you can complain to the Nigeria Data Protection Commission at ndpc.gov.ng.