Privacy Policy

At Lobe ("we," "our," or "us"), we are committed to protecting your privacy and ensuring the security of your personal information. This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, disclose, and safeguard your information when you use our AI-powered educational platform.

1. Information We Collect

Account Information

When you create an account, we collect:

• Email address
• Name (if provided)
• Authentication credentials (securely hashed)
• Profile preferences and settings

Educational Content

To provide our core services, we collect and process:

• Live Transcriptions: Text transcripts generated in real-time from your lectures. We do not store or retain audio — audio is processed in real-time and immediately discarded after transcription.
• Class Notes: Notes you create or that are synthesized from your transcriptions
• Study Materials: Flashcards, practice questions, summaries, and other learning materials generated from your content

Canvas LMS Data

If you connect your Canvas account, we access:

• Course information (names, codes, schedules)
• Assignment details and due dates
• Course announcements
• Course files and syllabi (when you grant access)
• Your enrollment status

Usage Data

We automatically collect certain information about how you use Lobe:

• Study session activity and duration
• Feature usage patterns
• Device information and browser type
• IP address (for security and analytics)
• Spaced repetition review history and performance

AI Interaction Data

When you use our AI features:

• Chat conversations with our AI assistant
• Questions and prompts you submit
• AI-generated responses (for quality improvement)

2. How We Use Your Information

We use the information we collect to:

• Provide Core Services: Transcribe lectures, generate study materials, sync with Canvas, and power AI-assisted learning
• Personalize Your Experience: Customize study recommendations based on your courses, performance, and preferences
• Improve Our Platform: Analyze usage patterns to enhance features and fix issues
• Communicate With You: Send important updates, respond to inquiries, and provide customer support
• Ensure Security: Detect and prevent fraud, abuse, and unauthorized access
• Comply With Legal Obligations: Meet applicable legal and regulatory requirements

3. Information Sharing & Third Parties

We do not sell your personal information. We share data only in the following circumstances:

Service Providers

We use trusted third-party services to operate Lobe:

• Supabase: Database hosting, user authentication, and file storage
• OpenAI / Anthropic: AI language models for chat, summarization, and study material generation
• AssemblyAI / OpenAI Whisper: Audio transcription services
• Vercel: Application hosting and deployment

These providers process data on our behalf and are contractually obligated to protect your information and use it only for providing services to us.

Canvas LMS

When you connect your Canvas account, we access data through Canvas's official API. We do not share your Lobe data back to Canvas or your institution unless you explicitly choose to do so.

Legal Requirements

We may disclose information if required by law, court order, or governmental request, or to:

• Protect the rights, property, or safety of Lobe, our users, or the public
• Enforce our Terms of Service
• Investigate potential violations or fraud

Business Transfers

If Lobe is involved in a merger, acquisition, or sale of assets, your information may be transferred as part of that transaction. We will notify you of any such change.

4. Data Storage & Security

We implement industry-standard security measures to protect your data:

• Encryption: All data is encrypted in transit (TLS/SSL) and at rest
• Access Controls: Strict role-based access controls for our team
• Secure Infrastructure: Hosted on enterprise-grade cloud infrastructure with regular security audits
• Authentication: Secure password hashing and optional multi-factor authentication

Your data is stored on servers located in the United States. By using Lobe, you consent to the transfer and storage of your information in the United States.

5. Canvas LMS Integration

Lobe integrates with Canvas LMS to enhance your learning experience. Here's what you should know:

• Authorization: You must explicitly authorize the connection to your Canvas account
• Data Scope: We only access course data for courses you're enrolled in as a student
• Read-Only: We only read data from Canvas; we never modify your Canvas data
• Disconnection: You can disconnect Canvas at any time, which stops future data syncing
• Institution Policies: Your use of Lobe with Canvas may be subject to your institution's policies

6. AI Processing & Machine Learning

Our AI features are central to Lobe's functionality. Here's how we handle AI processing:

What AI Processes

• Lecture transcriptions to generate summaries and key points
• Your course content to create personalized study materials
• Chat conversations to provide contextual, course-aware responses
• Notes and materials to generate flashcards and practice questions

AI Training

We do not use your personal content to train AI models. Your transcriptions, notes, and conversations are used solely to provide services to you. Our third-party AI providers (OpenAI, Anthropic) process your data via their API services, which have policies that customer data submitted through the API is not used for model training.

AI Limitations

AI-generated content may contain errors or inaccuracies. Study materials, summaries, and AI responses should be used as learning aids, not as authoritative sources. Always verify important information with your course materials and instructors.

7. Your Rights & Choices

You have the following rights regarding your data:

• Access: Request a copy of the personal data we hold about you
• Correction: Update or correct inaccurate information
• Deletion: Request deletion of your account and associated data
• Export: Download your data in a portable format
• Opt-Out: Unsubscribe from marketing communications
• Disconnect: Revoke Canvas or other third-party integrations

To exercise these rights, contact us at hello@lobelearning.com or use the settings in your account dashboard.

California Privacy Rights

California residents have additional rights under the CCPA, including the right to know what personal information is collected, the right to delete, and the right to opt-out of the sale of personal information. As stated above, we do not sell personal information.

8. Data Retention

We retain your data as follows:

• Account Data: Retained while your account is active and for up to 30 days after deletion request
• Educational Content: Retained until you delete it or close your account
• Usage Analytics: Aggregated and anonymized data may be retained indefinitely for analytics
• Legal Compliance: Some data may be retained longer if required by law

When you delete content or your account, we remove it from our active systems. Backups may retain data for up to 90 days before complete removal.

9. Children's Privacy

Lobe is designed for college and university students. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13 years of age. If we learn that we have collected information from a child under 13, we will delete it promptly.

If you are between 13 and 18, you may use Lobe only with the involvement of a parent or guardian who agrees to these terms.

10. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. When we make significant changes, we will:

• Update the "Last updated" date at the top of this page
• Notify you via email or in-app notification for material changes
• Provide a summary of what changed

Your continued use of Lobe after changes take effect constitutes acceptance of the updated policy.

11. Contact Us

If you have questions about this Privacy Policy or our data practices, please contact us:

• Email: hello@lobelearning.com

We will respond to privacy-related inquiries within 30 days.