Privacy Policy

Last updated 23 October 2026

This policy explains what personal data SkillPulseLMS collects, why, who can see it, and the choices you have. The short version: we collect only what we need to run a safe learning community, we never sell your data, you control analytics cookies, and members under 18 are never tracked.

1. Who we are

SkillPulseLMS is a learning community where students, learners and tutors ask questions, share what they know, take free courses and earn XP, levels and badges. It is run by SkillPulseLMS (“we”, “us”). For anything in this policy, contact us at support@skillpulselms.com.

2. What we collect

Information you give us

Data	Why we need it
Name, email address and username	To create your account, sign you in, and show who wrote a post. Your email is never shown to other members.
Password	To sign you in. We store only a one-way hash (bcrypt), never the password itself.
Year of birth	To check you are 13 or older and to apply extra protections for members under 18. We don't show it to anyone.
Profile details you choose to add: photo, headline, bio, location, website, GitHub and LinkedIn links	To show on your public profile.
Posts, replies, reactions, bookmarks, follows, Spaces you join, course progress and quiz attempts	To run the community and your learning progress.
Reports you send about content	To let moderators review problems. Reports are not shown to the person you reported.

If you sign in with Google, Google shares your name, email address, whether the email is verified, your profile photo and a Google account ID. We use them only to create or sign in to your account. We do not get access to your Gmail, contacts, files or anything else in your Google account. You can disconnect Google in Settings → Account & security.

Collected automatically

A sign-in cookie, and for each signed-in device the browser name (user agent) and the time you were last active, so you can stay signed in and we can protect your account.
XP, levels, badges and streaks, which are calculated from what you do on the site.
If you turn on notifications on a device: the push address your browser gives us for that device, and your time zone so we can respect quiet hours.
Short-lived security records, such as counting failed sign-in attempts to stop password guessing.
Usage data collected by Google Analytics, depending on your region and choice (see Cookies and analytics).

We don't ask for phone numbers, government IDs, payment details or precise location.

3. How we use your information

To run SkillPulseLMS: your account, profile, posts, Spaces, courses, notifications and leaderboards.
To send service emails: account activation, password resets and similar messages about your account. We don't send marketing emails unless you choose to receive them.
To keep the community safe: automatic checks run before a post or reply is saved. They block offensive words, secret keys and passwords pasted into code, contact details posted by members under 18, link spam from brand-new accounts, and posting too fast. Content that several members report is hidden until a moderator reviews it. Moderators and admins can see reports and take action, and every action they take is logged.
To improve the site: if you accept analytics cookies, we look at which pages and features help people learn.
To meet legal obligations and respond to lawful requests.

4. Our legal basis

Under India's Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 (DPDP Act), we process your data with your consent, which you give when you create an account, and for the legitimate uses the Act allows, such as keeping the service secure.

If you are in the European Economic Area or the UK, our legal bases under the GDPR are:

providing the service you signed up for (contract);
keeping it safe and preventing abuse (legitimate interests);
analytics cookies (consent, which you can withdraw at any time).

5. What other people can see

Public: your name, username, profile photo and the profile details you add; your posts and replies in public Spaces; your XP, level, badges and leaderboard position; who you follow and which public Spaces you joined.
Members of a private Space only: what you post in that Space.
Never shown: your email address, year of birth, password, sign-in devices and the reports you send.

Public posts can be seen by anyone on the internet and may appear in search engines. Think before posting personal details. Members under 18 can't post phone numbers or email addresses at all.

6. Who we share data with

We don't sell your personal data, and we don't share it with advertisers. We share only what is needed with service providers who work for us:

Provider	What for	Data involved
Hosting and database provider	Running the website and storing data	All data described in this policy
Email delivery provider (our SMTP mail service or Resend)	Sending activation and password-reset emails	Your name, email address and the email content
Google (Sign in with Google)	Signing in, only if you choose it	As described in section 2
Your browser's push service (e.g. Google, Apple, Mozilla, Microsoft)	Delivering notifications you turned on	The notification text and your device's push address
Google Tag Manager	Loading our measurement tags, following the same consent rules	Technical data such as your browser and IP address
Google Analytics	Measuring site usage	Anonymous page signals; with your consent, usage data and an analytics cookie ID. Never your name or email

We may also disclose information if the law requires it, to protect members' safety, or as part of a merger or sale of the service, in which case this policy continues to apply.

7. Cookies and analytics

Cookie	Type	Purpose	Lasts
`sp_session`	Essential	Keeps you signed in	30 days, or until you log out
`sp_google_flow`	Essential	Protects Sign in with Google from forgery	10 minutes
`_ga`	Analytics (optional)	Google Analytics: tells visits apart	Up to 2 years
`_ga_*`	Analytics (optional)	Google Analytics: keeps the session state	Up to 2 years

Essential cookies are needed for the site to work, so they don't need consent.

We use Google Analytics in Google's consent mode, and what happens before you choose depends on where you are:

In the European Economic Area, the UK and Switzerland, analytics cookies are set only after you click “Accept analytics”. Until then, or if you decline, Google receives only anonymous signals without cookies, such as that a page was viewed, which it uses for overall, modelled visitor counts.
Everywhere else, analytics cookies are used from your first visit, and you can turn them off at any time by clicking “Decline” on the banner or Cookie settings at the bottom of the page.

Google works out the region from your connection. Our analytics settings:

advertising features and Google Signals are turned off;
we don't send your name, email or account ID to Google;
members under 18 are never tracked, whatever they choose.

You can change your choice at any time with Cookie settings at the bottom of the page. Your choice is saved in your browser.

App storage on your device. When you use SkillPulseLMS as an installed app or in a supporting browser, it keeps copies of the site's files and of pages you recently opened or saved with Save offline, so they load quickly and work without a connection. These copies stay on your device, are never sent to us, and are deleted when a different member signs in on the same device.

8. Children and teenagers

SkillPulseLMS is for people aged 13 and over. We don't knowingly allow anyone younger to create an account, and we delete accounts that we find belong to someone under 13.

Members aged 13 to 17 should use SkillPulseLMS with the permission of a parent or guardian. For them we:

never use analytics or tracking;
never show targeted advertising;
block phone numbers and email addresses in their public posts.

A parent or guardian can ask us to see, correct or delete their child's data by writing to support@skillpulselms.com.

9. How long we keep data

Your account and content: until you ask us to delete your account.
Sign-in sessions: 30 days, or until you log out.
Activation links: 48 hours. Password-reset links: 1 hour. Expired and used links are deleted regularly.
Read notifications: deleted after 90 days.
Push addresses: until you turn notifications off, sign out on that device, or your browser stops the subscription.
Moderation records (reports and the actions taken): kept while needed to keep the community safe and to handle appeals.
Google Analytics data: kept by Google for the retention period set in our Analytics account, at most 14 months.

10. How we protect your data

Passwords are stored only as bcrypt hashes.
Sign-in and email link tokens are random and stored only as hashes.
Secrets such as email and Google credentials are encrypted (AES-256-GCM).
The site is served over HTTPS, and sign-in cookies can't be read by scripts.
Only admins and moderators can use moderation tools, and their actions are logged.

11. Your rights and choices

See and correct your data: edit your profile in Settings, or ask us for a copy of what we hold.
Delete your account and personal data: email us from your account's email address. Posts that others have replied to may be kept without your name so conversations still make sense.
Withdraw consent for analytics at any time with Cookie settings.
Disconnect Google sign-in in Settings → Account & security.
Nominate someone to exercise your rights if you die or can't act yourself (DPDP Act).
Complain: to our Grievance Officer (section 14). In India you can then go to the Data Protection Board of India; in the EEA or UK, to your local data protection authority.

Write to support@skillpulselms.com. We reply within 30 days and may ask you to confirm your identity first.

12. Where your data is processed

SkillPulseLMS serves members in India and around the world. Your data is stored on our hosting provider's servers, and some providers listed in section 6 (such as Google) may process it in other countries. When that happens, we rely on the safeguards those providers offer and the transfer rules of the DPDP Act and the GDPR.

13. Changes to this policy

If we change this policy in a way that matters, we'll update the date at the top and tell members with a notice on the site before the change takes effect. Using SkillPulseLMS after that means you accept the updated policy.

14. Contact and Grievance Officer

Questions or requests: support@skillpulselms.com

Grievance Officer (Information Technology Rules, 2021, and DPDP Act, 2023): Grievance Officer, SkillPulseLMS, support@skillpulselms.com, with “Grievance” in the subject. We acknowledge complaints within 24 hours and resolve them within the time the law requires.

See also our Terms of Use and Community guidelines.