Privacy policy
Last updated: 29 October 2026
The short version. The study tools keep everything on your own phone. If you make a Tutors account, we keep what the account needs to work: your name, email, grade and your messages. We don't sell it, we don't show ads, and we don't track you around the internet. You can delete your account and its information yourself, any time, in Settings.
1. Who is responsible for your information
FundaRoute is the responsible party under the Protection of Personal Information Act, 2013 (POPIA). Questions, requests and complaints about your information go to our Information Officer at kinglesabe@gmail.com, with "Privacy request" in the subject.
2. The study tools: kept on your device
Your subject choices, marks, APS, saved courses and bursaries, flashcards, study log and planner are stored in your browser on your own phone or computer. They are not sent to us. Clearing your browser's data for this site removes them.
3. What we keep when you make a Tutors account
| Information | Why we need it |
|---|---|
| Your email address, username and whether you are a learner, parent or tutor | To make your account, let you sign in, and show others who you are |
| Your password, stored only in a scrambled (hashed) form, never the password itself | To check it is you when you sign in |
| Learners: your grade and province. Tutors: the grades and subjects you teach, your rate, how learners pay you, and the times you are free | To put you in the right grade channels and let learners find tutors |
| Messages, quizzes, homework, whiteboards, bookings, reviews, study buddies, blocks, mutes and reports | These are the Tutors section. They are shown only to the people they were meant for. |
| Parent links (which parent is linked to which learner) | So a parent can follow their child's lessons and messages with tutors |
| Tutors: whether your ID check passed, when, and Didit's reference for it | To show learners that a tutor's identity was checked. We do not keep your ID document, selfie or ID number. Didit handles those. |
| Team owners: the billing email, number of seats, amounts and payment dates | To run the subscription. Your card details go to PayFast and never reach us. |
| Security records: sign-in attempts, password changes, reports and moderator actions, with a scrambled (hashed) form of the IP address | To stop people breaking into accounts, and to deal with abuse |
4. Children
Many learners on FundaRoute are under 18. Under POPIA, a child's information needs the permission of a parent or guardian. If you are under 18, ask a parent or guardian before you make an account. A parent or guardian can link to the account with the learner's parent code, see what the learner does with tutors, and ask us to see, correct or delete the learner's information.
We never show a learner's email address to other users. Learners choose a username, and we ask them not to use their surname.
5. Who else handles your information
We use a few companies to run the site. Each one gets only what it needs to do its job.
| Company | What they do for us | Where |
|---|---|---|
| Netlify | Hosts the website, the server code and the database | United States |
| Didit | Checks tutors' ID documents and selfies | European Union |
| PayFast (Network International) | Takes the tutor subscription payments | South Africa |
| Our email service (Brevo or Resend) | Sends password reset emails | European Union / United States |
| Google Fonts | Supplies the fonts the site uses. Your browser asks Google for them, which shows Google your IP address. | United States |
Some of these are outside South Africa. We only use companies that are bound to protect personal information at least as well as POPIA requires (POPIA section 72).
We don't sell or rent your information, and we don't share it for advertising. We give it to the police or a court only when the law requires it, or when a child may be in danger.
6. How long we keep it
- Your account information is kept while you have an account.
- When you delete your account, it is removed straight away: your profile, messages, bookings, reviews, study buddies, parent links, uploaded files, and any team you own.
- Security records are kept while they are needed to protect accounts and deal with abuse. After an account is deleted, its security records keep only that an event happened, not the details.
- Records of subscription payments stay in our PayFast account for 5 years, because South African tax law requires it, even after the FundaRoute account is deleted.
7. How we protect it
Everything travels over HTTPS. Passwords are stored only in a scrambled (hashed) form. Sign-ins expire after 15 minutes and renew through a secure cookie. Accounts lock after repeated wrong passwords. Each person can see only what is theirs or what was shared with them, and the server checks that on every request.
If there is a breach that puts your information at risk, we will tell you and the Information Regulator as soon as we reasonably can.
8. Cookies and storage on your device
We use one cookie, and only after you sign in. It keeps you signed in, it can't be read by scripts, and it is sent only to FundaRoute. The study tools use your browser's local storage to keep your own data on your device. There are no advertising or tracking cookies.
9. Your rights
- See the information we keep about you.
- Correct it. You can change most of it yourself in Settings.
- Delete it. Use Delete my account in Settings, or email us.
- Object to how we use it.
Email kinglesabe@gmail.com from your account's email address with "Privacy request" in the subject. We answer within 30 days, usually much sooner.
If you are not happy with how we handled your request, you can complain to the Information Regulator: inforegulator.org.za.
10. Changes
If we change this policy, the date at the top changes. If a change affects what we keep or who sees it, we tell account holders by email before it applies.