Privacy Policy

Last updated: 19 July 2026 · Applies to the GradeForge desktop application and this website.

The short version. GradeForge is an offline-first desktop app. Your pupils' data and your feedback live in an encrypted store on your own device. There is no GradeForge server. The only time data touches the internet is when you personally choose to connect your own Google account and sync, and even then it goes only between your device and your own Google account.

1. Who we are

GradeForge ("we", "us", the "app") is a teaching gradebook, planner and feedback tool for Windows, provided by GradeForge by Rhys Richardson and James Jones, based in Wales, United Kingdom. For any privacy question, contact hello@gradeforge.co.uk.

2. Our core principle: local-first

GradeForge stores your data locally on the device where it is installed. Pupil names, marks, lesson plans and feedback media are held in a protected, encrypted store on that device. We do not operate servers that receive, hold, or process your data. We cannot see your pupils' data.

3. Data you enter into the app

You may enter or import pupil names, class lists, marks, targets, lesson plans and attendance, and you may record screen, audio and written feedback. All of this remains on your device unless you explicitly export or sync it. We never receive it.

4. Google account data (only if you connect Google)

Connecting Google is optional. If you sign in with your Google account, GradeForge requests only the access needed for the features you use, and acts entirely on your behalf and on your device. What each permission is used for:

Access	Why GradeForge uses it
Your identity (email, OpenID)	To show which account is connected.
Google Classroom (courses, rosters, coursework, profiles)	To import your classes and pupils, list assignments, post work and push grades back, on your instruction.
Google Drive (files you open via the picker, and an app-private folder)	To read a pupil's submitted work that you select for marking, to save feedback and backups you create, and to keep an encrypted per-app sync folder. GradeForge only accesses files you explicitly open or that it created.
Gmail send, Forms, Slides, Calendar, YouTube (optional features)	To email as you, create a quiz Form, read a Slides deck you choose, show your timetable, and find classroom videos, each only when you use that feature.

Google data is processed transiently on your device to provide these features and is not sent to us.

5. Limited Use: Google API Services User Data Policy

GradeForge's use and transfer to any other app of information received from Google APIs will adhere to the Google API Services User Data Policy, including the Limited Use requirements.

Specifically, information received from Google APIs is:

used only to provide or improve user-facing features that are prominent in GradeForge;
not transferred or sold to third parties, ad networks, data brokers or for any advertising purpose;
not used for personalised advertising;
not read by any human, except with your explicit consent for a specific action, to comply with the law, or as strictly necessary for security (e.g. investigating abuse); and
not used to train generalised AI/ML models. (Where you opt in to an AI feature, only the content you choose is sent to the AI provider you have configured, solely to produce that result for you.)

6. Children's data

GradeForge is a tool for teachers. Any pupil information is entered and controlled by the teacher or school as the data controller; GradeForge acts as a processor on the teacher's own device. Screen recordings capture pupils' work, and the webcam (if used) records the teacher, not pupils' faces. We recommend schools follow their own data-protection and safeguarding policies, and GradeForge prompts to delete feedback media at the end of the academic year.

7. Retention and deletion

Because your data lives on your device, you control retention. You can delete pupils, feedback media and the whole local store at any time. Disconnecting Google in the app removes GradeForge's stored access token from your device; you can also revoke access at myaccount.google.com/permissions.

8. Security

Local pupil data and feedback media are held in a protected, encrypted store. Google access tokens are encrypted using your operating system's secure storage. The app runs with hardened settings (isolated, sandboxed, no remote code execution).

9. This website (cookies and analytics)

This website is informational and separate from the app. It sets no advertising cookies and does not sell personal data. To understand how the site is used and improve it, we use Google Analytics, which sets cookies and records anonymous usage data (such as pages viewed and approximate region). We do not link it to Google advertising and IP addresses are anonymised.

Analytics only runs if you choose Accept on the cookie banner shown on your first visit. If you choose Decline, no analytics cookies are set and nothing is collected. You can change your mind by clearing this site's data in your browser, which brings the banner back. Essential functions of the site work either way.

10. Changes & contact

We will update this policy as the app evolves and post the new date above. Questions: hello@gradeforge.co.uk.