Privacy Policy

1. Who we are

This privacy policy applies to the OFI Anseo student mobile application operated by OFI (O'Fiaich Institute). The app is used by enrolled students to access their timetable, attendance records, and college messages, and to tell the college about absences.

For questions about this policy, contact us at: info@anseo.ie

2. What data we collect in this version

The current version of OFI Anseo collects the following personal data:

• Email address – used to send a one-time login code
• Name (forename and surname) – displayed within the app
• Student ID number – used to identify your records
• Timetable data – your scheduled classes for the current academic year
• Attendance records – your attendance summary and individual session records
• College messages – notices sent to you by the college
• Contact details held by the college (email, mobile number, and address) – displayed read-only so you can check them
• Absence reasons and notes – the reason you select and any note you write when explaining an absence
• Absence requests – the dates, or the class, you report an absence for, with your reason, note, and whether it was approved
• Evidence you choose to attach – a photo or PDF of a medical certificate or other evidence for an absence

Absence notes are free text, and a certificate or other evidence may show health or other personal information. That information is stored with your absence request and attendance record and is seen only by the college staff described in section 4. Please include only what the college needs to understand the absence.

Camera, photos and files

The app only uses your camera, photos or files when you choose to attach evidence to an absence, and only for what you pick:

• Take photo uses your camera to take one photo
• Choose photo opens your photo library so you can pick one photo; the app does not read your other photos
• Choose PDF opens your files so you can pick one PDF; the app does not read your other files

Your phone asks for your permission the first time. Photos are reduced in size on your phone before they are sent. Nothing is uploaded until you send the request.

The app does not access your device location or contact lists.

3. How we use your data

• To authenticate you securely using a one-time code sent to your college email
• To display your personalised timetable and attendance information
• To deliver messages and notices from the college to you
• To record the reasons you give for absences so the college can manage attendance
• To let college staff review your absence requests and any evidence, and to email you the outcome

Your data is not used for advertising, profiling, or any purpose unrelated to your education.

4. Who can access your data

Your data is accessible only to authorised college staff (administrators, coordinators, and your own teachers) and to you through this app. Your data is never sold, shared, or transferred to third parties for any purpose. The only exception is the crash reporting service described in section 8, which processes technical error reports on our behalf.

Absence requests and any evidence you attach are seen by the staff who review them: the coordinators of your course, college administrators and attendance staff, and, for a reason about one class, the teacher of that class. The coordinators or teacher reviewing a request are emailed its details when you send or change it, with a link to review it in the college system.

5. How your data is stored and protected

• All data is stored on secure servers hosted on Microsoft Azure (Ireland region)
• Evidence you attach is kept in private Azure storage in the same region, and can only be opened by signed-in college staff
• All data in transit between the app and our servers is encrypted using HTTPS/TLS
• Access to the backend systems requires authenticated staff credentials
• One-time login codes expire after 5 minutes and cannot be reused

6. Data retention

Your student data is retained for the duration of your enrolment and for a period after leaving as required by applicable education regulations. After that period, personal data is deleted or anonymised.

If you withdraw an absence request, any evidence attached to it is deleted. Evidence on an approved request is kept with your attendance record, in the same way as a certificate you hand in to the college.

7. Your rights

Under GDPR you have the right to:

• Access the personal data we hold about you
• Request correction of inaccurate data
• Request deletion of your data (subject to legal retention obligations)
• Object to or restrict certain processing
• Lodge a complaint with the Data Protection Commission (Ireland): dataprotection.ie

To exercise any of these rights, contact us at admin@anseo.ie. To request deletion of your data or app access, see our Delete Account & Data page.

8. Third-party SDKs

The OFI Anseo app is built using the Expo framework. Expo's runtime does not independently collect personal data from this app. No analytics or advertising SDKs are included.

The app uses Sentry for crash reporting, with data stored in Sentry's EU region. When the app crashes or hits an unexpected error, it sends a technical report: the error and where in the app it happened, the app version, and the device model and operating system version. Before a report leaves your device, the app removes sign-in codes, login tokens and email addresses, and it does not attach your profile, your absence notes or the content of your messages. Reports are used only to find and fix problems in the app.

9. Changes to this policy

We will update this policy when new features are added that affect data collection or processing. The "Last updated" date above will change when the policy is revised. For significant changes we will notify you through the app.