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Privacy policy

We have no accounts and no sign-up forms. This page explains the little that is stored and the services that may collect data when you visit the site or use the app.

Last updated Nov 10, 2026

Who we are

This policy covers https://degreestep.com/ and the DegreeStep app for iPhone ("DegreeStep", "we"). You can contact us about privacy at hello@degreestep.com.

Information stored on your own device

The site uses your browser's local storage (not cookies) for features you choose to use:

  • Your shortlist. When you bookmark a route, the route's name is saved in your browser so your shortlist is there when you return. It never leaves your device, and you can remove it by un-bookmarking the route or clearing your browser's site data.
  • A premium licence key, only if we offer optional paid tools and you enter a key you bought. The key is stored in your browser and sent to our payment provider, Gumroad, to confirm it is valid. Gumroad's handling of that request is covered by Gumroad's privacy policy.

Calendar files you export are created in your browser and downloaded directly to your device; we do not receive them.

Hosting

The site is hosted on GitHub Pages. When you visit, GitHub receives technical information your browser sends with any web request, such as your IP address, and may log it for security and to keep the service running. See the GitHub General Privacy Statement.

Visitor statistics

We use Google Analytics to count how many people visit this site, which pages they read, roughly where they are and how they found us. It uses cookies and collects details such as your device type and approximate location. We use these figures only to improve the site. Visitors in the European Economic Area, the UK and Switzerland are not counted with analytics cookies unless they agree in the consent message. You can read how Google uses information from sites that use its services.

Advertising

When advertising is shown on this site, it is served by Google AdSense and by Ezoic. Ads appear only in spaces labelled "Advertisements" or "Sponsored".

  • Third-party vendors, including Google, use cookies to serve ads based on your prior visits to this website or other websites.
  • Google's use of advertising cookies enables it and its partners to serve ads to you based on your visits to this site and/or other sites on the internet.
  • You may opt out of personalised advertising by visiting Google Ads Settings. You can also opt out of some third-party vendors' use of cookies for personalised advertising at www.aboutads.info.
  • Learn more about how Google uses information from sites that use its services.

Ezoic. We work with Ezoic Inc., an advertising partner. Ezoic and its partners use cookies and similar technologies to show and measure ads and to measure how the site performs, and may collect your IP address, information about your device and the pages you visit. See Ezoic's privacy policy.

Partner links. Our links to Fintiba go through partner.fintiba.com. Fintiba sets a cookie on its own site, kept for 30 days, to record that you came from DegreeStep. See Fintiba's privacy policy.

Visitors in the European Economic Area, the UK and Switzerland are asked for consent through a consent message before personalised ads or advertising cookies are used. You can change your choice at any time with the "Privacy choices" link in the footer, where it appears.

The DegreeStep iPhone app

The app has no accounts either. What it keeps stays on your phone:

  • Your choices. Your nationality, your saved routes and whether alerts are on are stored on your device only. Deleting the app removes them.
  • Alerts are off until you turn them on in Settings. When they are on, iOS lets the app check degreestep.com in the background a few times a day. The app compares what it finds with the list of scholarships, positions and news it has already shown you, which is kept on your phone, and your phone posts a notification for anything new. We do not send these notifications, keep no record of who has alerts on, and learn nothing when they arrive.
  • Calendar. "Add to Calendar" on a working timeline asks your permission, then adds the timeline's steps and the deadline to your calendar, with alerts. The app can only add events: it cannot read your calendar.
  • Scholarship data. The app downloads its list of routes, deadlines, photos and news from degreestep.com, so GitHub receives the same technical information as for a visit to the site.

Ads in the app are served by Google AdMob. To show and measure ads and to prevent fraud, Google's ads software in the app may collect your IP address (and a rough location worked out from it), your device's advertising identifier, information about your device, the ads you see and tap, and crash and performance reports. See how Google uses information from apps that use its services.

The App Store badge on the home page and the app page is loaded from Apple, which receives your IP address when your browser fetches it, as with any image from another site.

  • In the European Economic Area, the UK and Switzerland, the app shows Google's consent message before any personalised ads. You can change your choice later in the app under Settings, then Privacy choices.
  • The app asks your permission, through Apple's tracking prompt, before your device's advertising identifier can be used to track you across other companies' apps and websites. If you choose "Ask App Not to Track", you still see ads, but they are not based on that identifier. You can change this at any time in your iPhone's Settings, under Privacy & Security, then Tracking.

Email

If you email us, we use your address and message only to reply and to act on your report, and we do not add you to any mailing list.

Links to other websites

Route pages link to universities, scholarship providers and governments. Those sites have their own privacy policies, which we do not control.

Children

The site and the app are intended for people researching university study and is not directed at children under 13. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children.

Your rights

Because we do not run accounts or collect personal data ourselves, there is usually nothing for us to access or delete; what is stored lives in your own browser or on your phone, under your control. For data held by Google or GitHub, use the links above. If you have a question or request, email hello@degreestep.com.

Changes

If we change how the site handles information (for example by adding a newsletter), we will update this page and its date before the change takes effect.