Privacy Policy for UniMate

Effective Date: October 25, 2026 | Last Updated: October 25, 2026

UniMate | All-in-One VU & VULMS Study Assistant, DigiSkills & Quiz Helper ("UniMate", "we", "our", or "the Extension") is dedicated to providing students with workflow and study automation utilities while strictly upholding digital privacy standards. This Privacy Policy details the technical scope of permissions requested, local data handling practices, and our adherence to the Chrome Web Store Developer Program Policies.

Zero Off-Device Data Harvesting: UniMate does NOT collect, aggregate, or store personal identity records, passwords, or personal academic credentials on external centralized servers. All core operations execute strictly inside the client's local browser environment.

1. Scope of Data Handled and Functional Objectives

UniMate accesses data strictly within the boundaries necessary to perform on-page study enhancements on supported learning management systems:

Local User Preferences & Configuration: Custom UI toggles, study preferences, and lecture helper options are saved locally using the chrome.storage.local / chrome.storage.sync APIs.
Educational Document Content (DOM): The Extension accesses interactive lecture elements, video player status, and quiz prompts on supported LMS pages to enable study tools and quiz preparation workflows.
Session & Authentication State Monitoring (Cookies): To ensure uninterrupted progress tracking across student dashboard sessions, the Extension monitors session lifecycle states locally for supported domains.
AI Educational Assistance: When a user explicitly triggers quiz study or practice prompts, the specific academic question string is dispatched securely to googleapis.com to produce study explanations. No student identifying metadata is attached to these requests.

2. Technical Justification of Browser Permissions

In accordance with Chrome Web Store Minimum Privilege guidelines, every permission declared in manifest.json serves a direct functional dependency:

Permission	Technical & Functional Purpose
`cookies`	Required strictly for local session state continuity across student portals (VULMS, DigiSkills, NetAcad). UniMate monitors cookie change events (`chrome.cookies.onChanged`) locally to ensure automation tools seamlessly sync when an LMS session refreshes or expires. Cookie contents are never transferred to third-party endpoints.
`activeTab`	Grants temporary, scoped access to the foreground educational tab when the user initiates actions via the extension popup or context controls.
`scripting`	Required to programmatically inject study helper scripts, playback controllers, and quiz assistance overlays into the learning interface.
`storage`	Used exclusively to retain extension configurations, cached study metadata, and user settings on the client device.
Host Permissions: `.vu.edu.pk/` `.netacad.com/` `.digiskills.pk/` `.googleapis.com/`	Scoped strictly to target academic portals where study assistance is provided, along with authorized Google API endpoints required for generative educational assistance. UniMate does not execute scripts on general web browsing traffic.

3. Local Cookie Data & Security Architecture

Notice on Session Data: While the Extension accesses session cookies to track LMS availability, this interaction is strictly bounded by browser runtime memory. UniMate does not transmit authentication tokens, cookies, or session payloads across any remote analytics platform or external network.

4. Data Sharing and Commercial Restrictions

UniMate enforces strict commercial safeguards regarding student interactions:

We do not monetize, broker, or sell student information, cookie logs, or usage metrics to data aggregators.
We do not utilize permission access for behavioral advertising or user profiling.
We do not operate remote servers to index, inspect, or process user browsing activities.

5. Compliance with Chrome Web Store User Data Policy

UniMate complies with the Chrome Web Store Limited Use requirements:

Data accessed via Chrome APIs is restricted solely to presenting user-facing educational utilities.
Transfers to third-party service providers (Google APIs) occur only when strictly necessary to fulfill direct educational prompts requested by the user.
No human operator accesses, reads, or audits user-generated study materials or portal sessions.

6. Data Retention and Erasure

Because preference configurations and operational logs are stored locally within the browser, users retain absolute ownership over their data. Removing the UniMate extension or clearing site browsing data immediately purges all locally stored records.

7. Inquiries and Contact Information

For questions or support regarding this Privacy Policy and UniMate technical operations, contact:

Developer Contact: Naeem Sagheer
Email: naeemxsagheer@gmail.com