Terms of Use

Last updated: June 2025

1. Acceptance of Terms

By downloading, installing, or using the My Study Buddy mobile application ("App"), you agree to be bound by these Terms of Use ("Terms"). These Terms constitute a legally binding agreement between you ("User" or "you") and My Study Buddy ("we", "us", or "our").

If you are under the age of 18, you represent that a parent or legal guardian has reviewed and agreed to these Terms on your behalf. If you do not agree with any part of these Terms, you must not use the App.

We reserve the right to update these Terms at any time. Continued use of the App after any such changes constitutes your acceptance of the revised Terms.

2. Description of Service

My Study Buddy is an AI-powered personal study tutoring application designed for students from Grade 1 through college level and adult learners. The App provides the following core services:

  • Document processing: extracting and analysing study content from uploaded PDFs, images, or pasted text;
  • Flashcard and quiz generation: creating study aids from your uploaded materials;
  • AI tutoring: a conversational AI assistant that answers questions and provides guided explanations;
  • Practice mode: open-ended question and answer sessions with AI-evaluated feedback;
  • Progress tracking: recording study streaks, accuracy scores, and topic mastery;
  • Voice input and text-to-speech: hands-free interaction and audio playback of AI responses.

The App is an educational aid intended to supplement — not replace — formal education, instruction from qualified teachers, or professional tutoring services.

3. User Responsibilities

By using My Study Buddy, you agree to use the App only for lawful, educational purposes. Specifically, you agree not to:

  • Use the App or its AI features to complete assessments, assignments, examinations, or coursework in a manner that violates your school's or institution's academic integrity policies;
  • Submit AI-generated content as your own original work in academic contexts where such use is prohibited;
  • Upload content that is illegal, defamatory, hateful, sexually explicit, or that infringes the intellectual property rights of any third party;
  • Attempt to reverse-engineer, decompile, or extract the source code of the App;
  • Use the App to train competing AI models or for commercial data harvesting;
  • Misrepresent your identity, age, or the nature of your use of the App;
  • Circumvent, disable, or interfere with any security features of the App or the Groq API.

You are solely responsible for the content you upload and the manner in which you use the App's outputs. We encourage responsible and ethical use of AI-assisted learning.

4. Intellectual Property

Your content: Any files, notes, text, or other study material you upload to the App remain your property (or the property of the copyright owner of that material). We do not claim any ownership over content you upload.

AI-generated content: Outputs generated by the AI (flashcards, quiz questions, explanations, tutor responses) are provided to you for personal, non-commercial educational use. You may retain and use these outputs for your own study purposes. You must not resell, redistribute, or commercially exploit AI-generated outputs without our prior written permission.

App content: The My Study Buddy application, including its code, design, branding, trademarks, logos, and all original content created by us, is protected by applicable intellectual property laws. You may not reproduce or distribute any part of the App without our express written consent.

5. Third-Party Services

My Study Buddy relies on the Groq API (provided by Groq, Inc.) to deliver its AI features. Your use of the AI functionality is therefore also subject to Groq's Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.

You are responsible for:

  • Obtaining your own Groq API key from console.groq.com;
  • Complying with Groq's usage policies and rate limits;
  • Any costs or charges that Groq may impose for API usage beyond any free tier they offer.

We are not responsible for any outages, errors, or policy changes by Groq that may affect the availability or behaviour of the App's AI features. We do not endorse Groq or any other third-party service beyond our operational relationship with them.

6. Disclaimer of Warranties

My Study Buddy is provided "as is" and "as available" without warranties of any kind, express or implied, including but not limited to:

  • Warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, or non-infringement;
  • Guarantees that the App will be uninterrupted, error-free, or free from viruses or harmful components;
  • Guarantees regarding the accuracy, completeness, or suitability of any AI-generated content for any specific educational purpose.

AI-generated content — including explanations, quiz questions, and tutor responses — is produced automatically and may occasionally contain inaccuracies or errors. The App is an educational aid, not a substitute for qualified professional advice. Always verify important information with a qualified teacher, tutor, or educational professional.

7. Limitation of Liability

To the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, My Study Buddy and its developers, officers, employees, and affiliates shall not be liable for any indirect, incidental, consequential, special, or punitive damages arising out of or in connection with:

  • Your use of or inability to use the App;
  • Any reliance placed on AI-generated content;
  • Unauthorised access to or alteration of your data;
  • Any other matter relating to the App.

In jurisdictions that do not allow the exclusion or limitation of certain categories of liability, our liability is limited to the maximum extent permitted by law.

8. Modifications to Service

We reserve the right, at our sole discretion, to:

  • Add, modify, or remove features of the App at any time, with or without notice;
  • Change pricing for any premium features (if introduced in the future) — existing free-tier features will not become paid without at least 30 days' advance notice;
  • Discontinue the App entirely, in which case we will provide reasonable advance notice where practicable.

We will always maintain and honour the core functionality promised at the time of your download for a reasonable period.

9. Termination

These Terms remain in effect as long as you use the App. You may terminate your use of the App at any time by uninstalling it from your device.

We reserve the right to terminate or restrict your access to the App (including blocking your API key from our systems) if we determine, in our sole discretion, that you have violated these Terms, misused the App, or engaged in behaviour that could harm other users or the App's integrity.

Upon termination, all locally stored data on your device remains under your control; simply deleting the App removes all local App data.

10. Governing Law

These Terms are governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the Republic of South Africa, without regard to its conflict of law provisions. Any disputes arising under these Terms shall be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of South Africa.

If any provision of these Terms is found to be invalid or unenforceable by a court of competent jurisdiction, the remaining provisions shall continue in full force and effect.

11. Contact

If you have questions about these Terms of Use, please visit our Contact page or email us at legal@mystudybuddy.app. We aim to respond within 48 hours.