Privacy Policy.

Methodica is a studio-management app for lessons businesses (music schools first). It is operated by CGHM Associates LLC, an Illinois, USA limited liability company ("Methodica", "we", "us"). This policy covers the Methodica apps for iPhone, Android and web at app.methodica.app, our API, and this marketing site at methodica.app.

The short version: we collect what a studio needs to run lessons and bill for them, we never sell personal data, we show no ads, and anyone can delete their account from inside the app.

Who is responsible for your data

Methodica is used by studios (the business that teaches lessons) and by the teachers, parents and students that studio invites. The studio decides which families to enroll, what to record about them, and how long to keep it — in privacy-law terms the studio is the controller of its families' records and Methodica is the processor acting on the studio's instructions. For studio owners' own accounts, billing and this website, Methodica is the controller.

If you are a parent or student and have a question about how your studio uses your information, your studio is the first place to ask. We will always help them answer.

What we collect

Account information

Name, email address, password (stored only as a one-way hash), optional phone number and profile photo, time zone, and your role at the studio. If you sign in with Google we receive your Google account's name, email and avatar and store a Google identifier — never your Google password.

Family and student records entered by the studio

Studios enter what they need to teach and bill: student names, ages or birthdates, instrument or program, guardian contact details, lesson schedules, attendance, notes, invoices and payment status, and any custom fields the studio adds. Studios may also import these records from their previous software.

Practice and learning data

Practice logs and timers, streaks, XP, levels and coins, quests and badges, skill progress, arcade game scores, avatar choices, and optional practice recordings or photos a student chooses to upload. Studios can switch the gamification layer off entirely.

Messages

Messages sent inside Methodica between studio staff, teachers, parents and students, so the studio has a record of its communications. Users can report or block a conversation from inside the app.

Payments

Payments are processed by Stripe. Card and bank details go directly from your device to Stripe; Methodica never sees or stores full card numbers. We keep what Stripe returns for record-keeping: the last four digits, card brand and expiry, and the amount, date and status of each charge.

Device and technical data

If you turn on notifications we store a push token for your device. Our servers log IP addresses, browser or app version and request timing for security and troubleshooting, and keep those logs for a limited time. Studios can optionally enable GPS-verified check-in for attendance; when they do, a location is recorded only at the moment a user checks in, and only if that user has opted in.

Analytics on this website only

The marketing site at methodica.app uses Google Analytics 4 to understand which pages are read. The Methodica app itself does not run third-party advertising or analytics SDKs.

How we use it

• To run the studio: scheduling, attendance, billing, messaging, progress tracking.
• To send the notifications you or your studio asked for — lesson reminders, practice nudges, invoices, messages — by push, email or SMS, with per-category controls in the app.
• To keep the service secure and working: fraud prevention, abuse reports, debugging, backups.
• To bill studios for their Methodica subscription.
• To answer support requests, including the in-app help assistant described below.

We do not sell personal information, share it with data brokers, use it to build advertising profiles, or show ads. We do not use student data to train AI models.

Children's privacy

Many Methodica students are under 13. We take that seriously and design for it:

• Children never sign themselves up. A student account is created by the studio or by a parent or guardian, who is asked to consent to the child's use of the app. A child's account can be flagged as requiring parental consent, and the studio can see whether consent is on file.
• We collect from a child only what the lesson service needs — name, the program they study, practice activity, and messages with their teacher or studio. Email and phone belong to the parent unless the family chooses otherwise.
• No advertising, no third-party tracking, no selling or renting of children's data. Leaderboards are visible only inside your own studio and are part of the gamification layer a studio can turn off.
• Parents can review their child's information from the parent app, ask the studio to correct it, revoke consent, or delete the account — in-app or by emailing us.

If you believe a child has provided us information without appropriate consent, contact hello@methodica.app and we will remove it.

Who we share it with

We share personal information only with service providers that help us run Methodica, under contracts that restrict them to that purpose:

• Stripe — payment processing for studios' tuition and for Methodica subscriptions.
• Resend — transactional email delivery (invoices, reminders, password resets).
• Twilio — SMS delivery when a studio enables text notifications.
• Expo — push-notification delivery to iOS and Android devices.
• DigitalOcean — hosting for our application servers and database (United States).
• Cloudflare — content delivery, DNS and security in front of our sites.
• OpenAI and Anthropic — power the optional in-app help assistant. When you ask it a question, only the text of your question is sent to answer it. Student records, messages and billing data are never sent to these providers.

We may also disclose information when the law requires it, to protect the safety of a user, or as part of a merger or sale of the business (in which case this policy continues to apply). Your studio can see the records its staff entered about its own students and families, as you would expect.

Retention and deletion

• Delete your account yourself, any time: Profile → Delete my account in the app (owners: Settings → Legal & account). Your name, email, phone, photo and sign-in are permanently removed and you are signed out everywhere.
• Lesson history, attendance and invoices stay with the studio as anonymised business records — a studio must be able to account for the lessons it taught and the money it took — but they no longer identify you.
• A studio owner who is the only person in their studio removes the studio and its subscription when they delete their account. An owner with other people in the studio transfers ownership first.
• Studios can request a full export or deletion of their studio's data by emailing us; we complete these within 30 days.
• Backups are kept for up to 35 days and then roll off. Server logs are kept for up to 90 days.

Security

All traffic is encrypted in transit (TLS). Data is encrypted at rest at our hosting provider. Passwords are hashed, API tokens are revocable, and every record is scoped to its studio so one studio can never see another's. Access to production systems is limited to the people who operate the service. No system is perfectly secure; if we learn of a breach affecting you we will notify you and your studio without undue delay.

Your rights

Wherever you live, you can ask us to access, correct, export or delete your personal information, or to object to or restrict a use of it. Residents of the EU/EEA and UK have these rights under the GDPR; California residents have them under the CCPA/CPRA, along with the right to know what is collected and the right not to be discriminated against for exercising them. We do not sell or "share" personal information as those laws define it, so there is nothing to opt out of.

To exercise a right, use the in-app tools or email hello@methodica.app. Because studios control their families' records, we may route a request to your studio or verify it with them. We respond within 30 days.

Where data lives

Methodica is operated from the United States and our servers are in the United States. If you use Methodica from elsewhere, your information is transferred to and processed in the US under this policy.

Changes to this policy

When we make a material change we will update the effective date above and tell studio owners by email or in the app before it takes effect. Continued use after that date means you accept the updated policy.

Contact

CGHM Associates LLC (Methodica), Illinois, USA · hello@methodica.app. We answer within one business day.

Text messages (SMS)

Text messages are optional and never a condition of enrolling, taking lessons, booking or paying — everything we would text you is also emailed and shown in the app. If you opt in, we use your mobile number only to send the operational messages you signed up for: lesson reminders, schedule changes, billing receipts and reminders, and new-message notices. Consent is collected only from you, in one of two ways: the Text messages toggle in the app (Profile → Notifications, off by default) or an unchecked, optional checkbox next to the phone field on your studio’s signup or trial-booking form. Studio staff cannot opt you in. We record when you agreed, which method you used and the exact wording you saw. Full details and screenshots: methodica.app/sms.

No mobile information will be shared with third parties or affiliates for marketing or promotional purposes. Information sharing to subcontractors in support services, such as our SMS delivery provider (Twilio), is permitted only to deliver the messages you asked for. All other categories exclude text messaging originator opt-in data and consent; this information will not be shared with any third parties.

You can opt out at any time by replying STOP to any message, or by turning off Text messages in the app. Reply HELP for help, or email hello@methodica.app. Message frequency varies; message and data rates may apply.