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Learning apps collect a lot: your child's name and age, school, marks, practice history, photos of homework, sometimes voice recordings and chat logs with an AI tutor. Most of that is needed for the app to work. Some of it may not be. India now has a law that sets rules for how this data is handled, and knowing its basics helps you ask sharper questions before you tap "I agree". This is a plain-language guide, not legal advice.
What does India's DPDP Act say about children's data?
The Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 received the President's assent on 11 August 2023 (official text, MeitY). The Act calls the company handling data a "Data Fiduciary" and the person whose data it is a "Data Principal". Four points matter most for families.
A child is anyone under 18. The Act defines a child as an individual who has not completed eighteen years, so this covers every school student, including those preparing for JEE or NEET.
Verifiable parental consent. Under Section 9(1), a company must obtain verifiable consent of the parent before processing any personal data of a child.
No tracking or targeted ads aimed at children. Section 9(3) says a company shall not undertake tracking or behavioural monitoring of children, or targeted advertising directed at children. Section 9(2) bars processing likely to cause a detrimental effect on a child's well-being. Section 9(4) allows the government to exempt some classes of companies or purposes from 9(1) and 9(3) under conditions it prescribes.
Penalties. The Act's schedule lists penalties of up to ₹200 crore for breaching the additional obligations relating to children.
Rights you have as a parent
The same Act gives the person whose data it is (acting through you, for a child) several rights:
Notice: a request for consent must come with a notice saying what data will be processed and for what purpose (Section 5).
Withdrawing consent: you can withdraw consent at any time (Section 6), and the company must then erase the data unless a law requires it to keep it (Section 8(7)).
Access: you can ask for a summary of the data held and the identities of others it has been shared with (Section 11).
Correction and erasure: you can ask for data to be corrected, completed, updated or erased (Section 12).
Grievances: companies must provide a way to raise complaints (Section 13) and publish contact details of a person who can answer data questions (Section 8(9)).
When do the rules apply?
The Act needs detailed rules to operate. The Digital Personal Data Protection Rules, 2025 were notified on 13 November 2025, with most operational provisions, including the rule on verifiable parental consent, scheduled to take effect 18 months later, on 13 May 2027 (SCC Online summary). So some apps may still be adjusting. You can ask for these protections now; good apps should already be able to answer.
A 12-point privacy checklist for any learning app
Before signing up:
Who is the company, and where is it based? The privacy policy should name the legal entity and give a contact.
What exactly is collected? Look for a list: account details, usage data, photos, voice, location, contacts.
Why is each item needed? Location or contacts access is rarely needed for practising physics.
Is there a parental consent step for under-18 users?
Are there ads? Check whether the app shows advertising to students, and whether it says it uses children's data for targeting.
Is data shared or sold? Look for named categories of third parties and the purposes.
How is AI chat data used? Ask whether conversations with an AI tutor are stored, for how long, and whether they are used to train models.
Where is the grievance contact? A named person or email for data questions should be easy to find.
After signing up:
Review app permissions in phone settings and switch off anything the app does not need, such as location or contacts.
Keep personal details out of chats and photos. Crop names, roll numbers and phone numbers out of homework photos.
Test the deletion route. Find where to delete the account and data before you need it.
Revisit once a term. Check settings after big app updates.
Talking to your teenager about it
Teenagers often manage their own apps. Go through the checklist together rather than doing it for them: it is a useful life skill, and it fits the approach in setting family rules for phones and homework. If your child uses AI chatbots for school, our guide on children using ChatGPT for homework covers the learning side.
This applies to us too. If you are considering Fermi's AI tutor for your child, read the Fermi privacy policy with this checklist in hand, and write to the contact listed there with any question it does not answer.
