Honest answers need a safe place.
Here's exactly what Week by Week knows about you, who can see it and what happens to it – in plain language. The full legal version is our privacy policy.
What you need to join
- A nickname – what the AI coach calls you. Please don't use your real name.
- Your age and, if you like, your year level – so suggestions fit where you're at.
- A username and password to log in. Instead of an email address you get a recovery code when you sign up – keep it safe, it's how you reset your password.
You do not need a real name or an email address of your own to create a student account. If you're under 16 and sign up on your own, you need a parent's or caregiver's email so we can ask for their OK. If you make a CV, you can choose to add contact details for employers.
What else goes in
- Whatever you choose to write – your answers, chats, wins, plans and check-ins. You decide what goes in.
- Contact details on your CV – only if you add them, so employers can reach you. They're saved with your account and never sent to the AI coach.
We don't track where you are. If you tell the AI coach your town, it uses that to find jobs nearby.
Voice typing is optional. If you tap the microphone, your browser's own speech service turns your voice into text. The audio goes to the browser's maker, for example Google (Chrome), Microsoft (Edge) or Apple (Safari). We only get the text, not the recording.
Who sees what
| Who | What they can see |
|---|---|
| You | What you write and what the AI coach makes from it. Our team can add private notes to guide the AI coach. The app doesn't show them to you. |
| Your school | In the school dashboard: your nickname, age, year level, when you joined, when you were last active and how many AI credits you've used. Not what you write. If you're locked out, a teacher can give you a temporary password. It works for 24 hours and opens your account, and you can see the reset in the app. |
| The AI (Claude, by Anthropic) | What's needed to reply to you (your answers and what the AI has noticed about you) each time you use an AI feature, or when the app starts one by itself, for example after you change something. The AI also reads much of what you write in the background, such as your answers, wins, check-in notes, goals, habits and weekly step, to check if you might need help. If it thinks you might, it shows you where to get help. It doesn't block anything or tell anyone else. It can miss things. For Connect, it checks each message you send for inappropriate content. Under Anthropic's commercial terms it isn't used to train their models. |
| Week by Week | A very small team can access the system to keep it running and fix problems. We only look at what you write if you ask us for help, to look into misuse or a safety or security problem, or if the law requires it. |
| Anyone else | Only the services that run Week by Week for us, such as hosting. Otherwise, we only share information if the law requires it or someone's safety is at serious risk. We don't sell data and we don't show ads. |
Deleting your stuff
You can delete your account yourself in the app, under Account › Delete my account. If you have a paid plan that renews, cancel it first under Plan & usage. You can also ask your school to remove it, or email us at hello@week-by-week.com with your username.
Everything you wrote is deleted, except a Connect conversation that someone reported and excerpts of your blocked Connect messages that go with it. Our team keeps that conversation for 90 days to look into the report. Your username in it is replaced by a random code, but your Connect nickname and messages stay. Copies can stay in our backups for up to 3 months.
If your school stops using Week by Week, the AI and editing pause, but you can still log in and read everything for at least 120 days. You can keep your account by choosing a plan of your own: it then moves out of your school, your school no longer sees it, and everything you've saved stays. If you're under 16, a parent or caregiver also has to say OK before the plan starts. You give us their email and we ask them. If you don't choose a plan, your account and content are deleted 12 months after your school stops using Week by Week, unless you or your school delete them earlier.
If you're not OK
Week by Week is an AI careers coach – not a counsellor, and not an emergency service. Nobody watches your conversations in real time. If you're struggling:
- 1737 – free call or text any time to talk to a trained counsellor
- Youthline – 0800 376 633 or free text 234
- 111 – if you or someone else is in danger right now
Your school counsellor, a teacher or family you trust are there for you too.
Connect: meeting people who share your interests
Connect helps students find others from their school or area who are into the same things – for hobbies, sport, side projects or starting a business. Using it is always your choice: nobody can see you until you join Connect, and you can leave any time. These are the rules:
- Nicknames only. No real names, no photos, and nobody can put contact details in their profile.
- Same age group. Connect is for ages 13 to 30. You're only matched within your age group: 13–15, 16–17 or 18–30 – from the age given when you signed up or joined with your school. Age groups never see or message each other, so under-18s are never matched with adults. Ages are what people tell us – we don't check ID, because we don't collect names.
- Your school first. By default you're only matched with people from your own school who share an interest. People from your town only if both of you choose that. Under 18, Connect is only for students who use Week by Week through their school. Without a school, it's for ages 18 to 30 and opens once you have a paid plan, which makes fake accounts harder.
- Every message is checked by the AI for inappropriate content before it's sent. These automated checks can miss things. Under-18s can't send contact details – phone numbers (also spelled out), email addresses, links, social media handles, “add me on…” or addresses.
- No spamming. You can message up to 5 new people a day (2 in your first week), and you need a reply before sending more than three messages in a row.
- Block and report anyone, any time. If three different people report or block someone, their Connect access is paused until our team has checked.
- Reports come to us. When a conversation is reported, our team sees its last 30 messages – not your school.
- Your choice, not your school's. Connect is part of Week by Week for every student and schools can't switch it off – but nobody has to use it. School staff can't use Connect.
For schools and parents
- Through a school, Week by Week is for ages 13 and up. Anyone aged 13 or older can also sign up on their own. If they're under 16, we email a parent or caregiver a link to say OK. Until then, the account has no AI coach and can't pay. We recommend schools let parents and caregivers know they use it – we provide a template letter.
- The AI coach is built to be strengths-based, honest and careful. It won't promise outcomes, it respects students' no-gos, and it raises signs of serious distress gently and points to help first.
- AI can be wrong. Job listings and course details come from the web – students should always check them with the employer or provider.
- More detail: privacy policy, AI & wellbeing, school agreement.