Last updated: August 4, 2026
College OS offers Google Sign-In as an optional way to create an account and sign in, and two optional Google integrations you can connect from inside the app: Google Calendar and Gmail-assisted decision detection. This page explains exactly which Google permissions College OS requests, what data it receives, how that data is used and retained, and how you can disconnect at any time.
Signing in with Google is a convenience: it lets you create and access your College OS account without setting up a separate password. Using Google is entirely optional — you can also create an account with an email address and password.
When you choose to sign in with Google, College OS receives:
Google Sign-In alone does not give College OS access to your Gmail messages, calendar, contacts, files, or photos. Those require the separate, optional connections described below.
Google account information is never sold, shared with advertisers, or used for advertising. It is not used to train artificial-intelligence or machine-learning models.
If you choose to connect Google Calendar from Settings, College OS requests these permissions:
calendar.app.created — permission to create and manage a separate calendar created by College OS for your application deadlines and milestones. This scope does not allow College OS to read or change your existing calendars or their events.userinfo.email — the Google address the connection belongs to, so the app can show you which account is connected.Why: to write the deadlines you already track in College OS into your calendar. How long: the connection and its access tokens are stored, encrypted, until you disconnect or delete your account. Sharing: calendar data is not shared with third parties or advertisers and is not used to train AI models.
If you choose to connect Gmail from the Decisions page, College OS requests these permissions:
gmail.readonly — read-only access used solely to look for admission-decision and financial-aid emails from the colleges already on your list.userinfo.email — the Gmail address the connection belongs to.Why and how it is used: a scan runs only when you click “Check Gmail now” — never automatically or in the background. Each scan looks at up to 50 messages from the last 120 days, restricted to official domains of colleges already in your workspace and only where Google reports a valid DKIM or DMARC signature. A short excerpt (at most 4 KB) of a matching message is sent to our AI classifier to propose a decision suggestion. College OS never changes a college record on its own — you confirm or dismiss every suggestion. Attachments are never requested, and message HTML is never rendered or stored.
How long it is retained: message subjects and full bodies are not persisted. Only the structured suggestion and a short matched excerpt are stored so you can review it; suggestions can be dismissed, and everything is removed when you disconnect Gmail or delete your account. Encrypted OAuth tokens are stored only for as long as the connection is active.
Sharing: the excerpt and sender metadata are visible only to the account that owns the Gmail connection — other family members see the structured suggestion only. Gmail data is never sold, never shared with advertisers, and is never used to train generalized AI models. College OS' use of information received from Google APIs adheres to the Google API Services User Data Policy, including the Limited Use requirements.
If you have any questions, please . See the full Privacy Policy for more.