Privacy Policy

This Privacy Policy describes how Vela (“Vela,” “we,” “us”) handles information when you use the Vela mobile app. By using Vela, you agree to the practices described here.

The short version

• We store the things you create so they sync across your devices. That is the bulk of what we hold.
• There are no advertising or tracking SDKsin Vela. We don't sell your data or build profiles about you.
• Screen-time blocking never reports to us. Which apps you limit, and how long you spend in them, stays on your device.
• The camera never records. The push-up counter reads poses on-device; no frame is stored, saved or uploaded.
• You can delete your account and everything in it from inside the app, in a couple of taps.

Information we collect

Account information

You create an account with an email address and password, or by using Sign in with Apple or Sign in with Google. When you use those, we receive a name and an email address (or Apple's private-relay address if you choose to hide yours). We use this only to create and secure your account.

Your content

Vela stores what you create so it's there on every device you use: your tasks, plans and habits, your projects and their steps, your ideas and any images or links you attach to them, and the vocabulary you save along with your practice history. This content is yours.

Voice and the microphone

When you tap the voice orb, your device's microphone captures speech and your device's operating system converts it to text. On iOS this uses Apple's speech recognition, which may process the audio on Apple's servers rather than entirely on the device; that processing is governed by Apple's privacy policy, not ours. Vela itself does not upload, record or keep your audio — what Vela receives is the resulting text.

We ask for the microphone permission the first time you actually use voice, not at sign-up, and you can decline or revoke it at any time in your device settings. Everything in Vela can be done by typing instead.

AI features

Some features send text to our AI processing provider (currently OpenRouter, reached through our backend so that no API key ever sits in the app) to generate a response:

• Understanding a spoken or typed command — the command text, plus a short summary of the items it might refer to, so it can act on the right one.
• Enriching a saved word — the word itself, to write a meaning and an example.
• Improving an idea — the note you asked it to reshape.
• Speaking a reply out loud — the text to be spoken is sent out and audio comes back. Audio from your microphone is never sent for this.

We send only what a given request needs — never your whole account. If AI processing is unavailable, Vela falls back to handling simple commands on your device.

Screen time and app limits

On iOS, Vela's app limits are enforced by Apple's Screen Time (Family Controls) framework. Apple deliberately designs this so that apps like Vela can set and enforce a limit without ever seeing your activity. The apps you choose to limit, and the time you spend in them, are handled by iOS on your device and are never transmitted to us or to anyone else. We receive no usage data from this feature at all.

Camera

If — and only if — you choose the camera as the way to count push-ups for your wake-up alarm, Vela opens the front camera and counts repetitions using on-device pose detection (Apple Vision on iOS, ML Kit on Android). No photo or video is ever recorded, written to disk, or uploaded. Frames are analysed in memory and discarded. If you decline the camera permission, or it can't see you, the alarm counts from motion instead — nothing is blocked by refusing.

Motion and fitness

The step-counting wake-up mission reads your device's pedometer to confirm you're up and moving. This is read on your device and is not stored by us or sent anywhere.

Alarms and notifications

Alarms and reminders are scheduled as system alarms and local notifications on your device. Their content is generated on the phone and is not sent through our servers. Your alarms are stored only on the device that set them. You can turn notifications off at any time in your device settings, and deleting your account cancels everything Vela has scheduled.

Calendar

With your permission, Plan can read events from your device calendar so your day is in one place. This is optional, the events are read on your device, and if you don't grant calendar access the rest of Vela works normally.

Photos

If you add a picture to an idea or set a profile photo, that image is uploaded to our backend storage so it syncs to your other devices. We only ever access the specific images you pick — Vela does not read your photo library.

Purchases

Memberships are sold through the Apple App Store or Google Play and managed on our behalf by RevenueCat. We receive your subscription status (such as active or expired) so the app can unlock. We do not receive or store your card or bank details.

What we don't do

Vela contains no third-party advertising or tracking SDKs. We don't sell your data, we don't build advertising profiles, and we don't track you across other apps or websites. Vela does not ask for the App Tracking Transparency permission because it has nothing to use it for.

How we use information

• To provide the app and sync your content across your devices.
• To deliver the reminders and alarms you choose to set.
• To power the AI features you trigger — commands, word enrichment, idea improvement, spoken replies.
• To manage your membership and unlock paid features.
• To respond to your support requests.

Where your data is stored

Your account and content are stored on our cloud backend, provided by Convex, so they can sync securely between your devices. Device-local things — your alarms, your theme and language choice, and cached data — stay on the phone.

Who we share data with

We don't sell your personal information. We share limited data only with the service providers needed to run Vela, and each receives only what its job requires:

• Convex — secure cloud storage and sync of your account and content.
• OpenRouter — the specific text needed to interpret a command, enrich a word, improve an idea, or synthesise a spoken reply.
• Apple, Google and RevenueCat — to process purchases and confirm your subscription status.
• Apple or Google— if you choose Sign in with Apple or Google, to authenticate you; and Apple's speech service, when it transcribes your voice.

We may also disclose information if required by law, or to protect the rights, safety and security of our users and the service.

Data retention and deletion

You can delete your account and all associated data from inside the app at any time — Settings, then Delete account. When you do, your content is removed from our backend, every alarm and reminder Vela had scheduled on the device is cancelled, and the app's local data is erased. This is immediate and cannot be undone. If you need help, email us and we'll sort it out.

Security

We use encryption in transit and reasonable technical and organisational safeguards to protect your information. No method of transmission or storage is perfectly secure, but we work to protect your data and to keep the amount we hold small in the first place.

Children

Vela is not directed to children under 13 (or the minimum age required in your country), and we don't knowingly collect their personal information. If you believe a child has given us personal data, contact us and we will delete it.

Your rights

Depending on where you live — for example under the GDPR or the CCPA — you may have the right to access, correct, export or delete your personal information, and to object to certain processing. You can exercise most of these directly in the app, or by emailing us at the address below. We will not discriminate against you for exercising any of them.

International users

Vela may process and store information in countries other than your own. Where we transfer data, we take steps to protect it consistently with this policy.

Changes to this policy

We may update this policy from time to time. When we make material changes we'll update the “Last updated” date above and, where appropriate, tell you in the app.

Contact

Questions about privacy? Email daryankamalifar@gmail.com.