Privacy Policy
Vela
Operated by Vela Tech LLC
Effective date: October 7, 2026
Last updated: October 7, 2026
1. Introduction
Vela is a voice-driven personal assistant that helps you manage your schedule, bills, reminders, travel, and other daily responsibilities. This policy explains what information we collect, how we use it, who we share it with, and the choices you have.
Vela is operated by Vela Tech LLC ("Vela," "we," "us," "our"). If you have questions about this policy or your data, contact us at jermaine@velalife.app.
By creating an account and using Vela, you agree to the practices described here.
2. Who can use Vela
Vela is intended for use by adults 18 years of age or older. We do not knowingly collect personal information from anyone under 18. If we learn that we have collected information from someone under 18, we will delete it. If you believe a minor has provided us information, contact jermaine@velalife.app.
3. Information we collect
3.1 Information you provide directly
Account information. Your name, email address, and authentication credentials when you create an account.
Voice recordings and messages. When you speak to Vela, we record the audio and convert it to text. When you type to Vela, we collect the text. Your conversations with Vela are stored in your account so Vela can maintain context.
Task and productivity information. Reminders, notes, goals, saved places, trips, and any other information you ask Vela to track.
Health information you choose to log. If you use Vela's health features, we store what you enter, which may include blood pressure readings, pulse, sleep hours, steps, energy and stress levels, mood, hydration, weight, workouts, exercise duration, intensity, and calories burned, along with any notes you add.
Vela does not read data from Apple Health or any other health platform. We only store health information you enter yourself.
Financial information you provide. Bills and due dates, investment holdings you choose to track, and travel or booking preferences.
Traveler and booking details. When you book travel through Vela, we collect the information required to complete the booking, which may include passenger names, dates of birth, contact details, and travel document information.
3.2 Information collected from your device, with your permission
Vela requests these permissions. You can grant or deny each one, and you can change your choices at any time in your device settings. Denying a permission may limit related features.
| Permission | What we access | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Microphone | Audio while you are speaking to Vela | To transcribe your requests |
| Calendar | Your device calendar events; Vela can also create events | To answer schedule questions and add events you ask for |
| Contacts | Names and contact details in your address book | To find people you mention by name and to help you reach them |
| Location | Your approximate or precise location | For location-aware answers such as weather, nearby places, and local results |
| Notifications | Permission to send you alerts | For reminders, deadlines, and alerts you set up |
| Photos | Images you choose to select | To read documents such as bills or receipts when you share them |
Vela reads only the photos you specifically select. We do not browse your photo library.
3.3 Information collected from services you connect
Bank and transaction information (via Plaid). If you choose to connect a bank account, our partner Plaid handles the connection. We receive and store an access token for the connection and transaction details including merchant, amount, date, and category. We never see or store your bank login credentials.
Payment card information (via Stripe). If you ask Vela to pay a bill or save a card for a booking, our payment processor Stripe handles and stores the card details. We do not store full card numbers on our systems.
Subscriptions (via Apple and RevenueCat). If you subscribe to Vela Plus, Apple processes the payment through your Apple ID, and we never receive your payment card details. Our subscription partner RevenueCat receives your purchase history and subscription status so we can unlock the features you paid for. We store your plan and your daily usage counts so we can apply plan limits.
Other connected services. If you connect a third-party service such as a task manager, we receive the data needed for that integration to work.
3.4 Information collected automatically
Basic technical and usage information such as app version, device type, error and crash reports, and timestamps of activity, used to keep the app working and to diagnose problems. Crash and error reports are collected through Sentry.
4. How we use your information
We use your information to:
- Understand and carry out your requests
- Give Vela the context she needs to be useful, such as knowing your schedule or which bills are due
- Perform the tasks you ask for, including searching, booking, paying bills, and setting reminders
- Send notifications and alerts you have asked for
- Maintain and improve the app, diagnose problems, and prevent abuse
- Communicate with you about your account and about service changes
- Comply with legal obligations
We do not sell your personal information. We do not use your personal information for advertising.
5. How Vela uses AI, and what that means for your data
This section describes something important about how Vela works, and we want to be clear about it.
Vela's understanding and responses are powered by AI services operated by other companies. To answer you well, Vela sends relevant context from your account along with your request. Depending on what you have stored in Vela, this context may include:
- Recent conversation history
- Upcoming calendar events
- Bills due soon and their amounts
- Investment holdings and their values
- Health entries you have logged, such as recent sleep, energy, and stress
- People you have asked Vela to follow up with
- Your general location and nearby saved places
This context is sent with your requests so that Vela can answer them in the situation you're actually in, rather than in the abstract.
The AI providers we use:
- Anthropic (Claude) processes your requests and the context described above to generate Vela's responses. Anthropic does not use data submitted through its business API to train its models, and retains it only for a limited period.
- OpenAI transcribes your voice recordings into text. OpenAI does not use data submitted through its business API to train its models.
- ElevenLabs converts Vela's text responses into spoken audio. Only the text to be spoken is sent.
If you prefer that certain information never be sent to an AI provider, do not store that information in Vela.
6. Who we share information with
We share information with the following categories of service providers, only as needed to operate Vela. We do not sell your data to anyone.
Infrastructure and storage
- Supabase — hosts our database and authentication. Your account data, conversations, health entries, bills, and other stored information reside here.
AI and voice
- Anthropic — request processing and responses (see Section 5)
- OpenAI — voice transcription
- ElevenLabs — voice synthesis
Financial
- Plaid — bank account connections and transaction data
- Stripe — payment processing for bills and bookings
- Apple — in-app subscription payments
- RevenueCat — subscription status and purchase history
Travel and local services
- Duffel — flight search and booking
- Booking partners and travel providers — hotel, flight, and restaurant searches and reservations, which receive the details needed to complete a search or booking
- RapidAPI partners — weather, news, sports, flight status, hotel, and restaurant data
- Yelp — restaurant information
Maps, data, and productivity
- Google — calendar integration and, when you share a document or receipt image, optical character recognition to read it
- Mapbox — maps and place data
- TomTom — traffic and routing data
- Finnhub — market and stock price data
- Task management services you connect, such as Todoist
App reliability
- Sentry — crash and error reporting
Other disclosures
We may disclose information if required by law, subpoena, or legal process; to protect the rights, safety, or property of Vela Tech LLC, our users, or others; or in connection with a merger, acquisition, or sale of assets, in which case we will notify you.
7. How long we keep your information
We keep your information for as long as your account is active.
When you delete your account, we delete your personal data within 30 days. After that period, your conversations, health entries, financial records, contacts, and other stored information are permanently removed from our systems.
You can delete your account at any time in the app under Settings → Delete Account, or by emailing jermaine@velalife.app. Deleting your account does not cancel an Apple subscription; cancel it in your Apple ID settings to stop future charges.
Some information may persist longer where we are legally required to retain it, or in backups that are overwritten on a regular cycle. Information already shared with a third-party provider is subject to that provider's own retention practices.
8. Your rights and choices
You can:
- Access the information Vela holds about you
- Correct information that is inaccurate
- Delete your account and the data associated with it, in the app under Settings → Delete Account
- Disconnect any connected service, such as a bank account or calendar, at any time
- Revoke any device permission in your device settings
- Clear your conversation history within the app
To make a request, email jermaine@velalife.app. We will respond within 30 days.
Depending on where you live, you may have additional rights under laws such as the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), the Virginia Consumer Data Protection Act (VCDPA), or the EU and UK General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), including the right to data portability and the right to object to certain processing. We honor these rights for all users regardless of location. We will not discriminate against you for exercising them.
9. Security
We protect your information using encryption in transit, encrypted storage, authenticated access controls, and access restrictions limiting who can view user data. Bank credentials are handled by Plaid and never reach our systems. Full payment card numbers are handled by Stripe and never reach our systems.
No system is completely secure. We cannot guarantee absolute security, and you share information with us at your own risk. If we become aware of a breach affecting your personal information, we will notify you as required by law.
10. International users
Vela is operated from the United States, and your information is stored and processed there. If you use Vela from outside the United States, you consent to the transfer of your information to the United States, where privacy laws may differ from those in your country.
11. Changes to this policy
We may update this policy as Vela changes. When we make material changes, we will update the "Last updated" date and notify you in the app or by email before the changes take effect. Your continued use of Vela after an update means you accept the revised policy.
12. Contact us
Vela Tech LLC
Email: jermaine@velalife.app
Website: https://velalife.app
For privacy questions, data requests, or complaints, email us at the address above. We aim to respond within 30 days.