Privacy Policy

Who This Policy Covers

This policy applies to the Viacela website, the Viacela web platform at go.viacela.com, and the Viacela mobile apps for iOS and Android (together, the "Service"), operated by Viacela, Inc. It covers learners, mentors, guardians, educators, program staff and visitors.

Information We Collect

Depending on how you use the Service, we collect:

• Account and contact information: your name, email address, username, and the sign-in method you use (email code, Google, Apple, or an access code from your school or program).
• Profile information: school, grade, GPA, classes, activities, interests, location (city and state as you type them), and optional details such as phone number and date of birth.
• Your content: reflection answers, questions you ask, chat messages with AI features, survey responses, milestones, and files, photos or videos you upload.
• Voice audio: if you choose to dictate an answer, the audio is sent for transcription while you are dictating. We keep the resulting text, not a voice profile.
• Program intake information: if you take part in a partner opportunity program, the intake form may ask optional questions about your background and circumstances, such as race or ethnicity, gender, housing, and involvement with foster care or the justice system. These are used by that program to support you.
• School and role information: school or program affiliation, class, and your role (learner, mentor, guardian, educator, navigator, administrator).
• Usage information: which sections you visit and when, used to show your progress and improve the Service, plus standard technical data such as IP address and browser or device type.
• Device token for notifications: if you turn on notifications in the mobile app, a token that lets us send them to your device.

The mobile app asks for access to your microphone (dictation), camera and photo library (milestone videos and portfolio photos) and notifications only when you use those features. It does not collect precise location, contacts, health or financial data, and it does not track you across other apps or websites.

We limit collection to what is needed to provide and improve Viacela.

How We Use Your Information

Your information is used to:

• Provide the Service: your profile, guidance, career matches, mentoring and recommendations.
• Let authorized mentors, educators and program staff support you.
• Communicate with you, including sign-in codes, account notices, support replies and notifications you have turned on.
• Understand usage so we can improve quality, reliability and the experience.
• Maintain security, prevent abuse and comply with legal obligations.

We do not sell your personal information, and we do not use it for advertising.

Artificial Intelligence

Viacela uses artificial intelligence to create your MINDS profile, guidance, career matches, follow-up questions and chat replies. To do this, we send relevant parts of your information, such as reflection answers, profile details, chat messages and uploaded documents, to AI service providers that process it on our behalf:

• Anthropic, OpenAI and xAI: language models that generate profiles, guidance, matches and chat replies.
• Deepgram: speech-to-text for dictated answers.

These providers process your information to deliver these features for Viacela. In the mobile app we ask for your permission before any of your information is sent to them, and you can withdraw that permission at any time in Settings. Without it, the AI-based features, which are most of the app, are not available.

AI-generated content can be incomplete or inaccurate. It is meant to support your decisions, not to replace advice from people who know you.

FERPA and COPPA

Viacela is designed for educational settings and is committed to protecting student and children's privacy. We aim to comply with the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) and the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) where applicable.

• FERPA: We treat student education-related data as education records and only access, use, or disclose it with proper authorization from schools, parents/guardians, or as otherwise permitted by law. We do not use student data for non-educational commercial purposes without required consent or authorization.
• COPPA: For users under 13, we obtain verifiable parental/guardian consent before collecting personal information where required. Parents/guardians may request to review, delete, or refuse further collection of their child's data by contacting us.

Consent

We obtain consent or other lawful authorization before collecting personal data beyond basic site operation. This may include affirmative actions on forms, school/parent/guardian authorization for student use, account registration flows, and the in-app permission for AI processing described above. You may withdraw consent where applicable by using the controls in the app or by contacting us, though doing so may limit access to certain features.

Sharing and Disclosure

We may share information with:

• Service providers: companies that process information for us under confidentiality and data-protection obligations: cloud hosting, email delivery, sign-in providers (Google and Apple), push notification delivery, and the AI providers named above.
• Your school or program: authorized mentors, educators, guardians, navigators and administrators, as needed to operate the educational service. Depending on configuration they may see your reflections, progress, milestones and shared documents.
• People you choose: when you share a document or ask a question in a community feature, the people you share it with can see it.
• Legal authorities: when required by law or to protect rights, safety and security.
• Successor entities: in connection with a merger, acquisition or similar transaction, with notice where required.

We do not share student data except with authorization or as permitted under applicable education-privacy laws.

Retention and Deletion

We keep your information for as long as your account is active or as needed to provide the Service to you and your school or program.

You can ask us to delete your account and the data linked to it at any time using the account deletion request form, or from Settings in the mobile app. We confirm the request is yours and then delete your account and data within 30 days.

We may keep records we are required to keep by law or by agreement with your school or program, and information that no longer identifies you. If a school or program set up your account, we may need to confirm the request with them.

Security

We use industry-standard safeguards to protect information, including HTTPS/TLS in transit, access controls, and secure storage practices. Access is limited to authorized personnel with a need to know.

No method of transmission or storage is 100% secure. If we become aware of a data incident that requires notice under applicable law, we will notify affected parties as required.

Your Rights and Choices

Depending on your location and role, you may have the right to:

• Access, correct, or request deletion of personal information.
• Withdraw permission for AI processing, and turn notifications on or off, in the mobile app Settings.
• Opt out of non-essential communications.
• Request additional rights available under applicable privacy laws (for example GDPR data portability where it applies).

To exercise these rights, contact us at privacy@viacela.com. To delete your account and the data linked to it, use the account deletion request form.

Children's Privacy

The Viacela mobile apps are intended for users aged 13 and older. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13 without required parental/guardian consent. If we learn that such information was collected inadvertently, we will delete it promptly.

Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. The date above will change when updates are posted. Material changes may also be communicated by email or in-product notice.

Contact Us

Questions or requests about this Privacy Policy can be sent to Viacela, Inc.:

• Privacy: privacy@viacela.com
• General: contact@viacela.com