Privacy Policy

StellaLabs, LLC ("StellaLabs," "we," "us," or "our") provides the Stella iOS / mobile application and related backend services (collectively, the "App"). This Privacy Policy explains the types of information we may collect through the App, how we use and disclose that information, and your choices with respect to your information. By downloading, installing, or using the App, you agree to the practices described in this Privacy Policy.

1. Information We Collect

We collect the following categories of information through the iOS app and its backend:

• Account information. Name, email address, authentication provider identifiers (Sign in with Apple, Google Sign-In), and a Stella user ID.
• Onboarding information. Goals, anxiety/stress focus areas, frequency of intended use, selected voice, preferences, name, an anonymous user identifier, timestamps, and basic device metadata that you provide or that is generated during onboarding.
• Conversation data. Text messages you send to Stella, voice audio captured during active voice sessions, transcripts, assistant responses, conversation metadata (session IDs, timestamps, duration), session summaries, and emotional/context tags where applicable.
• Personalization and memory data. Conversation summaries, key facts and context extracted from prior conversations, embeddings/vector representations used for memory and recall, personalization state, and streak/activity history.
• Device and app data. Device type, OS and app version, push notification token (if you enable notifications), timezone, and usage events.
• Analytics and diagnostics. App events, performance and crash logs, and error diagnostics. We do not include sensitive conversation text in analytics events.
• Subscription data. If you subscribe through the Apple App Store, Apple handles billing and payment. Stella receives limited subscription status information from Apple (such as whether your subscription is active). Stella does not receive your full payment card data.

2. How We Collect Information

• Directly from you during onboarding, sign-in, profile and settings changes, voice conversations, and text chat.
• Automatically from the app and your device for diagnostics, analytics, timezone, device metadata, and push notification delivery.
• From service providers where needed — for example, authentication responses from Apple or Google when you choose Sign in with Apple or Google Sign-In, voice session metadata from Hume AI, and backend-generated summaries.

3. How We Use Information

We use the information described above to:

• Provide Stella's voice and text AI conversations.
• Personalize onboarding results, recommended tools, check-ins, summaries, and memory/context across sessions.
• Authenticate accounts and maintain sessions.
• Save conversation history, summaries, streaks, and user settings.
• Send push notifications when you enable them.
• Improve product reliability, safety, security, and app performance.
• Respond to support, privacy, account deletion, and legal requests, and comply with applicable law.

Required AI processing (such as sending your messages or voice to AI providers so Stella can respond) is distinct from optional analytics or product-improvement processing. We do not treat opt-in to optional analytics as consent to required AI processing, or vice versa.

4. AI Processing and Third-Party AI Providers

Stella is an AI app. To deliver its features, the iOS app sends data to StellaLabs' backend, and the backend may share relevant data with third-party AI providers. The data shared may include:

• Onboarding answers and preferences,
• Conversation text you send to Stella,
• Voice audio captured during voice sessions, and the transcripts of those sessions,
• Conversation context, summaries, and embeddings used for memory, and
• Personalization data needed to tailor responses.

Current AI providers for the Stella iOS app are:

• Hume AI — voice processing, emotional voice interaction, and Empathic Voice Interface (EVI) session handling. Voice/audio and transcript events needed to provide voice features may be sent to Hume AI.
• OpenAI — onboarding personalization, AI text generation, conversation summaries, embeddings/memory, and related AI features. Text inputs, conversation context, and summaries may be sent to OpenAI.

We share this data with these providers solely to provide the App's features. We do not sell user data. Where any model training or product improvement use is optional, it is described accurately in this policy and tied to opt-in consent in the app. Where it is required to provide the App, that is described above.

5. Other Service Providers

In addition to Hume AI and OpenAI, StellaLabs uses the following categories of service providers to operate the Stella iOS app. Each provider receives only the data needed for its purpose, and we require providers to protect data in a manner consistent with this Privacy Policy and applicable law.

• Pinecone — vector search and memory storage for conversation embeddings and associated metadata, used to provide Stella's memory features.
• Apple — Sign in with Apple, App Store subscriptions and billing, and Apple Push Notification service (APNs) for delivering notifications.
• Google — Google Sign-In as an authentication option, where you choose it. Stella receives authentication information such as name, email, and a Google account identifier. If you do not use Google Sign-In, no Google account data is collected.
• Mixpanel — product analytics and usage events (where enabled in production), used to understand feature usage and improve the App.
• Sentry — crash and error reporting (where enabled in production), used to diagnose and fix bugs.
• Hosting and database providers — backend hosting, database, and infrastructure providers (such as Render and MongoDB) that store account, conversation, and personalization data on our behalf.

Service providers are contractually required to use the data only to provide their services to StellaLabs and to maintain appropriate security measures.

6. Data Security

We implement information security measures designed to maintain the security and integrity of the personal information we collect and maintain. These include:

• Encryption of data in transit and at rest,
• Multi-factor authentication for employee access,
• Role-based access controls limiting who can access user data, and
• Regular review of our security practices.

Despite these measures, no method of transmission or storage is 100% secure. We cannot guarantee that unauthorized access will never occur.

7. Children Under 13

The Stella iOS app is not intended for use by children under the age of 13, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If you become aware that a child under 13 has provided us with personal information, please contact us at legal@stellalabs.ai and we will delete it.

8. Retention and Deletion

We retain personal information for as long as needed to provide the App and for legitimate business purposes described in this policy, or as required by law. In general:

• Account data, conversation data, summaries, and memory data are retained while your account is active.
• Voice audio from Hume AI sessions is processed to generate transcripts; original audio that StellaLabs retains is deleted within 30 days.
• Embeddings and personalization state are retained while your account is active and used to provide memory features.
• Analytics and crash data are retained for up to 24 months.
• Push notification tokens are retained while you have notifications enabled and deleted after you disable them or delete your account.
• Backups and logs may retain limited copies of data for a short period after deletion as part of normal backup rotation, after which they are overwritten.

You can delete your account at any time from inside the iOS app at Settings > Privacy > Delete Account. When you delete your account, your account, conversation history, summaries, embeddings, and personalization data are deleted from our active systems within a reasonable period, subject to the backup window described above. You may also email legal@stellalabs.ai to request access, correction, export, or deletion of your data.

9. Your Choices Regarding Personal Information

Subject to applicable data protection laws, you may have the right to:

• Request a copy of the personal information we hold about you,
• Request correction of personal information that is inaccurate or out of date,
• Request deletion of personal information that is no longer necessary to retain,
• Withdraw consent where consent is the basis of processing,
• Request data portability, and
• Object to certain processing of personal information.

To exercise these rights, email legal@stellalabs.ai. We will respond within the timeframe required by applicable law.

10. California Privacy Rights

If you are a California resident, you may have additional rights under the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) and California Privacy Rights Act (CPRA), including the right to know what personal information we collect, the right to delete your personal information, the right to opt-out of the sale of your personal information, and the right to non-discrimination for exercising your privacy rights.

We do not sell your personal information. To exercise your California privacy rights, contact us at legal@stellalabs.ai.

11. International Data Transfers

We operate globally and may transfer information internationally to provide the App. Information may be transferred to and processed in countries other than the country in which you reside, including the United States. Those countries may have different privacy laws than your country. Where required, we use lawful transfer mechanisms.

12. Crisis and Non-Emergency Notice

13. Changes to This Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. When we do, we will post the updated policy at this URL and update the "Last Updated" date above. If the changes are material, we will provide additional notice (for example, through the App). Your continued use of the App after the updated policy is posted constitutes your acceptance of the changes.

14. Other Stella Products

This Privacy Policy applies only to the Stella iOS / mobile app. Stella also offers a Slack integration with its own privacy policy:

• Stella for Slack: stellalabs.ai/slack/privacy

15. Contact Us

If you have questions about this Privacy Policy or our privacy practices, contact us at: