Privacy at a glance
Plain-language summary of how Zella handles your information. A full legal policy will accompany our public launch.
If you join the waitlist
We store your email address only so we can tell you when the beta opens. No spam and you can unsubscribe anytime.
If you use the app
Your account details, classes and calendar events are stored securely so the app works across your visits.
Your private data stays on your device
Mood, energy, period and headache details are kept only on your device by default. Mood and energy are never shared. For health, the student can choose to share a simple weekly summary (which days had a headache or period, yes or no) with a linked parent, and turn it off anytime. No symptoms, notes, flow or pain levels ever leave the device.
Crisis language detection
Zella checks for language related to suicide or self-harm in the things you write or say to it: notes and titles on an event, a goal or a goal step, your Daily Big 3, a meditation reflection, and anything you speak to the microphone. The check happens on your device.
If it finds something, Zella pauses and points you to the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline. It does not notify your parents, your school, or anyone else. You always choose what to do next.
When that happens, one anonymous record is kept so we can review how often the feature is being used. That record contains only the hour it happened and which part of the app it came from. It does not contain your name, your account, or a single word of what you wrote. It is never shared with parents, schools, or third parties.
Analytics and product improvement
Zella collects anonymized usage data to help us understand how the app is being used and improve it over time. This data does not include your name, email address, health information, mood or energy scores, or any content you enter into the app. It includes things like which features are used most often and how long sessions typically last.
This data is stored on servers with enhanced data protection standards appropriate for applications serving minors. It is never sold and never shared with third parties.
Health data, mood scores, energy scores and cycle tracking data are never included in analytics. These stay on your device and are never sent to our servers. We can see that you used the mood or energy check-in, because that tells us the feature is worth keeping, but never the score you chose.
Third party services
Voice transcription
When you use the voice-to-calendar feature, the audio you speak is sent to OpenAI for transcription. OpenAI converts your spoken words to text so Zella can create your calendar event. This audio is processed by OpenAI and is not stored permanently by Zella. We do not send any personally identifiable information to OpenAI alongside your audio.
AI event structuring
The transcribed text from your voice input is processed by OpenAI to identify the event title, date, time and class. This is text only, not audio, and contains only the words you spoke to create a calendar event.
Read aloud
When you use the read-aloud feature, the text of your event or note is sent to OpenAI's text-to-speech service to generate audio. This text contains only the content of your calendar event or note.
What is never sent to OpenAI or any third party
Your health data, period tracking, headache logs, mood scores, energy scores, cycle phase data, goal content, habit data and any information you enter outside of the voice-to-calendar and read-aloud features never leave your device and are never sent to OpenAI or any other third party.
There is one narrow exception, and it is worth being precise about. If the crisis language detection described above is triggered, Zella sends a single anonymous record: the hour it happened and which part of the app it came from. No text, no name, no account. Nothing you actually wrote is ever transmitted.
Parents
A linked parent sees the student's calendar, read-only. They never see mood or energy. They see a weekly health summary only if the student turns sharing on, and the student can turn it off at any time.
Children
Zella is for ages 13 and up. We check age at signup, block under-13 accounts and do not knowingly collect data from anyone under 13.
Where Zella is available
Zella is currently available to users in the United States only.
We never sell your data
Your information is used to run Zella for you, nothing else.
Questions?
Use the Contact form on our home page and we'll get back to you.