Privacy Policy

Last updated: August 5, 2026

ATLA is an AI college counselor. To do its job well, it needs to know you — your grades, your activities, the schools you are considering, and the words you use to tell your story. This page explains, in plain English, what we collect, why, and the control you have over it.

The short version: we use your information to run ATLA for you and to make its help more specific over time. We do not sell your data, we do not use it for advertising, and we do not use your essays or other work to train our own models. You can see, export, and delete your data at any time.

Who can use ATLA

ATLA is intended for people who are 13 years of age or older. It is built for high school students working on their college applications. If you are under 18, we strongly encourage you to involve a parent or guardian in your college process — but a parent does not get access to your account unless you choose to share it with them. Your account is yours.

What we collect

Information you give us directly:

Account information — such as your name and email address, so you can sign in and we can reach you.
Your academic record — grades, courses, test scores, and anything else you share about your academic history.
Activities and background — your extracurriculars, work, family context, and the details that shape your story.
Your college list — the schools and programs you are considering.
Files you upload — such as a transcript or an activities list.
Essay and supplement drafts — every version you work on with ATLA.
Your messages to ATLA — the conversations you have with your counselor.

Information we collect automatically: standard technical and usage data — for example, the type of device and browser you use and basic logs of how the service is performing — so we can keep ATLA secure and working.

Why we use your information

To provide ATLA and generate counseling responses for you.
To remember you between sessions, so you never have to re-explain your story.
To build a realistic school list, review essays, and draft supplements in your own voice.
To notify you about deadlines and next steps you have asked us to track.
To keep the service secure, reliable, and improving.

Artificial intelligence

ATLA is powered by AI models we access through third-party providers. To generate a response, the relevant parts of what you share may be sent to these providers to process:

Anthropic (Claude) processes your messages and context to generate ATLA’s responses.
OpenAI processes text to create the embeddings that let ATLA find relevant knowledge and remember your details.
If you use web-search features, your query may be sent to a third-party search provider to fetch results.

We use these providers under their standard commercial terms. We do not sell your data and we do not use it for advertising. We do not use your essays or other work to train our own models.

When you import a transcript or similar file, the file is read in your browser and only the extracted text is sent to ATLA — the original file does not need to leave your device for ATLA to use it.

Who else sees your information

Your information is not shared broadly. It may be seen by:

Service providers that we rely on to run ATLA — for example, the AI providers above, our hosting and database providers, and the services that deliver notifications — acting on our behalf to operate the service.
People you choose to share with — if you decide to share something from your account, that is your choice.
Legal requirements — if we are required by law to disclose information, or to protect the safety of a person.
A future owner — if ATLA is ever acquired or merges with another company, your information may transfer as part of that transaction.

Other than the cases above, no one else sees your information. We do not sell your data.

Where your information lives and how long we keep it

ATLA runs on infrastructure operated in the United States, including Vercel (application hosting) and Supabase (database and authentication). We keep your information for as long as your account is open. When you delete your account, we delete your information within a reasonable period afterward, except for anything we are legally required to keep.

Payments

ATLA has a working free tier, and paid billing is not live yet. We do not collect credit card numbers or other payment details, and we do not ask you for a card to use the service. If we add paid plans in the future, we will update this policy to describe how payments are handled.

Security

We protect your information with encryption in transit and at rest, and with access controls that limit who and what can reach it. No system is perfectly secure, but we take reasonable steps to keep your data safe and to respond quickly if something goes wrong.

Your choices and rights

See your data — your profile is visible on your Fingerprint page.
Export your data — you can export a JSON copy of your data in Settings, and download a ZIP of your documents from the Vault.
Correct your data — you can update your information at any time.
Delete your account and data — you can do this from Settings.
Turn off the AI — you can turn ATLA’s agents off using the Agents switch.
Control notifications — you decide what ATLA reaches out about.

Cookies

We use cookies to keep you logged in and to keep the service working. We do not use cookies to advertise to you.

Changes to this policy

We may update this policy as ATLA grows. When we make a meaningful change, we will update the date at the top of this page, and, where appropriate, let you know.

Contact us

Questions about your privacy? Email us at privacy@myatla.ai.