Privacy Policy

1. Overview & Scope

AstroPal is an AI-powered Vedic astrology platform. We use proprietary technology trained on licensed data, expert-curated knowledge, and publicly available astrological texts to generate personalised insights. We do not onboard human astrologers. Every reading, chat reply, prediction, and report on the Service is produced by AI, not a person.

This Privacy Policy is published in accordance with the Information Technology Act, 2000 read with the Information Technology (Reasonable Security Practices and Procedures and Sensitive Personal Data or Information) Rules, 2011, the Information Technology (Intermediaries Guidelines) Rules, and applicable provisions of the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023.

2. Information We Collect

We collect the following categories of information:

• Account information: your name, email address, and, if you choose Google sign-in, the basic profile data Google returns to us
• Birth and profile details: date, time, and place of birth, gender, and any optional preferences you save (used to compute your kundali and personalise insights)
• Chat, prompt, and interaction data: the questions you ask the AI, the topics you explore, the reports you generate, and the feedback you provide
• Payment information: when you buy credits we collect transaction metadata (amount, currency, time, status). Full card or UPI details are handled by our payment gateway and are never stored on our servers
• Device, technical, and log data: IP address, approximate location derived from IP, browser type and version, operating system, device identifiers, referrer URL, pages viewed, and timestamps
• Cookies and similar technologies: see Section 7 below
• Communications you send us: emails, support tickets, survey responses, and replies to our newsletters

3. Sensitive Personal Data

Your birth date, birth time, and birth place may be treated as sensitive personal information under applicable law. We process this data only to generate your astrological chart and the insights you request. We do not sell, rent, or trade this information, and we do not use it to make automated decisions that have legal effects on you.

4. How We Use Your Information

We use your information to:

• Create and operate your AstroPal account
• Compute your kundali and generate personalised AI insights, predictions, and reports
• Process payments, allocate credits, and prevent fraud or abuse
• Respond to your support requests and operate the Service
• Send you transactional messages (account, billing, security alerts) and, if you opt in, marketing or product updates
• Improve our models, content quality, and product experience using aggregated or anonymised analytics
• Comply with legal obligations and enforce our Terms of Service

5. Legal Basis for Processing

Where applicable law requires a legal basis, we rely on:

• Your consent, which you may withdraw at any time
• Performance of our contract with you (delivering the Service you signed up for)
• Our legitimate interests (operating, improving, and securing the Service, and preventing fraud)
• Compliance with legal obligations

6. Information Sharing & Third Parties

We do not sell, rent, or trade your personal information. We share information only with:

• Infrastructure and processing providers who host our database, authentication, storage, email, and AI inference under contract on our behalf
• A speech synthesis provider that converts text to audio for the optional voice narration feature. The text is automatically stripped of personal data on our servers before it is sent (see Section 15)
• Payment gateways that process your transactions (your card or UPI data is handled directly by them under their own privacy terms)
• Analytics and product-quality providers, in anonymised or aggregated form
• Professional advisors (auditors, legal counsel) under confidentiality obligations
• Government authorities, courts, or regulators where we are required to disclose by law or to protect our rights, users, or the public

7. Cookies & Tracking Technologies

We and our service providers use cookies, browser local storage, pixels, and similar technologies. This section explains what we use, why, and how you can control it.

Cookie categories and what we set:

• Essential - authentication cookies that keep you signed in across page loads. These are strictly necessary for the Service to work and cannot be disabled. Legal basis: contract performance.
• Analytics - measure page views, feature usage, and errors so we can improve the app. Stored for up to 2 years. Only placed after you give consent. Legal basis: consent (GDPR Art. 6(1)(a)); opt-out available (CCPA / LGPD).
• Preferences - remember UI settings such as display options and notification preferences between sessions. Only written after you give consent. Legal basis: consent.
• No advertising, remarketing, or cross-site tracking cookies are set. We do not sell data to or share cookie identifiers with ad networks.

8. Data Retention

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

After you delete your account we will delete or anonymise your personal data within 30 days, except where we are required to retain it for longer to (a) comply with a legal, tax, or accounting obligation, (b) resolve disputes, or (c) enforce our agreements. Backups are purged on our normal rolling schedule.

Aggregated or anonymised data that cannot reasonably be linked back to you may be retained indefinitely.

9. Data Security

We implement reasonable technical and organisational measures to protect your information, including:

• TLS / HTTPS encryption for data in transit
• Encryption at rest for stored data
• Role-based access control and least-privilege access for staff
• Strict access controls so each user can only access their own data
• Logging, monitoring, and periodic security review

10. International Data Transfers

AstroPal is operated from India, but our service providers (including our hosting, database, email, and AI inference providers) may store or process your information on servers located in the United States, the European Union, or other jurisdictions.

By using the Service, you consent to the transfer, storage, and processing of your information in countries that may have different data-protection laws than your own. We require our processors to apply appropriate safeguards consistent with this Privacy Policy.

11. Your Rights & Choices

Subject to applicable law, you have the right to:

• Access the personal data we hold about you
• Correct inaccurate or incomplete data
• Request deletion of your account and data
• Withdraw consent to optional processing (such as marketing emails)
• Object to or restrict certain processing
• Request a portable copy of the data you provided
• Complain to a supervisory authority where one exists in your jurisdiction

12. Account Deletion

You can delete your account at any time from the account settings within the app, or by emailing privacy@astropal.com. Deletion removes your profile, birth details, saved reports, and chat history from our active systems within 30 days. Some non-identifying logs, transaction records, and backups may persist for the periods described in Section 8.

Once your account is deleted you will not be able to recover saved reports or unused credits. This action is irreversible.

13. Children's Privacy

AstroPal is intended for users who are 18 years of age or older. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13, and the Service is not directed to them.

If you are a parent or guardian and believe a child under 13 has provided us with personal information, please contact privacy@astropal.com and we will delete the information from our systems. Users aged 13-17 must use the Service only with the involvement and consent of a parent or legal guardian.

14. AI-Specific Notice

AstroPal's responses are generated by AI models trained on astrological literature, curated knowledge, and publicly available content. We do not employ human astrologers.

• Your prompts and birth details are sent to the AI inference providers we use to generate responses. We instruct those providers, by contract, not to use your data to train their general-purpose models
• We may store your prompts and the model's responses to operate the Service, debug, and improve quality
• AI output is probabilistic and may be inaccurate, incomplete, or out of date. You should follow your own judgment and precautions. See our Terms of Service for the full disclaimer

15. Voice Narration (Listen to Acharya)

The Listen to Acharya feature reads your reports and daily readings aloud using neural text-to-speech voices. The audio is generated by a third-party speech service.

We designed this feature so that no personal data ever reaches that service:

• Before any text is sent for synthesis, our servers automatically remove personal data from it: your name, date of birth, time of birth, place of birth, email address, phone number, and geographic coordinates are replaced with neutral phrases such as "your birth date" or "your birthplace"
• If this removal step cannot be completed for any reason, the text is not sent to the third-party service at all. Narration then falls back to speech generated on our own servers or on your device
• The speech service receives only the cleaned text needed to produce audio for the section you chose to listen to. It does not receive your identity, account details, or birth data
• Generated audio is cached briefly on our servers so replaying the same section does not re-synthesize it
• If your browser falls back to its own built-in voices (for example when our narration service is unavailable), that synthesis is performed by your browser or device under its vendor's privacy terms

16. Third-Party Links & Services

The Service may include links to third-party websites, payment pages, or content. We are not responsible for the privacy practices or content of those third parties. We encourage you to read their privacy policies before providing them with information.

17. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. When we make material changes we will update the "Last Updated" date above and, where appropriate, notify you by email or in-app notice. Continued use of the Service after the update means you accept the revised Policy.

18. Governing Law

This Privacy Policy is governed by the laws of India. Any dispute arising from or relating to this Policy is subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts at Bathinda, Punjab, India.

19. Contact & Grievance Officer

If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy, your data, or our practices, please contact us at privacy@astropal.com.

In accordance with the Information Technology Act, 2000 and the rules made thereunder, the Grievance Officer for AstroPal can be reached at:

• Email: grievance@astropal.com
• Postal: AstroPal Grievance Officer, Bathinda, Punjab, India