VEGA COMPUTE

Privacy Policy

Effective date: July 8, 2026

VEGA Compute ("VEGA," "we," "us") operates a mobile application and website that let you donate your phone's idle, overnight computing power to scientific research campaigns. This policy explains what we collect, why we collect it, and the choices you have. We have written it to be read by a person, not a lawyer.

The short version

  • We collect the minimum needed to run your account and record your device's contribution: your name and email (only if you sign in), an anonymous device identifier, and statistics about the computing work your phone performed.
  • We do not collect the contents of your phone, your location, your contacts, your photos, your messages, or your browsing.
  • The scientific data your phone processes is public research data that passes through your device. It is not about you and reveals nothing about you.
  • We do not sell your personal information. We do not show ads.
  • You can delete your account and associated personal data from within the app at any time.

What we collect, and why

Account information (only if you create an account). When you sign in with Apple, Google, or email, we receive and store your name and email address. We use these to maintain your account, recognize your device's contributions across sessions, and contact you about the service, such as a new campaign or an important account notice. If you sign in with Apple and choose Apple's Hide My Email, we never see your real email address.

Device and worker identifier. We generate an anonymous identifier for your device so the system can assign computing work and attribute the results. This identifier is not your name and is not your device's advertising identifier.

Contribution statistics. We record statistics about the computing work your phone performs: how many units of work it completed, how long it ran, when it ran, and basic technical measures such as battery level and thermal state during a session. We use these to operate the compute system, show you your own contribution history, display recognition, and improve reliability and efficiency.

Device and diagnostic information. We may receive basic technical information such as device model, operating system version, app version, and error or crash information, used solely to operate and improve the service.

Scientific results. When your phone finishes a unit of scientific computation, it returns the mathematical result of that computation. These results describe the public research data, not you, and contain no personal information.

Website inquiries. If you submit a form on our website, we receive the information you type into it and use it only to respond.

We do not collect: your location, contacts, photos, messages, call history, browsing history, microphone or camera input, health data, advertising identifiers, or the contents of files on your device. We do not use third-party advertising or marketing analytics kits in the app.

The scientific data your phone processes

VEGA campaigns process public scientific datasets, such as publicly released radio telescope survey data. Campaign data is downloaded to your phone over Wi-Fi, processed, and then discarded; results are returned to us. This data is not personal to you, is not retained on your device after processing, and tells us nothing about you.

When work runs

Computation runs only while your device is charging, connected to Wi-Fi, and after you have chosen to start it. You can stop it at any time by unplugging your device or using the controls in the app. We designed it this way to respect your battery, your data plan, and your device.

How we use and share information

We use the information described above only to operate, secure, and improve VEGA. We share it only as follows:

  • Service providers that run our infrastructure, such as our cloud hosting, database, authentication, and storage providers, process data on our behalf and are limited to using it to provide those services to us.
  • Sign-in providers. If you sign in with Apple or Google, your sign-in is handled by that provider under its own privacy policy.
  • Legal requirements. We may disclose information if required by law, regulation, or valid legal process, or to protect the rights, safety, and integrity of the service and its users.
  • Research recipients receive only the scientific results of campaigns. They do not receive your personal account information unless you separately and explicitly consent.
  • Business transition. If VEGA's operations are transferred to a successor legal entity, your information may be transferred with them under this same policy.

We do not sell your personal information, and we do not share it with advertisers or data brokers.

Compute Credits

The app may display Compute Credits, a record of the computing work your device has donated. Compute Credits are recognition only. They have no monetary value, cannot be purchased, and are not a form of payment. Our full description of Compute Credits appears in the Terms of Use.

Data retention and deletion

We keep your account information and contribution history while your account is active. You can delete your account at any time from within the app. Doing so removes your personal account information and disassociates your contribution history from you. Some anonymized, aggregated statistics that cannot be linked back to you may be retained to preserve the integrity of scientific results and system records. If you contact us by email, we retain that correspondence as long as needed to handle your request.

Your choices and rights

  • Access and deletion. You can view your contribution history in the app and delete your account and personal data from within the app, or by emailing us.
  • Regional rights. Depending on where you live, you may have rights under laws such as the European Union's GDPR or California's CCPA, including the right to access, correct, delete, or receive a copy of your personal data, and to object to or restrict certain processing. We honor verified requests and do not discriminate against you for exercising these rights. Where the GDPR applies, we process personal data to perform our agreement with you, with your consent, or under our legitimate interest in operating and securing the service.
  • California. We do not sell personal information and we do not share it for cross-context behavioral advertising. The categories we collect are identifiers (name, email, device identifier) and usage information (contribution statistics and diagnostics), for the purposes described above.

International transfers

We are based in the United States and process data there. If you use VEGA from outside the United States, your information will be transferred to and processed in the United States.

Children

VEGA is not directed to children. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13, or under the age required for consent in your region. If you believe a child has provided us personal information, contact us and we will delete it.

Security

We protect your information with reasonable technical and organizational measures, including encryption in transit and access controls. No system is perfectly secure, but we work to safeguard what we hold and to collect as little as possible in the first place.

Changes to this policy

We may update this policy as VEGA evolves. When we make material changes, we will update the date above and, where appropriate, notify you in the app or by email.

Contact

Questions, requests, or concerns about this policy or your data:

VEGA Compute
Email: info@vegacompute.app