Privacy policy
Alai is a student-made app for VIT students (Vellore and Bhopal). It is not affiliated with, endorsed by or run by VIT.
What Alai reads, and when
Only when you tap Sync, and only after you have logged in to VTOP yourself, Alai opens the same "view" pages you can open in VTOP and reads:
- attendance, timetable and academic calendar
- digital assignments and their due dates
- marks posted so far
- each course's syllabus and books (once per semester)
- club and chapter events from the VTOP home page
- your faculty's cabin and email from VTOP's Faculty Information (once per semester)
Alai never sees, saves or sends your VTOP password or captcha. You type them into VTOP's own page; Alai only waits until VTOP says you are logged in. The VTOP page runs in a private window, so your VTOP login is gone from Alai when the sync ends. Alai never changes anything on VTOP.
What is kept, and where
- Everything Alai reads, in a database inside Alai on your phone
- What you add yourself: check-ins, your own deadlines, lab grade targets, settings
- Your notes, board photos and PDFs, in Alai's own private folder
- Phone numbers you add for your faculty
Android's automatic cloud backup is turned off for Alai, so this data is not copied to Google Drive either.
What leaves your phone
| Where it goes | What is sent | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Your campus's VTOP (vtop.vit.ac.in or vtop.vitbhopal.ac.in) | Ordinary page requests from your own logged-in session | To read your data when you sync |
| Expo's update service (expo.dev) | The app's version, update channel and a random install number. Nothing about you or your VTOP data | To check for and download new versions of the app when it opens |
Nothing else leaves your phone on its own. Image to PDF runs on the phone; your pictures are never uploaded. If a sync breaks, "Send a report" describes the VTOP page with every name, number and mark masked, and goes only where you choose to share it.
Alai never
- sees, saves or sends your VTOP password or captcha
- changes anything on VTOP
- uploads your data anywhere
- shows ads, or uses analytics or trackers
- reads your messages, mail, contacts or other apps
Permissions
- Notifications: your morning brief, check-in, deadline and re-sync reminders. They are made on the phone, not sent from a server.
- Camera: only when you tap the camera in Notes, to photograph the board.
- Photos and files: only the photo or PDF you pick yourself.
- Alarms: only when you tap "Set alarm", to add one alarm to your Clock app.
- Mail and phone apps: only when you tap a faculty member's email or number.
Deleting your data
Settings → Your data → Delete all my data erases everything, notes and files included. Uninstalling Alai does the same. Because nothing is stored anywhere else, there is nothing for us to delete on a server.
Children
Alai is meant for university students and is not directed at children under 13.
Changes
If this policy changes, the new version will be posted here and shown in the app before it applies. If a future feature ever needs to share something (such as a club events list), it will only be information that is not about you, and the app will tell you first.
Contact
Questions: alai.app.team@gmail.com.