POLICIES · VERSION 2026-09-12-subscriptions-refunds-privacy-v4
Privacy policy
This notice explains how ImperialApply handles account information, application drafts and practice answers. The service is independently operated and does not send your application to Imperial College London.
Contact for support, privacy and refund requests: hello@imperialapply.com
Who is responsible
ImperialApply is the service brand used on this website. Contact for privacy and data requests: hello@imperialapply.com.
Information and purposes
Account details and authentication sessions support sign-in and account security. Saved drafts, selected programmes and practice responses let you resume your work. Entitlement records identify which professional bank and writing features your purchase includes. AI usage counters support access limits. Necessary security and payment records support fraud prevention, dispute handling and operational reliability.
Profile images
If you upload an avatar in Profile settings, we store that image in Cloudflare R2 and its URL in your account. Avatars are served through a public asset URL; do not use confidential documents or application material as a profile image. Replacing an avatar triggers cleanup of the previous stored image. Account deletion removes stored avatars before deleting your account; copies already cached by browsers or an asset delivery service may persist separately. Application drafts and practice recordings are not uploaded to this public asset storage.
Your writing and AI
The free character checker processes text within the page and does not submit it to our server. The optional camera preview is live only; we do not record practice video. If you enable automatic transcription, a separate audio-only recording of each spoken response is sent through our server to Groq Whisper Large v3. Our application processes that audio transiently without writing it to our database or public asset storage; Groq processes it under its own applicable retention settings. Original transcripts, word timestamps, recording duration and derived delivery indicators are saved privately with your session. They are kept separately from your corrected transcripts. Successful transcription releases the browser audio; failed uploads remain on the page for up to 10 minutes for retry and are discarded when you leave. Leaving transcription off means no answer audio is recorded; you can enter transcripts manually after completing all six questions. If you request an interview assessment, your confirmed spoken-answer transcripts, question text and submitted written answer are sent to the configured AI service. We store the confirmed text and resulting content assessment with your private practice session. Content scoring does not assess pronunciation or video. Separate delivery indicators estimate speaking rate and word gaps from the original timestamps; they are not a validated fluency score or confirmed silent-pause measurement. In the signed-in workspace, saving and enabled automatic saving transmit drafts and supporting facts to our application database. Review requests also transmit and preserve the submitted version. The embedded editor can save changes automatically after a short delay; do not type sensitive material on the assumption that nothing is sent until you press Save. Choosing an AI action submits the selected answer, programme and facts you provide to the AI service: OpenRouter; model: anthropic/claude-sonnet-4.6. Do not include identification numbers, health information, confidential employer data or another person’s private details. AI output is a suggestion for you to review.
Service providers
Configured infrastructure: hosting — Vercel; database — Neon; transactional email — Resend. Payment details are collected by the payment provider shown at checkout; this application does not store full card numbers. Providers may process information outside your country. Hosting, database and email providers shown as not selected are not yet confirmed for the public deployment. We must identify those providers and applicable international-transfer safeguards before opening the affected service. Acknowledging this notice is not a waiver of transfer protections.
Lawful use and disclosure
Where applicable data protection law requires a lawful basis, providing the requested service relies on the user contract, necessary security on legitimate interests subject to your rights, and required transaction records on legal obligations. Optional uses requiring consent must be separately offered. We do not publish your private drafts or practice responses as SEO examples, and we do not sell your application content.
Retention and deletion
You can export saved application material and delete it in Account & privacy. Deleting preparation data removes live saved drafts, versions, notes, practice sessions, automatic transcription drafts, original transcripts and timing indicators, confirmed transcripts and assessment reports; it does not cancel access, delete your login or erase legally required transaction records. Account deletion is a separate action. Infrastructure backups and payment-provider records follow their separately documented retention requirements; deletion from the live application is not a promise of instant erasure from every backup.
Your choices and rights
Depending on the law applicable to you, you may request access, correction, deletion, restriction, portability or object to particular processing, and may complain to the competent data protection authority. Use the contact details above or the account controls. We may need to verify account ownership before acting. This notice is information about processing, not blanket consent to every possible use.
Third-party AI processing and your instructions
Requesting a writing review sends the submitted text, relevant supporting facts, selected programme, question instructions and review-language choice through OpenRouter to the model provider used for that request. A three-answer consistency check includes all three answers; an interview review includes the answer transcripts and written response needed for the report. OpenRouter routes requests to the relevant model provider, which is an additional recipient of that material. Transcription separately sends the recorded audio to Groq. Do not use these features if you are unwilling or not authorised to share the required material with these providers. You can use public guidance and the standalone local character checker without submitting an AI review. This explanation does not authorise unrelated reuse of your data.
Provider retention, model use and confidentiality
Third-party processing is governed by the applicable provider agreements, privacy terms and actual account settings. We do not promise that every provider retains nothing, that requests never cross borders, or that all providers exclude all model-improvement uses unless those restrictions have been verified and applied. Provider identity and settings can change; a material change in how application content is used will be disclosed before the new use. We limit our own use of private application content to operating, securing and supporting the requested service and meeting legal obligations. We do not use private essays or responses as public examples without separate permission. No online transmission or storage system is completely secure; this does not remove our responsibility to use appropriate safeguards.
Information to leave out
Use only information needed for preparation. Remove passport and identity numbers, payment-card details, medical information, account credentials, employer secrets and unnecessary third-party names or contact details. Use placeholders where possible and obtain any permission needed to discuss another person or an employer project. You remain responsible for having a lawful right to submit the material. If you accidentally submit sensitive information, stop using it in further requests and contact support; deletion from our application cannot guarantee immediate deletion from every independent provider or backup.
Payment, usage and support records
Stripe receives the payment and billing information entered into its checkout. We keep purchase references, programme and plan details, subscription status, paid periods, credit grants and consumption records to supply access, reconcile payments and assess refunds. A review credit record and a saved report are distinct records: deleting a report does not reset usage or establish that a purchase was unused. Technical request, error and security information may be processed to diagnose failures and prevent abuse. If you contact support, send only the information necessary to identify and resolve the problem. Access to private records is restricted to authorised operational purposes; this is not a promise that no authorised support or service-provider access can ever occur.
Retention limits and requests
Preparation records remain available through your account unless deleted or otherwise removed under a disclosed retention process. Payment, tax, fraud and dispute records may need to remain after content or account deletion for the periods required for those purposes and applicable law. We have not published a single fixed deletion period that would incorrectly cover every provider and record type. We will explain the relevant retention criteria when responding to a verified request. Outstanding subscriptions must be ended before account deletion; deleting drafts or clearing browser storage does not cancel billing.
Updates
The version date identifies this notice. Material changes to how private application content is used require an updated notice before that new use begins. The current public layout does not load advertising or session-replay scripts. Any later optional tracking requires an updated notice and any legally required prior consent.