Data, privacy and retention

This article explains who is responsible for the data in your workspace, where it is stored, how long it is kept, and what you can remove. It is a summary. The Terms of Service and the Data Processing Agreement on zolensa.com are the binding documents.

Who is responsible

• Your agency is the controller of your participants' personal data. You decide what you collect, why, and for how long.
• Astrizon Technology Solutions, the company behind Zolensa, is your processor. It handles the data only to run Zolensa for you.
• If you run a study for a client and act as their processor, Zolensa is your sub-processor.

You are responsible for your lawful basis, for the consent form you publish, and for answering participants' requests. See Consent form.

Where your data is stored

Zolensa is hosted by DigitalOcean in its data centre in Bengaluru, India. Some providers that help run the service, for example for sending email, are in other countries. The Subprocessors page on zolensa.com lists them all.

Within your workspace, each role sees only what it needs. Clients see participants by code only, and only owners and researchers see email addresses and phone numbers. See Roles: owner, researcher, moderator and client.

How long data is kept

Each study has its own retention period. You set it in the study details, in the field Delete videos, photos and answers this many days after the study closes. Choose between 30 and 3650 days. A new study starts at 365 days.

The study Overview shows the period under Data kept for. The standard consent wording tells participants this number of days.

You can change the period at any time in Edit study details. The change applies from then on.

When data is deleted

Zolensa deletes the data when the period ends. A daily job checks every closed study. Once the number of days has passed since the study closed, it deletes all participant data of that study for good: participants, answers, videos, photos, voice notes, messages, highlights and prepared downloads. Files are deleted from the server and from file storage.

• While a study is closed, the status card on its Overview shows the date, for example "participant data will be deleted on 12 Mar 2027. Export what you need before then."
• Seven days before, owners and the study's researchers get an email that says when the data will be deleted.
• When the data has been deleted, they get another email.
• The study is then archived and no longer shown in your list.

To keep the data longer, change Delete videos, photos and answers this many days after the study closes in Edit study details before that day. Only do this if your consent wording allows it.

Location data in photos

Photos often hold the place where they were taken. After Zolensa processes a photo, it replaces the original file with the processed copy. This copy is an upright JPEG, up to 2000 pixels on its long side, with no location or camera data. Viewing, downloads and the ZIP all use this copy. If a photo could not be processed, the original stays, and only owners and researchers can open it.

Removing participants

You can remove participants who have not joined yet:

1. Go to the study's Participants tab.
2. Tick the participants.
3. In With the ticked participants..., choose Remove (only if not joined yet).
4. Click Apply.

Deleting a participant's data

For anyone who has joined, owners and researchers can delete the participant and everything they shared:

1. Go to the study's Participants tab and click the participant's code.
2. Scroll to the section at the bottom, for example Delete P004 and their data.
3. Tick I understand that this cannot be undone.
4. Click Delete P004 and their data and confirm.

This deletes their answers, videos, photos, voice notes, messages, their consent record and contact details for good, on the server and in file storage. Highlights made from their videos are deleted too. This cannot be undone.

Participants can also stop taking part from the Help screen of the participant app, and ask for everything they shared to be deleted. Their participant page and the Participants list then show a red notice. Your agency is the controller, so act on these requests without delay. See Withdrawals and deletion.

Deleting a whole study

Only owners can delete a study:

1. Open the study and click Edit study details.
2. At the bottom, under Delete this study, tick I understand that everything in this study is deleted for good.
3. Type the study name exactly as shown.
4. Click Delete the study.

This deletes the tasks, the consent form, the groups and all participant data, files included. It cannot be undone. Export what you need first.

Downloads

ZIP downloads of a study's files expire after 7 days and are then deleted. See Download files.

AI translation

When you use AI translation, your study texts are sent to the AI provider. Participants' answers are not. See Use your own AI provider.

Close your workspace

To close your workspace, an owner writes to support@astrizon.com. Export what you need first. After the agreement ends, you have 30 days to export your data. Then the workspace and all its data, including files, are deleted, apart from what the law requires us to keep.