Last updated October 23, 2026

Privacy Policy

This policy covers phonehseng.com and the Text Atlas SMS program run by Phone Hseng, an individual. Questions: phone@vt.edu.

What's collected when you text

• Your mobile number, the texts you send and receive, and when they were sent.
• Whether you've opted in or out of the program.
• Anything you choose to include, such as a meeting you'd like added to Phone's calendar.

How it's used

Only to text with you: to deliver messages between you and Phone, to let Atlas reply (Phone's free or busy times, calendar requests, his public projects and interests), and to respect your opt-in and opt-out. Atlas runs on Phone's own computer, and its replies are written by an AI model running there, not by an outside AI service. Your texts are kept on that computer so Phone can read and answer them.

Sharing

We do not sell or share your SMS opt-in data or personal information with third parties for marketing purposes. Text messaging originator opt-in data and consent are not shared with any third parties.

To send and receive texts, messages pass through Twilio, the messaging service that sends and receives them (see Twilio's privacy notice). Information may also be disclosed if the law requires it. Nothing else is shared.

Keeping and deleting

Texts are kept as long as they're useful for staying in touch. Email phone@vt.edu to have your messages and number deleted. Reply STOP at any time to stop getting texts.

This website

phonehseng.com is a plain website hosted on GitHub Pages. It has no analytics, ads or tracking, and sets no cookies of its own. Your light or dark theme choice is saved only in your own browser. The scrapbook shows a few posts embedded from Instagram; when they load, Instagram (Meta) may collect information under its own privacy policy. GitHub, which hosts the site, may log visits for security; see the GitHub privacy statement.

Children

The SMS program isn't meant for children under 13, and their information isn't knowingly collected.

Changes

If this policy changes, the new version is posted here with a new date.