Frequently asked questions

Short answers to the questions we get most. If yours isn’t here, email us at support@impela.ai and we’ll get back to you.

The basics

How is this different from ChatGPT?

ChatGPT is designed to give you a good answer. Impela is designed to make you better at producing answers yourself. The interface looks similar; the goal is the opposite.

ChatGPT will write the email for you. Impela helps you figure out what the conversation underneath the email actually needs to be, what’s been getting in the way of having it, and what you’d say if you were being honest. Then you write the email — sharper than you would have on your own. The work stays yours. We just make it more thought-through.

Won’t this make me dependent on AI?

Real concern. Three things keep Impela from being a dependency.

First, the goal is for you to need coaching less over time, not more. One of the steps in our method is explicitly about growing your own ability to do this kind of thinking without us.

Second, the system isn’t built to keep you in the app as long as possible. Most AI products are built to keep you engaged. Impela is built to help you get clearer, do the work, and go live your life. If your usage goes down as you learn what we’re doing, that’s a success, not a problem.

Third, you can see, edit, and delete everything we’ve stored about you, and export it all in one click. If you ever want to leave, you leave with everything. There’s no lock-in by design.

We can’t promise nobody will use any tool poorly. We can promise this one isn’t designed to be used poorly.

What does a conversation actually look like?

It looks like a conversation, but a structured one. You bring something — a decision you’re sitting with, a conversation you’re dreading, a habit you can’t seem to start, a pattern you keep falling into. Impela asks questions to figure out what’s actually going on, separates what you can change from what you can’t, and helps you decide what to do next.

Most conversations end with one or two concrete commitments — small, specific, time-bound — that you’ve made to yourself. You’ll hear from us about them later. That’s it. No couch, no scheduling, no homework reading.

What if I don’t know what to talk about?

Most people don’t, at first. That’s part of figuring out what’s really going on.

The system starts with a few questions about what’s been on your mind, what feels stuck, what you’re trying to figure out. Often the thing you think you want to talk about isn’t actually the thing — and the conversation moves naturally to what is. If you genuinely don’t have anything pressing, Impela can ask about what you’ve been avoiding, what you’ve been telling yourself you’ll get to, or how a recent decision is sitting.

Showing up without an agenda is fine. Showing up at all is the work.

Will it work for me if I’ve never done coaching before?

Yes. Impela was built for people who haven’t necessarily worked with a coach.

The system figures out what kind of help you need from the conversation itself — there’s no jargon to learn, no framework to adopt, no homework to do before you start. If you can describe what’s on your mind, you can use it.

If you’ve worked with a coach before, you’ll recognize some of the moves. If you haven’t, the moves will still work on you. That’s the point.

Your data

How is my data protected? Is it sold? Used to train AI models?

We don’t sell your data. We don’t share it with employers, insurers, advertisers, family members, or anyone outside the small set of vendors required to run the service (AI provider, email and SMS, billing). We don’t use your conversations to train AI models. Your conversations aren’t in any training set.

Your private notes and conversations are locked with your own key. We built it so we can’t read them — and we never use your words to train AI. No online system can promise perfection, so we also don’t collect what we don’t need. The technical version is on our data page.

Can I cancel? Can I delete my data?

Yes to both.

You can cancel any paid plan from your account settings — no phone call, no negotiation. You can delete any individual conversation, memory, goal, or relationship from your profile at any time. You can delete your entire account in one click, which permanently erases your data from our active systems. You can also export everything you’ve ever produced in Impela in one click before you go, in a standard format you can read or import elsewhere.

We mention all of this here because the existence of an easy exit is part of why you should trust us in the first place.

With a partner

Can my partner see what I tell my coach?

No. Your coaching is locked with your own key — your partner can’t read it, and neither can we. The only things that cross are things you choose to share, one item at a time, and you can take any of them back. Even in a coach-helped conversation, your partner only sees the message you approved — never the coaching behind it.

What does the person I invite get, and what does it cost them?

Nothing. They join free — no card, no charge. They get their own account, their own private space, and they can take part in shared goals and coach-helped conversations with you — two-sided coaching is already part of your Individual plan. If they later want unlimited coaching for their own life, they can pick their own plan, or you can cover it for them with the Additional adult add-on at a discount — but that’s your choice, on your time.

What happens if one of us stops?

Your account is yours and theirs is theirs. If your partner steps back, your own coaching keeps going and your private space stays private. Anything either of you shared can be taken back at any time — sharing is item by item, never a merge. And if someone you invite never joins, we don’t announce it. The invite just stays open — no one gets a “they said no.”

What if my partner and I want different things?

That’s normal — and Impela doesn’t hide it. You each tell your own coach what you want, in private. Where you agree, that becomes a shared goal you both confirm. Where you don’t, the difference gets named honestly so you can work on it — never fake-merged so it looks fine.

With your teen

Can I read my teen’s conversations?

No — and that’s on purpose. Your teen’s conversations are sealed with their own key. You can’t read them, and neither can we. That privacy is the whole reason it works: a teen who knows no one is watching will actually say what’s going on — which is exactly what you want for them. You still see what matters: the commitments they choose to share, kept or missed, and an alert if something serious comes up. You get a teen who opens up and grows, without the one thing that would break it.

When would I hear about my teen?

Only when it’s serious. If our safety system detects signs of real danger, you’re alerted right away — by email, plus texts or emails to up to five trusted adults you set up and verify. The alert says to check on your teen and includes crisis resources. It never includes what they said. For ages 13–15 these alerts are always on; at 16–17 your teen can choose. Everyday topics never trigger a message to you.

Is this therapy for my teen?

No. Impela is coaching — goals, school, friendships, confidence, follow-through. It is not therapy, counseling, or treatment, and it never pretends to be: your teen is told plainly, again and again, that their coach is a computer program. In a hard moment, your teen gets crisis resources first (like 988 and text 741741) — and nothing is ever sold to them there. If your teen needs a professional, please get them one. Impela works alongside real help, never instead of it.

Money

How much does it cost?

Starting is free: answer a few questions and have your first conversations with your coach — no card needed. After that, coaching pauses until you pick a plan. Individual is $24.99 a month ($19.99 billed annually) for your own coaching — and it already includes two-sided coaching with any other adult. Then you add who you need: another adult for $15/mo (their own coach, covered on your plan at a discount), your teen (13–17) for $9.99/mo, or Leader tools — a 360° review and coaching for leading a team — for $20/mo. Every plan starts with 14 free days — cancel before they end and you pay nothing. Cancel any time from your account settings.

Once you’re coaching on a plan, we don’t meter your conversations or charge by the hour. Coaching only works if you actually engage, and we don’t put a meter in the way of that.

Does my teen cost extra?

Yes — the Teen add-on is $9.99 a month ($7.99 billed annually), added to your plan. Your teen (13–17) gets their own private coach with a guardian safety net. Your teen never sees any of this: no prices, no upsells, no checkout. Billing is only ever between you and us.

Safety

Is this therapy?

No. Therapy treats mental health conditions. A therapist is a licensed clinician and can diagnose and treat things like depression, anxiety disorders, trauma, and crisis. Impela does none of that. It’s a coaching tool — structured thinking with something that asks better questions than you’d ask yourself, points out what you’re missing, and holds you to what you said you’d do.

If you’re seeing a therapist, Impela can sit alongside that work. It can’t replace it. If you’re in crisis or managing a diagnosed condition without clinical support, this isn’t the right tool right now — please get help from a clinician. Crisis resources are on every page.

What if I’m in crisis?

Impela is not built to handle a mental health crisis and shouldn’t be used as one. If you’re thinking about hurting yourself or someone else, please get help right now from a person who can help.

• In the US or Canada: Call or text 988. (988lifeline.org)
• In the UK or Ireland: Call 116 123 (Samaritans).
• In Australia: Call 13 11 14 (Lifeline).
• In New Zealand: Call 1737.
• Anywhere else: findahelpline.com.

If it’s a medical emergency, call your local emergency number (911 in the US).

These are also on every page on Impela.

Impela is coaching, not therapy or crisis care. If you’re struggling, call or text 988 (US & Canada) or find local support at findahelpline.com.