FAQs
What is Wysa?
Wysa is an AI-based ‘emotionally intelligent’ bot, a virtual coach which responds to the emotions you express and uses evidence-based cognitive-behavioral techniques (CBT), DBT, meditation, breathing, yoga, motivational interviewing and micro-actions to help you build mental resilience skills and feel better.
Is Wysa a human or a robot?
The answer is... both! Wysa is an artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot, it’s a pocket penguin which learns and grows wiser with you. Wysa Well-being Coach or Therapist are humans. They are mental health professionals trained to listen, support and encourage you.
Together with Wysa, Well-being Coach or Therapist will support you in achieving your defined goals. However, Wysa is restricted in the means of response and the intended usage is for providing evidence-based tools and techniques to manage emotions and encourage mental well-being in a self-help context. It is not intended for providing diagnosis, treatment or cure of a condition or disease or disorders. Wysa cannot and will not offer advice on unrecognizable issues.
How - and why - does Wysa work?
Wysa is the result of a year-long co-design effort between a 15-people team of psychologists, designers, developers and over 500,000 users to understand how AI chat can help us learn skills to build emotional resilience.
We learnt two important things. First, that privacy is key. So, we decided that all Wysa chats will be anonymous. Second, that people don’t want their problems ‘fixed’. Mostly, they just want to talk through them, with someone who doesn’t judge.
An AI-based chat platform can be great for those 4 am conversations. We all have a dark place, and have feelings we don’t share with anyone else. Talking to Wysa about these gives us the confidence to reach out for help when we’re ready - from friends, family or a well-being coach or a therapist.
Ten hours of in-person therapy are rarely enough to break long held thought-patterns. In addition to building skills, AI-based conversations are also an easy, private way to practice these skills when learnt in therapy.Is it free to use Wysa?
Talking to Wysa is free, including tools offered in chat. For sustainability, we charge for a premium version with 'convenient features' (eg. direct access to tools), as well as Wysa Well-being Coach or Therapist Services (direct access to experienced mental health and well-being professionals). We do not believe in and hence do not use advertising as an option.If you are on an institution (employer, school, university, insurance, etc) version of Wysa, Wysa Well-being Coach or Therapist maybe supported or replaced with your Institution's own support mechanisms. Please refer to the installation and access instructions shared by your Institution.
Who is Wysa designed to help?
People from more than 30 countries across the world from many age groups talk to WYSA. WYSA is designed to help people who are experiencing low mood, stress or anxiety, or who are interested in improving their emotional resilience. Wysa will provide evidence-based tools and techniques and encourage you to maintain your mental well-being in a self-help context.
Is there an age limit?
We have users from all age groups. However, if you are less than 18 years of age, please read through the Terms of Service and Privacy Policy along with your parent or legal guardian to understand eligibility before use. Wysa is not to be used by children under 13 years.
If your Institution specifies a different age restriction, such as at least 18 years and above as a condition for using Wysa, those eligibilities shall apply.Are there situations where WYSA wouldn’t be recommended?
Learning skills to manage our emotional resilience is important for everyone however if you are currently receiving therapy for a long-term mental health condition discuss WYSA with your clinician as part of your care plan.
Wysa is not designed to assist with crises such as abuse, severe mental health conditions that may cause feelings of suicide, harm to self, and any other medical emergencies. In any of these cases and otherwise, Wysa cannot and will not offer medical or clinical advice. It can only suggest that users seek advanced and professional medical help.What is the science behind the suggested techniques?
Wysa uses evidence-based techniques like Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), which are suggested and approved by professional psychologists at Wysa for use in a self-help context, and by our scientific advisory board comprising of leading mental health professionals from around the world. Wysa app including but not limited to its content, images, videos, tools and techniques get reviewed and approved by our qualified psychologists and safety professionals and the updates are released as part of our bi-weekly development process. Please consult a qualified healthcare professional before making any major changes in levels of physical activity or if you have a medical condition. Do not use physical activity based tools if you are suffering from back problems, blood pressure, hernia, any disability or any other medical conditions.
What is an institution version of Wysa?
Wysa has partnerships with institutions (employer, school, university, insurance, etc), to subsidize your cost of access to Wysa services. During your initial conversation with Wysa, this would have been discussed. You would also find that you have access to all premium tools, although you have not directly paid for these services.
The partnership may also include full or subsidized access to Wysa Well-being Coach or Therapist. In some of these partnerships, we may add to or replace Wysa Well-being Coach or Therapist with another service provider (in which case please refer to the documentation of your institution service provider)
Our commitment to your privacy stays the same. As an Institutional user, some population-level data may be shared with the Intent to help the partner understand the mental wellbeing of their organization. However the basic tenet is anonymity, and data should not be possible to link/attribute to an individual, either within Wysa or by the partner.Is Wysa designed along app design standards and accessibility guidelines?
To ensure our user interface design and visual design are more accessible to people with disabilities, we align to WCAG requirements (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines), assess any new changes, and update elements that need to be modified to follow WCAG principles.
The WCAG requirements we work on are:
-Provide sufficient contrast between foreground and background so that all users should be able to read the text on our app/website and determine what our app/webpage elements are supposed to do.
-Provide clear and consistent navigation options so that the different parts of our app/web page are easy to locate and identify.
-Use headings and spacing to group-related content reducing clutter, and making it easier to scan and understand.
-Ensure that form elements include clearly associated labels so we ensure that the label for any interactive component within our app/web content makes the component's purpose clear.
-Create designs for different viewport sizes making it easier to read and navigate the content on different screen sizes.
We also follow Apple iOS and Google Android provided design guidelines and best practicesWysa's Statement on User Feedback
Wysa’s ethos is that everybody should have access to quality wellbeing support in a way that suits them and we work closely with users from all over the world to ensure Wysa incorporates and reflects the views and needs of a variety of people. From clinical professionals to everyday members of the public we take your feedback very seriously and use it to help our product grow. We use comments left for us in the app store or in feedback to the app to help make important changes and we set up specialist co-design groups to help us support our research projects.
Until now, there have been over 350 app iterations from reviews and feedback received from 500K users from 65+ countries. We have incorporated feedback from various user groups like students, caregivers, under-represented communities, and people living with chronic conditions.
Privacy and data sharing
Is my data private?
Yes. Wysa does not request Your Personal Data. If You inadvertently submit any Personal Identifiable Information (including but not limited to email identifier, location address, mobile numbers) then we will process it with your data basis this agreement and will irreversibly redact any Personal Identifiable Information within 24 hours in our system. Please do not share any personal data that directly or indirectly identifies you at any time during your use of our service such as while in conversation with Wysa or with a Wysa Well-being Coach or Therapist. All conversations with Wysa and Wysa Well-being Coach or Therapists are private and not shared with anyone. If you use Wysa within our partner ecosystem, then anonymized and summarized information is exchanged, but ONLY with the intent of enhancing your experience. The details of your conversations are never shared with any external parties outside Wysa, including any partners.
Do I have to use real names?
No, not really. You don’t have to use your real name. Instead, we recommend that you use a dummy name or a nickname in your conversations with either Wysa or with a Wysa Well-being Coach or Therapist. Call yourself Superman, Wonder Woman…or Yoda even. (Safe your data will be.)
Who can read and use my messages?
Only Wysa. The Wysa team occasionally uses some messages, which are anonymous, to train Wysa to help improve its ability to have conversations. Any identity specific data is removed, so no-one can ever know who said what. Also, no-one outside of Wysa will ever have access to chat messages without your explicit consent.
How will my conversations and responses to assessments be used?
Your conversations and assessment responses are anonymous, and sometimes used to improve Wysa’s ability to understand you better and ways to enhance your experience.
Your responses are not processed to form a diagnostic opinion nor processed for any medical purposes or for giving clinical advice. Please read our Privacy Policy to understand more about how your data is handled.
What security measures are taken?
Wysa uses industry-standard safeguards to prevent unauthorized access to your data. We encrypt all data provided by you using strong TLS encryption protocols and transmitted securely from your mobile device to our servers. Your data is also encrypted at-rest in our storage servers using strong industry compliant AES-256 encryption protocols. Our servers are hosted and managed by industry leaders in the provision of cloud hosting services who have stringent GDPR and HIPAA compliant security programs and controls. We maintain service level and Data Protection agreements with our hosting partners. Please read our Privacy Policy to know more about how we secure your data.
On the phone, you are required to set a PIN from the settings inside your Wysa app to ensure only you see your chats with Wysa.
Where do you store my data? Is it safe?
Your data is encrypted and securely stored in Virtual Private Cloud servers physically located in the USA. We have taken appropriate safeguards by contracting with our sub-processors which includes standard contractual clauses approved by the European Union (EU) data protection authorities. Please read our Privacy Policy to know more about how we secure your data.
I need access to my past conversations, can I?
Yes, your conversations with Wysa can be accessed at any time from the "Journey" tab in your app and/or be able to access your conversations with the Well-being Coach or Therapist in the Coach or Therapist chat window. Please read our Privacy Policy to know more about your rights. You can always send us an email at [email protected] or [email protected] for any clarifications.
I've switched to a new phone, how do i move my data from the old to the new phone?
If you are a premium user we can help you migrate without any cost. Please write to us at [email protected] or [email protected] to know more.
How do I delete my data?
You have the Right to be Forgotten. You can at any point of time, delete all your provided data by using the “reset my data” feature available in the Wysa App settings. Post reset, all your provided data will be deleted from our servers and cannot be recovered.
Whom to contact if I have additional questions, concerns or comments?
You can read our Privacy Policy and if you still need to talk to the Wysa team, please send us an email at [email protected] or [email protected]
Well-being Coach or Therapist FAQ
What is Wysa Well-being Coach or Therapist service?
The Wysa Well-being Coach or Therapist Service is a text-based online messaging service with a highly trained and qualified mental health and well-being professional.
Wysa Well-being Coach and Wysa Therapist services are not intended to be a replacement for face-to-face psychotherapy or to provide a diagnosis, prognosis, treatment or cure for a disease/condition/disorder or disability or provide any type of state-regulated mental health services in Your country of residence. It is an enabling and empowering mode of support, rather than treatment of illness or a health condition. If you are facing any crisis such as abuse, severe mental health conditions, suicidal thoughts, harm to self and others or any emergencies, please call the relevant emergency or crisis number in your country immediately. For example, you can find your country-specific suicide emergency number at: www.suicide.org
If you are on an institution (employer, school, university, insurance, etc) version of Wysa, Wysa Well-being Coach or Therapist maybe supported or replaced with your Institution's own support mechanisms. Please refer to the installation and access instructions shared by your Institution.
What do Wysa Well-being Coaches do?
The Wysa Well-being Coach will apply motivational interviewing and life coaching to help You work towards Your personal well-being goals. The Service will focus on building wellness and emotional resilience. The underlying principle of the Well-being Coach Service is that You have the knowledge and capacity to make desired changes in Your life. The role that a Well-being Coach will play is to support You in finding Your own way, help You tap into Your own strengths and abilities, so that You can identify and use resources around You to fill any gaps.
What do Wysa Therapists do?
The Wysa Therapist will use person-centered supportive listening, motivational interviewing and CBT principles to help You to take control of Your mental and emotional well-being. Wysa Therapists will draw on various evidence-based techniques to provide empathetic and non-judgmental support. The Wysa Therapist will listen to Your worries empathetically, promote positivity and support You in making successful lifestyle changes, so that You can manage Your situation better and build emotional resilience.
Is Wysa Well-being Coach or Therapist service similar to face-to-face (f2f) or In real life (IRL)- psychotherapy or treatment?
Wysa Well-being Coach or Therapist will listen to you, support, motivate and guide you in achieving your emotional well-being goals and resilience skills. Wysa Well-being Coach and Wysa Therapist services are not intended to be a replacement for face-to-face psychotherapy or to provide a diagnosis, prognosis, treatment or cure for a disease/condition/disorder or disability or provide any type of state-regulated mental health services in Your country of residence. It is an enabling and empowering mode of support, rather than treatment of illness or a health condition. Wysa Well-being Coach or Therapists will not offer medical or clinical advice either. They can only suggest that user seek advanced (medical) help outside of Wysa. Please read the Terms of Service and Privacy Policy to know more about the Wysa Well-being Coach or Therapist service.
If you are on an institution (employer, school, university, insurance, etc) version of Wysa, Wysa Well-being Coach or Therapist maybe supported or replaced with your Institution's own support mechanisms. Please refer to the installation and access instructions shared by your Institution.
How old do I have to be to talk to a Wysa Well-being Coach or Therapist?
You need to be 18 years or older to talk to a Wysa Well-being Coach or Therapist. Wysa Well-being Coach or Therapist service is not to be used by children under the age of 13 years. If you are younger than 18, please read through the Terms of Service and Privacy Policy along with your parent or legal guardian to understand eligibility before use.
If Your Institution specifies a different age restriction, such as at least 18 and above, as a condition of using this Service, that restriction shall apply rather than the one above.
Who are Wysa Well-being Coaches or Therapists?
Wysa Well-being Coaches or Therapists have at least a Masters degree in Clinical or Counselling Psychology and typically have practiced for many years in their own practice or as consulting psychologists in educational institutions, multinational firms, clinics and hospitals. They are affiliated to or hold membership of leading organisations such as the American Psychological Association (APA), British Psychological Society (BPS) and British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP).
I am going through a crisis or emergency situation. Will Wysa Well-being Coach or Therapists help me?
Wysa Well-being Coach or Therapist service is not a crisis or emergency assistance service. If you are facing any crisis such as abuse, severe mental health conditions, suicidal thoughts, harm to self and others or any emergencies, please call the relevant emergency or crisis number in your country immediately. For example, you can find your country-specific suicide emergency number at: www.suicide.org
Once I signup, will I have the same Well-being Coach or Therapist?
Yes. You will be assigned to a Well-being Coach or Therapist the first time you book a session. In case your assigned Well-being Coach or Therapist is not available due to unforeseeable reasons, you have the option to either speak with another Well-being Coach or Therapist or to reschedule your session with your assigned Well-being Coach or Therapist.
What is a Well-being Coach or Therapist session?
A session is a 30 mins scheduled live text-based messaging with your assigned Well-being Coach or Therapist. All communication with your assigned Well-being Coach or Therapist is only through text-based messaging and from the coach or therapist interface within the Wysa app.
Will the Well-being Coach or Therapist respond to me in real time?
Scheduled sessions provide you with 30 mins of real-time messaging with your assigned Well-being Coach or Therapist. For all other messages, the Wysa Well-being Coach or Therapist will try to respond to your messages as soon as possible and within 24 hours at the most.
Can my Well-being Coach or Therapist access my chats with Wysa bot?
You have the right to share details of your activity on Wysa with your Well-being Coach or Therapist by going to the “Unauthorize / Authorize Well-being Coach or Therapist” feature in the More > Settings section of the app. You can also opt-in or opt-out of sharing your Wysa messages by typing #sharechat in Wysa bot.
Can I change my assigned Well-being Coach or Therapist?
In case you feel there’s a gap in the relationship or feel unheard by your assigned Well-being Coach or Therapist or if there’s an issue with session timings with your Well-being Coach or Therapist, then you could request for a change of Well-being Coach or Therapist by writing to [email protected]
What happens in a typical session?
In a typical session, you and your Well-being Coach or Therapist will have a focused goal directed discussion on a preset agenda or any other concerns that you bring to the session. You would also be discussing any potential hurdles in reaching your goals or doing an assigned homework.
How do I book a Well-being Coach or Therapist session?
When you subscribe to a Wysa Well-being Coach or Therapist service, you get to book your first session using the Well-being Coach or Therapist session scheduler. Here, you get to see available session timeslots for your chosen day. You can choose your preferred date and time and make a booking. All subsequent sessions with your assigned Well-being Coach or Therapist can be booked by clicking the “i” icon next to the text field of your Well-being Coach or Therapist interface and selecting “sessions”.
How many sessions can I book at a time?
You can book only one session at a time. If you try to book another session the earlier booked session will automatically be replaced by the new booking.
How many sessions will I get in a subscription?
The number of sessions that you can book during the subscription period is entirely up to you. You can book a session with your assigned Well-being Coach or Therapist every 48 hrs, subject to their availability.
If you are on an institution (employer, school, university, insurance, etc) version of Wysa, your Institution may have a pre-determined number of sessions with a Wysa Well-Being Coach or Therapist. Please refer to the installation and access instructions shared by your Institution.
Can I cancel or reschedule a booked session?
You can cancel or reschedule a booked session anytime before 3 hrs to start of the scheduled session. No cancellation or rescheduling will be allowed within 3 hrs or after a session begins.
Will I get a reminder for my booked session?
Yes. You will receive a reminder notification of your booked session from Wysa on your mobile device. You will receive this notification 30 mins prior to start of session. Please enable receiving notification from Wysa to receive your scheduled reminders.
What happens if there is a crisis or a personal emergency and I miss a booked session?
If you missed attending or cancelling or rescheduling a booked session due to any reason, that particular session will automatically lapse. But not to worry, you can always make a fresh booking by choosing the next available date & time with your Well-being Coach or Therapist.
If you are on an institution (employer, school, university, insurance, etc) version of Wysa, your Institution may have a pre-determined number of sessions with a Wysa Well-Being Coach or Therapist. Please reach out to [email protected] if you have missed a booked session and would like to reschedule a fresh session.
What do I get to do after a session?
After a session, you would be practicing any strategies, such as a thought diary or a mindfulness based exercise, as assigned by your Well-being Coach or Therapist. You can keep journaling or logging your thoughts, feelings, success or hurdles between booked sessions. Your Well-being Coach or Therapist will read and respond to your logs daily.
What is Journalling with a Wysa Well-being Coach or Therapist?
Journaling would mean:
1.) using the Well-being Coach or Therapist interface platform to vent out your feelings or thoughts. It would also be used to share/log in anything you wish for the Well-being Coach or Therapist to be aware of to help you move on with your goals.
2) It could also involve logging in thoughts/feelings/mood changes as a part of the homework or to do weekly task shared with you
3) The Well-being Coach or Therapist will provide feedback on what you share with suggestions to enhance any positive streaks and to cope with any negative events, as well to leave you with more questions to self-reflect and manage your emotions.
Can I access all the premium tools that are available in the app with the Well-being Coach or Therapist subscription?
Yes, you get access to all the premium tools during the subscription period.
My local time shown in the session scheduler is incorrect. How do I fix this?
You will need to type #time in the Wysa app to make changes to your local time before proceeding to book a Well-being Coach or Therapist session.
How do I cancel my subscription?
Unfortunately, we can't cancel your subscription for you. These are managed through Google Play and iTunes depending on which type of phone you may possess. Please see the appropriate section for canceling your subscription below:
Google Play
If you are using an Android phone, please follow the steps below:
1. Ensure you are logged into the account that has the subscription.
2. Go to the Google PlayStore .
3. Check if you’re signed in to the correct Google Account.
4. Go to the 'Payments and Subscriptions' tab from the Menu and click 'Subscriptions'.
5. Select the subscription that you want to cancel.
6. Tap Cancel subscription and follow the instructions that come up.Read google play guidance here: support.google.com
Apple iTunes
If you are using iPhone, please follow the below steps.
1. Go to your device’s settings
2. Click iTunes & App Store
3. Click on the Apple ID at the top
4. Click on View Apple ID.
(You might need to use Touch ID to authenticate)
4. Click on Subscriptions and then choose Wysa
5. Click on Cancel Subscription at the bottomRead iTunes guidance here: support.apple.com
Can I get a refund?
In case you have done an accidental purchase kindly write to us at [email protected] within the first week of the purchase and we will help you out.
I have questions regarding subscription or on sessions. Who do I ask?
In case you have any queries regarding subscriptions or sessions, you can write to us at [email protected]
If you are on an institution (employer, school, university, insurance, etc) version of Wysa, you can also reachout to your institution provided support.
I am on an Institution plan, Why can't I see the Wysa Well-being Coach or Therapist?
If you are on an Institution (employer, school, university, insurance, etc) version of Wysa, Wysa Well-being Coach or Therapist maybe replaced by your institution's own support mechanisms.
In this case, should you want Wysa Well-being Coach or Therapist, you would have to relinquish the benefits of your institution version. You can then start Wysa again and choose to enroll with the Wysa Well-being Coach or Therapist.
To relinquish your institution benefits, reset your data (found under settings in the Wysa app), and then start over.
How to remove microphone permissions from Wysa?
In your device settings, go to “Apps & Notifications-->See All your installed Apps”. Find “Wysa” and select it. The “Permissions” option will show you all the permissions granted to the app. To disable it, click on the “microphone” permission and select deny.
Is my voice recorded or stored?
Your voice recording does not leave your device at any point, so it’s not stored in our servers. We use inbuilt Android Libraries powered by Google to convert your speech to text. Transformation of your voice to text is is governed by Google’s Terms and Condition and Privacy Policy.
Terms & Conditions: https://legal.wysa.io/terms
Privacy Policy: https://legal.wysa.io/privacy-policy
