VA Companion
Privacy summary
VA Companion is built around a simple boundary: the website handles shared tools, accounts, submissions, and member downloads; the desktop app keeps personal VA.gov snapshots and vault records local to the user's Windows computer; and the browser extension keeps claim and appeal dashboard records in local browser extension storage.
This page is a plain-English operating summary. It is not legal advice.
Registration may collect email, real name or organization name, screen name, branch of service, veteran/dependent status, optional service-connection details, and optional VA rating level. This supports saved tools, submissions, community posting, moderation, and desktop licensing.
Optional event alerts store the email address, public-event filters, delivery choice, confirmation status, and delivery history needed to send matching event notices. Alerts require email confirmation and include an unsubscribe link. Unconfirmed requests are removed after 30 days, and unsubscribed alert records are removed after 90 days. Events saved with the Save button remain only in that browser and are not sent to VA Companion.
Provider leads, accredited-person submissions, DBQ prompts, forum posts, and community records are stored for review. Public display should use screen names unless a verified professional chooses otherwise. Forum and submission records may include admin-only IP and browser metadata for moderation and safety.
VA Companion may store site activity such as page views, tool opens, button clicks, device class, referrer host/path, search phrases when a search engine provides them, IP address, masked IP, hashed IP fingerprint, and approximate visitor area when available. Full IP details are restricted to administrators and used for security, abuse prevention, troubleshooting, moderation, and credible emergency safety review. Analytics do not store VA.gov records, claim details, medical details, credentials, or typed form text.
Desktop activation sends the website login, machine ID, request type, optional old machine ID, and device label. It does not upload VA.gov credentials, MFA codes, documents, claim snapshots, cookies, tokens, or local vault data.
The desktop app checks a public manifest and may read public/reference endpoints. Update checks do not upload veteran data, claim data, documents, VA.gov passwords, cookies, tokens, or database contents.
Browser extension
The VA Companion browser extension helps users view VA.gov claim and appeal status information in a local popup or side panel dashboard. It works when the user is signed in to VA.gov and opens supported VA.gov claim or appeal pages.
The extension may read VA.gov claim or appeal information that is already loaded in the user's signed-in browser session. This may include claim status, claim phases, phase dates, claim type, jurisdiction, documents-needed status, decision-letter status, and related VA.gov response data.
This information may include personally identifiable information, health-related claim information, VA.gov website content, and limited VA.gov page or response context needed to provide the dashboard.
The browser extension stores captured claim and appeal records only in local browser extension storage. The data is used to display the user's dashboard, support popup or side panel mode, remember local display settings, and allow the user to copy a redacted summary.
VA Companion does not send browser-extension claim or appeal records to VA Companion servers. Users can clear locally stored extension data from inside the extension or by removing the extension from the browser.
The browser extension does not collect VA.gov usernames, passwords, MFA codes, SSNs, payment information, cookies, tokens, or authentication credentials.
Limited use
This section is intended to make the website, desktop app, and browser extension boundaries clear for users and browser-extension review.
VA Companion uses user data only to provide or improve its stated features. Browser-extension data is used only to display VA.gov claim and appeal status information locally in the user's browser and to support user-requested extension features such as popup or side panel mode, refresh, redacted copy summary, and clear-data controls.
VA Companion does not sell user data, does not transfer user data to third parties for advertising or unrelated purposes, and does not use user data to determine creditworthiness or for lending purposes.
If a user posts a credible threat of harm to themselves or others, VA Companion may preserve and use account, post, timestamp, IP address, browser, and related moderation context to respond to the safety concern and, when appropriate, provide relevant information to emergency responders or law enforcement.
Browser-extension claim and appeal records remain in local browser extension storage until the user clears them, removes the extension, or the browser removes extension data. The extension includes a clear-data control for locally stored records.
Users should not send SSNs, VA claim numbers, VA.gov credentials, MFA codes, medical records, claim documents, browser-extension records, desktop database files, or vault contents in support emails, payment memos, chat rooms, or public forms unless VA Companion specifically asks for a diagnostic item and the user has reviewed it first.
Data boundaries
The public website provides shared tools, member accounts, submissions, community areas, and member downloads. The desktop app is the private Windows workspace. The browser extension is a local browser dashboard for claim and appeal status data already loaded in the user's signed-in VA.gov browser session.
The website does not ask for VA.gov, Login.gov, ID.me, DS Logon, MFA codes, cookies, or session tokens.
Live claim status and rating snapshots are desktop-app features for the user's local Windows workspace, not website uploads.
VA letters, Blue Button files, evidence, generated statements, and packet exports should remain in the local desktop app unless the user intentionally shares them elsewhere.
Browser-extension claim and appeal records should remain in local browser extension storage unless the user intentionally shares a redacted summary or reviewed diagnostic item.
Users should review any diagnostic ZIP, email, support form, browser-extension export, or payment memo before sending and should avoid including SSNs, claim numbers, medical details, or private records unless intentional.