Privacy Policy

Effective date: July 2, 2026

AnnaChef ("we", "us") is an iOS app that identifies ingredients from photos of your fridge or pantry and suggests recipes. This policy explains what information we collect, how we use it, and the choices you have. Questions: annachefapp@gmail.com.

What we collect

• Account information. When you create an account we collect your email address, display name, and a user identifier. Sign-in is handled by Firebase Authentication (Google LLC), including Sign in with Apple and Google Sign-In if you choose them.
• Photos you submit. Photos of your fridge, pantry, or dishes that you take or select are sent to our servers to detect ingredients or to attach to recipes you save. We never access your photo library beyond the photos you explicitly choose.
• Content you create. Recipes, ingredient lists, preferences (dietary choices, household size, skill level), bookmarks, and cooking activity.
• Usage and diagnostics. Basic product interaction events (e.g., a recipe was viewed or cooked) and crash/error logs, used to keep the app working and improve it.

We do not collect your precise location, contacts, or browsing history, we show no third-party advertising, and we do not track you across other companies' apps or websites.

How we use your information

• To detect ingredients in your photos and generate recipe suggestions.
• To sync your recipes, bookmarks, and preferences across your devices.
• To operate community features (public recipes, reporting, blocking).
• To monitor reliability, prevent abuse, and enforce fair-use limits.

AI processing

Ingredient detection and recipe generation use OpenAI's API. The photos and ingredient lists needed for these features are transmitted to OpenAI as our data processor. Per OpenAI's API data-usage policy, this data is not used to train their models. Generated recipes may be cached on our servers so that identical requests don't need to be re-processed.

Where your data lives

Our servers and database are hosted by DigitalOcean. Recipe photos are stored in DigitalOcean Spaces. Authentication data is held by Firebase (Google).

Retention

• Account data and saved recipes: kept while your account exists.
• Cooking activity events: deleted after 180 days.
• Cached AI-generated recipes: kept up to 365 days.
• Server logs and diagnostics: kept for a limited period for reliability and security, then deleted.

Deleting your account

You can delete your account at any time in the app under Account → Delete Account. This permanently removes your account, recipes, photos, bookmarks, and activity from our systems. You can also email us and we will delete your data for you.

Sharing

We do not sell your personal information. We share data only with the service providers named above (Firebase, OpenAI, DigitalOcean) to run the app, or if required by law. Recipes you explicitly make public are visible to other users along with your display name.

Children

AnnaChef is not directed to children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from them.

Your rights

Depending on where you live, you may have rights to access, correct, export, or delete your personal data. The in-app deletion covers most of this; for anything else, contact annachefapp@gmail.com and we will respond within 30 days.

Changes

If we make material changes to this policy, we will update this page and the effective date above.