Privacy Policy

Introduction

CartChef LLC (“we”, “our”, or “us”) respects your privacy. This policy describes how we collect, use, and protect your information when you use the CartChef app and related services at getcartchef.com.

Information we collect

We collect information you provide and data necessary to run the app:

• Account information – Name, email address, and authentication data (e.g. via Apple Sign-In or email/password).
• Profile and preferences – Household size, cooking days, meal types, dietary preferences, cooking time, and notification settings.
• Your content – Meal plans, grocery lists, recipes you save or create, favorites, and recipe ratings (e.g. thumbs up/down after cooking) used to personalize recommendations.
• Subscription and purchase data – Subscription status and entitlement information (synced with Apple for access control). Apple processes payment; we do not receive or store your payment card details.
• Activity and usage data – Recent activity in the app (e.g. meals cooked, grocery list progress, favorites) used for the in-app activity feed, profile stats, and insights.
• Product interaction analytics – See the section below on Firebase Analytics.

We do not collect location or contacts unless you explicitly provide them. Recipe photos you upload are stored so we can display them with your recipes and are covered by this policy.

Analytics and product usage data

We use Firebase Analytics (Google Analytics for Firebase) to understand how people use CartChef and to improve the app. Analytics data is linked to your account using your Firebase authentication user ID. We use analytics for app functionality and product improvement only.

We do not use analytics for third-party advertising, cross-app tracking, selling your personal information, or sharing data with data brokers.

We log events at meaningful milestones in the app, such as:

• Account sign-up (method: Apple or email — not your email address in the event)
• Onboarding started and completed
• Meal plan created (e.g. manual vs. auto-plan, day and meal counts, household size as a number)
• Grocery list generated (e.g. item count and week identifier)
• Subscription started, free trial started, and trial converted to paid subscription

Analytics parameters may include aggregate counts (e.g. number of items, household size), plan type (monthly or annual), and currency/price for paid subscription conversion events. We do not send your name, email, recipe titles, ingredient names, or other personal content in analytics event parameters. We do not log individual button taps, screen navigation, or every UI interaction.

When a free trial converts to a paid subscription, we may send a standard purchase event to Google Analytics with plan type and price for product analytics. Payment is still processed by Apple; we never receive card numbers.

How we use your information

We use your information to provide, maintain, and improve CartChef: to sync your plans and lists across devices, generate grocery lists, send optional reminders, support your account (e.g. password reset, subscription), and understand product usage through analytics.

• AI features – Recipe standardization (e.g. import/cleanup), personalized weekly insights, and recommendations (using Firebase AI / Gemini).
• Subscription – To verify access, sync subscription status with Apple, and show "Manage Subscription."
• Analytics – To measure onboarding and core feature adoption, improve the product, and understand subscription funnel performance.

We do not sell your personal information.

Data storage and security

Your data is stored using Firebase (Google). We use industry-standard practices to help keep your data secure, including Firebase App Check to help protect backend services. AI processing (recipe assistant, insights) runs on Google infrastructure (Firebase AI); inputs and outputs are handled according to this policy and are not used to train general-purpose models for other products.

You can delete your account and associated data at any time from the app (Profile → Privacy & Security → Delete Account). Deleting your account removes your Firestore profile, meal plans, grocery lists, activity, and recipes you created. It does not cancel an active Apple subscription — cancel that in your device Settings if needed.

Third parties

• Firebase (Google) – Authentication, database (Firestore), file storage (recipe images), analytics (Firebase Analytics / Google Analytics), App Check, and cloud functions where used. Google's privacy policy applies: policies.google.com/privacy.
• Firebase AI (Google) – Recipe assistant (standardization), weekly insights, and recommendations. Processing happens via Firebase/Google.
• Apple – Sign in with Apple and in-app purchases (subscriptions). Apple's privacy policies apply.

Children

CartChef is not directed at children under 13. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13.

Data location

Data is stored and processed in the United States (and/or other regions where Firebase/Google operate).

Policy changes

We may update this policy from time to time. The "Last updated" date will be revised when we do. Continued use of the app after changes means you accept the updated policy.

Contact

For privacy questions or requests, contact us at privacy@getcartchef.com or via Support. For account or data deletion requests, you can also delete your account and data from the app (Profile → Privacy & Security → Delete Account).