Privacy Policy

Last updated: September 1, 2026

SmartFlavr ("we," "us") is currently a private, invite-only beta. This policy explains what information we collect, why we collect it, and the choices you have. If anything here is unclear, email us — contact details are at the bottom of this page.

Information we collect

When you sign in with Google, we receive your name, email address, and profile photo. We don't receive or store your Google password.

Beyond that, information falls into a few categories:

• Profile details you add — username, dietary restrictions, nutrition goals, notification preferences.
• Content you create — recipes, cookbooks, meal plans, grocery lists, inventory items, posts, comments, and stories, including any photos or videos you upload.
• Social activity — follows, likes, comments, and collaborator relationships with other users.
• Technical data — IP address (used for rate-limiting and abuse prevention, not tracking), and a push-notification subscription endpoint if you enable notifications.
• Payment information — if you subscribe to a paid plan, payments are handled entirely by Stripe. We never see or store your card number; we only receive confirmation of your subscription status.

How we use this information

• To operate the core features of the app — storing your recipes, syncing meal plans, running your feed, and so on.
• To send notifications you've opted into (in-app and/or push), such as new followers, comments, or collaboration invites. You can turn these off individually in Settings.
• To keep the service secure — rate-limiting abusive traffic and investigating reports of misuse.
• To respond when you contact us directly.

We do not sell your personal information, and we do not use third-party advertising or analytics trackers.

AI features

Features like recipe import from a URL, ingredient-based suggestions, and "what can I make" use Anthropic's Claude API to process the content involved (a pasted URL, your ingredient list, or a recipe's text) and generate a result. That content is sent to Anthropic to generate your response and is subject to Anthropic's own data-handling terms as our AI processor. We don't send your full account or unrelated personal data as part of these requests — only what's needed for that specific feature.

Google user data — sharing, and AI

When you sign in with Google, we receive your name, email address, and profile photo. If you turn on Calendar sync in the meal planner, we're also granted permission to create, update, and delete events on your Google Calendar — we only ever touch the specific meal-plan events you've chosen to sync, and we never read the rest of your calendar.

We do not sell, rent, transfer, or otherwise share this Google user data with any third party, and we never use it for advertising. It's used solely to operate SmartFlavr itself — signing you in, showing your profile to other users according to your privacy settings, and, only if you enable it, syncing meal-plan events to your calendar.

Google Calendar data is never sent to our AI provider (Anthropic) or used to create, train, improve, or fine-tune any AI/ML model, foundational or otherwise. Our AI features (recipe import, ingredient suggestions, and similar tools — see above) only ever process the recipe and ingredient text you provide directly; they never touch Calendar or any other Google Workspace data. The use of raw or derived user data received from Google Workspace APIs will adhere to the Google User Data Policy, including the Limited Use requirements.

Service providers we use

We rely on a small number of third-party services to run SmartFlavr, each handling only what it needs to do its job:

• Google — sign-in (OAuth) and Calendar sync if you connect it.
• Cloudinary — stores the photos and videos you upload.
• Firebase Realtime Database — powers live sync (e.g. seeing a collaborator's edits appear instantly); it relays lightweight signals, not your recipe content.
• Anthropic — powers the AI features described above.
• Stripe — processes payments for paid plans.
• Hostinger — hosts the application and its database.

What's visible to other users

SmartFlavr is a social cookbook app — some of what you post is meant to be seen by other people. Your privacy settings (in Settings → Privacy) control who can see your profile, cookbooks, favorites, and activity, and who can follow or collaborate with you. Content you mark private stays private; content you share to a public cookbook or the feed is visible according to those settings.

Cookies & local storage

We use a session cookie to keep you signed in — this is required for the app to function and isn't used for tracking across other sites. Your theme preference (light/dark) is stored in your browser's local storage. We don't use third-party advertising cookies.

Data retention & deletion

We keep your data for as long as your account is active. You can delete your account at any time from Settings, which removes your profile and content from the app. We also keep an encrypted weekly database backup for disaster-recovery purposes, which rolls off over time rather than being deleted the instant you delete your account.

Children's privacy

SmartFlavr is not directed at children, and you must be at least 13 years old to use it. We don't knowingly collect information from anyone under 13.

Security

We use industry-standard measures (encrypted connections, access controls, rate limiting) to protect your information, but no online service can guarantee perfect security. If we become aware of a breach affecting your data, we'll notify you.

Your choices

• Update or correct your profile information at any time in Settings.
• Control notification and visibility settings individually in Settings → Privacy.
• Delete your account, which removes your content from the app.
• Contact us with any privacy question or request.

Changes to this policy

As SmartFlavr grows out of private beta, this policy may change. We'll update the date at the top of this page when it does, and for material changes we'll make a reasonable effort to notify active users.

Contact

Questions about this policy or your data — reach us at smartflavroperations@gmail.com or through the contact form on our home page.