Privacy Policy
This policy explains what information the OCRecipes app collects, why, who it goes to, how long we keep it, and the choices you have. OCRecipes is operated by Family Meal Planning Services (“we”, “us”), based in Alberta, Canada. Questions or requests: support@ocrecipes.com.
The short version
- We collect what the app needs to track your nutrition, analyze food, and coach you.
- We never sell your information and never share it with advertisers. The app has no ads and no tracking.
- Some features send your information to service providers, such as OpenAI for food photo analysis and the AI coach. They are listed below with what each receives.
- You can export your data and delete your account from the app at any time.
What we collect
Account information
Your username, email address, password (stored only as a one-way hash), display name, and profile picture if you add one. At sign-up you confirm that you are at least 13. We also record when you last used the app, so we know not to delete your history while you are still using it.
Health and nutrition information
If you choose to provide them: allergies and how severe they are, health conditions and medications (including GLP-1 medications), age, height, weight, goal weight, gender, activity level, dietary goals and preferences, foods you dislike, and household and cooking preferences. You also create records as you use the app: foods you log, scanned items, daily totals, meal plans, grocery lists, pantry items, saved recipes and cookbooks.
Photos, voice and text you give the app
- Food, label, menu and receipt photos are sent for analysis and are not stored by us afterwards. Food and label results are kept in memory for up to 30 minutes so you can review them, then saved only if you log or save them. Menu results are saved to your account until you delete your account. For each receipt scan we keep a short record: how many photos and items it had, and whether it worked.
- Profile pictures and cookbook covers you upload are stored so we can show them.
- Voice input is turned into text either by your phone’s speech recognition (provided by Apple or Google) or by OpenAI.
- Conversations with the AI coach and recipe chat are stored so you can return to them. The coach may save short notes about your goals and preferences to personalize later answers. These notes can include things you tell it about how you feel.
Purchases
If you subscribe to Premium, the App Store or Google Play processes the payment. We never see your card. We receive and keep the store’s purchase record (receipt) to confirm and maintain your subscription.
Device and technical information
Your device’s time zone, a push-notification token if you allow notifications, your IP address (used to prevent abuse and enforce rate limits), request logs (which page or feature was requested, the app version, and an error ID), and crash or error reports. Error reports are configured to exclude request contents, cookies and IP addresses.
We do not collect your location, contacts, or advertising identifiers.
How we use it
- To run the app: tracking your intake, analyzing photos and barcodes, suggesting and generating recipes, building meal plans, and answering your questions in the coach.
- To personalize: your goals, allergies and preferences shape recommendations and AI responses.
- To keep your account secure: verifying your email, password reset codes, security notices, and limiting repeated attempts.
- To manage your subscription.
- To fix problems and keep the service reliable.
- To improve product nutrition data (see “Public and shared content” below).
Your health information
During setup we ask for your consent to use health information to personalize recommendations and AI coaching. Health details are optional: you can choose “Not now” and keep using the app, and you can add or change details later in Profile. Your health information is never sold and never shared with advertisers. Some of it is sent to the service providers below, only to produce the answer you asked for. For example, the coach receives your goals, allergies, diet type, weight and activity level so its suggestions fit you. To withdraw your consent and have your health details removed, edit them in Profile or email support@ocrecipes.com.
OCRecipes provides general nutrition information, not medical advice. See our Terms of Service.
Who we share it with
We share information only with the service providers that run parts of OCRecipes for us, and only what each one needs:
| Provider | What it does | What it receives |
|---|---|---|
| OpenAI | Photo analysis, voice transcription, food text logging, AI coach, recipe chat and generation, meal plans | Your photos and voice recordings when you use those features, your messages, and the profile details a feature needs (for example goals, allergies, diet type, weight, activity level, today’s intake) |
| Runware (OpenAI as backup) | Recipe pictures | Recipe titles, cuisines and ingredients |
| Spoonacular | Recipe search | Search words, diet type, and intolerances based on your allergies |
| USDA, Health Canada’s Canadian Nutrient File, API Ninjas, Open Food Facts | Nutrition facts | Food names or barcodes only |
| Resend | Email delivery | Your email address, username, and the message (for example a reset code) |
| Sentry | Error reporting | Technical error details, with request contents, cookies and IP addresses removed |
| Expo | Push notifications and app updates | Your push token and the notification text |
| Apple, Google | Payments, speech recognition | Purchase records, and your voice when you use your phone’s speech recognition |
| Railway | Server hosting and database | The information stored in your account |
| Cloudflare | Image storage and delivery, website, email routing | Stored images and messages sent to our support address |
We may also disclose information if the law requires it, to protect people’s safety or our rights, or as part of a sale or merger of the business, in which case this policy continues to apply to it.
Public and shared content
- Community recipes you publish are public by default. Other users can see them, and popular public recipes may be included in the recipe data we offer to businesses through the OCRecipes API. You can delete your recipes at any time. Deleting your account deletes them too.
- Nutrition label scans help verify product nutrition data. That product data is shared with other users and offered through the OCRecipes API, without your name or account attached. Because it is not linked to you, it stays in the shared product data after you delete your account.
Where your information is processed
Our providers may process and store information outside Canada, including in the United States. There it is subject to the laws of that country, which may allow its authorities to access it.
How long we keep it
- Your account and profile: until you delete your account.
- Scanned items: deleted after 1 year.
- Coach and recipe chats: deleted 6 months after the last message.
- Daily nutrition logs: deleted after 2 years. An entry you logged from a scan is deleted along with that scan, after 1 year.
- Menu scan results: until you delete your account.
- Receipt scan records: until you delete your account.
- These automatic deletions are skipped while you have an active subscription or have used the app in the last 30 days, so your history stays available while you use it.
- Food photos: not stored after analysis.
- Request logs and error reports: kept for a limited time for security and troubleshooting.
Your choices and rights
- See and download your data: Profile → Settings → Export My Data gives you a copy as a file.
- Correct it: edit your profile and health details in the app.
- Delete your account: Profile → Settings → Delete Account. This permanently deletes your account, your data, your published recipes, and the images you uploaded.
- Notifications: turn them off in your phone’s settings, or mute reminders under Profile → Settings → Coach Reminders.
- Withdraw consent or make any other request by emailing support@ocrecipes.com. We reply within 30 days.
If you’re not satisfied with our response, you can contact the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner of Alberta (oipc.ab.ca), the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada (priv.gc.ca), or the privacy regulator where you live.
Security
Passwords are stored with bcrypt hashing, connections are encrypted, sign-ins are rate-limited, and resetting your password signs you out on every other device. No system is perfectly secure, so please use a strong, unique password.
Children
OCRecipes is not for children under 13. If we learn that a child under 13 has created an account, we will delete it. If you believe this has happened, contact us.
Changes to this policy
If we change this policy we will update the date at the top. If a change is significant, we will tell you in the app or by email before it takes effect.
Contact
Family Meal Planning Services
support@ocrecipes.com