Privacy Policy

MyCookingCalendar operates the mycookingcalendar.com website and the MyCookingCalendar mobile application (the "App"). This Privacy Policy explains what information we collect across the website and the App, how we use it, who we share it with, and the rights you have over your personal data.

We handle information transparently and in line with applicable privacy laws, including the EU/UK General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), the California Consumer Privacy Act as amended by the CPRA (CCPA/CPRA) and Türkiye's Personal Data Protection Law No. 6698 (KVKK). If a specific section applies only to the website or only to the App, we say so.

Depending on whether you use the website, the App or both, we may collect the following categories of information:

• Account data such as your name, email address and profile picture when you sign in with Google or Apple, or an email address and password if you create an email account.
• Anonymous-account data: the App lets you start using core features without registering. In that case we create an anonymous account tied to your device and store the cooking data you create. If you later add an email or sign in with Google or Apple, that data is linked to your permanent account.
• Health and dietary information you choose to provide, such as allergies, ingredients to avoid, dietary style (for example vegetarian or halal) and other preferences. We treat this as sensitive information — see the dedicated section below.
• Cooking and planning data such as your pantry items, meal plans, cooking history, shopping lists, saved and liked recipes, snacks, fasting logs and notes.
• Photos you capture with the App's pantry or grocery photo feature, together with the items our analysis returns from them.
• AI content such as the messages, questions and prompts you send to the in-app AI assistant.
• Subscription and purchase data such as your subscription status, plan and transaction identifiers. Payments are processed by Apple, Google or our web payment provider — we do not receive or store your full card number.
• Device and notification data such as your push-notification token, device type, operating system and App version.
• Usage data such as features used, recipes viewed, search queries and interaction events, used to operate and improve the Service.
• Technical data such as IP address, browser type and device type for security and analytics.
• Website advertising data: on the website only, advertising identifiers and approximate location derived from your IP address, used by Google AdSense and partner networks to deliver and measure ads and comply with regional advertising rules.

• To operate, maintain, secure and improve the website and the App.
• To personalise recipe recommendations, meal planning, AI suggestions and shopping features to your preferences.
• To generate AI assistant responses, meal-plan suggestions and photo-based grocery and pantry analysis that you request.
• To filter suggestions for safety against the allergies and ingredients you have told us to avoid.
• To manage your account, subscriptions and in-app purchases and provide customer support.
• To send push notifications you have enabled, such as meal reminders and pantry-expiry alerts.
• To prevent fraud, abuse, quota evasion and security incidents, including captcha verification for anonymous sign-in.
• To deliver and measure advertising on the website, including personalised advertising where permitted.
• To comply with legal obligations and respond to lawful requests.

The App includes AI features: an in-app cooking assistant, meal-plan and snack suggestions, and photo-based grocery and pantry analysis. To provide these features we send the relevant data to specialist AI providers who process it on our behalf:

• Text-based AI (the assistant and meal/snack suggestions) is powered by Anthropic (Claude). To generate a useful answer we may send the AI provider the relevant context for your request — for example your dietary preferences and allergies, pantry items, current meal plan, cooking history, shopping list and the messages you send.
• Photo analysis is powered by OpenAI (GPT-4o vision). When you use the pantry or grocery photo feature, the image you capture is sent to the provider to identify the items in it.

These providers act as our processors and handle the data under their API terms. Under those terms they do not use data submitted through the API to train their models. Because these providers are based in the United States, using AI features involves an international transfer of the data described above (see the International Transfers section).

AI output can be inaccurate or incomplete. We apply a safety step that filters suggestions against the ingredients you have asked to avoid, but you should always use your own judgement — see our Terms of Use for the full disclaimer on AI-generated content.

When you use the pantry or grocery photo feature, the App captures the image you take, uploads it to our storage, and sends it to our AI vision provider to identify grocery or pantry items. The recognised items are shown to you to review before anything is saved to your lists — nothing is added to your pantry or shopping list until you confirm.

• Captured photos are retained in our storage for up to 30 days and are then automatically deleted.
• The photo feature is available only to registered (non-anonymous) accounts, as an abuse-prevention measure.
• We recommend photographing only your own groceries and pantry, and avoiding capturing other people or sensitive documents in frame.

Allergies, ingredients to avoid, dietary style and related health preferences may be considered sensitive or special-category personal data. We collect this information only when you choose to provide it, and we rely on your explicit consent — given by entering it into the App — to process it.

We use this information solely to personalise your experience and to filter recipe and meal suggestions for safety. To do this, the information may be included in the context we send to our AI providers as described above. We do not use it for advertising, and we do not sell it. You can view, change or remove this information at any time in the App, and deleting your account removes it.

This information supports a cooking and meal-planning tool. It is not a medical or clinical service, and it must not be relied on for medical decisions.

You can use the App as an anonymous user, or create a permanent account with your email, with Google, or with Sign in with Apple.

• With Google or Apple sign-in we receive your name, email address and (for Google) profile picture to create your account. We do not receive your password or access your account beyond authentication. You can revoke access in your Google or Apple account settings.
• Sign in with Apple lets you hide your email address; in that case Apple provides a private relay address that forwards to your real inbox, and we store only the relay address.
• Email accounts store your email address and a securely hashed password — we never store your password in plain text.

The App offers an optional paid subscription (Pro). In-app subscriptions are sold and processed through the Apple App Store or Google Play and managed with the help of our subscription provider, RevenueCat. On the website, payments may be processed by our web payment provider.

These providers handle the payment itself; we receive your subscription status, plan and transaction identifiers so we can unlock paid features, but we do not receive or store your full payment-card details. Your store account controls renewal and cancellation.

If you enable notifications, the App registers a push token (via the Expo push service) so we can send reminders such as meal-time and pantry-expiry alerts. Anonymous accounts do not register for push. You can turn notifications off at any time in your device settings or in the App, and signing out or deleting your account removes the stored token.

We share data with trusted providers who process it on our behalf, under agreements that limit how they may use it:

• Hosting and database: our self-hosted backend runs on infrastructure located in the European Union.
• AI assistant and suggestions: Anthropic (United States).
• Photo analysis: OpenAI (United States).
• Subscriptions: RevenueCat, together with the Apple App Store and Google Play.
• Push notifications: the Expo push service.
• Anti-abuse: Cloudflare Turnstile, used to verify anonymous sign-ups.
• Transactional email: our email delivery provider.
• Website advertising and analytics: Google AdSense and Google Analytics (website only).

This section applies to the mycookingcalendar.com website. The current version of the mobile App does not display third-party advertising and does not use advertising cookies.

The website is monetised in part through online advertising. We use Google AdSense, Google Analytics 4 and related Google advertising technologies. Our Google AdSense publisher ID is ca-pub-6317276756727944. Google and other certified ad-technology providers may use cookies, web beacons, device identifiers and similar technologies to serve ads, measure performance, prevent invalid traffic and, where consent is given, personalise ads based on previous visits to this and other websites.

You can opt out of personalised advertising through Google Ads Settings at https://www.google.com/settings/ads, aboutads.info, youronlinechoices.eu, your browser settings or our cookie banner where available. You can opt out of Google Analytics with the Google Analytics Opt-out Browser Add-on. On the website we use strictly necessary cookies for login, locale and security; analytics cookies; advertising cookies; and functional cookies that remember preferences.

We share data with the service providers listed above, and we may disclose data if required by law or to protect our rights and our users. We do not sell your personal information for money.

Our backend and database are operated from the European Union. Some providers — in particular our AI providers (Anthropic and OpenAI), our subscription and analytics providers, and website advertising partners — may process data in the United States and other countries. Where required, we rely on safeguards such as the European Commission's Standard Contractual Clauses and recognised data-privacy frameworks for these transfers.

Depending on where you live, you have rights over your personal data. We honour these rights for all users where practicable.

• EU/EEA, UK and Switzerland (GDPR): you may access, correct, delete, restrict or receive a portable copy of your data, object to processing, and withdraw consent at any time. Our lawful bases include consent (for example for health/dietary data and for website ad personalisation), performance of a contract, legitimate interests and legal obligation. You may lodge a complaint with your local data-protection authority.
• California (CCPA/CPRA): you may know what personal information we collect, delete or correct it, opt out of any sale or sharing for cross-context behavioural advertising, and limit the use of sensitive personal information, without discrimination. We do not sell personal information for money; website advertising cookies may be considered sharing under California law, and you can opt out through our cookie banner or Global Privacy Control signals where supported.
• Türkiye (KVKK): under Law No. 6698 you may learn whether your data is processed, request information and access, ask for correction or deletion, and object to results produced solely by automated analysis, among other rights.

To exercise any of these rights, use the in-app tools described below or email privacy@mycookingcalendar.com. We aim to respond to verified requests within 30 days.

You are in control of your data in the App:

• Export: from Profile → Privacy you can export a copy of your data as a file.
• Deletion: from Profile → Privacy you can permanently delete your account and its associated data from within the App. Deletion removes your cooking data, health and dietary preferences, AI conversations, saved photos and stored push token.
• You can also request export or deletion by emailing privacy@mycookingcalendar.com.

Some records may be retained for a limited period where required to comply with legal obligations, resolve disputes or prevent abuse.

We retain your account data for as long as your account is active or as needed to provide the Service. Captured photos are deleted after up to 30 days, AI conversation history is pruned after about 90 days, and aggregated usage records are retained for a limited period. Analytics and advertising identifiers on the website expire according to their stated lifetime.

The Service is not directed at children under 13, or under 16 in the EU/EEA. We do not knowingly collect personal data from children and do not show personalised advertising to users we identify as children.

We use technical and organisational measures such as TLS encryption in transit, encrypted storage, hashed passwords, role-based access controls and security reviews. No method of transmission over the internet is completely secure.

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. Significant changes will be posted on the Service and the Last updated date will be revised.

For privacy questions, data requests or complaints, contact privacy@mycookingcalendar.com. We aim to respond to verified requests within 30 days.