Privacy Policy for Menu Muse

Effective Date: September 22, 2025

Thank you for using Menu Muse! This Privacy Policy describes how Menu Muse ("we," "us," or "our") collects, uses, and shares information when you use our mobile application, Menu Muse (the "App").

1. Information We Collect

We collect information to provide and improve the service for you.

a. Information You Provide to Us:

• Account Information: When you create an account, we collect your email address and password. If you sign in with Google or Apple, we receive your name and email address as provided by your account.
• App Content: We store the data you create and manage within the App, including your pantry items, recipes (including titles, ingredients, instructions, ratings, notes, and source URLs), family member names, family member recipe opinions (likes/dislikes), dietary restriction tags, meal plans, and shopping list items.
• Referral Program Information: If you choose to participate in our referral program, we collect and store the referral codes you generate and, if a code is redeemed, we link your account to the new user you referred for the purpose of granting rewards.

b. Information We Collect Automatically:

• Usage Data: We may collect information about how you interact with the App, such as which features you use and for how long.
• Device Information: We may collect basic information about your device, such as its model and operating system, to help us troubleshoot bugs and improve the App.

2. How We Use Your Information

We use the information we collect for the following purposes:

• To Provide and Maintain the Service: To authenticate you, save your recipes, pantry, meal plans, and other data to your account, and sync it across devices.
• To Power AI Features:

• Generative AI: To provide you with recipe ideas and generate meal plans, we send relevant data from your app (such as your list of pantry items, your list of recipe titles, your ratings, family preferences, and your text prompts) to the Google Gemini API.
• Recipe Importing: To import recipes from a URL or a photo, we send the scraped website text or the text extracted from an image to the Google Gemini and/or Google Cloud Vision APIs for processing and structuring.

• To Improve the App: To understand how users interact with the App, diagnose problems, and develop new features.
• To Communicate with You: To send you important notices, such as password reset emails. We also use your pantry and meal plan data to send you helpful scheduled push notifications, such as pantry expiration reminders and prompts to rate meals you've recently cooked.
• To Administer the Referral Program: We use referral information to track successful sign-ups and automatically grant rewards to your account.

3. How We Share Your Information

We do not sell your personal information. We may share your information with third-party service providers only in the ways that are described in this privacy policy.

• Google (Firebase & Google Cloud): All of your app data is stored and processed on Google's cloud infrastructure (Firebase Authentication, Cloud Firestore, Cloud Functions). Data sent to power AI features is processed by Google's Generative AI and Cloud Vision APIs.
• RevenueCat: We use RevenueCat to manage and process in-app subscriptions. We do not handle or store your payment card information directly. When you make a purchase, your payment information is processed securely by the respective app store (Apple App Store or Google Play Store) and managed by RevenueCat. We share your user ID with RevenueCat to associate your subscription status with your account.
• Legal Requirements: We may disclose your information if required to do so by law.

4. Data Security

We take reasonable measures to protect your information from unauthorized access or disclosure. However, no internet-based service is 100% secure, so we cannot guarantee absolute security.

5. Your Rights and Choices

You can access and edit your pantry, recipes, and user settings directly within the App. You also have the right to delete your account. You can do this from the "My Account" screen in the App, which will permanently delete your user account and all associated data. You can also manage push notification permissions at any time from your device's system settings.

6. Children's Privacy

The App is not intended for use by children under the age of 13, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from them.

7. Changes to This Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. We will notify you of any changes by posting the new Privacy Policy within the App or by other means.

8. Contact Us

If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy, please contact us at: chefapps25@gmail.com