Privacy Policy

Last Updated: October 2025

Introduction

Welcome to MealFlow. We respect your privacy and are committed to protecting your personal data. This privacy policy explains how we collect, use, and safeguard your information when you use our meal planning and recipe management application.

Information We Collect

Information You Provide

• Account Information: Email address, name, and password (encrypted)
• Household Data: Household name and member information
• Recipe Data: Recipes you create or import, including titles, ingredients, instructions, photos, and ratings
• Meal Plans: Your weekly meal planning data and meal requests
• Shopping Lists: Items you add to your shopping list and staples
• Preferences: Store preferences, category preferences, and application settings

Automatically Collected Information

• Usage Data: How you interact with the application, features used, and pages visited
• Device Information: Browser type, IP address, viewport size, and user agent
• Bug Reports: Technical data when you submit bug reports, including page URL and browser information

How We Use Your Information

We use the collected information to:

• Provide and maintain the MealFlow service
• Process your meal planning and recipe management activities
• Enable household collaboration features
• Improve and optimize our application
• Respond to bug reports and provide support
• Send important service notifications
• Analyze usage patterns to enhance user experience

Data Sharing and Storage

Who We Share With

• Household Members: Users in your household can view shared recipes, meal plans, shopping lists, and meal requests
• Service Providers: We use Vercel for hosting and PostgreSQL for database storage. These providers have access to your data only to perform services on our behalf
• No Third-Party Sales: We do not sell, rent, or trade your personal information to third parties

Data Storage

• Your data is stored securely in encrypted PostgreSQL databases
• Recipe photos are stored using Vercel Blob storage
• All data transmission is encrypted using HTTPS

Your Rights and Choices

Access and Control

• View Your Data: Access all your account information through the application
• Edit or Delete: Modify or remove your recipes, meal plans, and shopping lists at any time
• Account Deletion: Contact us to delete your account and associated data
• Export Data: Request a copy of your data in a portable format

Household Data

• If you are a household member (not admin), the household admin controls household-level data
• Leaving a household removes your access but does not delete the household's data

Data Retention

• Active Accounts: We retain your data as long as your account is active
• Deleted Accounts: After account deletion, we retain data for 30 days for recovery purposes, then permanently delete it
• Bug Reports: Retained for up to 1 year for product improvement purposes

Security

We implement industry-standard security measures:

• Password encryption using secure hashing
• HTTPS encryption for all data transmission
• Regular security updates and monitoring
• Access controls and authentication requirements
• Secure database storage with backup systems

Cookies and Tracking

• Authentication: We use secure session cookies to keep you logged in
• Analytics: We use Vercel Analytics (provided by Vercel Inc.) to understand usage patterns and improve the application. Vercel Analytics is a privacy-friendly analytics service that:
  • Collects page views and Web Vitals performance metrics
  • Records visitor location at city-level only (not precise geolocation)
  • Does not use cookies or track users across websites
  • Does not collect personally identifiable information
  • Complies with GDPR, CCPA, and other privacy regulations
  • For more information, see Vercel's Privacy Policy
• No Advertising Cookies: We do not use cookies for advertising purposes

Children's Privacy

MealFlow is not intended for children under 13. We do not knowingly collect information from children under 13. If you believe we have collected data from a child under 13, please contact us immediately.

Changes to This Policy

We may update this privacy policy periodically. We will notify you of significant changes by:

• Posting the new policy on this page
• Updating the "Last Updated" date
• Sending an email notification for material changes

Your continued use of MealFlow after changes constitutes acceptance of the updated policy.

Beta Testing

During the beta testing phase:

• Your feedback and usage data help us improve the application
• Bug reports may include technical details about your usage
• We may contact beta testers for feedback and feature testing

Contact Us

If you have questions about this privacy policy or your data:

• Email: mike@mikedisharoon.com
• Bug Reports: Use the "Report a Bug" feature in the application footer

Legal Basis for Processing (GDPR)

For users in the European Economic Area (EEA), if applicable, we process your data based on:

• Contract Performance: To provide the services you requested
• Legitimate Interests: To improve our services and prevent fraud
• Consent: When you provide optional information or agree to specific uses

You have the right to withdraw consent at any time without affecting the lawfulness of processing based on consent before withdrawal.

California Privacy Rights (CCPA)

California residents have additional rights:

• Right to know what personal information is collected
• Right to delete personal information
• Right to opt-out of the sale of personal information (note: we do not sell personal information)
• Right to non-discrimination for exercising privacy rights

To exercise these rights, contact us using the information above.

By using MealFlow, you acknowledge that you have read and understood this Privacy Policy.