Privacy Policy

We collect the following categories of data:

• Email address — when you join the waitlist or create an account.
• Name — when you create an account.
• Dietary preferences and health goals — collected at onboarding (e.g., vegetarian/vegan, high-protein target, calorie goal, allergens or restrictions).
• Location — used only for restaurant search (e.g., finding nearby restaurants). We do not store precise GPS coordinates; we store city/area-level location for restaurant matching.
• App usage and click events — which dishes you view, save, or dismiss. Used to improve recommendation accuracy and personalisation.
• Device and session data — browser/device type, session identifiers for authentication. No persistent ad-tracking cookies.

• Personalise dish recommendations based on your dietary profile, health goals, and calorie targets.
• Match restaurant dishes to your nutrition needs using our recommendation scoring engine.
• Improve our canonical dish database and nutrition estimates over time (using aggregated, anonymised signals — never individual PII).
• Send transactional emails (e.g., waitlist confirmation, account verification). We do not send marketing emails without your consent.
• Maintain service security, diagnose errors, and improve performance.

Your data is stored in a MySQL database hosted on AWS RDS in the Mumbai, India region. All data is processed and stored within India. We use industry-standard encryption in transit (TLS) and at rest. Access to the database is restricted to authorised application servers only.

We share limited data with the following third-party providers to operate the service. We do not sell your personal data to any third party.

• Amazon Web Services (AWS) — cloud hosting and database (RDS, EC2, S3). Data stored in the Mumbai region.
• OpenAI — used to parse restaurant menu text and estimate dish nutrition. We send dish and menu text only — never user PII (names, emails, dietary profiles).
• FatSecret — nutrition data API. We send dish names only for nutrition lookup; no user data is transmitted.
• Google Maps Platform — restaurant search and location lookup. Location data is sent to Google only when you perform a restaurant search, subject to Google's Privacy Policy.
• Cloudflare — CDN, DDoS protection, and DNS proxy. Network request metadata (IP, browser headers) passes through Cloudflare infrastructure.
• Vercel — hosting for the marketing website (foodiebuddy.ai). Vercel may log anonymous request metadata (IP, headers) for CDN and performance purposes.

We use minimal cookies. Specifically:

• Session cookies — required for authentication (login sessions). These expire when you close the app or after a standard inactivity timeout.
• We do not use advertising cookies, tracking pixels, or third-party analytics cookies (e.g., Google Analytics, Facebook Pixel).

• Waitlist emails — retained indefinitely until you request removal.
• Account data (name, email, dietary profile, usage events) — retained while your account is active. Deleted within 30 days of account deletion.
• Aggregated, anonymised analytics (not tied to individual accounts) may be retained longer for product improvement.

You have the right to:

• Access the personal data we hold about you.
• Correct inaccurate data (e.g., update your dietary profile in-app).
• Delete your account and all associated personal data.
• Unsubscribe from the waitlist at any time by emailing prasanna.bhope@gmail.com with the subject line "Remove me from waitlist".
• Object to processing of your data for personalisation purposes.

To exercise any of these rights, email us at prasanna.bhope@gmail.com. We will respond within 30 days.

FoodieBuddy is not directed at children under 13. We do not knowingly collect personal data from children under 13. If you believe we have inadvertently collected such data, please contact us immediately and we will delete it.

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. We will post the revised policy on this page with an updated effective date. For material changes, we will notify registered users by email. Your continued use of FoodieBuddy after changes become effective constitutes acceptance of the updated policy.

If you have questions, concerns, or requests regarding this Privacy Policy or our data practices, please contact:

FoodieBuddy
Email: prasanna.bhope@gmail.com