Privacy policy.

Who is responsible

The controller under the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is the provider named above. This policy covers the Pantry Witch app for iOS and Android and the website pantrywitch.com, including the recipe tool on it. For any privacy question or request, write to the email address above.

What stays on your device

Most of what you do in the app never leaves your phone: saved recipes and favourites, your fridge and pantry lists, your preferences (language, goal, diet, never-use list, kitchen equipment, text size, light or dark), the daily recipe counter, photos you take of your dishes and the AI pictures of dishes. They live in the app's private storage, and we have no access to them.

Recipes you do not save as favourites, and their pictures, are removed automatically after three days. Deleting the app removes everything.

When you create a recipe

The app sends your request to our server, which passes it to Google's Gemini AI and returns the recipe. The request contains your ingredients and amounts, pantry staples, servings, time, skill level, meal type and cooking mode, your goal, your diet, your never-use list, your kitchen equipment and the app language. It also carries the random app ID described under "Fair-use limits"; that ID is not passed on to Google.

Our server does not store the request or the recipe; the recipe is saved only on your device. Legal basis: Art. 6(1)(b) GDPR, because we need the data to provide the service you ask for.

Allergies, health goals and religious diets

Your never-use list can contain allergies or intolerances, a goal such as losing weight relates to your health, and a halal or kosher diet can point to your religion. The GDPR treats such information as special categories of data (Art. 9 GDPR).

These fields are optional, and the app saves them only after you have ticked a consent box that says what they are used for. With that you consent to us using them for the sole purpose of creating your recipes (Art. 6(1)(a) and Art. 9(2)(a) GDPR). You can withdraw the consent at any time in your Profile; the app then clears these details, and recipes created before are not affected.

When you scan a receipt

If you scan a shopping receipt, the app shrinks the photo, saves it again without camera or location details, and sends it via our server to Gemini, which reads the grocery items off it. A receipt can also show the shop, the date and time and part of a card number. We instruct the AI to ignore those lines, but the whole image does reach Google.

Our server holds the image in memory only while it is processed and never stores it. The item list comes back to your phone, where you review it before anything is saved. Legal basis: Art. 6(1)(b) GDPR.

AI pictures of dishes

When the app creates an AI picture of a dish, or you ask for one in the recipe tool on our website, only the recipe's title and its one-sentence summary go via our server to Gemini. The picture comes back to your device and is stored only there; on the website it is only shown in the page. Legal basis: Art. 6(1)(b) GDPR.

Fair-use limits

To keep the free service running and stop abuse, our server counts requests per random app ID and per IP address. The app creates that ID at random on first launch; it is not derived from you or your device, and it changes when you reinstall the app.

The counters exist only in the server's working memory, expire after one hour or after 24 hours at the latest, and are never written to disk or to a log. Legal basis: Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR, our legitimate interest in protecting the service from overload and misuse.

Our website

When you visit pantrywitch.com, our hosting provider processes the technical data every browser sends (IP address, date and time, the page requested, browser type and referring page) to deliver the site and keep it secure. Legal basis: Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR.

The website sets no cookies and loads no analytics or third-party scripts; its fonts are served from our own domain. The recipe tool keeps two entries in your browser's local storage: a daily recipe counter, which never leaves your browser, and a random ID, which goes with your recipe and picture requests for the fair-use limits above. Both are strictly necessary for the tool you are using (§ 25(2) no. 2 TDDDG). Your recipe is only shown in the page, and clearing your browser data removes both entries.

Service providers and transfers outside the EU

Two service providers process data on our behalf under data processing agreements (Art. 28 GDPR):

Vercel Inc. (USA) hosts our website and our server, which run in the USA.

Google (Google Cloud EMEA Limited, Ireland, with Google LLC, USA) provides the Gemini AI that writes recipes, reads receipts and draws dish pictures. We use Gemini as a paid service, so Google does not use your requests or the results to improve its products. Google keeps requests and results for a limited period to detect and prevent abuse: https://ai.google.dev/gemini-api/terms

Both companies are certified under the EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework, for which the European Commission has found an adequate level of protection (Art. 45 GDPR). Our agreements with them oblige them to protect your data at least as well as this policy describes. We do not sell your data or share it with anyone else.

Logs

Our server writes technical error logs so we can fix problems. They contain a request number and the error, never your IP address or app ID, though an error message can occasionally name an ingredient. Vercel also keeps short-lived platform request logs. Both are deleted automatically after a few days at most.

Purchases

Pro is sold as a subscription through the App Store or Google Play. Apple or Google take the payment, store your payment details and handle invoices, cancellations and refunds under their own privacy policies. We never see your card or bank details.

To check whether a subscription is active we use RevenueCat (RevenueCat, Inc., San Francisco, USA) as a processor. The app sends RevenueCat an anonymous subscriber id that it creates for the installation, the store's purchase receipt or transaction id, the product bought, the price and currency, purchase and renewal dates, and the device platform and app version. RevenueCat verifies the receipt with the store and tells the app whether Pro is active. The data is held for as long as the subscription is active and for up to three years afterwards for tax and accounting duties. RevenueCat takes part in the EU–US Data Privacy Framework and works for us under a data processing agreement. Legal basis: performance of the contract (Art. 6(1)(b) GDPR).

The free allowance and the fair-use counts are kept on your device, see "What stays on your device".

How long data is kept

Recipe requests, recipes, receipt images and dish pictures: not stored on our server; they exist only while your request is processed. Fair-use counters: up to 24 hours. Error and platform logs: a few days at most. Gemini abuse monitoring: the limited period set by Google. Everything on your device: until you delete it, or the app.

Your rights

Under the GDPR you have the right to access (Art. 15), rectification (Art. 16), erasure (Art. 17), restriction of processing (Art. 18) and data portability (Art. 20), and the right to object to processing based on legitimate interests (Art. 21). You can withdraw consent at any time with effect for the future (Art. 7(3)).

Because there are no accounts and we keep no requests, we usually hold no data we could link to you, but write to us and we will check. To delete your data yourself, delete recipes in the app or delete the app; the server counters expire on their own.

You also have the right to lodge a complaint with a data protection supervisory authority, in particular in the EU country where you live or work.

Children

Pantry Witch is meant for adults aged 18 and over. We do not knowingly process data of children.

Good to know

You do not have to provide any data, but without ingredients the app cannot write a recipe. We do not use your data for automated decision-making or profiling (Art. 22 GDPR): the AI writes recipes, it makes no decisions about you.

We update this policy when the app or the law changes. The date at the top shows the current version.