Privacy Policy

This is the Privacy Policy for Meadow, published by Meadow. It explains what the app collects, how that information is used, who receives it, how long it is kept, and how to delete it or take back your consent. "We" and "us" mean Meadow. The Terms of Use explain how the subscription works.

This policy covers the Meadow app for iPhone and Android. This website has no accounts, forms or cookies.

The short version:

• You do not need an account or an email address. The app creates a guest ID for you instead.
• Most of what you log is kept in the app on your phone. Some things leave it, and this policy says which, who receives them and why.
• You can erase your data in the app at any time, including the copies held on our servers, or ask us to remove those copies.
• You can switch off usage statistics in the app.

What we collect and how

Here is what Meadow keeps in the app on your phone, and what leaves it.

Types of information and how each is collected

• Health information. The symptoms you log and your sensitivity profile, which you enter yourself. The readings of meals you scan and the questions you ask can also describe your health. Symptoms and the profile are kept in the app on your phone. Readings and questions are sent as listed above.
• Photos. Photos of your meals, taken with the camera in the app or chosen from your photo library. The app keeps a copy on your phone, and a copy is sent away when you scan a meal.
• In-app messages. The questions you type into Ask Meadow and the answers you get. They are sent as listed above, and a copy of the conversation is also kept in the app on your phone.
• Purchase history. Your purchase records: the plan you buy and whether your subscription is active. They are created when you buy or restore a subscription through the App Store or Google Play. Your payment card details go to the store, and we do not see them.
• Device identifiers. A guest ID that the app creates the first time it opens, in place of an account. It links the data listed above to the app on your phone, not to a name or email. If you reinstall the app or clear its data, the app creates a new guest ID.
• App interactions. Basic usage statistics: when the app is opened, which screens you open, when you finish setting up, log a meal (with its type, such as lunch) or a symptom, send a question or delete your data, and steps in the subscription flow such as viewing the paywall, starting a purchase or restoring purchases, with the plan and, for a completed purchase, the price. They also note whether you have an active subscription. They carry no meal names, ingredients, allergens, symptoms or free text. The app sends them automatically unless you switch them off.
• Scan details. When you scan a meal, the app also sends the date and time of the scan with your phone's time zone offset. Our servers count how many scans and questions each guest ID has used, so that usage allowances can be applied.
• Barcodes. The numbers of barcodes you scan with the camera, which are sent to look up the product.
• Messages to us. If you contact us, we receive your email address and what you write to us.

How we use it

We use the information for these purposes:

• Your diary, symptoms, sensitivity profile and meal photos are used in the app on your phone for the diary, trends, reminders and exports. The app also compares the readings of scanned meals with your sensitivity profile on your phone.
• Scanned meal photos and their AI readings, and your questions in Ask Meadow, are used to read a meal and to answer your questions.
• Barcodes are used to look up a product and its ingredients when you log by barcode.
• Purchase records are used to run your subscription and to restore it on a new phone.
• Usage statistics are used to improve the app.
• The guest ID, scan dates and usage counts are used to link your scans and questions to your app and to apply usage allowances.
• Your email address and message are used to answer you when you contact us.

Who receives it

The app sends information from your phone to the third parties below. Each one receives what is described here, for the reason given.

• Meadow's servers, which run on third-party hosting and storage, receive the photos of meals you scan and their AI readings, your questions and the answers, your guest ID, the date and time of each scan, and the count of scans and questions you have used. They are kept so a meal can be read, your questions can be answered, and usage allowances can be applied.
• A third-party AI provider, which may pass requests on to other third parties, receives the photo you scan and the questions you ask, so the meal can be read and the question answered. When you ask a question, the request can also include details from your earlier scans, such as dish names, dates and the allergens that a reading listed.
• A third-party food database receives the barcode number, sent directly from your phone, to look up the product and its ingredients. It is a public food database.
• Apple and Google hold the purchase records for subscriptions bought through the App Store and Google Play, and take the payment.
• A third-party subscription provider holds your purchase record under your guest ID, so the app can tell whether your subscription is active and can restore it.
• A third-party analytics provider receives basic usage statistics under your guest ID, unless you switch them off, so we can improve the app.

If you export a report or a backup, it goes only where you choose to send or save it.

Each of these third parties acts as a separate party. What it does with the information it receives is governed by its own terms and privacy policy.

Where your information is processed

Our servers and the third parties listed above may be in other countries, including the United States. Your information may be processed in a country other than the one you live in, where the law may differ from yours. Where the law requires it, we use safeguards for transfers of your information across borders.

How long we keep it

In the app on your phone

The app keeps what you log until you erase it. You can erase the diary, symptoms, sensitivity profile, your name, meal photos and the Ask Meadow conversation at any time with You → Delete my data. Reports and backups that you export or share are copies you control, and Delete my data does not remove them. Deleting the app removes what it keeps on your phone, but copies in your phone's own backups may remain until you delete those backups. To erase your data first, use You → Delete my data.

On our servers and with recipients

We keep the copies described under Who receives it on our servers until you ask us to delete them. When you ask, we delete them immediately and keep no copy. This covers scanned meal photos and their AI readings, Ask Meadow questions and answers, and the guest ID with the scan and question counts. Two things are kept differently:

• Server logs: we keep only the standard activity logs that our third-party hosting provider records for the functions that run the app. They may include technical details of a request, such as its time and any errors. They are kept for the period that provider sets.
• Usage statistics held by the third-party analytics provider: kept for as long as we need them to improve the app. They carry no meal names, ingredients, allergens, symptoms or free text.

Apple, Google, the third-party subscription provider and the third-party food database set their own retention periods for what they hold, under their own privacy policies. The third-party AI provider holds the photos and questions it receives under its own terms and privacy policy, and we cannot delete them. How it uses them, including whether it may use them to train models, is set by its own terms and privacy policy, and we do not control it.

Deleting your data and how to ask

In the app

Open the You tab and choose Delete my data. This erases the diary, symptoms, sensitivity profile, your name, meal photos, the Ask Meadow conversation and your reminders from your phone, and takes the app back to the start. It also erases the copies held on our servers. It does not cancel your subscription. The Terms of Use explain how to cancel.

Copies on our servers

Delete my data erases what is on your phone and the copies on our servers.

To ask us to remove the copies held on our servers, follow the steps on the Data Deletion page or write to us at the privacy address under Contact us. The app shows your guest ID under You → Data & privacy, and you can copy it. We find your data from the guest ID you send us.

When we receive a deletion request, we delete the copies held on our servers immediately and keep no copy. This covers the photos, readings, questions and counts held under your guest ID.

Your choices and how to revoke consent

• Usage statistics. The app sends them from the first time you open it, until you switch them off. To switch them off, open You → Data & privacy and turn off Share usage stats. The app then stops sending them.
• Scans and questions. A photo you take or choose is sent to a third-party AI provider for reading right away, with no separate confirmation step. A meal you type in is not sent anywhere, and questions are sent only when you send them.
• Camera and photo library. The app asks your phone for permission to use the camera, and the photo library where your phone requires it. You can change these permissions in your phone's settings.
• Your data. You can erase your data, including the copies on our servers, with Delete my data, or ask us to remove those copies, as described under Deleting your data and how to ask.
• Taking back consent. You can take back your consent at any time by no longer scanning meals or sending questions, by switching off usage statistics, by deleting your data, or by writing to us at the privacy address under Contact us. Taking back consent does not cancel your subscription. The Terms of Use explain how to cancel.

Your rights

Depending on where you live, you may have the right to ask what information we hold about you, to have it corrected or deleted, to object to or limit how it is used, to take back your consent, to receive a copy of it, and to complain to your local data protection authority. Because the app has no accounts, we find your data from your guest ID. To use any of these rights, write to us at the privacy address under Contact us.

Consumer Health Data

Some of what Meadow handles is information about your health. This section says which information, why it is handled, and who receives it.

• What it is. The symptoms you log and your sensitivity profile, which are kept in the app on your phone. The photos of meals you scan, the readings of those photos and your questions in Ask Meadow can also describe your health. They are sent to our servers and an AI provider.
• Why. To keep your diary and show patterns over time on your phone, to read meals against your sensitivity profile, and to answer your questions.
• Who receives it. The recipients are listed under Who receives it above.
• Your choices. You can switch off usage statistics, take back your consent, erase your data, including server copies, or ask us to remove them, as described under Your choices and how to revoke consent and under Deleting your data and how to ask.

The law in some places gives you extra rights over health-related information. Examples are some US state laws and, for people in the EU and UK, data protection law. These rights can include asking what we hold, asking us to delete it and taking back your consent. See Your rights above for how to use them.

Children

Meadow is not directed to anyone under 18. The minimum age to use it is 18. If you think a child has used the app, contact us using the details below.

Contact us

Questions about this policy, and requests about your data, go to:

Meadowsupport@fooddiaryapp.com

Changes to this policy

We may update this policy. The effective date and version of the policy show which one you are reading. We post any update on this page with a new effective date and version. For a significant change, we may also tell you by email or another way we can reach you.