Privacy Policy

PlatePals is a cozy digital cookbook for you and the friends you cook with. This policy explains what we collect, why, how it's protected, and the controls you have. If we make material changes, we'll flag them inside the app before they take effect.

Who we are

PlatePals ("we", "us") is the operator of the PlatePals app at platepals.co. For any privacy question or request, email founder@platepals.co.

What we store

• Account: your email address and an authentication identifier from our auth provider. If you sign in with Google, we receive your email and basic profile info from Google — nothing more.
• Profile: display name, unique @handle, avatar emoji, and optional favorite cuisine.
• Recipes: title, ingredients, steps, notes, tags, optional photo, and optional voice note.
• Social graph: friend connections, friend requests you've sent or received, and invite links you've generated.
• Preferences: favorites and filters, so the app remembers where you left off.
• Basic technical data: minimal logs (timestamps, error traces) needed to keep the service running and secure. We do not run third-party ad or behavioral trackers.

In guest mode, everything above lives only in your browser's local storage. It never leaves your device and is not synced to any account.

Voice notes & photos

Voice recordings and recipe photos are stored the same way as the rest of your recipe: locally in guest mode, or in your account otherwise. We do not transcribe, analyze, or use voice notes or photos to train any AI model. They are only shown to you and the friends who can see the recipe.

Friends, handles & discovery

Each cook can have up to 50 friends. Other signed-in users can find you by searching your public @handle or display name; your profile page shows only your handle, avatar, cuisine, and aggregate counts (recipes, friends). Your recipes are never visible until a friend request is mutually accepted or you've connected via an invite link.

Invite links can be revoked from your Friends page at any time. Either side can remove the friendship whenever they want, which immediately hides your recipes from them and theirs from you.

How we use your data

• To run the core features you asked for (save recipes, sync across devices, show your friends' cookbooks).
• To operate and secure the service (authentication, rate limits, abuse prevention, backups).
• To respond to you when you contact us.

Legal bases (for users in the EEA/UK): performance of our terms with you, our legitimate interest in keeping the service secure and reliable, and your consent where required (for example, marketing emails — which we currently don't send).

Who we share with

• Friends you've connected with — they see the recipes, photos, voice notes, and profile you've made visible to them.
• Infrastructure providers we use to host the app and store your data (auth, database, storage, hosting). They process data on our instructions under contract and don't use it for their own purposes.
• Legal requests — only when we're required by valid law to disclose specific information.

We do not sell your data. We do not run ads. We do not share your recipes with anyone you haven't invited.

Security

Data is encrypted in transit (HTTPS) and at rest by our infrastructure providers. Access to production data is restricted to a small number of authorized people. Database access is protected by row-level security so that only you (and the friends you've connected with, where applicable) can read your rows. No system is perfect — if you spot a security issue, please email founder@platepals.co and we'll take it seriously.

Retention

We keep your data for as long as your account is active. When you delete your account, your profile, recipes, photos, voice notes, friend connections, and invite links are removed from our live systems within 30 days. Encrypted backups roll off on a rolling schedule (typically within 90 days). Minimal logs needed for security or legal reasons may be kept a little longer.

Your rights

Depending on where you live, you may have the right to access, correct, export, or delete your personal data, and to object to or restrict certain processing. You can:

• Edit your profile from Profile → Edit profile.
• Delete your account and content from Profile → Delete account.
• Email founder@platepals.co for any other request. We'll respond within 30 days.

Children

PlatePals isn't directed at children under 13 (or under 16 in the EEA/UK). We don't knowingly collect data from them. If you believe a child has created an account, email us and we'll remove it.

International transfers

Our infrastructure providers may process data in countries other than yours. Where required, we rely on appropriate safeguards (such as standard contractual clauses) for those transfers.

Changes

When we make material changes, we'll update the date above and notify you in-app. Continued use after changes means you accept the updated policy.

Contact

Questions, requests, or feedback? Email founder@platepals.co.