Privacy Policy

Introduction

Welcome to Book-a-Cook ("we," "our," or "us"). 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 mobile application.

Information We Collect

We collect the following types of information:

1. Information You Provide:

• Account Information: Your email address, display name and Firebase account identifier; Firebase handles password sign-in
• Cookbook Data: Information about cookbooks you add to your collection
• Kitchen Ingredients: Items you add to your fridge, freezer, or pantry
• Saved Recipes: Recipes you save or mark as favorites
• Community Content: Recipe titles, descriptions, ingredients, step photos, drafts, comments, likes, saves, reports and blocked-user choices

2. Automatically Collected Information:

• Device Information: Device type and operating system version for app compatibility
• Usage Data: How you interact with the app to improve our services

3. Camera and Photo Access:

• We request camera access to scan cookbook barcodes and kitchen ingredients
• Photos are processed locally on your device or sent securely to our AI service for recognition
• Photos you upload for community recipes are stored on our community server. Published recipes and their photos are visible to other users; drafts are restricted to their owner and authorized moderation access.
• Community photo uploads are re-encoded to remove embedded metadata such as GPS coordinates.

How We Use Your Information

We use your information to:

• Provide and maintain the Book-a-Cook service
• Sync your data across devices (if you have an account)
• Generate personalized recipe recommendations
• Create shopping lists based on your selected recipes
• Improve our app and develop new features
• Respond to your support requests

Data Storage and Security

We take data security seriously:

• Local Storage: Most of your data is stored locally on your device
• Cloud Sync: Account data and supported personal app data use Firebase. Community recipes, photos and interactions are stored separately on our community server.
• Service Logs: We process request and network information to operate the service, investigate errors and limit abuse.
• Encryption: All data transmitted to our servers is encrypted using industry-standard protocols
• No Sale of Data: We never sell your personal information to third parties

Third-Party Services

We use the following third-party services:

• Firebase (Google): For user authentication and data synchronization
• OpenAI and Groq: For AI features such as ingredient recognition, recipe extraction and generated introductions. Recipe introductions use the recipe title and description; the introduction request does not include account identifiers, author profile fields or photos.
• Deepgram: For transcription when processing supported recipe videos.
• RevenueCat: For subscription management

These services have their own privacy policies governing their use of your data.

Data Retention

We retain community content and interactions while needed to provide the service. You can delete your own recipes and delete your community account in the app. Removed content is no longer publicly available; security records, moderation records and backups may be retained where needed to operate and protect the service. Contact us for help with data access or deletion.

Your Rights

You have the right to:

• Access the personal data we hold about you
• Request correction of inaccurate data
• Request deletion of your data
• Export your data in a portable format
• Opt-out of marketing communications

Children's Privacy

Book-a-Cook is not intended for children under 13 years of age. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If you believe we have collected such information, please contact us immediately.

Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. We will notify you of any changes by posting the new policy on this page and updating the "Last Updated" date.