Your information, plainly.

MealScratch ("we", "us") is a meal planning and grocery budgeting app. This policy explains what information the app collects, how it's used, and the choices you have.

The short version

• We collect what the app needs to plan your meals and track your grocery spending: your account, your household's settings, your plans and shopping lists, and the prices and totals you record.
• Receipt photos are read on your phone. The photo is not uploaded or stored by us.
• We don't sell your information, show ads, or use advertising or analytics trackers.
• Prices you pay can help estimate prices for other shoppers near you, but only combined with at least two other households, never on their own and never with your name. You can turn this off.

What we collect

Account: your name, email address, and password. Passwords are stored only as a one-way scrambled hash; we can't see them.

Household and settings: household size, ZIP code (optional), primary store, dietary needs, sales tax rate if you set one, and planning preferences such as budget, cooking time, difficulty, leftovers, and sides.

What you plan and buy: meal plans, recipes you create or customize, pantry items, shopping lists, items you check off, and the trips you record: the store, the receipt total, extra spending, and logged purchases.

Prices: prices you enter for items, and prices from receipts you scan and confirm, with the store they're from.

Receipt scans: when you scan a receipt, the app reads the text of the photo on your device. Only the text lines (item names, prices, totals) are sent to our server so they can be matched to your shopping list. The photo itself stays on your phone and is not sent to us. When you save the trip, we keep the prices you confirmed and the receipt names you matched (for example, "GV WHL MLK GAL" means Whole Milk at that store) so your next scan matches better.

Camera and photos: the app asks for camera or photo library access only to scan a receipt you choose. It doesn't look at other photos.

On your phone: a copy of your recent plans and shopping list is kept on your device so the app works without a connection. It is removed when you sign out.

Technical logs: our server keeps standard logs of requests (IP address, time, the page or feature requested, and the app or browser version) and of errors, for security and troubleshooting. They're kept for a limited time and not used for anything else.

We don't collect your precise location, contacts, health data, or payment information.

How we use it

• To plan meals within your budget, build shopping lists, estimate costs, and show how your spending compares to your budget.
• To learn the prices you actually pay, per store, so estimates get more accurate.
• To keep your account secure (for example, limiting repeated sign-in attempts).

Community prices (shared anonymously)

To give new shoppers better estimates, MealScratch can use what nearby households paid at the same store chain. Your prices are only ever used combined with at least two other households', as a middle value, for common grocery items (not items you created yourself), and only from the last 90 days. Receipt names (like "GV WHL MLK GAL") are shared the same way once at least two households have matched them to the same item. No one can see your prices, purchases, trips, or household.

You can stop contributing at any time in Settings → Planning → Share prices anonymously. You'll still see community estimates.

Sharing

We don't sell or rent your information, and we don't share it with advertisers or data brokers. We share information only:

• With our hosting provider, which stores the app's data on our server in the United States, under its security obligations.
• If required by law, or to protect the rights and safety of our users or others.
• If MealScratch is transferred to a new owner, in which case this policy continues to apply to your information.

Public price data we use (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and USDA averages) contains no information about you.

Security

Information travels between the app and our server over encrypted connections (HTTPS). Passwords are hashed, sign-in attempts are limited, and each account can only see its own household's data. No system is perfectly secure, but we work to protect your information.

Keeping and deleting your information

We keep your information while you have an account. To delete your account and its information, use Settings → Edit Profile → Delete account in the app, or email privacy@mealscratch.com. When an account is deleted, its household, plans, lists, recipes, pantry, prices, and receipt names are deleted, and its prices no longer count toward community estimates.

Children

MealScratch is meant for adults planning household meals and is not directed to children under 13. We don't knowingly collect information from children under 13. If you believe a child has created an account, contact us and we'll delete it.

Changes

If we change this policy, we'll update the effective date above, and for significant changes we'll let you know in the app.

Contact

Questions or requests about privacy: privacy@mealscratch.com