This policy explains what FridgeChef collects, why, and what you can do about it. It covers the FridgeChef Android application published by Greg Rycroft ("we", "us").
The short version. FridgeChef is built local-first. Your ingredients, recipes and pantry live on your device. Recipes are generated on your phone where your device supports it. You only get an account if you choose to create one, and you can delete it and everything in it from inside the app.
| Permission | Why |
|---|---|
| Camera | To photograph your fridge for ingredient detection, and to scan product barcodes. When you use Fridge Scan, the photo is sent over an encrypted connection to our recipe service, which passes it to Google's Gemini API to identify the ingredients in it. The image is used only to produce that list of ingredients. We do not store it after the request completes, we do not associate it with your account, and we do not use it, or allow it to be used, to train any model. Barcode scanning happens entirely on your device and no image leaves it. |
| Microphone | Only for optional voice input when dictating ingredients or controlling hands-free cooking mode. Audio is used for that transcription and is not stored by us. |
| Notifications | To send expiry reminders and cooking prompts you have asked for. |
You can refuse or revoke any of these in your Android settings. The app works without them, with those specific features unavailable.
FridgeChef tries to generate recipes on your device first, using Android's on-device AI where your phone supports it. In that mode your ingredients are not sent anywhere.
If on-device generation is unavailable and a cloud fallback is configured for your build, your ingredient list and recipe preferences are sent to our backend, which relays them to Google's Gemini API to produce a recipe. We do not send your name, email or account identifier with that request. If neither is available, the app produces a basic template recipe entirely offline.
We do not sell your personal information. We do not use your recipes or photographs to train our own models.
| Purpose | Basis |
|---|---|
| Providing the app and your account | Performance of a contract |
| Crash diagnostics and security | Legitimate interests |
| Analytics and personalised advertising | Consent |
| Responding to legal obligations | Legal obligation |
We use the following processors, each of which handles data under its own terms:
We may also disclose information where we are legally required to.
Our providers may process data outside the UK and EEA, including in the United States. Those transfers rely on the safeguards offered by the provider, such as Standard Contractual Clauses.
You can, at any time:
If you are in the UK or EEA you also have the right to access, correct, export, or restrict the processing of your personal data, and to object to it. To exercise any of these, email us at gregmish69@gmail.com. You may also complain to your local supervisory authority; in the UK that is the Information Commissioner's Office (ico.org.uk).
FridgeChef is not directed at children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect their personal information. If you believe a child has provided us data, contact us and we will delete it.
Account credentials are handled by Firebase Authentication and never stored by the app. Sensitive local preferences are held in encrypted device storage. Synced data is restricted by security rules so that only your signed-in account can read or write it. No system is perfectly secure, but we take reasonable measures to protect your information.
If we change this policy we will update the date at the top, and for significant changes we will notify you in the app.
Email: gregmish69@gmail.com
Data controller: Greg Rycroft, an individual developer, contactable at the email address above.