Overview
Welcome to PlateMate! This Privacy Policy explains how PlateMate ("we," "our," or "us") collects, uses, discloses, and protects your information when you use our mobile application (the "App"). This policy applies specifically to our mobile application available on iOS and Android platforms, not this website.
Your Privacy Matters
We are committed to protecting your privacy and being transparent about our data practices. We only collect information necessary to provide and improve our nutrition tracking services.
Information We Collect
To provide you with personalized nutrition tracking and avoid requiring you to complete onboarding every time you install the app, we collect the following information:
Personal Profile Information
- Basic Information: Name, email address, age
- Physical Metrics: Height, weight, starting weight, target weight
- Activity Information: Gender, activity level, fitness goals
- Nutrition Goals: Weight loss goals, calorie goals, nutrition goals
Food and Nutrition Data
- Food Photos: Images of meals you capture for AI analysis
- Manual Entries: Food items and nutrition information you manually input
- Meal History: Your food logging history and nutrition tracking data
Technical Information
- Device Information: Device type, operating system version
- App Usage: Features used, interaction patterns, crash reports
- Account Information: Login credentials and account settings
How We Use Your Information
We use the collected information for the following purposes:
Personalized Experience
Calculate your daily calorie needs, provide personalized nutrition recommendations, and track your progress toward your health goals.
App Functionality
Provide core app features including food recognition, nutrition tracking, meal planning, and progress monitoring.
Service Improvement
Analyze usage patterns to improve app performance, fix bugs, and develop new features that better serve our users.
Communication
Send you important app updates, respond to your inquiries, and provide customer support when needed.
Legal Compliance
Comply with applicable laws, regulations, and respond to lawful requests from authorities.
AI Processing
PlateMate uses artificial intelligence to analyze food photos and calculate calories and macronutrients. Here's how this works:
AI Food Recognition
When you take a photo of your meal, we use advanced AI technology to identify food items and estimate nutritional content.
🔒 Important: Secure Processing
Your food photos are processed securely and anonymously. Our AI systems analyze images solely for food recognition purposes without storing any personally identifiable information with the images.
What this means:
- Food images are processed without any identifying information
- Images cannot be linked to your individual account during processing
- No personal data is included with the food photos during analysis
- The AI analysis results are returned and then associated with your account
- You maintain full control over your food photos and can delete them anytime
AI Data Governance:
- Food photos are only used for nutrition analysis
- Images are processed securely and not permanently stored by third parties
- We follow strict data protection standards
- You can choose to manually enter food data instead of using AI
Information Sharing
We respect your privacy and limit information sharing to essential purposes:
❌ We DO NOT:
- Sell your personal information to third parties
- Share your health data for marketing purposes
- Provide your information to advertisers
- Share identifiable food photos with anyone
Data Security
We implement robust security measures to protect your information:
Encryption
All data is encrypted in transit and at rest using industry-standard encryption protocols.
Access Controls
Strict access controls ensure only authorized personnel can access user data when necessary.
Regular Audits
We regularly review and update our security practices and conduct security assessments.
Secure Infrastructure
Our systems are hosted on secure, compliant cloud infrastructure with robust backup systems.
Data Retention
We retain your information only as long as necessary to provide our services and comply with legal obligations:
📱 Account Data
Retained while your account is active and for a reasonable period after account deletion to handle any issues.
🍽️ Nutrition Data
Food logs and nutrition tracking data are retained to provide historical insights and improve our services.
📸 Food Photos
Stored locally on your device and in our secure systems. You can delete individual photos anytime.
🔧 Technical Data
Usage analytics and crash reports are retained for service improvement and typically anonymized after processing.
Your Rights & Choices
You have several rights regarding your personal information:
Access
Request a copy of the personal information we hold about you.
Correction
Update or correct your personal information within the app settings.
Deletion
Request deletion of your account and associated data.
Portability
Export your nutrition data in a standard format.
Object
Object to certain processing of your personal information.
Restrict
Request restriction of processing in certain circumstances.
How to Exercise Your Rights:
- Most data can be managed directly in the app settings
- For account deletion, use the "Delete Account" option in app settings
- For other requests, contact us at privacy@platemate.app
- We will respond to valid requests within 30 days
Children's Privacy
Age Requirement
PlateMate is intended for users aged 13 and older. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13.
If we become aware that we have collected personal information from a child under 13, we will take steps to delete that information promptly. If you believe a child under 13 has provided us with personal information, please contact us immediately.
For Users 13-17:
We encourage parents and guardians to monitor their teens' use of nutrition tracking apps and discuss healthy relationships with food and body image.
International Users
PlateMate is available globally, and we comply with applicable privacy laws in the regions where we operate:
🇪🇺 European Union (GDPR)
We comply with the General Data Protection Regulation and provide all rights required under GDPR to EU users.
🇺🇸 United States
We comply with applicable US privacy laws, including state privacy laws like CCPA where applicable.
🌍 Other Regions
We respect local privacy laws and regulations in all countries where PlateMate is available.
Data Transfers:
Your information may be processed in countries other than your own. We ensure appropriate safeguards are in place for international data transfers, including standard contractual clauses and adequacy decisions where applicable.
Changes to This Privacy Policy
We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our practices or for legal, operational, or regulatory reasons.
Notification
We will notify you of material changes through the app or by email.
Review Period
You will have time to review the changes before they take effect.
Continued Use
Continued use of the app after changes indicates acceptance of the updated policy.
Contact Us
If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy or our privacy practices, please contact us:
In-App Support
Use the "Contact Support" feature in the PlateMate app settings
Mailing Address
PlateMate Privacy Team
[Your Company Address]
[City, State, ZIP Code]
Response Time:
We aim to respond to all privacy-related inquiries within 30 days. For urgent matters, please clearly mark your communication as "Urgent Privacy Request."