Privacy Policy

1. Information we collect

We collect information you give us, information generated when you use the Service, and limited information from third parties:

• Account information: your name, email address, password (stored only as a secure hash), country and language. If you sign in with Google or Apple, we receive your name, email address and an account identifier from that provider.
• Profile information: your username (handle), display name, profile photo, bio, social links and whether your profile is private.
• Cooking preferences: cuisine types, dietary restrictions, allergies, liked and disliked ingredients, maximum cooking time and skill level. Allergy and dietary information may reveal health-related details; you choose whether to provide it and can delete it at any time.
• Content you create: recipes, photos, video links, ingredients, comments and replies, ratings, saved recipes, meal plans, shopping lists and support tickets.
• Social activity: the people you follow and who follow you.
• Subscription information: your plan, billing period and renewal date. Payments are processed by Stripe, Google Play or the Apple App Store; we never receive or store your full card details.
• Device and technical information: IP address, browser and device type, push-notification tokens on mobile devices, and server logs. We use your IP address to estimate your country so we can show prices in your local currency.
• Photos you submit to AI features (Pro plan), such as pictures of ingredients or recipes, which are processed to return results.

2. How we use your information

• To create and secure your account and provide the Service, including recipes, meal planning, shopping lists and social features.
• To personalise recommendations and, for Pro subscribers, to generate AI-powered meal plans, recipe suggestions and recipe imports.
• To process subscriptions, free trials and payments, and to show prices in the correct currency.
• To send you service emails (such as welcome and password-reset messages) and notifications you can control (such as new followers, comments and support replies).
• To provide customer support.
• To show advertising to users on the Free plan.
• To maintain security, prevent fraud and abuse, enforce our Terms of Service, and comply with legal obligations.
• To understand and improve how the Service performs.

3. Advertising and cookies

We use a small number of essential cookies and similar storage to keep you signed in and remember preferences such as your theme and language.

If you use the Free plan or browse without an account, we show ads served by Google AdSense. Google and its partners may use cookies and similar technologies to serve ads based on your visits to this and other websites. You can manage personalised advertising at https://adssettings.google.com and learn more at https://policies.google.com/technologies/ads. Where required by law, we ask for your consent before ads cookies are used. Paid plans (Caramel Plus and Caramel Pro) are ad-free.

4. How we share information

We do not sell your personal information. We share it only as needed to run the Service:

• With other users: your public profile and the recipes and comments you publish are visible to others. If your profile is private, your published recipes are shown without your name to people who don't follow you.
• With service providers that process data on our behalf, including hosting and databases (Fly.io, Vercel, Neon, Cloudflare), image storage (Cloudflare Images), email delivery (Resend), payments (Stripe, Google Play, Apple App Store), sign-in (Google, Apple), push notifications (Firebase Cloud Messaging), advertising (Google AdSense), AI processing for Pro features (Anthropic), IP-based country detection, and support tooling.
• When required by law, to respond to legal process, or to protect the rights, property or safety of Carameru, our users or others.
• As part of a merger, acquisition or sale of assets, in which case your information would remain subject to this policy.

5. International transfers

Our providers may process your information in countries other than your own, including the United States. When we transfer personal information internationally, we rely on appropriate safeguards required by applicable law.

6. Data retention

We keep your information for as long as your account is active and as needed to provide the Service. When you delete your account, we delete or anonymise your personal information within a reasonable period, except where we must keep it to comply with legal, tax or accounting obligations, resolve disputes or enforce our agreements.

7. Your rights and choices

Depending on where you live, you may have the right to access, correct, delete or receive a copy of your personal information, to object to or restrict certain processing, and to withdraw consent at any time. In Mexico these include your ARCO rights (Access, Rectification, Cancellation and Opposition); in the European Economic Area and the United Kingdom, your rights under the GDPR; and in California, your rights under the CCPA, including the right not to be discriminated against for exercising them.

You can update most of your information directly in your profile, make your profile private, and turn off notifications in your device settings. To exercise any other right, contact us at support@carameru.app. We will respond within the time required by applicable law and may need to verify your identity. You also have the right to lodge a complaint with your local data protection authority.

8. Security

We use industry-standard measures to protect your information, including encryption in transit, hashed passwords and access controls. No method of transmission or storage is completely secure, so we cannot guarantee absolute security.

9. Children

The Service is not directed to children under 13 (or under 16 in the European Economic Area), and we do not knowingly collect their personal information. If you believe a child has provided us with personal information, contact us and we will delete it.

10. Changes to this policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. If we make material changes, we will notify you through the Service or by email before they take effect. The "Last updated" date above shows when this policy was last revised.

11. Contact us

If you have questions about this Privacy Policy or how we handle your information, contact us at support@carameru.app.