PlateScape

PlateScape Privacy Policy

Effective date: October 19, 2026

PlateScape is a recipe, meal-planning and grocery app for Android, published by The Corner of the Web ("we", "us"). This policy explains what PlateScape collects, why, where it's stored, who can see it, and how you can export or delete it.

Questions: bryan@thecorneroftheweb.com

The short version

PlateScape collects what it needs to work: your account details and the content your household adds.
There are no ads, no analytics and no tracking tools in the app. We don't sell your information or use it for advertising.
Your household's content is visible only to members of your household.
You can export your household's data or delete your account from the app at any time.

What we collect

Information	What it includes	Why
Account	Your name, email address and password	To sign you in, show your name to your household, and send verification and password-reset emails. Passwords are handled by Firebase Authentication; we never see them.
Household content	Saved recipes and collections; recipes you write, including any web link you start one from; meal plans; shopping lists; prep tasks; cooking notes and "make again" choices; household preferences such as usual servings and units; and ingredients to avoid	To sync it across your devices and share it with your household
Household membership	Your household's name, its members' names and roles, and invite codes	To control who can see and change your household's content
Technical information	Your IP address and basic device and app information, which reach our hosting provider when the app connects	To run and secure the service
Recipe imports	The web link you import, the page's text when your phone downloads it for us, or recipe text you paste; a random ID created when you install the app; and your IP address	To read the recipe from the page for you to check, and to limit how many imports one phone or network can run, which keeps the service from being abused. The random ID isn't linked to your account.

Ingredients to avoid are optional. If you mark an ingredient as an allergy, that can reveal health information. PlateScape uses it only to show warnings to your household. Warnings compare ingredient names only, so a recipe without a warning is not guaranteed to be safe. Always check labels.

PlateScape doesn't request access to your location, contacts, camera, microphone, photos or files. If you add a photo to a recipe, you pick it in Android's photo picker, which shares only that photo. PlateScape keeps a copy on your phone; it isn't uploaded or shared with your household.

How we use it

To provide PlateScape: sign-in, offline use, syncing between your devices and sharing within your household.
To show warnings for ingredients your household avoids.
To keep the service secure. The server checks household membership on every request.
To read a recipe from a link you import, and to limit imports so the service isn't abused.
To send account emails, such as email verification and password reset, which Firebase sends for us.
To answer you when you contact us.

We don't use your information for advertising or profiling, and we don't sell or rent it.

Where it's stored

On your phone, so PlateScape works offline.
On Google Firebase (Firebase Authentication and Cloud Firestore), which we use as our hosting provider. Our database is in Google's nam5 multi-region in the United States. If you live outside the United States, your information is transferred there.
On our recipe import server, run by us at Hetzner in Finland. It only reads recipes; it doesn't keep your links or recipes. See How long we keep it.

Information travels between the app and Firebase over encrypted connections, and Google encrypts the information it stores.

Who can see it

Your household. Everyone in your household can see and change its shared content, including ingredients to avoid and cooking notes. When someone leaves or is removed, they lose access immediately and the app deletes the household's data from their phone.
Google, as our hosting provider, under its terms for Firebase.
Us, only when needed to run, secure or support PlateScape, or when you ask us for help.
Authorities, only if the law requires it.

Recipes, photos and links

Recipes and food photos in the catalog come from TheMealDB (themealdb.com). Photos load from TheMealDB's servers when you view them, so those servers receive your IP address and standard request information. The photos are then kept on your phone.
When you import a recipe from a link, PlateScape sends the link to our import server. The server downloads the page from that website, so the website sees our server rather than you, and reads the recipe out of it: title, photo, ingredients, steps, times and servings. Some pages are opened in a browser on our server so their recipe can load. Nothing is guessed or written by AI; only what the page states is used, and you check it before saving.
If a website won't let our server read the page, your phone downloads the page itself and sends its text to our server to be read. That website then sees your phone's IP address, as when you open it in a browser.
If you paste a recipe's text instead, that text is sent to our server to be split into ingredients and steps.
The imported recipe keeps the link as its source, and its photo loads from the original website, which receives your IP address and standard request information.
Links to original recipes, videos and Ko-fi open in your browser or the relevant app, where that service's own privacy policy applies.

How long we keep it

Account and household content: until you delete it or delete your account.
Deleted items: when you delete a recipe, list item or other entry, PlateScape keeps a copy marked as deleted so your household's other devices remove it too. That copy stays in your household's storage until the household is deleted.
Signing out: removes your household's data from that phone. It stays in your household's storage for the next time you sign in.
Invite codes: stop working after 7 days, or sooner if cancelled.
Recipe imports: our import server keeps them only in memory, never on disk: a finished import for up to 1 hour so the same link isn't read twice, and import counts per random ID and IP address for up to 24 hours to enforce limits. Its logs don't record your IP address, the link or the recipe.
Uninstalling: removes PlateScape's data from that phone only.

Deleting your account

In the app: go to Settings → Account → Delete account and confirm with your password. This deletes your account, your profile and your household membership.

If you're the only member of your household, the household and all of its data, including items marked as deleted, are deleted too, and its open invite codes stop working.
If others are still in the household, the content you shared stays with them.
A household owner can't delete their account while others are still in the household. Remove the other members first.

Without the app: email bryan@thecorneroftheweb.com from the address on your account and ask us to delete your PlateScape account. We'll delete it and confirm by email within 30 days.

Exporting your data

Settings → Export household data gives you a copy of your household's meal plans, shopping lists, saved recipes and household recipes as a JSON file.

Your rights

Depending on where you live, including the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom and California, you may have the right to access, correct, export or delete your personal information, and to object to or restrict how it's used. You can do most of this in the app. For anything else, email us and we'll respond within 30 days. You can also complain to your local data protection authority.

If you're in the EEA or the UK, we rely on these legal bases: providing the service you signed up for (contract), keeping it secure (legitimate interests), and your consent for allergy information, which you can withdraw at any time by removing it.

We don't sell or share personal information, as those terms are defined in California law.

Children

PlateScape isn't directed to children under 13, and we don't knowingly collect their information. If you think a child has created an account, email us and we'll delete it.

Changes to this policy

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

Contact

The Corner of the Web
bryan@thecorneroftheweb.com