Privacy Policy

Effective: 4 July 2026

Who we are

Prep and Chef is built and operated from New Zealand. For anything privacy-related — questions, access requests, corrections, deletions — email support@prepandchef.com.

This policy covers the Prep and Chef website (prepandchef.com), the iOS app, and the web client at prepandchef.com/app.

This website

• If you join the waitlist or newsletter: we collect your email address, an optional declared interest if you choose to tell us, and the type of page you signed up from. Signup is double opt-in — you confirm via an emailed link before you're subscribed. The list is managed by MailerLite, which acts as our processor. We keep your details until you unsubscribe or ask us to delete them; every email includes an unsubscribe link.
• Website analytics: we use Cloudflare Web Analytics, which is cookieless. It sets no cookies, stores nothing on your device, and does no cross-site tracking. We see aggregate page statistics, not profiles of individual visitors.

We don't collect names, payment details, or location data on this website, and we don't buy data about you from anyone.

The app: what we collect and why

When you create a Prep and Chef account, here is the full picture:

• Account data. Your email address and sign-in identifiers (Sign in with Apple, Google Sign-In, or email sign-in link), plus the record that you confirmed you're 18 or older and accepted the terms and this policy. Accounts are passwordless — we never store a password. If you use Apple's Hide My Email, we only ever see and use the relay address.
• Your content. The recipes, meal plans, shopping lists, collections, and preferences you save. We store these so they sync across your devices. They are yours; we don't sell them, mine them for advertising, or share them with anyone except the processors listed below.
• Content you submit for import. Recipe links you paste, photos or screenshots you snap, and text you type, so we can turn them into recipes (see "AI recipe processing" below).
• Subscription status. Whether you have an active Premium subscription or trial — not your payment details (see "Subscriptions and payments" below).
• Usage analytics. Pseudonymous product events — for example "a paywall was viewed" or "an account deletion completed" — under the identifier rules described next.
• Support email. If you email us, we keep the correspondence so we can help you and follow up.

There are no guest or anonymous accounts. Your onboarding answers (dietary preferences, cooking goals) stay in the app's memory on your device and are saved to our servers only after you create an account. If you close the app before creating one, nothing was stored.

Analytics identifiers

App analytics never contain your raw email address, your name, or the content of your recipes. Where an analytics record needs a stable user identifier, we use a code derived from your email with HMAC-SHA-256 and a secret key held only on our servers — it cannot be reversed into your email address without that key, and the key never leaves our backend. We never log email addresses, sign-in codes, or sign-in link tokens.

Analytics are processed by Google (Firebase Analytics / Google Analytics 4). User-level analytics data is retained for up to 14 months, after which it expires automatically; aggregate statistics may persist beyond that but are not tied to any identifier.

AI recipe processing

When you import a recipe — from a link, a photo or screenshot, or pasted text — the recipe content is sent to a hosted AI provider to be parsed into ingredients and steps, and (for Premium nutrition insights) to estimate nutrition. We currently use Anthropic (Claude) and Google (Gemini) for this.

• What's sent: only the recipe content itself — the page text, the image, or what you typed. We do not attach your name, email address, or account identifier to these requests.
• Provider retention: these providers may retain API inputs briefly for abuse monitoring under their own policies — typically up to 30 days — and do not use them to train models under the API terms we operate under.

Sign-in emails

Email sign-in works with a link and a one-time code instead of a password. Each sign-in token is single-use and expires after 15 minutes; the token record is deleted from our systems as soon as it's used, and expired tokens are purged automatically. The email delivery service that sends these messages keeps its own delivery records (recipient address, delivery status) for a limited period under its retention policy — typically 30 to 90 days.

Where your data lives

Account and content data is stored with Google Firebase (Firebase Authentication, Cloud Firestore, and Cloud Storage), which acts as our processor on Google Cloud infrastructure. This is what powers cross-device sync.

Subscriptions and payments

Premium subscriptions are purchased through Apple. Apple processes the payment; we never see or store your card details. We use RevenueCat as our subscription infrastructure: it validates purchases with Apple and tells us whether your account has an active subscription or trial. RevenueCat receives your account's internal identifier and subscription status — not your email address or payment details.

Deleting your account

You can delete your account and your data directly in the app: Settings → Account → Delete account. Step-by-step instructions are on the account deletion page. How it works:

• 30-day window, then permanent. Your account is deactivated immediately and scheduled for deletion. For 30 days you can change your mind — sign back in and choose to restore your account, or email support@prepandchef.com. After 30 days your account and content are permanently deleted and cannot be recovered.
• What may be retained: records we must keep for legal, tax, or fraud-prevention reasons are kept only as long as the law requires, with your identifiers replaced by a pseudonymous code and your name and email removed. Anonymized, aggregate statistics that cannot be tied back to you may also be retained.
• Subscriptions are separate. Deleting your account does not cancel an active subscription or trial — cancel through the App Store, or it will keep billing. This is an Apple requirement; the app warns you before deletion.
• Re-registering with the same email later is fine — it starts a fresh account; nothing from the deleted one comes back.

Your rights

• Access, correction, and deletion: email support@prepandchef.com and we'll tell you what we hold about you, correct it, or delete it. We honor these requests within 20 working days, the timeframe set by the New Zealand Privacy Act 2020, which governs us.
• If you're in the EU/EEA: you additionally have your GDPR rights, including access, erasure, and data portability. The same email address handles these.

What we will never do

• Sell your data. To anyone, ever.
• Put your email address, your name, or your recipe content in analytics.
• Track you across other websites.
• Sign you up to marketing without double opt-in confirmation.

Children

You must be 18 or older to create a Prep and Chef account. This website and the waitlist are not directed at children under 16. If you believe a child has given us their email address, contact us and we'll delete it.

Changes to this policy

If we change this policy, we'll update this page and the date at the top. Material changes will be announced in the app or by email.

Complaints

If you're not happy with how we've handled your information, contact us first at support@prepandchef.com. In New Zealand you may also complain to the Office of the Privacy Commissioner.