Privacy Policy for IngrediScan
- Short version
- What we do not collect
- Data stored on your device
- Third parties
- Permissions used and why
- Retention and deletion
- Sharing initiated by you
- System backup
- Children
- Your rights
- Changes
1. Short version
IngrediScan has no user accounts and no developer server. Your profiles, saved analyses, and settings stay on your device. The app contacts third parties in these cases. A barcode lookup, which you start with a tap, goes to Open Food Facts or Open Beauty Facts. The free version loads ads from Google AdMob. Purchases and review prompts go through Google Play. Google Play services also delivers and updates the on-device models (ML Kit text recognition, language identification, and the barcode scanner UI). Details below.
2. What we do not collect
- No accounts, no sign-in, no developer-side analytics or crash-reporting SDKs. We do not run our own server and do not receive your scans.
- Camera images are processed on your device to read label text. Photos you attach to a saved analysis are stored only on your device unless you share or export them yourself.
3. Data stored on your device
- Profiles (including allergy and avoid lists), saved analyses (ingredient results, nutrition, photos and OCR text you saved), tags, theme and language settings.
- Deleting data in the app or uninstalling the app removes it from the device (subject to the system backup behavior you control; see section 7).
4. Third parties
Barcode and product lookup (only when you tap it). The app sends the barcode (and a standard User-Agent string) to Open Food Facts (world.openfoodfacts.org) and Open Beauty Facts (world.openbeautyfacts.org), including their image hosts, to fetch ingredient text and nutrition. Open Food Facts and Open Beauty Facts handle this data under their own privacy policy: https://world.openfoodfacts.org/privacy.
Google Play services / ML Kit (automatic). Text recognition, language identification, and the barcode-scan UI use Google Play services models, which Google delivers and updates. Device and network identifiers needed for that transfer are handled under Google's Privacy Policy: https://policies.google.com/privacy.
Ads (free tier). The app shows a Google AdMob banner. Google may use the advertising ID to serve and measure ads. According to Google, the ads SDK collects the IP address, product interactions (for example taps), diagnostic information, and device identifiers (advertising ID, app set ID) for advertising, analytics, and fraud prevention. Google encrypts this data in transit. See https://developers.google.com/admob/android/privacy/play-data-disclosure. In regions where consent is required (EEA/UK), the app asks via Google's consent form (UMP) before requesting ads. See https://policies.google.com/technologies/ads and https://support.google.com/admob/answer/6128543.
Purchases and review prompts. The optional one-time Pro upgrade is processed by Google Play Billing, and rating prompts use the Google Play In-App Review API. Payment, purchase, and review data are handled by Google under the Google Play Terms: https://play.google.com/about/play-terms/. We do not see your payment details.
5. Permissions used and why
- Camera: scanning labels (on-device only).
- Internet + network state: barcode lookups and Play-services model delivery.
- Billing (
com.android.vending.BILLING, Play): Pro upgrade. - Advertising ID (
com.google.android.gms.permission.AD_ID, added by the ads SDK): ad serving and measurement.
5a. Retention and deletion
The app keeps your data on your device until you delete it in the app or uninstall the app. We keep no copy. We do not store the barcodes you look up or the results.
6. Sharing initiated by you
Backup export, crash-report sharing, and journal sharing create a file on your device and open the system share sheet. The destination you pick (for example e-mail, a messenger, or cloud storage) receives that file under its own policy.
7. System backup
If you enable Android backup, the system may back up app data under your own Google account per your device settings. You can disable it in system settings.
8. Children
The app is not directed at children. Allergy profiles for young family members are managed by the adult operating the device. We do not collect any data ourselves.
9. Your rights
Because data stays on your device, you exercise your rights in the app: view, edit, and delete profiles, analyses, and settings at any time. To ask a question or request help, write to [email protected]. Users in the EEA/UK can also lodge a complaint with their supervisory authority.
10. Changes
We will post changes on this page and update the effective date. Material changes will also be noted in the app listing.