(Last updated: September 3, 2026)
This application (hereinafter referred to as "the App") is operated by the "Hearth" App Development Team (hereinafter referred to as "the Team"). This policy sets forth the handling of user data, including personal information, of all users (hereinafter referred to as "Users") who use the App. Please review this policy carefully so that you can use the App with confidence.
The App plans a week of dinners, generates the recipes for them, and turns the week into a single shopping list. The App does not use the camera, does not read your photo library, does not ask for your location, and does not ask for your name, email address or phone number.
The first time the App is opened, an anonymous account is created automatically through Firebase Authentication so that your plans and preferences can be saved and returned to you on the same device. No name, email address, password or phone number is requested at any point, and the identifier is not linked to any identity known to the Team.
To plan a week that you can actually cook, the App stores the answers you give during setup and later change in Preferences: how many people you cook for, which nights of the week you cook, what you want out of the week, whether you follow a vegetarian, vegan, pescatarian, gluten free or dairy free diet, which of the fourteen allergens you want ruled out, the proteins and cuisines you prefer, your budget, spice and cooking-time preferences, and any free-text note you choose to write.
Dietary restrictions and allergen selections are used only to exclude dishes from your plans. They are never used for advertising, never sold, and never shared for any purpose other than operating the App.
The dinners chosen for your week, the recipes for those dinners, and the resulting shopping list — including which items you have ticked off while shopping — are stored so that they are still there the next time you open the App, including while you are out shopping.
When you mark a dinner with a thumbs-up or a thumbs-down, the App stores that rating together with the dish it refers to. A thumbs-down removes that dish from future plans; a thumbs-up keeps it in your favourites. Dishes served in recent weeks are recorded so that the same meals do not repeat every month.
If, and only if, you write a note in the free-text field and tap Apply, that text (up to 400 characters) is transmitted to the OpenAI API so that it can be translated into the selection weights the planner uses — for example, turning "we're rushed on weeknights and don't like mushrooms" into a shorter weekday cooking time and an ingredient to avoid. The App shows you the resulting summary so that you can confirm it was understood correctly. If you leave the note empty, nothing is sent to OpenAI. No image, no plan, no shopping list and no allergen selection is ever sent to OpenAI.
The weekly plan itself is generated by a deterministic algorithm running on our own servers, not by a language model.
The App requires a paid subscription. All payments are processed by Apple through your Apple ID account. The Team does not collect or store your credit card number or other payment details; the Team may receive only limited, non-identifying transaction information (such as subscription status) necessary to provide the service.
Examples: device type, OS information, date and time of use, and which screens and actions were reached (for example, that a plan was generated, that a dinner was swapped, or that the subscription screen was shown). This information is collected in an anonymous form and is used to analyze usage of the App and to improve services, identify and resolve issues, and ensure stable operation of the App. The contents of your plans, your notes and your shopping list are not included in these events.
Examples: inquiries voluntarily submitted by Users by email. This information is used for user support and service improvement.
The Team does not sell User data and does not share it with advertisers or data brokers.
The Team uses User information for the following purposes in operating the App.
As a general rule, the Team will not provide User information to third parties without the User's consent. However, personal information may be disclosed in any of the following cases:
Separately from the above, in order to provide the App's core features, the App shares certain data with the external service providers described in "5. Use of External Services" below. These providers process such data as necessary to provide their services.
The App uses the following external services for service operation and quality improvement. The table states what is sent to each one.
Dish photographs are downloaded from Cloud Storage and cached on your device so that they do not need to be downloaded again each time you open a recipe.
The App excludes dishes by ingredient according to the restrictions and allergens you select. It cannot know how a particular product was manufactured, what a specific brand contains, or whether a facility also handles other allergens. It cannot detect cross-contact. Always read the label on every product you buy, and treat the App as a planning aid and never as a source of allergen safety information. Section 10 of the Terms of Use sets out this limitation in full.
The Team retains Users' information for the period necessary to fulfill the purposes of use, and will promptly delete or appropriately process such information once the retention period has ended. The Team also implements appropriate security measures to prevent unauthorized access, loss, destruction, alteration, and leakage.
Because the App creates no account with a name or an email address, there is no login and nothing to sign out of. Deleting the App makes the stored data unreachable. If you would like the stored data itself erased, email us at the address below from any address and we will identify the relevant record with you and remove it, normally within 30 days.
If the information collected by the App changes, this page and the date at the top of it will be updated.
If you have any questions regarding this policy, please contact us at the following: