Privacy Policy

1. Introduction

This Privacy Policy explains how PalateCru ("we", "us", or "our") collects, uses, stores, and protects information when you use our mobile application ("PalateCru" or the "App") and related web services at palatecru.app.

By downloading, accessing, or using PalateCru, you agree to the collection and use of information in accordance with this policy.

2. Information We Collect and How It Is Used

A. Information Stored Locally on Your Device

PalateCru utilizes an on-device local database (SQLite) to store your personal culinary journal. This information stays directly on your phone and is never uploaded to our servers unless explicitly shared via multiplayer lobbies or public crew posts:

• Personal Taste DNA & Palate Vectors: Your flavor preferences (Umami, Acid, Fire/Spice, Sweet/Savory, Adventurousness) and vibe preferences.
• Dining Vault & Journal: Your logged meals, personal tasting notes, custom ratings, and dining dates.
• Private Pins: Restaurants and dining spots saved to your personal culinary map.

B. Information Synced to the Cloud

To support optional social features, multiplayer dinner lobbies, and crew collaborations, select data is securely transmitted and stored using our cloud backend (Supabase with SSL/TLS encryption):

• Public Profile Details: Your chosen @handle, display name, public avatar emoji, home city, and Taste Archetype flair title.
• Multiplayer Dinner Lobbies: Temporary room codes, dining candidate votes ("Crave", "Fine", "Veto"), and lobby match outcomes.
• Cru Crew Activity Feed: Dish photos, restaurant check-in cards, and crew member tags that you explicitly choose to publish to your squad or community feed.

C. Device Permissions

PalateCru requests only the device permissions strictly necessary to deliver its core dining features:

• Location (Precise or Approximate): Used solely while the app is in use to center the culinary map on your current area and enable 1-tap restaurant discovery. We never track your location in the background, and we never store your real-time GPS coordinates on our cloud servers.
• Camera: Used only when you choose to take a photo of your food, a menu, or a restaurant dish card inside the app.
• Photo Library: Used only when you select existing photos of dishes or meals to attach to your dining journal entries.

3. Third-Party Services & Infrastructure

We work only with vetted infrastructure partners who adhere to rigorous data security standards:

• Supabase: Provides encrypted PostgreSQL cloud database storage and real-time multiplayer synchronization.
• Sentry: Captures crash reports, unhandled exceptions, and diagnostic telemetry to identify and fix technical bugs. Diagnostic reports contain technical device metadata (OS version, device model, call stack) and do not contain your passwords or private photos.
• Cloudflare: Hosts our web domain and provides enterprise-grade DDoS mitigation, SSL encryption, and edge delivery.

4. Zero Sale of Personal Data

We believe your taste profile belongs to you. PalateCru does not sell, rent, monetize, or trade your personal information or dining history to third-party data brokers, marketers, or advertisers.

5. Data Retention & Account Deletion

You have full sovereignty over your data at all times:

• In-App Self-Service Deletion: You can permanently delete your cloud profile, handle, and all associated records directly inside the PalateCru app by navigating to Settings > Delete Account & Vault.
• Email Request: You may also request complete erasure of your cloud records by emailing privacy@palatecru.app from the email associated with your account or stating your @handle. All associated cloud records will be permanently scrubbed within 30 days.
• Local App Data: Uninstalling the application immediately deletes all locally cached SQLite vault entries, dish drafts, and stored preferences from your device.

6. Children's Privacy

PalateCru is not directed to individuals under the age of 13 (or under 16 in certain jurisdictions). We do not knowingly collect personal information from children. If we become aware that a child under 13 has provided us with personal data, we will promptly delete such information.

7. Security

We employ industry-standard administrative, technical, and physical safeguards to protect your data, including HTTPS/TLS 1.3 encryption in transit, row-level security on our cloud database, and secure credential handling. However, no electronic transmission over the internet can be guaranteed 100% secure.

8. Changes to This Privacy Policy

We may update our Privacy Policy from time to time. Any changes will be posted on this page with an updated "Last Updated" date. Continued use of PalateCru after changes take effect constitutes acceptance of the updated policy.

9. Contact Us

If you have questions, comments, or data erasure requests regarding this Privacy Policy, please contact our privacy team at:

PalateCru Privacy Team
Email: privacy@palatecru.app
General Inquiries: support@palatecru.app
Website: https://palatecru.app