Privacy Policy

1. Who we are and how to reach us

In short: Gurt Inc. runs Gurt and is responsible for your information. Email us about anything in this policy.

Gurt Inc., a Delaware corporation ("Gurt", "we", "us"), runs the Gurt apps and this website and decides how your information is used (in European terms, we are the "controller"). Its team works from Australia and other countries.

Privacy questions, requests and complaints: support@gurtai.app. Please write "Privacy" in the subject so it reaches the right person quickly.

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2. The short version

In short: the most important points, on one screen.

• We collect what Gurt needs to work: your account, the food preferences you choose (including allergies and diets, which are health information), photos you take for the AI, recipes, and basic records of how the app is used.
• We use your allergies and diets only to make and check your recipes and answers. Nobody else using Gurt can see them. We never sell them and never use them for advertising.
• To read photos and write recipes we send what is needed to Anthropic, our AI provider in the United States, without your name, email or account. Anthropic does not train its AI on it and normally deletes it within 30 days.
• In the Android app, recipes you write yourself are public on the free plan. In the iPhone app you choose whether to share each one (section 8.1).
• Some things are kept only on your phone (your fridge, shopping lists, calorie record). We cannot see them.
• We do not sell your personal information, and we do not share it for advertising.
• You can see, correct, get a copy of and delete your information. Deleting your account in the app removes it from our servers straight away (section 12 lists the few things that stay, and why).

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3. What we collect

In short: what you tell us, the photos you send for the AI, and a few records the app and website make on their own. Nothing from your contacts, microphone or precise location.

3.1 Information you give us

3.2 Photos

Photos can show more than food (a face, a letter on the fridge, a child). Please frame photos to show only food. If your camera saves your location inside photos, turn that off before adding recipe photos.

3.3 Information collected automatically

3.4 Visits to this website

The website stores a random visitor identifier in your browser, and any creator or campaign code in the link you arrived from. Each page view, how far you scroll, and clicks on the app store buttons are sent to our database with that identifier, your IP address, your browser details and the page you came from. Section 16 has the details and how to remove it.

3.5 What we do not collect. We do not collect your contacts, microphone recordings, precise location, Apple Health or Google Health Connect data, or anything from other apps. We use no cross-app tracking tools and no advertising networks. The iPhone app asks Apple (AdServices) once, when it is first opened, whether it was installed from an Apple Search Ads campaign or a campaign link, and stores only the campaign's code with our app events. Apple does not give us your identity.

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4. What stays only on your phone

In short: your fridge, lists, calorie record and similar things are stored only on your phone. (Your fridge list is sent with a recipe request to make that request, and not kept.) We cannot see, share or delete what is stored there for you.

Some of what you keep in Gurt is stored only on your phone and never on our servers: your fridge list, shopping lists, calorie record and goals, meal plan, cook history (in the Android app, including the list of days you cooked), star ratings, receipt text, recipes kept on the phone, and your cooking streak.

In the Android app, if someone else signs in to Gurt on the same phone, your phone-only information is set aside and cannot be seen in the app until you sign in again. In the iPhone app, if someone else signs in on the same phone, your fridge, shopping lists and similar phone-only information are removed from that phone, and the rest (such as your calorie record) is kept apart under your account.

In the Android app, your phone-only information is removed when you delete your account in the app on that phone. In either app, it is removed when you uninstall the app (or, on Android, clear the app's data). Deleting your account any other way (in the iPhone app, on another phone, or by writing to us) does not reach it: to remove it there, uninstall the app or clear its data on that phone. Your phone's own backup (iCloud or Google backup) may copy it, under your phone's settings.

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5. Your health information

In short: allergies, diets and health goals are sensitive. We use them for one thing only, checking your recipes and answers, and you can remove them at any time.

Your allergies, diets, health goal and other food answers can say something about your health. The law in Australia, Europe, the United Kingdom, several US states and many other places treats this as sensitive or health information and gives it extra protection. Here is exactly what we do with it.

5.1 We ask first. In the Android app, and in the iPhone app from version 1.8, before you enter allergies or diets the app explains what happens to them and asks your permission. You can say no; Gurt then cannot check recipes for allergies or diets, and the app says so. iPhone app versions up to 1.7 do not ask this as a separate question: in them, adding allergies or diets is how you choose to have recipes checked, and you can remove them at any time (5.5).

5.2 What we use it for, and nothing else:

• telling our AI provider to leave those foods out of your recipes and Ask Gurt answers;
• checking each AI recipe and each Ask Gurt answer ourselves, and removing or replacing any that names one of your allergens; and
• in the Android app, showing on a recipe anything it was not checked for.

5.3 Who sees it. You. Our AI provider receives it with each request, without your name, email or account (section 7). People who work on Gurt can see it only when needed to run, fix or secure Gurt. Other people using Gurt cannot see it.

5.4 What we never do with it: sell it; share it for advertising or marketing; use it to decide what you are charged; or include it in any data programme (section 10), even with your permission.

5.5 Removing it. Remove your allergies and diets in the app at any time (in Settings: "Your food preferences" in the Android app, "Change dietary preferences" in the iPhone app) and we delete them from our servers. In the Android app, and in the iPhone app from version 1.8, you can also turn off "Use my allergies and diet" in Settings, which deletes them in one step. Recipes and answers made after that are not checked for them.

5.6 Calorie information you log stays on your phone (section 4). Meal photos go to our AI provider only for the estimate.

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6. How we use information, and our legal reasons

In short: to run Gurt for you, to check recipes against your allergies (with your consent), to stop abuse, and to improve the app.

Where we rely on legitimate interests, you can object (section 14).

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7. AI processing

In short: Anthropic's AI reads your photos and writes your recipes. It gets what each request needs, never your name, email or account, and it does not train on it.

7.1 Who. Our AI provider is Anthropic, PBC (United States). We use it to read photos, list ingredients, write recipes, estimate calories and answer Ask Gurt questions.

7.2 What we send. For each request, only what it needs: the photo, or the ingredients or fridge list, any words you typed, and your food preferences (allergies, diets, health goal, dislikes, cuisines, skill, cooking time, household size and, in the iPhone app, foods you love, meals you cook, your kitchen equipment, spice level, sweet-or-savoury lean, cuisines you avoid, grocery budget and meal-planning style). Your age range and activity level, if you gave them, stay with us: our server removes them before anything reaches Anthropic. We do not send your name, email address or account identifier. A photo or the words you type can still contain personal information, so please keep them to food.

7.3 What Anthropic does with it. Anthropic acts on our instructions. Under its commercial terms it may not train its AI models on what we send. It deletes what we send and what it returns within 30 days, except that it may keep material flagged for breaking its usage policy for up to 2 years (and safety scores about it for up to 7 years), or longer where the law requires.

7.4 We ask first. In the Android app, and in the iPhone app from version 1.8, before your first AI request the app tells you this and asks your permission. Without your permission the AI features do not work; the rest of Gurt does. You can change your answer in Settings ("AI features (Anthropic)"). iPhone app versions up to 1.7 do not ask this.

7.5 Automated decisions. Gurt's systems decide which recipes to show you, check recipes against your allergies and diets, and remove recipes that fail our quality rules. These decisions are about recipes, not about you: they do not decide anything with legal or similarly significant effects on you, such as a price, a service you are refused, or your account. An account is only suspended for breaking the rules after a person has looked.

7.6 The shared recipe library. Recipes that Gurt's AI writes for you may be kept, with nothing that identifies you, and shown to other people who use Gurt. We keep only recipes made from requests whose ingredients were plain food names (such as "chicken" or "rice"); we do not keep recipes from requests that contained anything else you typed, or any allergy or diet you wrote in your own words. The library holds no account, fridge, allergy or request information.

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8. What other people using Gurt can see

In short: your name, username, photo and public recipes can be seen; your allergies, diets, age and email never can.

8.1 Recipes you write. In the Android app, recipes you write yourself are public on the free plan, and the app tells you so before you publish each one. If your account has Pro you choose for each recipe, and if Pro ends, private recipes stay private. In the iPhone app, when you write a recipe you choose whether to share it to the gallery; it is private unless you do.

8.2 Blocking hides you and your content from the person you block, and them from you.

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9. Who we share information with

In short: only the companies that help us run Gurt, other people as section 8 describes, and authorities when the law requires. Never advertisers or data brokers.

9.1 Service providers who work for us under contract and may use it only to provide their service to us:

9.2 Other people using Gurt, as section 8 describes.

9.3 The law and safety. When the law requires it (for example a court order or a regulator's notice), or when we reasonably believe it is needed to prevent serious harm, to stop fraud, or to protect our rights.

9.4 A new owner. If Gurt is sold or merged, the new owner may receive the information, and must keep this policy's promises for information collected under it.

9.5 Never to advertisers, data brokers or anyone else for their own marketing.

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10. We do not sell your personal information

In short: we have never sold or shared personal information for advertising, and we will not. Any future data programme would be off unless you turn it on, and could never include health information.

10.1 We do not sell your personal information, and we do not share it for targeted advertising. We have never done either.

10.2 Statistics. We may publish or share statistics about groups of Gurt users, such as "the ten foods most often found in a fridge", only where each figure covers enough people that no one can be identified from it, and never statistics about the allergies, diets, health goals or calories of groups smaller than 50 people.

10.3 If we ever offer a data programme (for example letting people contribute fridge photos to help build food recognition software), it will:

• be off unless you turn it on, and separate from agreeing to the Terms;
• cover only what you contribute after you turn it on, never anything from before;
• never include your name, email, username, profile photo, account or device identifiers, allergies, diets, health goal, calorie records, receipts, the words you type, or photos showing a person or a document;
• be open only to adults;
• be explained in a new version of this policy, published before it starts; and
• let you switch it off at any time, after which we stop collecting and leave you out of anything we share later.

Nothing like this exists today.

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11. Information sent to other countries

In short: our team works from Australia and other countries and our servers are in the United States, so your information crosses borders. We use contracts to protect it.

Gurt's team works from Australia and other countries. Our servers are in the United States, and our providers are in the United States and other countries (section 9). So your information is sent to and stored in countries whose privacy laws may be different from yours.

• From Australia: we take reasonable steps, including contracts, so that our providers handle your information consistently with the Australian Privacy Principles, and we stay responsible for how they handle it.
• From the EU, EEA, UK and Switzerland: we rely on the European Commission's standard contractual clauses (and the UK and Swiss equivalents) in our providers' data processing agreements.
• From other countries: we use contracts and safeguards that meet your country's rules where we serve it.

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12. How long we keep information, and what deleting your account does

In short: almost everything goes when you delete your account. A few records stay, without your account attached, for the reasons listed.

12.1 Deleting your account. In the app: Me, then Settings, then Delete account. If you cannot sign in, www.gurtai.app/delete-account explains how to ask us by email. When your account is deleted, we remove from our servers straight away (a removed photo stops loading from its address within about an hour; a copy someone's app already saved may stay on their phone): your profile and food preferences (including allergies), your recipes and their photos, your profile photos, your likes, follows, follow requests, notifications, blocks, reports you made and reports other people made about you, your AI allowance counts, your purchase records, and the app events linked to your account. You can no longer sign in. If a step fails before your sign-in is removed, the app tells you and your account is kept so you can try again; anything that fails after that is logged and we remove it by hand.

Deleting your account does not cancel a subscription. On iPhone, cancel it first in your iPhone's settings (your name, then Subscriptions).

12.2 What we keep after you delete your account, and why

12.3 How long we keep other information while you have an account

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13. Keeping information secure

In short: encrypted connections, hashed passwords and strict database rules; no system is perfect, and we will tell you if a breach puts you at serious risk.

We use encrypted connections, store passwords only in hashed form, limit what each signed-in person can read and change in our database, keep server keys out of the apps, and limit who on our team can reach the database. No system is perfectly secure. If a data breach is likely to cause you serious harm, we will tell you and the regulators the law requires, as soon as we can.

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14. Your rights and choices

In short: you can see, correct, copy and delete your information, object to uses, and withdraw consent. Write to us and we answer within 30 days.

Wherever you live, you can ask us to:

• see the information we hold about you, and get a copy in a common format;
• correct it (most of it you can edit in the app);
• delete it (in the app, or by writing to us);
• stop or limit a use you object to, including any use based on our legitimate interests;
• withdraw consent at any time, in the app (Settings, in the Android app and in the iPhone app from version 1.8) or by writing to us. This does not affect what we did before.

How. Use the app where you can, or write to support@gurtai.app. We may ask you to confirm the request from your account's email address, so that no one else can get your information. We answer within 30 days (sooner where the law requires). We do not charge, unless a request is plainly excessive and the law allows a fee. We will not treat you differently for using your rights.

Australia. You can ask to access and correct your information under Australian Privacy Principles 12 and 13.

European Union, EEA, United Kingdom and Switzerland. You also have the right to data portability and to restrict processing, and to complain to your data protection authority (section 19).

United States. Depending on your state, you may have the right to know, delete, correct, and opt out of the sale or sharing of personal information and of profiling. We do not sell or share personal information, or profile people in a way that produces legal or similarly significant effects. If we refuse a request, you can appeal by replying to our answer; we will reply within 45 days. Washington, Nevada and Connecticut residents: see Appendix A, our Consumer Health Data Privacy Policy.

Other countries. You have the rights your local law gives you. Write to us.

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15. Children

In short: Gurt is for adults only.

Gurt is not for anyone under 18. The Android app, and the iPhone app from version 1.8, ask your year of birth when you sign up and refuse anyone whose year of birth means they are under 18; they keep only the answer, never the year. If we learn that someone under 18 has an account, we will delete it and its information. If you think a child has given us information, write to support@gurtai.app.

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16. Browser storage and visitor statistics on this website

In short: this website sets no cookies and has no ad trackers. It does keep a random visitor number in your browser to count visits.

This website sets no cookies of its own and uses no advertising or cross-site trackers. Its fonts are served from this website. It does not ask for your consent before storing or sending the items below.

• Visitor statistics. The website stores a random visitor identifier in your browser's storage and sends it, with each page view, how far you scroll and clicks on the app store buttons, to our database, together with your IP address, your browser details and the page you came from. You can remove it at any time by clearing this website's data in your browser.
• Creator links. If you arrive through a creator's link, the website remembers the creator's code in your browser so we can credit them if you download the app.

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17. Messages from us

In short: only messages about your account. No marketing emails.

We send messages needed to run your account (for example a password reset or a notice about these terms). We do not send marketing emails. If we start, we will ask first, and every marketing email will have an unsubscribe link. App notifications can be turned off in your phone's settings.

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18. Changes to this policy

In short: we post every change here with a new date, and tell you in the app before any change that matters to you.

When we change this policy we publish the new version here with a new date, and you can ask us for an earlier version. If a change matters to you (a new use of your information, a new kind of company receiving it, or less protection), we will tell you in the app before it takes effect, and where the law requires your consent we will ask for it. A change never allows a new use of information collected before it, unless you agree.

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19. Complaints

In short: tell us first; if we do not fix it, your privacy regulator can help.

Please write to us first at support@gurtai.app. We will reply within 30 days. If you are not satisfied:

• Australia: the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC), www.oaic.gov.au, phone 1300 363 992. The OAIC generally expects you to have complained to us first and given us 30 days.
• New Zealand: the Office of the Privacy Commissioner, www.privacy.org.nz.
• European Union and EEA: the data protection authority where you live or work.
• United Kingdom: the Information Commissioner's Office, ico.org.uk.
• Switzerland: the Federal Data Protection and Information Commissioner, www.edoeb.admin.ch.
• Canada: the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada, or in Quebec the Commission d'acces a l'information.
• Elsewhere: your local data protection or consumer authority.

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20. Extra information for some countries

In short: what particular countries' laws ask us to add. Everything above applies everywhere.

20.1 European Union, EEA, United Kingdom and Switzerland. Controller: section 1. Legal reasons: section 6; health information is used only with your explicit consent. Transfers: section 11 (standard contractual clauses). You may complain to any EU or EEA authority, the UK ICO or the Swiss FDPIC (section 19). We do not make decisions about you based solely on automated processing that have legal or similarly significant effects (7.5).

20.2 United States (state privacy notice). In the last 12 months we collected these categories of personal information (as named in California law): identifiers (email, account identifier, device identifier, IP address); customer records (name); commercial information (Apple purchase records); internet or other electronic activity (app events, website visits); audio, electronic or visual information (photos); inferences (food preferences); and sensitive personal information (health information: allergies, diets, health goal; account sign-in). Sources, purposes, recipients and how long we keep each are in sections 3, 6, 9 and 12. We do not sell or share personal information (as those words are defined in California law) and have not done so in the last 12 months; we do not knowingly sell or share the personal information of anyone under 16. We use sensitive personal information only to provide the service you asked for, so we do not offer a "limit" link. Your rights and how to appeal: section 14. You may use an authorised agent. We will not discriminate against you for using your rights. Washington, Nevada and Connecticut: Appendix A.

20.3 Canada and Quebec. Our person in charge of the protection of personal information can be reached at support@gurtai.app. Before information about Quebec residents is sent outside Quebec, we assess whether it will be adequately protected.

20.4 Brazil. Our data protection officer ("encarregado") can be reached at support@gurtai.app. Legal bases (LGPD arts 7 and 11): contract performance, legitimate interest, compliance with law and, for health information, your specific and highlighted consent. You have the rights in LGPD art 18, including confirmation, access, correction, anonymisation, portability, deletion, information about sharing, and withdrawal of consent, and you may complain to the Autoridade Nacional de Protecao de Dados (ANPD).

20.5 Mexico and other Latin American countries. You may exercise your rights of access, rectification, cancellation and opposition (ARCO) and revoke consent as section 14 describes. Health information is sensitive and is used only with your express consent. You may complain to your country's data protection authority.

20.6 New Zealand. You may access and correct your information under the Privacy Act 2020 and complain to the Privacy Commissioner. When we send your information overseas we use contracts that require comparable safeguards.

20.7 Japan. Your information is provided to service providers in the United States (sections 9 and 11). The United States has no single federal privacy law equivalent to Japan's Act on the Protection of Personal Information; our providers are bound by contracts that require equivalent protective measures.

20.8 South Korea. Information transferred overseas: the recipients are Supabase, Anthropic, Apple, Google, Cloudflare, Microsoft and Pexels (section 9 says where each is). Your information is sent to them over the internet when you use the feature that needs it, for the purposes in section 9, and only the items listed there. How long each keeps it is in section 12. You can refuse by not using the feature, or by deleting your account.

20.9 India. Our grievance officer can be reached at support@gurtai.app. We respond to grievances within the periods the law sets. Gurt is not offered to anyone under 18.

20.10 South Africa. Our information officer can be reached at support@gurtai.app. You may complain to the Information Regulator.

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Appendix A. Consumer Health Data Privacy Policy (Washington, Nevada and similar laws)

In short: the same promises as section 5, set out the way these state laws ask.

What consumer health data we collect. Allergies, diets, health goal, foods you avoid, activity level, and calorie estimates from meal photos (the estimate itself is kept only on your phone). We may also infer from your preferences that you avoid a food for health reasons.

Why. Only to make recipes and answers that leave out foods you avoid, to check them against your allergies and diets, and to show you an estimate you asked for.

Where it comes from. From you, in the app.

Who receives it. Our AI provider, Anthropic, PBC, which receives your allergies, diets, health goal and the foods you avoid (not your activity level), and the meal photos you send for a calorie estimate, and processes them for us without your name or account; and our hosting provider, Supabase, on Amazon Web Services. No one else. Other Gurt users cannot see it.

We do not sell consumer health data and do not share it with anyone for their own purposes.

Your rights. You can confirm whether we hold your consumer health data, see it and the list of everyone it was shared with, withdraw your consent, and have it deleted, by using the app or writing to support@gurtai.app. We answer within 45 days. If we refuse, you can appeal by replying; if the appeal is refused, you can contact the Washington State Attorney General at www.atg.wa.gov/file-complaint or the Nevada Attorney General.

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