Privacy Policy

PlatePoll ("we," "us," or "the app") helps households decide what to eat by letting everyone vote on restaurants and recipes. We built PlatePoll to collect as little personal information as possible. This policy explains what the app handles, where it goes, and the choices you have.

The short version

• We do not sell your data, show ads, or track you across other apps or websites. There is no advertising identifier and no ad networks.
• We do not run our own servers that store your votes, household, or account. Your shared household data lives in your iCloud account, controlled by Apple.
• Your location is used to find restaurants near you, and — only if you turn it on — to share your location with your own household so they can pick up food near you.
• We use Google Firebase for anonymous usage analytics and crash diagnostics to keep the app working well. This is never linked to your identity and never used for advertising.
• AI meal suggestions are generated on your device.

Information the app handles

Location

PlatePoll uses location in three ways, all optional:

• Finding restaurants near you. When you look for nearby restaurants, the app uses your device's location to search the area around you. Your approximate or precise location is sent to our mapping data provider (Google Places) only to return nearby results.
• Sharing your location with your household (opt-in). You can turn on "Share my location with family" (off by default). If you do, and you grant "Always" location access, your current location can be shared with the members of your own household so that whoever is picking up dinner can search for restaurants near where you are — for example, catching food near someone on their way home. Your location is shared only within your household through your private iCloud (CloudKit) share. You can turn this off at any time, which clears your last shared location.
• Anonymous local trends. The app may use your approximate (city-level) location to contribute to anonymized, aggregated trends — for example, dishes that are popular in an area — to improve suggestions. These trends are not linked to your identity and cannot be traced back to you.

We do not store your location on our own servers, and we do not use it to track you across other apps. You can deny or revoke location access at any time in your device's Settings; restaurant discovery simply won't work without it.

Household and voting data

The dishes and restaurants you vote on, your votes, your favorites, and the household members you invite are stored in your personal iCloud account using Apple's CloudKit and shared only with the household members you choose to invite. This data is governed by Apple's Privacy Policy. We do not operate a separate server that receives or stores this information.

Analytics and diagnostics

We use Google Firebase (Firebase Analytics and Crashlytics) to understand how the app is used in aggregate and to detect and fix crashes and performance problems. This collects anonymous usage events (for example, which screens and features are used), crash and diagnostic reports, and a device identifier that Firebase uses to group events from the same installation. This information is not linked to your name or identity and is never used for advertising or to track you across other apps or websites. We use it solely to keep PlatePoll working well and to decide what to improve.

App settings

Your preferences and app settings are stored on your device (and may sync through your private iCloud account). They are not transmitted to us.

Purchases

Subscriptions are processed by Apple through the App Store. We receive your subscription status (active, expired, trial) so the app can unlock Pro features. We never receive your name, card number, or other payment details — those are handled entirely by Apple.

AI meal suggestions

When you use AI-powered suggestions, the request is processed by Apple's on-device foundation models on your iPhone. Your inputs for these suggestions are not sent to us.

Third parties

PlatePoll relies on a small number of service providers to function:

• Apple — App Store purchases, iCloud/CloudKit storage and sharing, and on-device AI. See Apple's Privacy Policy.
• Google — restaurant and place data via the Google Places API (used to return results near your location), and Firebase Analytics and Crashlytics for anonymous usage analytics and crash diagnostics. See Google's Privacy Policy.

We do not use advertising networks, and we do not sell your data.

Children

PlatePoll is not directed to children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13.

Your choices and rights

• Location: grant or revoke access anytime in your device Settings. Sharing your location with your household is off by default and can be turned off in the app at any time, which clears your last shared location.
• Your household data: you can leave or delete a household, and deleting the app removes its local data from your device. iCloud data can be managed through your Apple ID settings.
• Subscriptions: manage or cancel anytime in the App Store under your Apple ID.

Depending on where you live, you may have additional rights regarding your personal information. Because we hold so little, most requests are satisfied by the controls above; you can also contact us using the details below.

Changes to this policy

We may update this policy as the app evolves. When we do, we'll revise the "Last updated" date above and, for material changes, provide notice within the app.

Contact us

Questions about this policy or your privacy? Email support@platepoll.com.