Privacy Policy

This policy explains how Smidge handles information when you use the Smidge mobile app on iOS and Android and related services.

Effective: November 8, 2026

In short: Smidge does not sell personal information, show third-party ads, or track you across other companies’ apps and websites. Food and health information is used to provide the features you request.

Information we handle

Account information

Smidge creates an anonymous account so the app can work immediately. If you choose Google sign-in (iOS and Android) or Sign in with Apple (iOS only), we receive an account identifier and may receive your name, email address, and profile image from that provider.

Food, health, and profile information

This may include meal descriptions, nutrition estimates, saved meals, food-search and barcode queries, calorie and macro goals, age or birth date, height, weight, activity level, goals, preferences, and notes you enter. Meal and progress photos are handled when you choose to add them.

Health data: Apple Health and Health Connect

Smidge can connect to your phone’s health platform to read and write your weight. Smidge handles weight only, and only if you turn this on and grant permission.

On both platforms, health data is never used for advertising, is not sold, is not shared with data brokers, and is not sent to the AI provider. It is used only to show your weight history and personalize your goals in Smidge. On Android, weight entries read from or written to Health Connect are kept in your Smidge weight log, which is backed up to your account like the rest of your log.

Smidge’s use of information received from Health Connect adheres to the Health Connect Permissions policy, including the Limited Use requirements.

Voice logging

If you use voice logging, speech recognition turns your audio into a transcript. On iOS, iOS speech-recognition services process the audio. On Android, the device’s speech-recognition service does; it may be provided by Google and may process audio off the device under Google’s terms. Smidge uses the resulting text as your food entry; Smidge does not store the raw voice recording. Smidge sends only the resulting text, and only after you have given AI consent.

AI analysis

Smidge asks for your permission in the app before it sends anything to an AI model, and you can turn AI analysis off at any time in Settings → Privacy. With your permission, Smidge sends the meal text you type or dictate, meal photos you add, barcodes you scan, the items of a meal whose health score is refreshed, and diet preferences you selected (such as high protein) to our server. Our server passes them to OpenRouter, the AI service that analyzes them using AI model providers it works with. We do not send your name, email address, account identifier, weight, or Apple Health or Health Connect data to AI providers. Our server deletes meal photos and temporary analysis jobs within 24 hours. AI results are estimates and can be wrong.

Purchases and subscriptions

On iOS, Smidge Premium is sold through the App Store. The Android app doesn’t currently offer purchases, so nothing in this section applies to Android today. If you subscribe to Smidge Premium on iOS, Apple handles the payment. We never receive your card number or other payment details. Apple sends us subscription details, which we store with your Smidge account: the plan, transaction identifiers, purchase, renewal, and expiration dates, trial and renewal status, and whether it is a live or test purchase. A random account token ties a purchase to your Smidge account, so Premium works on that account and can be restored. We use this to provide Premium, handle restores and billing problems, prevent fraud, and see how our plans are doing.

Free-use limits

A free account includes a limited number of AI food logs, and the allowance is one-time per account. On iOS it is also enforced per device, using Apple’s DeviceCheck service, which is available only on iOS. On Android there is no device check; the allowance is tracked per account only. DeviceCheck lets us set and read two bits that Apple keeps for your device. We do not receive a device identifier from it. We also count AI requests per account to enforce free-use and fair-use limits.

Usage, diagnostics, and support

We may record app interactions, device platform, request timing, AI-usage and cost metadata, account identifier, and error information to operate, secure, and improve Smidge. We use Google Analytics for Firebase to understand how the app is used. It records the screens and actions you use, paywall views, and subscription events (plan, price, and currency), linked to your Smidge account identifier and an app-instance identifier. Google Analytics advertising features are turned off in Smidge, Smidge on Android does not collect or use the advertising ID, and we do not use analytics for advertising or cross-app tracking. We also keep a copy of these analytics events in our Firestore database, keyed by your Firebase user id. If you send feedback or contact support, we handle the message and contact details you provide.

Where information is stored

Your meal history, saved meals, weight entries, profile and goals, and account-level app settings are stored on your device and backed up to our servers, linked to your Smidge account (including a guest account). The backup lets Smidge restore your log when you reinstall the app, move to a new phone, or sign in again. Meal and progress photos stay on your device and are not part of the backup, so they are not restored on another device or after you uninstall the app. Settings that belong to the device, such as theme, units, language, reminders, and Apple Health or Health Connect access, also stay on the device. Account, entitlement, subscription, usage, feedback, and temporary analysis information may be stored on our servers or with our service providers.

How we use information

Service providers and disclosures

We use service providers only as needed to operate Smidge. These may include Google Firebase for authentication, app infrastructure, and Google Analytics for Firebase; Apple for App Store purchases, subscriptions, and DeviceCheck (iOS only); OpenRouter and the AI model providers it routes requests to, as described under AI analysis; on iOS, Apple services such as HealthKit, Speech Recognition, and Sign in with Apple; on Android, Health Connect and the device’s speech-recognition service (which may be provided by Google); Google Sign-In; the USDA FoodData Central API; and Open Food Facts. A provider may process information in countries other than yours under its own privacy and security commitments.

With your permission, meal text, photos, barcodes, and diet preferences are sent to AI providers to produce the nutrition result you request. AI results can be inaccurate. We may also disclose information when required by law, to protect users and the service, or during a business reorganization subject to appropriate safeguards.

Retention

Information on your device remains until you remove it, sign out, delete your account, clear the app, or uninstall it. Signing out removes your log from the device; it stays in your account's backup and comes back when you sign in again. The backup is kept while your account exists. When you delete an entry, the backup keeps only a marker that it was deleted, so your other devices remove it too. Deleting your account deletes its backup. Temporary AI analysis jobs and uploaded analysis images are ordinarily scheduled for deletion within 24 hours. Account, feedback, usage, and security records are kept while needed to provide the service, resolve requests, prevent abuse, meet legal obligations, and maintain legitimate business records. On iOS, when you delete your account, we remove its link to any App Store subscription. The subscription record itself holds no name or contact details. We keep it because the subscription keeps billing your Apple ID until you cancel it with Apple, so it can be restored to a new account, and because we need it for billing and legal records. When no longer needed, information is deleted or de-identified.

Your choices and rights

You can control device permissions in your phone’s settings. On iOS, these are camera, photo, microphone, speech-recognition, and Health permissions in iOS Settings. On Android, they are camera, microphone, notifications, and Health Connect, managed in Android Settings → Apps → Smidge (Health Connect permissions are managed in the Health Connect app). Weight entries already saved in Apple Health or Health Connect are managed in those apps. You can turn AI analysis off in Smidge under Settings → Privacy; Smidge then asks again before sending anything to an AI model. You can delete your Smidge account and associated app data from Settings in the app, including when using a guest account. You may also contact us to request access, correction, deletion, or another privacy right available where you live. See Privacy Choices.

Children

Smidge is not directed to children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If you believe a child has provided information, contact us so we can investigate and delete it.

Security

We use reasonable administrative, technical, and organizational safeguards. Data sent between the app and our servers is encrypted in transit (HTTPS). No system is completely secure, so we cannot guarantee absolute security.

Changes

We may update this policy as Smidge changes. We will post the revised policy here and update its effective date. Material changes may also be communicated in the app.

Contact

Email support@smidge.fit with privacy questions or requests.