Privacy Notice
Last updated: 12 October 2026
1. Who We Are
Robert Alan Hepburn ("we", "us", "our"), a sole trader based in the United Kingdom, operates the Chef’s Helper application. We are the data controller for the personal data we collect through the Service.
2. Data We Collect
| Category | Examples |
|---|---|
| Account data | Name, email address, login credentials, team membership and role |
| Content data | Recipes, menus, prep lists, order lists, inventory records, waste and temperature logs, shift notes, safety check records, and photos you upload or capture |
| Photos & camera | Images you choose from your device library or take with the camera to illustrate recipes. The camera is only used when you tap to add a photo; we do not access it in the background. |
| Purchase data | Subscription plan, status, renewal dates, and a purchase token or transaction ID from Google Play or Paddle. We never receive or store your card details. |
| Communications | Email address used for account, team invitation, notification, and (where you consent) product update emails |
| Usage data | Pages visited, features used, session duration |
| Device & technical data | IP address, browser type, device identifiers, operating system, app version |
| Security data | Login attempt records used to lock accounts after repeated failed sign-ins |
| Support data | Messages and attachments sent to our support channels |
We do not collect location data, contacts, health data, or advertising identifiers, and the app contains no third-party advertising.
3. How We Use Your Data
- Providing the Service: Account creation, storing your recipes and data, syncing across devices (legal basis: Contract performance).
- Security & fraud prevention: Monitoring for suspicious activity, enforcing our Terms (legal basis: Legitimate interests).
- Product improvement: Analysing usage patterns to improve features and fix bugs (legal basis: Legitimate interests).
- Customer support: Responding to your enquiries (legal basis: Contract performance).
- Marketing: Sending product updates and tips, only with your consent where required (legal basis: Consent or legitimate interests).
4. Data Sharing and Sub-processors
We share personal data only with:
- Supabase (via Lovable Cloud): Hosting of our database, authentication, file storage for uploaded images, and server-side functions.
- Resend: Delivery of account, team invitation, and notification emails.
- Google Play Billing: If you subscribe in the Android app, Google processes your payment and shares purchase and subscription tokens with us so we can verify and activate your plan. We never receive your card details from Google.
- Paddle: If you subscribe through our website, Paddle acts as our Merchant of Record for that purchase, processing payment, managing the subscription, handling tax compliance, and issuing invoices on our behalf.
- USDA FoodData Central: Ingredient names you look up for nutrition analysis are sent to this public food database. No account or personal data is sent with the lookup.
- AI recipe import (Lovable AI Gateway and its model providers): If you choose to import a recipe from pasted text or a photo, that text or image is sent to an AI model solely to read out the recipe name, ingredients and method for you to review. Nothing is saved until you confirm it, the provider is instructed not to store the request, and your content is not used to train AI models. Avoid including personal information in photos or text you import.
- Your team: If you join or are invited to a team, the content you create in that workspace and your name and email are visible to the team owner and other members, so they can collaborate with you.
- Professional advisers: Legal and accounting advisers, under confidentiality obligations.
- Authorities: Where required by law or to protect our legal rights.
We do not sell your personal data and we do not share it with advertisers or data brokers.
5. International Transfers
Your data may be processed outside the UK/EEA. Where this occurs, we ensure appropriate safeguards are in place, such as Standard Contractual Clauses or adequacy decisions.
6. Data Retention and Deletion
We keep your data for as long as your account is active and for a reasonable period afterwards for legal, accounting, or business purposes. When data is no longer needed, it is deleted or anonymised.
- Account and content data: Deleted when you delete your account.
- Billing records: Retained for up to 7 years to meet UK and EU tax obligations.
- Security and login attempt logs: Retained for up to 90 days.
- Encrypted backups: Overwritten within 30 days of deletion.
You can delete your account and data at any time from Settings → Danger Zone in the app, or request deletion at any time, including without installing the app, on our account deletion page.
7. Your Rights
Under applicable data protection law you have the right to:
- Access the personal data we hold about you
- Rectify inaccurate or incomplete data
- Request erasure of your data
- Restrict or object to certain processing
- Data portability (receive your data in a structured format)
- Withdraw consent at any time (where consent is the legal basis)
- Lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) or your local supervisory authority
We will respond to requests within one month.
8. Security
We implement appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect your data, including encryption in transit (HTTPS/TLS) and at rest, row-level access controls so team data is only visible to that team, and regular security reviews.
8a. Mobile App Permissions
The Chef’s Helper Android and iOS apps request only the permissions needed for features you use:
- Camera and photo library: Only when you choose to add a photo to a recipe. Images are uploaded to our storage and are visible to you and your team.
- Notifications: Used for prep reminders and team notifications. You can turn these off in your device settings at any time.
- Internet access: Required to sync your kitchen data.
- Billing: Required to offer subscriptions through Google Play.
8b. Children
Chef’s Helper is a professional kitchen tool intended for people aged 18 and over. We do not knowingly collect personal data from children. If you believe a child has provided us with data, contact us and we will delete it.
9. Cookies and Advertising
We use essential cookies to keep you logged in and maintain your session. On our website we also use Google Ads (Google Ireland Ltd / Google LLC) cookies to measure which adverts lead to visits and signups, and to improve our adverts. This shares your device's online identifiers, the pages you visit and whether you sign up with Google. In the UK, EU and EEA these cookies only run if you click Accept on our cookie banner; we keep a record in your browser of your choice, when you made it and the notice you saw. You can withdraw or change your choice at any time with . The mobile apps do not use advertising cookies.
10. Changes
We may update this Privacy Notice from time to time. We will notify you of material changes via the Service or by email.
Contact
If you have questions about this Privacy Notice or wish to exercise your rights, please contact us at support@chefshelper.app.