Privacy Policy

Edible helps people with dietary needs find restaurants and dishes they can actually eat. To do that we handle some information about you — including sensitive details like your allergies and diets. This policy explains, in plain English, what we collect, why, who we share it with, and the control you have. We built Edible in Melbourne, for people who need to trust what they eat, so we treat your data the way we’d want ours treated.

What we collect

• Account details — your name, email address, and password. Your password is stored only as a secure hash (bcrypt), never as plain text.
• Dietary profile — the diets and allergens you tell us about, so we can personalise menus and feeds. This is sensitive information; we only use it to provide the service and never sell it.
• Content you share — dining experiences and reviews, photos and videos, comments, reactions, and the groups you join.
• Location — only while you’re using the app and only with your permission, to show nearby places and rank your feed. We do not keep a history of where you’ve been.
• Menu photos you scan — when you scan a menu, we send the photo to be read by AI (see “AI menu reading” below). We do not keep the photo after it’s been analysed.
• Usage analytics — only if you opt in. This is limited to things like which screens you open, which places you view, and how many dishes are shown. It never includes your dietary profile, your allergies, or anything you’ve written. It’s off by default.
• Push notification tokens — only if you turn notifications on, so we can deliver them to your device.
• Messages you send us — support and contact emails, so we can help you.

How we use it

To run Edible: personalising menus and verdicts to your dietary needs, showing community experiences, keeping your account secure, and (with your consent) understanding what to fix. We do not sell your data or use it for third-party advertising.

AI menu reading

When you scan a menu, we send that photo to Anthropic (in the United States), whose Claude AI reads the menu and estimates which dishes might suit your diet. The photo is processed only for that purpose and we do not keep it after the analysis. AI can be wrong, so its suggestions are a starting point, not a guarantee — always confirm allergen information with restaurant staff.

Decisions our software makes automatically

Some things in Edible are decided by our software rather than by a person. We want you to know what they are and what information they use.

Decided entirely by software, without a person checking each one:

• Whether a dish or place suits you. We compare the diets and allergens in your profile with what the community has reported, what the restaurant has published, and AI estimates, then label each dish as looking suitable, possibly suitable with a change, not suitable, or unknown. The same labels decide which places appear when you filter for ones that suit you. AI estimates alone never mark a dish as free of an allergen, and a label is never a guarantee.
• Blocking posts with objectionable words. When you post a review, experience or comment, we check the text against a list of slurs, sexual content and threats. If it matches, the post isn’t published and you’re asked to change it.
• Age at sign-up. If you don’t confirm you’re 16 or older, we can’t create your account.
• Limiting repeated attempts. To protect accounts and the service, we temporarily limit repeated sign-ups, password resets, invitations and menu scans from the same account or network.

Where software does part of the work: the AI menu reading described above estimates the ingredients and allergens in each dish, and those estimates feed into the labels you see. We also use your location (when you allow it) and the people you follow to decide the order of your feed and nearby places.

Information used: your dietary profile (diets, allergens and how severe they are), the text you write, your confirmation that you’re 16 or older, your location while you’re using the app, who you follow, and technical details such as your IP address.

If you think a label or a decision is wrong, email us at hello@edibl.app and a person will look at it.

Who we share it with

We don’t sell your data. We use a small number of trusted providers to run the service, and share only what each one needs:

• Anthropic (United States) — reads the menu photos you scan to estimate dietary compatibility. Photos are not retained after analysis.
• Google — shows maps, turns your searches and addresses into coordinates (geocoding), and provides Google sign-in on our website. When you search or view the map, a location is sent to Google.
• OpenStreetMap / Nominatim — a geocoding fallback; coordinates are sent to turn places into map locations.
• PostHog (hosted in the EU) — optional usage analytics, off by default and only with your consent. Your activity is recorded under a random pseudonym that is never linked to your name or email. You can withdraw consent any time in Settings, which also erases this data at PostHog.
• Resend — sends our emails (welcome, invites, password resets, digests). Every marketing email has an unsubscribe link.
• Expo — delivers push notifications, using a device token, only if you’ve enabled notifications.
• Vercel (United States) — hosts the app and stores the photos and videos you upload.
• Neon (United States) — hosts our database.

Where your data is processed

Edible is built in Australia, but some of the providers above store and process data overseas — in the United States (Anthropic, Vercel, Neon, and Google) and the European Union (PostHog). Google and Resend may also process data in other countries where they operate. By using Edible you understand that your information may be handled in these locations under their laws. We only work with providers we consider reputable and take reasonable steps to keep your data protected wherever it’s handled.

Cookies

Our website uses only the cookies needed to sign you in and keep your session secure. We do not use advertising or tracking cookies, and we do not set anything on our public homepage beyond what signing in requires.

Who can see what

You choose who sees each experience you share — everyone, your followers, your close friends, or only you.

Your allergies are visible to other people by default, so those you eat with can help keep you safe. Your diets are visible to your followers. You can change both, and make your account private, in your privacy settings.

How long we keep it

We keep your information for as long as your account exists. When you delete your account we delete your profile, your posts, and your dietary data, and we queue the erasure of any analytics held by our analytics provider.

Two things are kept in a de-identified form: menu photos are not retained after AI analysis, and if you created a community place record (a restaurant listing others rely on), that record stays, but it is no longer linked to you.

Your choices

• Edit or delete anything you’ve shared, including your dietary profile, at any time.
• Control who sees each post — everyone, followers, close friends, or only you.
• Download a copy of your data from your account page.
• Withdraw analytics consent in Settings → Privacy, which also erases your analytics data at the provider.
• Delete your account, and everything attached to it, from Settings in the app or from your account page on the web.

Children

Edible is for people aged 16 or older. It is not intended for children, and we don’t knowingly collect information from anyone under 16. If you believe a child has given us their information, contact us and we’ll remove it.

Complaints and contact

If you have a question or concern about your privacy, or want to make a complaint, email us first at hello@edibl.app — we’ll do our best to put it right.

If you’re not satisfied with our response, you can contact the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner at oaic.gov.au.

Governing law

This policy is governed by the laws of Victoria, Australia.