Privacy Policy
Effective October 3, 2026.
This policy explains how the GridChef Android app (package com.aistudio.recipetrn.app) and the gridchef.app website handle your information. In this policy, "GridChef", "we", and "us" mean the developer of GridChef. Questions and requests go to support@gridchef.app.
The short version
- Your recipe library, grocery list, pantry, meal plans, cookbooks, and settings are stored on your device. We do not keep a copy of them.
- When you use an AI feature, the content that feature needs is sent to Google's Gemini service to produce the result, or to OpenAI for step photos and when Gemini cannot answer.
- The GridChef app shows Google AdMob ads to eligible free users. The ads SDK collects and shares information described under Ads in the app. Your recipe content is not used to target these ads, and we do not sell your recipe library. The gridchef.app website shows Google ads, which use cookies; see This website.
- All connections the app makes to our services and our providers use encryption (HTTPS).
Information stored on your device
GridChef saves your recipes (including notes, ratings, favorites, tags, cooking history, source links, translations, nutrition estimates, and recipe photos), grocery items, pantry items, meal plans, plan presets, cookbooks, and app preferences such as language, units, theme, and nutrition goals. This information stays in the app's private storage on your phone or tablet.
If Android backup is turned on for your device, Android may include GridChef's app data in your device backup to your Google account. That backup is controlled by your device settings and handled by Google under its own terms. Backups and exports that you create yourself (JSON, CSV, or shared cookbook files) are saved or sent only where you choose.
Information sent off your device
AI recipe features
GridChef uses Google's Gemini models to build, read, adapt, translate, and plan recipes. When you use these features, the app sends the content the feature needs to Google through GridChef's service. Photos of each cooking step are made by OpenAI. When Gemini is unavailable or cannot answer, the same content is sent to OpenAI instead. This can include:
- Text you type, paste, or share into the app, and your messages in the recipe chat and planner chat.
- Photos you take or choose for scanning a recipe, a dish, or your pantry. Photos are resized and re-saved before sending, which removes location and camera metadata.
- Pages of PDFs you import, which the app converts to images first.
- Recipe details, pantry lists, nutrition goals, your saved recipe titles, and your meal plan with its dates, when you ask for ideas, substitutions, adaptations, or a meal plan.
- For hands-free cooking in languages other than English, the text of the spoken command (English commands are understood on your device).
Some AI tasks run automatically after you save a recipe: GridChef sends the recipe's title, ingredients, and steps to create a nutrition estimate, a food photo, and a small photo of each cooking step, and sends the recipe for translation when your app language differs from the recipe's language.
We use this content only to provide the feature you asked for. GridChef's service passes requests to Google and returns the results; we do not use the content for advertising and we do not build profiles from it. Google processes the content as our service provider under the Gemini API terms and may keep it for a limited time for abuse monitoring. OpenAI, for step photos and as the backup, processes it as our service provider under its API data policies, does not train on it, and may keep it for up to 30 days for abuse monitoring. AI results can be wrong, so check recipes, amounts, allergens, and nutrition estimates before relying on them.
GridChef's service does not store the content of these requests. To protect it from abuse, the app first uses Firebase App Check to ask Google Play to confirm that it is a genuine copy of GridChef installed from Google Play. This check sends Google details about the app (such as its package name, version, and signing certificate), device integrity information, and a Firebase installation ID, which is a random identifier for this installation of the app. GridChef's service receives only a short-lived token that confirms the result. The service also uses your IP address, kept only in memory for no more than a day, to limit how many AI requests each device can make. Our hosting provider, Railway, handles these connections and may keep technical request logs, such as IP addresses, to run and protect the service.
Recipes from Instagram, TikTok and YouTube links
When you import an Instagram, TikTok or YouTube link, the app sends the link to GridChef's recipe-link service, with a Firebase App Check token that shows the request comes from the genuine app. The service asks ScrapeCreators for the public post's caption, or for a YouTube video's title and description (or Bright Data, if ScrapeCreators can't be reached), and returns that text to the app. No video is downloaded or watched, and no AI reads the post: the app reads the recipe written in the text on your device. The service may keep a post's caption in memory for up to 10 minutes so a retry doesn't fetch it again. It doesn't write links or captions to a database or to its logs.
Ads in the app
GridChef may show an interstitial ad between choosing a cooking view and opening it. Subscribers and users with applicable ad-free access do not see these ads, and neither do users whose Google Play account is in the United States or Canada. To tell, the app asks Google Play for your account's country and, until Play answers, uses your SIM card's country or your phone's region; this stays on your device. For those users the app does not start the ads SDK or request ads. Ads are provided by Google AdMob. Its Mobile Ads SDK automatically collects and shares IP addresses (which can indicate approximate location), app and ad interactions, diagnostic information, and device or account identifiers, including the Android advertising ID and app set ID, for advertising, analytics, and fraud prevention. This information is encrypted in transit. Google handles it under its privacy policy; see also how Google uses information from apps that use its services.
Google's User Messaging Platform determines which privacy messages and choices apply to you. When required, you can reopen them in Settings > Ad privacy options. The SDK determines which ads may be requested after your choices; declining personalization does not necessarily remove all ads. You can also reset or delete your advertising ID in Android's privacy settings. Removing that ID does not disable all other SDK data collection. Ads on our website use a separate consent message.
Subscriptions
GridChef is free to download and lets you create a few new recipes for free. An optional monthly subscription through Google Play allows more recipes each month, and if it ends you keep everything you created. Google Play handles the purchase, your payment details, renewals, and cancellations under the Google Play terms and the Google Payments privacy notice; we never receive your full payment card details. The app asks Google Play whether your subscription is active, and it keeps a count of the recipes you create on your device. If you enter a GridChef code, the app sends that code to GridChef's service to check it; the service answers how many recipes the code adds, and we do not link the code to you. Google Play gives us order records, such as the order number, product, price, country or region, and dates, which we use to manage subscriptions and refunds and to keep financial records. You can cancel anytime in the Google Play app under Payments & subscriptions.
Recipe websites
When you paste or share a link to a recipe website, your device downloads that page directly from the website so GridChef can read the recipe. That website receives your IP address and a request that identifies the GridChef app, as it would for any page you visit.
Get groceries: Walmart and Amazon
"Get groceries" appears only when your phone's region is set to the United States. When you choose Walmart, the app sends GridChef's service the names of the items you picked, with a Firebase App Check token that shows the request comes from the genuine app; the service searches Walmart's product catalog with those names and returns matches for you to review. Nothing about the search is stored, and the service's logs record only counts and outcomes, never item names or products. Product photos on the review load directly from Walmart's own image servers (walmartimages.com). Sending the order opens a link to Walmart's site or app with the products and counts you approved. When you choose Amazon instead, the picked item names, and simple amounts where GridChef has them, travel inside the link that opens Amazon's shopping-list page. Either way, the purchase itself happens on Walmart's or Amazon's side under their own terms and privacy policies, and GridChef never sees your cart or your order.
Feedback
If you send feedback from Settings, GridChef sends your message, the feedback type, the app version and language, your device maker and model, and your Android version to our email inbox through FormSubmit (formsubmit.co). If you choose to email us instead, we receive whatever your email contains, including your email address. We use feedback only to fix problems and improve GridChef, and we keep it only as long as we need it for that.
Voice and speech
Hands-free cooking uses your device's speech recognition service, and read-aloud uses your device's text-to-speech engine. Depending on your device and the voice you pick, those services may be provided online by Google or your device maker under their own privacy terms. GridChef receives only the recognized text. It does not record or store audio.
Sharing you start
When you share a recipe, grocery list, backup, or cookbook, Android sends it to the app or person you choose. Shared cookbooks leave out favorites, ratings, and cooking history, and include notes only if you choose to include them.
Device permissions
- Camera: to photograph a recipe, a dish, or your pantry when you ask to.
- Microphone: for hands-free voice commands while cooking, only while hands-free mode is on.
- Notifications, alarms, vibration, and start at boot: for the kitchen timer, including restoring a running timer after your device restarts.
- Internet: for AI features, recipe links, feedback, and ads.
- Advertising ID: for the Google Mobile Ads SDK, subject to your device settings and applicable privacy choices.
- Google Play billing: to start and check your subscription through Google Play.
GridChef does not request location, contacts, calendar, or health permissions, and it uses Android's photo picker and file dialogs so it does not need broad storage access.
Keeping and deleting your information
- You can delete recipes, grocery items, pantry items, meal plans, presets, cookbooks, tags, and notes inside the app. Deleting a recipe removes its meal-plan entries and reclaims photos that no other saved recipe uses.
- To delete everything GridChef stores on your device, uninstall the app or clear its storage in Android Settings > Apps > GridChef > Storage.
- We do not keep your recipe library, so there is nothing else to delete on our side. To delete feedback you sent us, or to ask about any other information, email support@gridchef.app.
Your rights
Depending on where you live, you may have the right to access, correct, delete, or receive a copy of personal information we hold about you, and to object to or restrict its use. Email support@gridchef.app to make a request. You can also complain to your local data protection authority.
Children
GridChef is intended for adults and is not directed to children. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If you believe a child has sent us information, contact us and we will delete it.
This website
The gridchef.app website has no account registration, contact form, or visitor analytics. Its interactive recipe preview and feature tabs run in your browser and do not send your selections anywhere. Loading a page sends a request to our hosting provider, Vercel, including technical information such as your IP address, browser details, and the page requested; Vercel may process request logs to deliver and protect the site. The site's own images and fonts are served from the same site.
Ads on this website
The website shows ads from Google AdSense. Third-party vendors, including Google, use cookies to serve ads based on your prior visits to this website or other websites. Google's use of advertising cookies enables it and its partners to serve ads to you based on your visits to this and other sites. You can opt out of personalized advertising in Google Ads Settings, and learn more in How Google uses information from sites or apps that use its services.
Changes to this policy
If GridChef starts handling information differently, we will update this page and change the effective date above before the change takes effect.
Contact
Email support@gridchef.app.