Privacy Policy

Introduction

FindACart ("we," "our," or "us") is committed to protecting your privacy. This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, disclose, and safeguard your information when you use our website (findacart.com) and mobile application (collectively, the "Service").

By using the Service, you consent to the practices described in this policy. If you do not agree, please do not use the Service.

Information We Collect

Information You Provide

• Account Information: Email address, name, and password when you register; you may also choose to add an optional phone number and postal address to your profile
• Profile Data: Dietary preferences, food allergies, household size
• User Content: Shopping lists, saved recipes, meal plans you create
• Communications: Messages you send to our support team

Sensitive information: We do not collect government identifiers or payment credentials. Dietary preferences and allergy information you choose to provide could relate to health or religious practice. We use it solely to filter recipes and meal plans — never for advertising, for profiling beyond providing the Service, or for sale.

Third-Party Sign-In (Google OAuth)

You may choose to sign in using your Google account. When you do, we receive:

• Email Address: Your Google account email
• Name: Your first and last name from your Google profile
• Profile Picture: Your Google profile photo (if available)

How we use this data: We use this information solely for authentication and to create/link your FindACart account. We do not access your Google contacts, calendar, files, or any other Google services. We do not share your Google data with third parties except as described in this policy.

Revoking access: You can disconnect Google sign-in at any time from your Google Account permissions. This does not delete your FindACart account; you can still sign in with email/password.

Information Collected Automatically

• Device Information: Browser type, operating system, device identifiers
• Usage Data: Pages visited, features used, time spent on pages
• Log Data: IP address, access times, referring URLs
• Cookies: Session cookies for authentication, preference cookies

Voice Input (Optional)

Adding items to a shopping list by voice is optional and uses your browser's or device's built-in speech recognition. That speech service turns your speech into text, and only the resulting text is used to add items. Depending on your browser or device, the service may process the audio off-device: for example, Chrome sends audio to Google, and in the FindACart iPhone app, Apple's speech recognition may send your audio to Apple's servers to recognize it. Those providers handle the audio under their own privacy terms. FindACart does not record or store your voice audio and never sends it to our servers. We do not keep the recognized transcript; we keep only the shopping-list items you add. The microphone is used only while you are actively dictating an item. In the iPhone app you can turn off FindACart's access to the microphone and to speech recognition at any time in the iPhone Settings app, under FindACart.

How We Use Your Information

• Provide the Service: Operate your account and save your data
• Personalization: Customize recipe recommendations based on your preferences
• Communication: Send account notifications and promotional emails you can unsubscribe from at any time
• Analytics: Understand how users interact with our Service to improve it
• Security: Detect fraud, abuse, and unauthorized access
• Legal Compliance: Respond to legal requests and enforce our Terms

Information Sharing

We do not sell your personal information. We may share data with:

Service Providers

• Spoonacular (Recipe API): Search queries and the recipe filters you set — which can include your dietary preferences, allergies, and excluded ingredients — are sent without your name, email, or account identifiers to provide recipe data. Recipe images load in your browser or app directly from Spoonacular's servers, so Spoonacular receives your IP address when images render, as with any image host.
• Open Food Facts and USDA FoodData Central (Barcode Lookups): When you scan a product barcode, we send only the scanned barcode — no personal identifiers — to look up product details
• Cloud Hosting Provider: All data is stored on secure cloud servers
• Brevo (Email Service): Email address and name to send transactional and marketing emails
• Google (Firebase Cloud Messaging): If you turn on push notifications, your device's push token — an anonymous delivery handle, not your name, email, or list contents — is sent to Google to deliver shared-list updates and account notifications (such as a household ownership change) to that device. Each notification also carries routing details: its type, an internal notification number and, for a shared-list update, an internal list identifier. Where push notifications are available and turned on, they can reach Android, the web and the iPhone app. On iPhone, Google hands the notification to Apple's push service (Apple Push Notification service) to deliver it, so the push token, the notification text and these routing details also pass through Apple. You can turn push notifications off at any time in your device or browser settings.
• Apple (Speech Recognition): If you use voice input in the FindACart iPhone app, Apple's speech recognition turns your speech into text, and Apple may process the audio on its servers to do so. FindACart receives only the resulting text and keeps only the shopping-list items you add.
• PostHog (Product Analytics): We use PostHog to understand how the Service is used so we can improve it. We send PostHog usage events — for example, a page or screen viewed, an item added to a shopping list, or a meal plan generated. When you are signed in, these events are linked to an internal account number only, never your name or email. When you are signed out, events are anonymous: on the website the anonymous analytics identifier is kept in memory only and does not persist across page loads (no analytics cookies); in the mobile app it is stored on your device. Along with each event, PostHog also receives standard technical details — your device type and model, operating system and browser or app version, and your IP address, which PostHog uses to derive an approximate (city-level) location. We do not send PostHog the contents of your lists, recipes, or voice input, and we never use analytics data for advertising. We also use PostHog for error tracking: when the app hits an unexpected error, we send the error type and the technical stack trace so we can diagnose and fix it. We strip the error message text before sending so it cannot carry anything you typed, and errors reported by our servers are not linked to your account. When you delete your account, we also delete your analytics data held by PostHog.

Recall alerts: We check the items on your shopping lists and in your meal plans against official FDA and FSIS recall feeds, by product name, to flag possible recall matches. In the planner, only meals made from recipes you wrote yourself or imported from a link carry ingredients we can check; meals from the recipe catalog and saved catalog recipes are checked once their ingredients are on a shopping list, and title-only meals are covered only through your shopping list. So that a recall announced after your trip can still reach food you may have at home, when an item on a list you own is checked off (by you or by someone you share the list with) we keep a small purchase record: the item's name, the list it was on, and when it was last checked off. It does not record who checked it off, quantities, prices, or stores. The record stays when you clear or delete the item, is used only for these recall checks, and is included in your data export. Matching is name-based, not UPC- or lot-verified, so an alert means you may have the item, not that you bought a recalled product. We use this only to alert you — we never sell or profile your shopping data.

Other Sharing

• Polar.sh (Payments / Billing): When you purchase a subscription, we share your email address, the plan you selected, and an internal account identifier with Polar.sh, our merchant of record. Polar.sh is an independent controller (not our service provider) that processes your payment and remits applicable taxes. You enter your payment details directly into Polar.sh's hosted checkout — we never receive or store your card information.
• Household Members: If you use household sharing, your shared shopping lists and meal plans are visible to household members
• Legal Requirements: If required by law, subpoena, or to protect our rights
• Business Transfer: In connection with a merger, acquisition, or sale of assets

For a detailed breakdown of what data is shared with each third party, see our California Privacy Rights page.

Cookies and Tracking

We use cookies and similar technologies for:

• Essential Cookies: Required for authentication and security
• Preference Cookies: Remember your settings and choices

We do not use analytics cookies. Our product analytics (PostHog) runs cookieless on the website: the analytics identifier is held in memory only and is discarded when you leave or reload the page, so there is no analytics-cookie category for you to manage.

You can control cookies through your browser settings. Disabling cookies may affect Service functionality.

Data Retention

We retain your data as follows:

• Account Data: Until you delete your account
• Recall Purchase Records: Kept for three months after the item was last checked off, then removed by a daily cleanup; deleted sooner when you delete that list or your account. Recall alerts in your in-app alert history stay there until you delete your account.
• Usage Logs: 90 days
• Deleted Accounts: Data purged within 30 days, except where legally required and except the administrative audit records described below
• Administrative Audit Records: If your account was ever the subject of an administrative action (for example, a moderation decision such as a suspension) or of staff access to your account data (for example, a support agent viewing your account to assist you), we keep a minimal, append-only record of that event after your account is deleted. That record contains an internal account identifier, the action taken or access made, its outcome, any change to your account role, and any reason our staff recorded. To hold our staff accountable, the record also stores details of the staff member and the request that performed the action, such as the acting staff member's identifier, IP address, and device information; that data identifies our administrator, not you. We keep these records to preserve the integrity of our moderation history, to hold our staff accountable for access to customer data, and to prevent fraud and abuse

Data Security

We protect your data using:

• HTTPS encryption for all data transmission
• Bcrypt hashing for passwords (we never store plain-text passwords)
• Opaque tokens with automatic rotation for authentication
• Regular security audits and monitoring

However, no method of transmission over the Internet is 100% secure. We cannot guarantee absolute security.

Your Privacy Rights

All Users

• Access: View your personal data in Account Settings
• Correction: Update your profile information anytime
• Deletion: Delete your account and associated data
• Export: Download your data in a portable format

California Residents (CCPA)

You have additional rights under the California Consumer Privacy Act:

• Right to Know: Request what personal information we've collected
• Right to Delete: Request deletion of your personal information
• Right to Opt-Out: We do not sell personal information, so this does not apply
• Non-Discrimination: We will not discriminate against you for exercising your rights

European Users (GDPR)

If you are in the EU/EEA, you have rights to:

• Access, rectify, or erase your personal data
• Restrict or object to processing
• Data portability
• Withdraw consent at any time
• Lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority

Our legal basis for processing is: (a) contract performance (to provide the Service), (b) legitimate interests (to improve and secure the Service), and (c) consent (for marketing communications).

Children's Privacy

You must be at least 18 years old to create a FindACart account, as stated in our Terms of Service. Every FindACart user — including each member of a shared household — signs in with their own account, so all users must be 18 or older. The Service is not directed to children, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from anyone under 18. If you believe someone under 18 has created an account or provided us with personal information, please contact us and we will delete it.

Household Sharing Privacy

Our household sharing feature allows you to share shopping lists and meal plans with family members. This section explains how your data is handled when using this feature.

What Household Members Can See

When you share content with your household, members can see:

• Shared Shopping Lists: List name, items, quantities, and check-off status
• Shared Meal Plans: Recipes assigned to each day of shared weeks
• Your Name: Your first name, shown next to items you check off on a shared list. A checked-off item keeps your first name until it is unchecked, even if you later leave the household.
• Household Name: The name you chose for your household
• Household Meal Safety Settings: A shared list of intolerances (e.g. peanut, shellfish) that a household owner or admin configures for the household. These settings are entered explicitly for the household and are used when generating household meal plans — they are not copied from, and do not reveal, any member's private food preferences.

Everyone in your household can see the household member list, which shows each member's first and last name and household role. The household owner and admins can also see each member's email address so they can manage the household; we do not send your email address to other members.

What Remains Private

The following data is never shared with household members:

• Your password
• Your email address, except that the household owner and admins can see it (see above)
• Shopping lists and meal plans you haven't explicitly shared
• Your saved recipes and recipe collections
• Your personal dietary preferences and allergies (these are never shared with household members and are never auto-added to the shared Household Meal Safety Settings)
• Your account settings and notification preferences

How Sharing Works

• Opt-In Only: Content is private by default. You must explicitly click "Share" to make a list or meal plan visible to household members.
• Revocable: You can unshare content at any time by clicking the share button again.
• Household-Scoped: Shared content is only visible to members of your household, not to the public.

Sharing One List With One Person

If you accept an invitation to someone else's shopping list, that list's owner can see your first name in the list's sharing settings. When that invitation is your only access to the list, items you check off on it are shown as checked by 'External collaborator', not by your name. If you can also reach the list through your household, your check-offs show your first name, as described above.

Leaving a Household

You can leave a household at any time from Account > Household. When you leave:

• You immediately lose access to content shared with that household. A list someone shared with you individually stays available until that share ends.
• Content you created and shared reverts to your personal account
• Other members lose access to content you had shared

Households and Children

Household sharing links separate FindACart accounts, and every member joins with their own account, so all household members must be 18 or older. We do not offer child or managed sub-accounts, and minors should not create an account or join a household. For family meal planning, use your own adult account.

Household Data Deletion

If you delete your account and you own a household with other active members, ownership automatically transfers to a remaining member so the household stays available. The household is deleted only if you are its last active member.

Third-Party Links

The Service contains links to third-party websites (such as recipe sources). We are not responsible for the privacy practices of these sites. We encourage you to read their privacy policies.

International Data Transfers

Your data may be transferred to and processed in the United States or other countries where our servers or service providers are located. By using the Service, you consent to this transfer.

Do Not Track

Some browsers have a "Do Not Track" feature. We currently do not respond to DNT signals because there is no industry standard for compliance. We do not use third-party advertising or cross-site trackers; beyond the cookies necessary for the Service to function, our own product analytics is cookieless and limited to measuring how the Service itself is used (see Cookies and Tracking above).

Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. We will notify you of material changes via email or in-app notification. The "Last Updated" date at the top indicates when the policy was last revised.

Contact Us

For privacy questions, data requests, or concerns, contact us at:

Email: support@findacart.com
Website: https://findacart.com

To exercise your privacy rights (access, deletion, export), visit Account Settings or email us at support@findacart.com.