Privacy Policy

This policy covers Chowdown (the meal tracking app at app.chowdown.me), Fuel by Chowdown (the coach dashboard at fuel.chowdown.me) and this website. Chowdown is run by Diego Cuñado García in the United Kingdom, who is the data controller. Questions or requests: help@chowdown.me.

What we collect

• Account: your name, email address and profile photo from Google Sign-In, or your email if you sign in with an email link.
• What you log: meals, food photos, macros and calories, plus the goals, weight, activity level, diet preference and timezone you enter in Settings.
• Activity in the app: streaks, badges, groups you join, reactions and comments, and your chats with Robin, the AI coach.
• Coaching (Fuel): who you are linked with, messages between you and your coach, and invitations you send or receive.
• Notifications: a push notification token for your device, if you turn notifications on.
• Usage: anonymous analytics about which pages and features are used. We do not use advertising trackers.
• Payments (Fuel Pro): handled by Stripe. We receive your subscription status and the last 4 digits of your card, never the full card number.

Health data

What you eat, your weight and your goals can count as health data, which UK GDPR treats as special category data. We process it only because you choose to log it, to give you the service you asked for. You can delete it at any time.

Why we use it

• To run the app: store your log, work out your macros and show your progress (contract).
• To analyse food photos and text, and to power Robin (contract). Photos and descriptions are sent to Google's Gemini API for analysis.
• To share your log with a coach, only after you accept their invitation or invite them yourself (consent). You can unlink at any time.
• To send emails you need, such as invitations, and reminders you turned on (contract and legitimate interest).
• To improve the product with anonymous usage statistics (legitimate interest).

Who can see your data

• You.
• Your coach, if you link with one in Fuel: your food log, macros, goals and streaks, and your messages with them.
• Group members, for the meals you choose to share in a group.
• Service providers that run the service for us, under contracts that protect your data: Google Firebase (accounts, database, file storage, push notifications, analytics), Google Gemini (food and chat analysis), Vercel (hosting), Postmark (transactional email), Stripe (payments), Buttondown (newsletter, only if you subscribe) and Umami (cookie-free website analytics).

Some of these providers process data outside the UK, mainly in the United States, under the UK International Data Transfer Agreement or an equivalent safeguard. We never sell your data.

Food lookups go to USDA FoodData Central and Open Food Facts. We send them the food name or barcode only, never anything about you.

How long we keep it

We keep your data while your account is open. To close your account, email help@chowdown.me from the address you sign in with, and we delete your log, photos and account within 30 days. Coaches can also delete their Fuel account in Fuel's Settings. Payment records are kept for as long as UK tax law requires.

Your rights

You can ask to see, correct, export or delete your data, object to how we use it, or withdraw consent, for example by unlinking a coach. Email help@chowdown.me and we will reply within one month. If you are not happy with our answer, you can complain to the Information Commissioner's Office at ico.org.uk.

Cookies

The app stores your sign-in session and settings on your device so you stay logged in. This website uses Umami, which does not set cookies. Links to Amazon on the blog are affiliate links; Amazon may set its own cookies when you visit it.

Children

Chowdown and Fuel are not for children under 16.

Changes

If we change this policy in a way that matters, we will tell you in the app or by email before the change takes effect.