Privacy policy
Effective September 29, 2026
The short version
- We collect what Mealtide needs to track your calories: your account, your profile, and the meals you log.
- Meal photos and typed descriptions are sent to an AI model to estimate calories. They aren't used to train it.
- We never sell your data, show you ads, or share it for advertising.
- Health Connect data is read only when you turn it on, and is used only to show your progress.
- You can delete any meal at any time, or ask us to delete your whole account.
This policy explains how Mealtide ("Mealtide", "we", "us") handles your information when you use the Mealtide app and this website (together, the "Service"). If you have a question it doesn't answer, email support@getmealtide.com.
What we collect
Account information
When you sign in with Google, we receive your name, email address, and profile picture from Google. If you sign up with email instead, we store your email address and a securely hashed version of your password; we never store your password itself. We also keep session records (including the IP address and device type used to sign in) to keep you signed in and protect your account.
Profile information
During setup you tell us your sex, age (stored as a birth year), height, weight, activity level, goal, goal pace, and optionally a goal weight or your own calorie target. We also store your time zone and preferences such as units. We use these to calculate your daily target and to know when your day starts.
Meals you log
- Photos. The app shrinks each photo on your phone before uploading it, then stores it with a small thumbnail.
- Meal details. Food items, portions, calories, nutrients, meal type, and the time you ate.
- Text you type, such as "1 tbsp olive oil" to add an item, or "it's a crepe, not a waffle" to correct a scan.
- Text you speak. If you tap the microphone, your phone's speech recognizer turns what you say into text, on the phone itself when it can, otherwise through your phone's speech service (such as Google's). Mealtide receives only the text, never the audio, and handles it like text you type.
- The original estimates, including items you removed, alongside any changes you make, so we can measure and improve estimate accuracy.
Health Connect data
Only if you turn it on. See Health Connect below.
Mealtide Pro
If you start a Pro trial or subscription, Google Play handles the payment; we never see your card details. RevenueCat, which manages subscriptions for us, receives the purchase record from Google Play along with your Mealtide account ID, name, and email address. We use this to know whether you have Pro and to help with billing questions.
Usage records
For each photo scan, typed item or correction we record the time, the model used, which photo or text it was for, and technical details such as processing time and token counts. We use these to apply daily limits, control costs, and fix problems. Our hosting providers also keep standard server logs (such as IP addresses and request times) for security and reliability.
App activity
The app records a few steps you take during setup and around Mealtide Pro: which setup screens you saw and moved on from, whether you were offered the Pro trial and what you answered, when you opened and closed the Pro screen, where you opened it from and whether you subscribed, and when you used up the day's free AI estimates. Each record has your account ID, the time, and the app version. It never includes your meals, photos, text you type, or your body or health measurements. We use these records only to see where the app loses people and improve it. They're stored with the rest of your account and aren't sent to any analytics or advertising company.
Crash and error reports
When the app crashes, hits an error, or is slow to start or load a screen, it sends a report to Sentry, which we use to find and fix the problem. A report contains your Mealtide account ID, technical details about the error (such as where in our code it happened and the screens you visited just before), and your device type, Android version, and app version. Reports never include your email address, meals, photos, text you type or speak, or Health Connect data. Our servers send Sentry the same kind of report when a request fails, with your account ID and nothing from the request itself.
Website analytics
This website uses Google Analytics to count visits and see which pages people read. Google Analytics sets cookies and collects information such as the pages you view, how you arrived, your approximate location, and your browser and device type. We use this only to understand how the site is used; it isn't linked to your Mealtide account. You can opt out with the Google Analytics opt-out add-on or by blocking cookies in your browser. See how Google uses data from sites that use its services.
The Mealtide app itself contains no third-party analytics or advertising SDKs. Its only third-party reporting is the crash and error reports above.
How we use it
- To provide the Service: estimate your meals, calculate your target, and show what you've eaten and have left.
- To keep the Service secure, prevent abuse, and enforce daily scan limits.
- To see where setup or the Pro screen loses people, from the app activity above, and make them clearer.
- To fix bugs and improve estimate accuracy, by measuring how often and how far estimates were corrected, and by checking changes to our prompts and models against past photos and text you corrected.
- To contact you about your account or important changes to the Service.
We don't sell your personal information, use it for advertising, or use it to make decisions about you that have legal or similarly significant effects.
AI estimates
When you scan a photo or type an item, the photo or text is sent through Vercel AI Gateway to a third-party AI model provider (such as OpenAI or Anthropic), which returns an itemized calorie estimate. We send only the image or text needed for the estimate, not your name, email, or profile. Providers process this data on our behalf, and under their API terms it isn't used to train their models. When we test a change to our prompts or models, we may send past photos and text through the same route, again without anything that identifies you.
Health Connect
On Android, Mealtide can read data from Health Connect, but only after you choose to connect it and grant each permission. You can revoke access at any time in Health Connect's settings.
| Data type | Access | How we use it |
|---|---|---|
| Active calories burned | Read | Shows calories burned and, if you turn it on, adds exercise beyond your usual activity to the day's calories. |
| Total calories burned | Read | Same as above. |
| Steps | Read | Estimates calories burned when a tracker only counts steps. |
| Exercise sessions | Read | Shows today's workouts in Settings, so you can see when a workout reached Health Connect without its calories. |
| Weight | Read | Keeps your current weight up to date for your target and progress. |
Weight entries are synced to your Mealtide account so your target and progress work across sessions. Each day's calories burned and step count, how much each app contributed, your workouts (their type, title, start and end time, and the calories inside them), the names of the apps that wrote them, and the resting energy, weight and activity allowance they were measured against are also saved to your Mealtide account, along with whether Health Connect is connected and which permissions you've granted. We use these to keep a history of your activity and to help when calories burned don't show up as expected. Mealtide does not write any data to Health Connect.
Data we get from Health Connect is used only to provide the features above. We don't sell it, use it for advertising, share it with third parties except the service providers who store it for us, or use it to determine credit-worthiness or for lending. Mealtide's use of information received from Health Connect adheres to the Health Connect Permissions policy, including the Limited Use requirements.
Who we share it with
We share data only with service providers that help us run Mealtide, and only what each needs:
| Provider | Purpose |
|---|---|
| Vercel | Hosts our servers and this website, and routes AI requests (AI Gateway) |
| AI model providers | Generate calorie estimates from photos and text |
| Neon | Database for your account, profile, and meals |
| Cloudflare | Stores meal photos |
| Sign in with Google (only if you use it), payments for Pro through Google Play, and Google Analytics on this website | |
| Expo | Delivers app updates to your phone |
| RevenueCat | Manages Pro subscriptions bought through Google Play |
| Sentry | Receives crash and error reports from the app and our servers |
We may also disclose information if required by law, to protect the rights or safety of our users or others, or as part of a merger or acquisition, in which case this policy would continue to apply to your information.
Security
Data is encrypted in transit and stored with providers that encrypt it at rest. Photos are stored privately and can only be viewed through short-lived links issued to your signed-in account. Every request is checked so you can only reach your own data. No system is perfectly secure, but we work to protect yours.
How long we keep it
We keep your information for as long as your account is open. When you delete a meal, its details, photos, and original estimates are deleted from our systems. Estimates from a scan or typed item you didn't save are kept until your account is deleted. When your account is deleted, all of your data is deleted within 30 days, apart from limited records we must keep to meet legal obligations. Server logs kept by our hosting providers expire on their own schedules.
Your choices and deleting your account
- Edit or delete meals at any time in the app.
- Disconnect Health Connect in Health Connect's settings at any time.
- Get a copy of your data by emailing us.
- Delete your account by emailing support@getmealtide.com from the email address on your account, with the subject "Delete my Mealtide account". We'll confirm and delete your account, profile, meals, photos, weight history, and activity history, and your customer record at RevenueCat, within 30 days. Deleting your account doesn't cancel a Pro subscription; cancel it in Google Play.
Depending on where you live (for example the EU, UK, or California), you may have additional rights to access, correct, delete, or port your data, or to object to or restrict how we use it. Email us to exercise any of them; we won't treat you differently for doing so. You can also complain to your local data protection authority.
Children
Mealtide is not intended for anyone under 18, and we don't knowingly collect information from children. If you believe a child has given us information, email us and we'll delete it.
Where your data is processed
Our providers may process your information in the United States and other countries. Where required, we rely on appropriate safeguards such as standard contractual clauses.
Changes to this policy
If we change this policy, we'll update the date at the top. If the change is significant, we'll tell you in the app or by email before it takes effect.
Contact
Questions or requests: support@getmealtide.com.