Privacy Policy
Last updated November 6, 2026
BrokeChef is made by BrokeChef ("we", "us"). This policy explains what the BrokeChef app collects, why, and what we do with it. Short version: there are no accounts, your plan lives on your phone, we don't sell data, and we don't show ads.
What stays on your phone
Your answers from setup (household size, budget, nights you cook, diets, allergies, foods you won't eat, kitchen equipment), your weekly plan and grocery list, what's in your kitchen, saved recipes, receipt totals and prices you paid. This is stored on your device only. Deleting the app deletes it.
What leaves your phone, and why
- Finding stores near you. If you allow location (or type a ZIP code), your phone uses Apple Maps to turn it into a city and ZIP and to search nearby stores, and sends your location, rounded to about a city block, to our server to find grocery stores near you. We use it for that search and don't store it. Store data comes from Apple Maps, OpenStreetMap and Geoapify.
- Store prices. If you shop at a Kroger-family store, the store's ID is sent to our server to look up prices through Kroger's official API.
- AI features. When BrokeChef writes recipes for you, reads a receipt or fridge photo you choose to scan, or answers a question you ask your cooking buddy, the information needed for that request is sent through our server to Anthropic (the maker of Claude), which processes it to produce the answer. That includes your food preferences and rules, the photos you scan, and your messages. The app asks before your first photo or message is sent. We don't store your photos or messages on our server. Anthropic processes them under its commercial API terms, under which it doesn't use them to train its models by default.
- Purchases. Subscriptions are processed by Apple. We use RevenueCat to confirm whether you have an active subscription. RevenueCat receives an anonymous app user ID, your purchase history for BrokeChef, and, if you entered one, a creator code or how you heard about us. We never see your payment details.
- Server logs. Like any website, our hosting provider (Vercel) briefly keeps basic request logs, such as IP address and time, for security and to stop abuse.
What we don't do
- We don't sell or share your personal information for advertising.
- We don't use advertising trackers or build a profile of you.
- We don't ask for your name, email or phone number to use the app.
Permissions
Location, camera, photos, notifications and calendar are all optional and only asked for when you use the feature that needs them. Reminders (tonight's dinner, shop day, and an optional trial reminder) are scheduled on your phone. You can turn any permission off in iPhone Settings.
Children
BrokeChef isn't directed to children under 13, and we don't knowingly collect personal information from them. If you think a child has sent us information, email us and we'll delete it.
Your choices
Because your data is on your phone, you control it: change it in the app or delete the app to remove it. For anything we or our providers might hold (for example, a support email you sent), email support@brokechef.app and we'll help, including requests under state privacy laws such as the CCPA.
Changes
If we change this policy, we'll update the date above. If a change is significant, we'll tell you in the app.
Contact
BrokeChef · support@brokechef.app