Privacy Policy

1. Information We Collect

When you create a ChefItUp account, we collect:

• Account information your name, email address, and password (stored as a secure hash).
• Profile information your bio, profile photo, dietary preferences, allergies, and food dislikes that you choose to provide.
• Pantry and fridge data ingredient names, quantities, locations, and expiration dates you enter into the app.
• Community content recipes, comments, and likes you post publicly on the platform.
• Usage data basic logs of how you interact with the app (pages visited, features used) to help us improve the product.

2. How We Use Your Information

We use your information solely to operate ChefItUp:

• To create and manage your account.
• To generate personalized recipe suggestions based on your pantry contents and dietary preferences.
• To send transactional emails - email verification, account notifications, and moderation notices.
• To display your public profile, recipes, and community activity to other users.
• To improve the app based on usage patterns.

We do not use your data for advertising, and we do not sell your data to any third party.

3. Data Sharing

We do not sell, rent, or share your personal information with third parties, except:

• Service providers we use Supabase (database hosting) and Resend (transactional email). Both are used only to operate the app and are bound by their own privacy policies.
• Legal requirements if required by law or to protect the safety of users.
• Public content recipes and comments you post publicly are visible to all ChefItUp users. Your pantry contents and dietary preferences are private and never displayed publicly.

4. Data Security

Passwords are hashed using industry-standard algorithms and are never stored in plain text. All data is transmitted over HTTPS. Your pantry and dietary data is stored in a private, authenticated database and is never accessible without your credentials.

As a student project, ChefItUp may not have the same security infrastructure as a commercial product. We recommend not storing sensitive personal information beyond what is needed to use the app's features.

5. Cookies and Local Storage

ChefItUp uses browser local storage to keep you logged in by storing your authentication token. We do not use tracking cookies or third-party advertising cookies.

6. Your Rights

You have the right to:

• Access your data view your profile, preferences, and pantry at any time from within the app.
• Edit your data update or correct your information from your profile and settings pages.
• Delete your account contact us at legal@chefitup.net to request account deletion. We will remove your personal data within 30 days.

7. Data Retention

We retain your account data for as long as your account is active. If you request deletion, we will remove your personal information within 30 days. Some anonymized, aggregated data may be retained for academic research and project evaluation purposes.

8. Children's Privacy

ChefItUp is not directed at children under 13. We do not knowingly collect personal information from anyone under 13. If you believe a child under 13 has created an account, contact us at legal@chefitup.net and we will delete the account.

9. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy as the project evolves. We will notify you of material changes by updating the date at the top of this page. Continued use of ChefItUp after changes constitutes acceptance of the updated policy.

10. Contact