Privacy Policy

Last updated: August 11, 2026

SparePlate is designed to work with as little personal data as possible. There are no accounts, no ads, no analytics trackers, and we never sell data.

What the app stores

• Posts you create — the food description, category, quantity, location text (e.g. "Kitchen, 3rd floor"), optional photo, and the display name you chose. These are visible to everyone on the same board.
• Board information — a board's name and the GPS coordinates of the building, captured once when the board is created.
• An anonymous device identifier — a random ID generated on your device, attached to your posts so the app can recognize which posts are yours. It is not linked to your name, Apple ID, or contact details.
• Votes and reports — vote counts on posts, and reports you file about posts.

Location

Your location is used on-device to find nearby boards and to confirm you are at a building when joining or creating a board, and to decide whether to show you a notification. Your location is not stored or transmitted — only a board's building coordinates are saved, once, at creation.

Where data lives

All shared data is stored in Apple's iCloud (CloudKit) public database and is subject to Apple's privacy protections. Notifications are delivered through Apple's push notification service. We run no servers of our own.

What we never collect

• No names, emails, or phone numbers (the display name is whatever you type, and can be anything).
• No contacts, no advertising identifiers, no usage analytics.
• No precise location history.

Deleting your data

You can delete your own posts in the app at any time. Posts also expire from the feed automatically. For other deletion requests (e.g. removing all records associated with your device), contact us via the link below and we will remove them from the database.

Children

SparePlate is not directed at children under 13 and we do not knowingly collect data from them.

Changes

If this policy changes materially, we will update this page and the "last updated" date.

Contact

Questions or requests: open an issue on our GitHub page.