1. Who this policy covers
This Privacy Policy explains how MealBurn ("MealBurn," "we," "us," or "our") handles information when you use the MealBurn iPhone app, widgets, Live Activities, and related support services.
MealBurn currently does not require an account and does not operate a cloud account database. If we later add account sync or another materially different data practice, we will update this policy and request any consent required by law.
2. Data stored on your device
MealBurn stores information you enter and records it creates in the app's local database and, for widgets and Live Activities, in an Apple app-group container. We use it to calculate goals, display progress, support reminders, and provide app features.
- Profile and goal data: name, age, sex or gender selection, height, weight, goal weight, activity level, calorie target, preferences, and reminder settings.
- Nutrition and activity data: foods, meals, calories, macros, serving details, water, manual activities, imported workout summaries, favorites, saved meals, achievements, streaks, and progress history.
- Walk-session data: pedometer distance, duration, pace, and estimated calories while you actively track a walk.
- Widget and Live Activity snapshots: limited daily totals needed to display MealBurn outside the main app.
3. Apple Health
Apple Health access is optional and requires Apple's permission sheet. Depending on the permissions you grant, MealBurn may read the following data to show your dashboard, calculate activity-aware calorie information, import workouts and active energy, build trends, or update your in-app weight:
- Activity: steps, walking and running distance, flights climbed, active energy, basal energy, exercise time, stand time, and workouts.
- Heart and cardiovascular: heart rate, resting heart rate, heart-rate variability (HRV), VO2 max, ECG classification and related summary fields, blood pressure, and hypertension events where supported.
- Vitals: respiratory rate, oxygen saturation, body temperature, and blood glucose.
- Body measurements: weight, body mass index, body-fat percentage, lean body mass, height, and waist circumference.
- Wellbeing and nutrition: sleep analysis, mindful sessions, dietary energy, protein, carbohydrates, total fat, and water.
If you separately enable meal write-back, MealBurn may write dietary energy, protein, carbohydrates, total fat, and water to Apple Health.
MealBurn does not send HealthKit data to Google Gemini, Open Food Facts, AdMob, advertisers, data brokers, or our own server. We do not use HealthKit data for advertising, marketing, or data mining.
4. AI meal-photo recognition
When you choose the AI meal scanner, MealBurn compresses the selected or captured image and sends it, a food-recognition instruction, and any optional note you enter to Google's Gemini API. Google returns an estimated food name, serving, calories, and macros. MealBurn does not intentionally save a separate copy of the scan photo in its local meal database, but the resulting meal record is stored if you add it.
Google's handling depends on the Gemini service tier and configuration used by MealBurn. Under Google's current terms, unpaid Gemini API services may use submitted content and responses to improve Google products and may involve human review. Paid services do not use prompts or responses to improve Google products, but may log them for a limited time for abuse prevention, security, and legal obligations.
Do not include faces, documents, medical information, or other sensitive or identifying details in meal photos or notes. Using AI scanning is optional; you can log food manually or use food search instead.
5. Food search
When you search the online food catalog, MealBurn sends the words you type to the public Open Food Facts API and receives product and nutrition results. Open Food Facts may receive ordinary network information such as your IP address and request metadata. A search result is stored by MealBurn only when you log, save, or favorite it.
6. Advertising with Google AdMob
MealBurn may use Google AdMob in the ad-supported version. When ads are enabled for your app version, region, and subscription status, Google and approved ad-technology partners may collect or receive data needed to deliver, limit, secure, personalize, and measure ads.
Depending on your choices and applicable law, this may include:
- IP address and approximate location derived from it;
- device identifiers, including an advertising identifier only where permitted;
- diagnostic data, non-user-related crash logs, performance data, and SDK operational information;
- advertising data, such as ads displayed; and
- product interactions, app launches, taps, and interactions with ads.
Personalized advertising and cross-app tracking will be used only when required consent and Apple's App Tracking Transparency permission have been obtained. You may still receive contextual or non-personalized ads after declining personalization.
MealBurn does not provide your Apple Health data, profile measurements, meal log, or meal photos to AdMob. Where required, an in-app privacy-options control will let you revisit advertising consent or opt-out choices. An active ad-free subscription is intended to remove ad display; some limited StoreKit or fraud-prevention processing may still occur.
7. Subscriptions and purchases
If MealBurn offers a paid subscription, purchases are processed by Apple through the App Store. Apple may provide MealBurn with product, transaction, purchase-date, subscription-status, and entitlement information so the app can unlock paid features, restore purchases, and prevent fraud. MealBurn does not receive your full payment-card details.
Apple handles payment data under Apple's privacy terms. Deleting MealBurn does not cancel an active subscription; subscriptions can be managed or cancelled in your Apple Account settings.
8. Permissions and local notifications
Camera and Photos access is used only when you capture or choose a meal photo. Motion access is used during a walk you start. Notification permission is used for reminders you enable; these notifications are scheduled locally rather than sent from a MealBurn server.
You can revoke Camera, Photos, Motion, Notifications, tracking, and Apple Health permissions in iOS Settings or the Health app. Core tracking remains available without optional permissions, although the related feature may not work.
9. What we do not do
- We do not sell your Apple Health data, profile measurements, meal log, or meal photos.
- We do not use HealthKit, camera, photo-library, or motion data for advertising, marketing, or data mining.
- We currently do not use our own analytics or crash-reporting service and do not require a MealBurn account.
- We do not access your contacts, microphone, or precise location.
10. Retention, deletion, and your choices
Local records remain until you delete them in MealBurn or uninstall the app. Uninstalling removes MealBurn's local app database and shared widget data, subject to Apple's device-backup behavior. MealBurn does not use CloudKit to sync your database.
Deleting the app does not delete samples already written to Apple Health, cancel an App Store subscription, or control copies retained by a third-party service under its own terms. You can delete MealBurn-written Health samples in the Health app and manage subscriptions in your Apple Account.
Because MealBurn has no user account or server-side profile today, we normally cannot identify or remotely delete local app data for you. If you contact support, we retain your email and message only as reasonably needed to respond, keep support records, prevent abuse, and meet legal obligations.
11. Legal bases and regional rights
Where privacy law requires a legal basis, MealBurn processes information to provide features you request, with your consent for protected permissions and optional third-party processing, to comply with law, and for limited legitimate interests such as security and support where those interests are not overridden by your rights.
Depending on where you live, you may have rights to access, correct, delete, restrict, or object to processing, withdraw consent, or opt out of targeted advertising or the sale or sharing of personal information. MealBurn does not sell personal information. Use the in-app and system controls described above or contact us. You may also complain to your local data-protection authority.
12. Security and international processing
MealBurn relies on Apple's app sandbox, device protections, and HealthKit permission controls. No system is completely secure, so we cannot guarantee absolute security.
Google, Apple, Open Food Facts, and their service providers may process data in countries other than your own under their terms and applicable transfer safeguards. Providers acting on our behalf are required to protect personal data consistently with this policy and applicable law; services acting as independent controllers handle data under their published privacy terms.
13. Children
MealBurn is not directed to children under 13 or the higher minimum age required by local law. A parent or guardian should supervise use by a minor, especially because nutrition and health needs differ for children and teenagers. Do not use MealBurn as a substitute for pediatric or professional medical advice.
14. Changes and contact
We may update this policy when MealBurn's features, providers, or legal requirements change. We will update the effective date and provide additional notice when a material change requires it.
Questions or privacy requests can be sent to zxapps1993@gmail.com.