CookAgain – Privacy Policy

Summary

• Your recipes are yours. CookAgain keeps your cookbook on your device and, if you choose, in a private cloud account so it is backed up and available on your iPhone and iPad.
• No adverts, no analytics, no tracking. The app contains no advertising or analytics software and we never sell or share your data for marketing.
• AI scanning uploads only what you pick. Only the recipe-card photos you select are sent for processing, and they are not used to train AI models.
• You are in control. You can export your cookbook, delete recipes, or delete your whole account from inside the app at any time.

Who we are

CookAgain ("the app") is published by Digitalhope Ltd ("we", "us"), a company registered in the United Kingdom. We are the data controller for the information described here. Contact: admin@digitalhopeltd.com.

What the app stores on your device

Recipes, the original card photos you keep, notes, ratings, favourites, cooking history, shopping lists and timers are saved in the app's private storage on your iPhone or iPad. This information stays on the device until you delete it, delete your account, or remove the app. Saved recipes and cooking steps work offline.

Your account

You can use CookAgain as a guest on one device without giving us any personal details. To use cloud features the app creates an anonymous account identifier for you; this is a random ID and contains nothing about who you are.

Sign in with Apple is optional. It links your library to your Apple account so you can restore it on a new device. When you sign in, Apple shares your name and your email address (or an Apple private-relay address if you choose to hide your email). We use these only to identify your account and to reply if you contact us. We do not send marketing email.

Your cloud library

Recipes you save to your account, including the card photos and any AI-generated dish illustrations, are stored in Google Firebase (Firestore and Cloud Storage) in London, United Kingdom. Storage rules restrict every record to the account that created it. Nobody else, including other CookAgain users, can see your cookbook. Free accounts can keep a limited number of recipes in the cloud; CookAgain Pro removes that limit.

AI recipe scanning

When you scan a recipe card, only the pages you select are uploaded, and only after you tap Read & review. The photos are placed in temporary private storage and processed by Google's Gemini model through Firebase to produce an editable draft. You then review the draft against your original card before anything is saved. Unfinished scans expire after 15 minutes and unclaimed temporary uploads are removed within 24 hours; the originals you decide to keep become part of your library.

If a cloud scan fails, the app asks before trying on-device recognition using Apple Vision and Apple Intelligence. That processing happens entirely on your device and nothing is sent to us.

We do not use your photos or recipes to train AI models. Google processes them as our service provider under the Gemini API terms for paid services, which do not allow it to use your content to improve its models.

AI dish illustrations

The app can generate an illustration for a saved recipe from the recipe's text. Illustrations are stored privately with your recipe and are always labelled as AI-generated. They are a decoration, not a photograph of the finished meal.

Purchases

CookAgain Pro is an optional auto-renewing subscription sold through the App Store. Apple handles payment and we never see your card details. To unlock Pro and apply your monthly allowance we receive a signed transaction record from Apple (product, purchase and expiry dates and Apple's transaction identifiers) and store it against your account. You can manage or cancel the subscription in your Apple account settings.

Technical information

To keep the service secure and prevent abuse, Firebase assigns your installation an identifier, App Check confirms that requests come from a genuine copy of the app, and our servers keep standard request logs (time, IP address, app version). We use this information only for security, fault-finding and enforcing usage limits. The app contains no analytics, advertising or crash-reporting software, does not track you across other apps or websites, and does not use cookies.

Who we share information with

We use Google (Firebase and the Gemini API) to store and process the information above and Apple for sign-in and purchases. They act on our instructions under their data-processing terms. We do not sell personal data and do not share it with anyone for advertising.

Anything you choose to share yourself, such as a shopping list sent through the share sheet or a JSON backup file, goes wherever you send it. Backups contain your card images, so share them only with people you trust.

Where your data is kept

Your cloud library is stored in the United Kingdom. AI processing by Google may take place on servers outside the UK; where it does, Google's data-processing terms include the safeguards required by UK data-protection law.

How long we keep information

• Information on your device stays until you delete it or remove the app.
• Your cloud library and account stay until you delete your account.
• Temporary scan uploads are removed within 24 hours; card images no longer used by any recipe are removed within about a week.
• Purchase records are kept while your subscription is active and for as long as needed to honour it.

Our legal basis

Under UK data-protection law we process this information to provide the app you have asked for (performance of a contract) and, for security and abuse prevention, in our legitimate interests.

Your rights and controls

You can export your whole cookbook as a JSON backup, edit or delete any recipe, and delete your account from Settings. Deleting your account permanently removes everything stored under it in the cloud. You also have the right to ask us for a copy of your personal data, to correct it, to delete it, to receive it in a portable form, or to object to how we use it. Email us at the address above and we will respond within one month. You can also complain to the Information Commissioner's Office at ico.org.uk.

Children

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

Changes to this policy

If the app changes in a way that affects your privacy, this page will be updated and the effective date changed before the update is released.