Mealz Privacy Policy
Last updated: October 28, 2026
Mealz is a meal-planning app. This policy explains what happens to your information when you use it. The short version: Mealz has no accounts, analytics, ads or tracking. The only thing that ever leaves your phone is a recipe you scan, and only if you allow it.
What we collect
Mealz has no accounts, no analytics, no advertising and no tracking. The only information it sends anywhere is the photos of a recipe you scan, if you allow cloud scanning (see below). Nothing else leaves your phone.
What stays on your phone
To work, the app stores the following only on your device: recipes you've added yourself and their photos, the recipes in your plan, your grocery list and checked items, items you add yourself, your favourites, your cooking history and ratings, and your preferences (diet, allergies, disliked ingredients, household size and units). This information never leaves your device. If your phone is backed up to iCloud, it may be included in that backup under Apple's terms.
Camera and photos
If you add your own recipe, you can photograph a recipe page or choose a photo from your library. Mealz only sees the photos you pick. It first reads the text in the photo on your phone, using Apple's built-in text recognition. It keeps any dish photo you add in the app's own storage, on your phone; dish photos are never uploaded.
Cloud scanning
The first time you scan a recipe, Mealz asks whether it may read the recipe in the cloud. If you allow it, the photos of that recipe's pages and the text read from them are sent over an encrypted connection to the Mealz scan server, which passes them to Anthropic's Claude to turn them into a recipe. The result comes straight back to your phone.
The Mealz server does not store the photos or the recipe and does not log their contents. It keeps a count of scans per day against a random ID created on your phone, to limit misuse; the ID is not linked to you, and counts are deleted after a week. Anthropic processes the photos under its commercial terms, which do not allow it to train its models on them; see Anthropic's privacy policy for how long it may retain API data.
Scan credit
After a few free scans a month, reading a scan on the Mealz server uses scan credit, which you buy in the app through Apple. Mealz has no accounts: your credit belongs to a random wallet ID created on your phone and kept in its keychain, shown as your recovery code. The Mealz server records each credit purchase (Apple's transaction ID and the amount) and each paid scan against that ID, and keeps these records to show your balance and handle refunds. They are not linked to your name, Apple ID or anything else about you. Payment is handled entirely by Apple; Mealz never sees your payment details. The server's database is backed up to cloud storage (Tigris) so your credit isn't lost.
If you choose "Keep on My Phone", or turn off "Read scans with Claude" in Profile, recipes are read entirely on your phone, with Apple's on-device language model on iPhones with Apple Intelligence. Scans are also read on your phone when you're offline.
Notifications
If you start a cooking timer, Mealz asks for permission to send notifications so it can tell you when the timer ends. These notifications are scheduled locally on your phone; no server is involved.
Sharing
When you share your grocery list, Mealz hands the text to the iOS share sheet and you choose where it goes. Mealz does not see or keep what you send.
Deleting your data
Go to Profile → Reset all data, or delete the app. Either removes everything Mealz stored.
Children
Mealz does not knowingly collect information from anyone, including children.
Changes
If this policy changes, the new version will be posted here with a new date.
Contact
Questions? Email CONTACT_EMAIL.