PeluChef Privacy Policy
Last updated: November 1, 2026
This Privacy Policy describes what data PeluChef (the Android app) and this website collect, what we use it for, who we share it with and what choices you have. If you have any questions, write to us at PeluChef.Gem@gmail.com.
1. What data we collect
- Your Google account data: when you sign in with "Sign in with Google", we receive your email and your Google account's unique identifier. We use them only to create and recognize your PeluChef account.
- Your !Username and profile: the unique name you choose when you create your account, and whatever you add to your profile (photo, bio, signature). Your !Username and profile are public: anyone who uses PeluChef can find and see them, they do not need to follow you.
- Photos you upload: your profile photo, and the photo of your own recipes when you add one (from your gallery or picked from Pexels results). They are stored as files on our server.
- Your recipes: the title, ingredients, steps, photo, tags and modification date of the recipes you save or generate, so we can show them to you and sync them across your own devices. If you mark a recipe as "Published", it also becomes visible on your public profile and in the Feed of the people who follow you.
- Favorites (star): which recipes you starred, to build your favorites list and sync it across your devices.
- Hearts and saved recipes from other accounts: when you give a heart to a recipe published by another account, it is saved (watched) in your "Saved" section: it is a single action. We keep which recipes you saved that way and the hearts your own recipes receive. The number of hearts on a published recipe is public: anyone who can see that recipe can see it.
- Followers: who follows you and who you follow, to build the Feed and your profile counters.
- Weekly menu (calendar), shopping list and Meal Prep: your menus (the calendar of which recipe you plan to cook each day), the shopping list we build from them, your list preferences ("always add"/"never add") and your Meal Prep (batch-cooking plan) are stored on our server so they can be synced across your devices.
- Usage records: short notes that you did something in the app (for example, opening or finishing a recipe). They are explained in section 2.
- Your account's plan: which plan your account is on (and, once subscriptions or trials exist, their status and expiry). It is explained in section 7.
- Imports from Instagram/TikTok: when you paste a video link, our server asks a third-party service (Apify) for that video's public data (description, narrated audio, thumbnail image, username and the creator's name) and keeps a record with the date and that data so we can apply the daily import limit. While the recipe built from it is waiting for you to confirm or discard it, it is also stored on the server. More detail in section 6.
- Microphone permission: we use it only so you can talk to PeluChef and be understood. We do not record or store audio files on our servers. Speech recognition is handled by the Android operating system itself.
- Camera/gallery permission: we use it only when you choose to take or pick a photo for your profile or for a recipe, or to take a photo of your dish to show PeluChef.
- Notifications permission: we use it to tell you when a cooking timer ends. These alerts are local: your own device schedules and shows them, and they do not go through our servers.
- Reports you make or receive: if you report an account or a recipe, we keep the reason you wrote so we can review it.
2. Usage records in the app
To make some features work, PeluChef records usage events on your account: short notes that you did something in the app.
What is recorded. Only the type of action, when it happened and, where relevant, which recipe it was (an internal identifier) plus minimal technical details of that action (for example, the kind of assistant request or how many items the shopping list had). The types are: creating the account, opening a recipe, starting to cook, finishing a recipe, using the assistant (and which kind: search, create, edit, answer a question or replace an ingredient), reaching the assistant's usage limit, viewing a plans screen, saving a recipe, starring it, assigning a recipe to the weekly menu, starting and finishing a shopping list, publishing a recipe and following another account. No text you type or dictate is recorded (neither your messages to the assistant, nor notes, nor searches), and neither is your location.
What it is used for.
- Showing "Cooked N times" and the date of the last time on your recipes.
- Building the "This month" summary on your profile.
- Choosing the "Recipes for you" on Home based on the recipes you opened, cooked, saved or starred. This selection is calculated on your device from a local history of up to 60 days and 300 actions.
- Reminding you of favorites you haven't cooked in a long time.
- Internal app metrics, to understand which features are used and improve them, and to protect the service (for example, detecting abuse).
Who it is shared with. Not shared with third parties, not sold, and not used for advertising or to build advertising profiles.
How long it is kept. For as long as your account exists. When you delete your account, your events are erased from our servers. The local affinity history is erased when you sign out or switch accounts on the device.
3. What we don't do
- We don't use advertising networks or third-party analytics tools inside the app.
- We don't sell your data to anyone, under any circumstances.
- We don't access your microphone except at the exact moment you choose to talk to PeluChef.
- We don't access your camera or gallery except when you choose to upload or look for a photo.
- We don't see or store your card or payment method details.
4. Artificial Intelligence and the Gemini API
The PeluChef assistant runs on the Gemini API (a Google Artificial Intelligence service), which we use through our server: what you say (already converted from voice to text), and the audio and photos you send, are processed with Google's Gemini API through our server, using a key of ours. As a backup option, the app may let you enter your own Gemini API key: that key is stored only on your device and the conversation goes straight from your device to Google, without going through our servers. Use of the Gemini API is also subject to Google's own terms and privacy policy.
AI is also used in other features of the app: building and editing recipes, building the shopping list and the Meal Prep, and writing the PeluChef tips on each step of a recipe. For that, the content of the recipe (title, ingredients and steps) and, where relevant, what you asked the assistant is sent to Gemini.
How Google handles what you send. The text, audio and photos you send to the assistant are processed with Google's Gemini API, through our server. Depending on the Google service tier we use, Google may use that content to provide, improve and develop its products and machine-learning technologies, and human reviewers may read, annotate and process it (before review, Google disconnects it from your account, the key and the project). That is why we ask you not to share sensitive, confidential or personal information with the assistant.
If you use your own API key (without going through our server), the direct relationship between you and Google applies.
Photos to the assistant: if you send PeluChef a photo (taken with the camera, not picked from the gallery), we store it on our server only to show it to you in the chat and it deletes itself after 2 hours. Meanwhile, the image is sent to Google so the assistant can analyze it, with the same treatment as the text and audio described above. Frame only the dish: please do not include people, faces, documents or the inside of your home in the photo.
5. Recipe photos: Pexels search
When you create a recipe (or ask for a photo from the manual dialog), PeluChef builds a short search term from the title using Gemini (through our server, like any other conversation with the assistant) and our server uses that term to search photos on Pexels, a third-party stock image bank, and show you the results so you can pick one. Pexels only receives the search term built from your recipe's title, never your name, your email or any other personal data.
6. Importing recipes from Instagram and TikTok
When you paste the link of an Instagram or TikTok video, our server asks Apify, a third-party scraping service, for its public data (video description, narrated audio, thumbnail image, username and name of whoever posted it) and keeps an audit record with the date, the link and that data, so we can apply the daily per-account import limit. The audio and the description are then sent to Gemini to build the recipe draft, through our server (see section 4). While that draft is waiting for you to confirm or discard it, it is stored in full on our server (including the video thumbnail, downloaded only once); when you confirm it, it becomes a recipe of yours like any other, and when you discard it or delete your account it is erased completely.
7. Subscription and payments
PeluChef has a Free plan and, once available, a Premium plan (see the Terms and Conditions). New accounts may receive a 14-day Premium trial without entering a card.
- Who charges you: when PeluChef offers the Premium subscription, the purchase, billing and renewal will be handled by Google Play (Google Play Billing), under its own terms and privacy policy.
- What Google Play will tell us: the status of the purchase (whether it is active, until when, whether it was canceled or expired). We will use it to turn Premium on or off on your account.
- What we never see: your card or payment method details. Only Google handles them.
- What we store: your account's plan and, once subscriptions or trials exist, their status and expiry, linked to your account. It is deleted when you delete your account. The purchase records kept by Google Play belong to Google and are governed by its policies.
8. What we use your data for
- To create and maintain your PeluChef account.
- To sync your recipes, favorites, menus, shopping list, list preferences and Meal Prep across your own devices.
- To show your public profile and your Feed to the people who follow you, and so you can follow, peek at or watch other accounts' published recipes.
- To build the draft of a recipe from an Instagram or TikTok video you want to import.
- To offer you the usage-based features described in section 2.
- To know which plan you have and apply its limits.
- To review reports about content or accounts, and apply blocks.
- To reply if you write to us asking for help or support.
9. Who we share data with
- With Google: for sign-in (Google Sign-In), for Artificial Intelligence (Gemini) responses, as explained in section 4, and, once the Premium subscription exists, for its management (Google Play), as explained in section 7.
- With Pexels: only the search term built from a recipe's title, as explained in section 5.
- With Apify: only the link you chose to import, and only if you use the Instagram/TikTok import, as explained in section 6.
- With other PeluChef users: your !Username, photo, bio, signature and counters (recipes, followers, following) are visible to any user who visits your profile. Recipes you mark as "Published" (with their number of hearts) are visible to your followers and to anyone who visits your profile. The ones you don't publish stay private, unless you decide to share them specifically.
- We don't share your data with anyone else.
10. Where your data is stored
Your account, your recipes and the photos you upload are stored on a server operated by PeluChef's developer, located in Brazil, with an encrypted connection (HTTPS) between your device and the server. This involves an international data transfer: if you use PeluChef from a country other than Brazil (for example, Argentina or Spain), your data travels and is stored outside your country. We take reasonable measures to protect it (encryption in transit, restricted access) wherever it is hosted.
11. How long we keep your data
We keep your data as long as your account exists. You can delete your own recipes at any time from the app. If you delete your account (from the app, in Settings → "Delete account", or by following the steps in How to delete your account), we completely delete your account (email, !Username, profile, photos, bio and signature), all your recipes (title, ingredients, steps and photos), your favorites and hearts, your weekly menus, your followers, your shopping list, your list preferences, your Meal Prep, your usage events, your account's plan, any Instagram/TikTok import pending confirmation (along with the audit record of your imports), your reports and blocks, and everything you saved from other accounts. We keep no copy of your recipes or your personal data; the only thing that remains is what is described in the abuse-prevention exception below. When there is an active Premium subscription, deleting the account also cancels its automatic renewal on Google Play (see How to delete your account).
Abuse-prevention exception: to prevent abuse of the AI service we keep per-day counters and technical usage records (without the content of your conversations), linked to an irreversible pseudonymous identifier derived from your Google account. Those counters and records are deleted automatically after 2 days and are not deleted together with the account. That identifier is not kept in your account record once it is deleted; it remains only in these abuse-prevention records: the usage counters and records (2 days) and, if an abuse block was applied to you, the record of that block while the block remains in force (blocks are intentionally not deleted automatically, since doing so would void them).
12. Reports and blocks
You can report an account or a recipe you find inappropriate, and block any user so you stop seeing them and they stop seeing you (this also undoes the follow between the two accounts, in both directions). We review reports to decide whether to remove content or suspend an account.
13. Minors
PeluChef is for people aged 18 or older and is not directed at children under 18. We do not knowingly collect data from anyone under that age.
14. Changes to this policy
We may update this policy from time to time. The date of the last update is shown at the top of this page.
15. Contact
For any question about this policy or your data, write to us at PeluChef.Gem@gmail.com.