Privacy policy

Last updated November 8, 2026

FoodCodeBuddy is a reference app for the Ohio Food Code. This policy covers all of FoodCodeBuddy's services, including the iPhone and Android apps, the web app at app.foodcodebuddy.com, and this website (foodcodebuddy.com). The Ohio restaurant inspections site at inspections.foodcodebuddy.com has its own privacy policy.

What we collect, and why

Your account

Our sign-in provider stores your email address, name and password; we never see your password. If you sign in with another account, such as Google, that provider shares your name and email address with us. FoodCodeBuddy keeps its own copy of your email and name, an internal account id and when you last signed in, so it can show your data to you and nobody else. Staying signed in uses a token or cookie on your device, never for advertising or tracking.

We also note which of our apps you use (iPhone, Android or web), the app version, when you first and last used each, and how many times you've opened it, so we know which apps people rely on and which versions are still in use. This stays on our servers and goes with your account when you delete it.

What you create

Your tag groups, with their tags, notes and rule links, are stored on our servers so they sync between your devices. If you belong to an organization, such as a health district, we store that membership and your role. An organization's tag groups belong to it and are visible to its members.

Questions you ask

When you ask FoodCodeBuddy a question online, we send it to our AI provider, Anthropic, with the rules that match it and the names of your tags and tag groups, and your notes, on those rules, so the answer can use your own labels. Anthropic uses them only to write the answer. Under its commercial terms it does not train its models on them, and it deletes them within 30 days, unless the law requires it to keep them longer or its safety systems flag the request for review, which can mean up to 2 years.

We don't store your questions or the answers on our servers. We record that you asked one, when, how long the question and the answer were, and what the answer cost, so we can count your monthly questions and keep the service affordable. The apps keep a list of your recent questions on your device; delete them there at any time. Where an app answers a question offline, the question, your tags and the answer stay on your device.

On your devices

The iPhone and Android apps store the Ohio Food Code and a copy of your data on your phone so it works offline.

The web app

The web app keeps a few things in your browser so it works the way you left it: cookies from our sign-in provider that keep you signed in, your light or dark setting, your recent searches, where you were reading, which tag groups you've hidden, whether you've accepted the disclaimer and seen the welcome screen, and a copy of the chapters you've opened so they load faster. The list of your recent searches is kept only in your browser. To clear all of it, clear this site's data in your browser.

Where the web app lets you read without signing in, we don't ask who you are. Our server limits how many requests each IP address can make, to stop abuse; the address is held briefly in memory and not stored. Our hosting provider processes the standard technical information any web server receives, such as your IP address, to deliver pages and protect them from attacks.

Crash reports and diagnostics

When the app or our server hits an error, our crash-reporting provider receives a report: what went wrong, the device model, operating system and app version, and recent log messages. It can also include crash and hang diagnostics and a short replay of the screen before the error, with all text and images masked: it shows which screens you visited and where you tapped, never what was on them. A report carries at most your internal account id. When you aren't signed in, it carries a random id instead, created when the app is installed; it is not your device's advertising id or hardware id. IP addresses are not stored, and our server removes what you searched for or typed before a report leaves it.

In the web app, a report includes the page's address, your browser and operating system, and what happened on the page just before the error: messages it logged, requests it made, pages you moved between and what you clicked. The page's address can include what you searched for. A report from the web app carries no account id and no replay, and IP addresses are not stored.

Product analytics

Our iPhone, Android and web apps send a short list of usage events to our analytics provider, so we can see which features are used and where people get stuck: that the app was opened, that a regulation or a rule was opened (and which regulation), that a search was run (and how many results it found), that a tag group was created, a tag added or an organization's group opened, that sync failed, and that the feedback form was opened. Each event carries your internal account id once you're signed in, or a random id before you sign in, plus the app version and device type. It never includes what you searched for, the text of your notes, tags or groups, your name or your email. There are no screen recordings, no automatic tracking of taps or pages, and IP addresses are not stored.

In the web app, each event also carries the page's address without anything after the "?", your browser, operating system and screen size, and the domain of the site that sent you there, never its full address. The random id and a session id are kept in a cookie and in your browser's storage, for our analytics provider only, never for advertising.

This website (foodcodebuddy.com) does not use analytics.

Feedback you send

In-app feedback (shake your phone, or Settings › Send Feedback) sends your message and the diagnostics above, but not your name or email. It also sends any screenshots you choose to include: a screenshot of your screen is attached, which you can remove, and you can add more from your photos. If you test pre-release iPhone builds on TestFlight, you can also send a screenshot with a comment through TestFlight, which passes it to us with your name, email address and device details.

Please note: feedback from either route is filed in FoodCodeBuddy's private issue tracker so we can track and fix it. Only the people who build FoodCodeBuddy can see it. Please don't include anything you wouldn't want stored there. Feedback from either route stays there after you delete your account. In-app feedback carries no name or email; TestFlight feedback includes the name and email address Apple passes to us. To have yours removed, email us.

Getting the app

Anyone can get FoodCodeBuddy; we don't ask for your details to let you in. On iPhone and iPad you install it from Apple's App Store, and on Android, where it is still in beta, throughGoogle Play. Each handles the install under its own privacy policy.

While the Android beta is a closed test, you first join our testers' group on Google Groups with your Google account. Google shows us the email address of each account in the group; we use it only to run the test. To stop testing, leave the group, and your address goes with it.

If someone at FoodCodeBuddy emails you an invitation, we keep your email address, any name they entered, and when we emailed you, so we know who has been invited and don't email you twice. The email goes out through our email provider. To stop hearing from us, reply to the invitation or email us, and we won't email you again.

If you join the Android waitlist on the Get the app page, we keep the name and email address you give, and email you once to confirm it was you. Only if you confirm do we email you again, once, when the Android app is ready. The form is rate limited by IP address; the address is held briefly in memory and not stored.

Asking us to cover your state

If you use the request form to ask us to cover your state, we keep what you enter: your name, email address, the state, and any of the optional details you give, such as your role, organization, which rules you use and your message. We use it only to decide which states to cover next, and someone from FoodCodeBuddy may email you by hand with a question about it. We never email you automatically: there is no confirmation, no acknowledgement and no automatic notice when a state is added. If you send another request for the same state, we update the one we have. The form is rate limited by IP address; the address is held briefly in memory and not stored. We delete a request 24 months after you last sent it, sooner if we decide not to cover that state, or whenever you ask us to.

Until October 2026, people asked to join through a form on this website. If you did, we keep the name, email address, and any organization, role and message you gave, and we sent your name and email address to Apple to invite you through TestFlight.

Email from us

We may email the address on your account about FoodCodeBuddy. Notices about the service, such as changes to this policy or our terms, or an outage that affects you, go to every account. Other news, such as a new version of the app, has an unsubscribe link at the bottom: once you use it, we won't send you news again, though notices still reach you. We keep a record of each email we send you and whether it was delivered, so we don't email anyone twice. That record goes with your account when you delete it.

This website

This website, foodcodebuddy.com, sets no cookies and runs no analytics or third-party scripts. Our hosting provider processes the standard technical information any web server receives, such as your IP address, to deliver pages and protect them from attacks.

Who processes your data

We use a small number of service providers, each only for the job listed:

• Sign-in: accounts and authentication, including the web app's sign-in cookies.
• Hosting: our servers, database and web app, in the United States; this website and our domain.
• Crash reports: crash reports and diagnostics from the apps, the web app and our servers, and in-app feedback, in the United States.
• AI answers: Anthropic writes the answers to questions you ask online, as described above.
• Product analytics: the usage events described above, in the United States.
• Feedback tracking: our private issue tracker, where feedback is filed.
• Email: delivers mail sent to our support address, and sends invitations and our emails to account holders.
• Apple: the App Store, which distributes the iPhone and iPad app, and TestFlight, which distributes pre-release test builds.
• Google: Google Play, which distributes the Android app and runs its beta testing, and Google Groups, which holds the testers' group for the Android closed test.

We may disclose information if the law requires it, and only as far as it requires.

How long we keep it

• Your account and what you create: until you delete your account.
• Beta invitations, the Android waitlist and requests sent through the old form: while the beta runs, or until you delete your account. Email us to have yours removed sooner.
• Records of the emails we sent you: until you delete your account.
• Records of the questions you asked (never their text): until you delete your account. Anthropic's copy: as described in Questions you ask.
• Requests to cover a state: 24 months after you last sent one, or sooner if we decide not to cover that state or you ask us to.
• Crash reports and diagnostics: for our crash-reporting provider's limited retention period, then deleted.
• Usage events: for our analytics provider's retention period. Email us to have yours deleted sooner.
• Feedback you send: in our private issue tracker, including after you delete your account.

Deleting your account

In the FoodCodeBuddy app, on iPhone or Android, go to Settings → Account → Delete Account. The app lists what will be deleted and asks you to confirm.

Deletion is immediate and permanent. It removes:

• your account and your sign-in;
• your own tag groups, including every tag, note and section link in them;
• your organization memberships.

Tag groups that belong to an organization, such as the State of Ohio groups, stay with that organization. The app signs you out and removes your account's data from your phone; the Ohio Food Code already downloaded keeps working offline.

You need an internet connection to delete your account. If you sign up again with the same email, you start with a new, empty account.

If you signed in with Apple, deleting your account in the app also removes FoodCodeBuddy's access to your Apple Account. If that can't be done, the app tells you. You can always remove it yourself: on your iPhone, go toSettings → [your name] → Sign-In & Security → Sign in with Apple, choose FoodCodeBuddy and tapStop Using.

On Android, the app can't remove its access to your Apple Account. After deleting your account it shows you how to do it yourself: at account.apple.com, open Sign-In and Security → Sign in with Apple, choose FoodCodeBuddy and stop using it.

Can't sign in, or want us to do it for you? Email [email protected]from the address on your account.

Children

FoodCodeBuddy is a professional tool, not directed at children under 13. We don't knowingly collect their information.

Changes to this policy

If we change this policy, we'll update it here and change the date at the top.

Contact

Questions, or a request to see, correct or delete your information: [email protected].