TasteBud ('TasteBud', 'we', 'us', and 'our') helps people discover food and drink recommendations. This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, disclose, and protect personal information when you use heytastebud.com and related services.

By using TasteBud, you acknowledge this Privacy Policy and our Terms and Conditions.

We collect information you provide directly, information generated through your use of the app, and limited information from trusted third-party services that support core functionality.

• Account and profile data: email address, authentication provider identifiers, and optional profile fields such as first and last name.
• Preferences and filters: dietary restrictions, allergies, likes/dislikes, flavor preferences, distance/rating/review filters, and other recommendation settings.
• Location data: location text you type, plus device geolocation coordinates only when you grant browser permission.
• Conversation data: your prompts, generated responses, and saved recommendation payloads (for example place cards and menu recommendations) in your chat history.
• Billing and transaction data: Stripe customer identifiers, subscription status, billing period timestamps, and tip/checkout metadata. Payment card numbers are processed by Stripe and are not stored by TasteBud.
• Usage and service data: daily search count, tier status (free or premium), request logs, and technical diagnostics used to operate and secure the service.
• Local device storage data: location permission state, saved current location label/coordinates, and checkout return metadata stored in browser local/session storage.

We use information to provide and improve TasteBud, including personalization, account management, and reliable billing operations.

• Provide recommendations, menu guidance, and conversational responses tailored to your request, location, and saved preferences.
• Authenticate users, maintain sessions, protect accounts, and prevent abuse.
• Track plan limits and feature access (for example daily search usage and free vs premium gating).
• Process subscription purchases, renewals, cancellations/resumptions, and tips through Stripe.
• Store and show chat history, and support user actions such as deleting saved chats.
• Debug, monitor, and improve performance, reliability, and product quality.
• Comply with legal obligations and enforce our Terms and Conditions.

Depending on where you live, our legal bases include: performing our contract with you (providing the service you requested), your consent (for example geolocation permission), our legitimate interests (security, reliability, abuse prevention, and product improvement), and legal compliance obligations.

We share information with service providers only as needed to run TasteBud. We do not sell personal information.

• Supabase: authentication, session handling, and hosted database infrastructure.
• Google services: Gemini model calls, Maps Grounding, Places, Geocoding, and Place Photos to generate and verify recommendation context.
• Stripe: checkout, billing portal, subscription lifecycle, and tip payments.
• Hosting and infrastructure providers: deployment, networking, and operational reliability.
• Legal and business transfers: we may disclose data when required by law or in connection with a merger, acquisition, financing, or asset transfer.

TasteBud uses AI systems and grounded data sources to generate recommendations and summaries. To do this, prompts and relevant context (such as location hints and preference context) may be sent to integrated provider APIs.

We work to make responses useful and accurate, but recommendations may be incomplete, stale, or imperfect. Always confirm critical details such as allergens, ingredients, pricing, availability, and opening hours directly with the business.

We retain information for as long as needed to provide the service, support your account, and satisfy legal/accounting/security requirements.

• Account records are retained while your account is active and as needed for legal or security purposes.
• Saved chats remain in your account history until you delete them, subject to backup/log retention windows.
• Preference settings remain until updated or deleted.
• Billing/subscription and transaction records are retained as needed for financial reporting, fraud prevention, and legal compliance.

We use reasonable administrative, technical, and organizational safeguards designed to protect personal information. No security control is perfect, and we cannot guarantee absolute security.

You can access and update much of your data directly in the app. Depending on your location, you may also have legal rights to request access, correction, deletion, portability, or to object/restrict certain processing.

• Update or delete preference data from the Preferences experience.
• Delete saved chats from the History page.
• Manage billing details and subscription actions through Stripe billing flows in the app.
• Control location sharing via browser permission settings and clear local storage if desired.
• Submit privacy rights requests by email at privacy@heytastebud.com.

TasteBud uses cookies and similar storage technologies for authentication/session handling and core product behavior. Some payment-related functionality may load Stripe domains that use their own cookies and local storage under Stripe's policies.

If you block required cookies/storage, parts of the service may not function correctly.

TasteBud is not directed to children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If you believe a child provided personal information, contact us and we will take appropriate action.

TasteBud and our providers may process and store information in the United States and other countries where they operate. By using the service, you understand that your information may be transferred to jurisdictions with different data protection rules than your own.

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. When we make material changes, we will update the 'Last updated' date and, where appropriate, provide additional notice in the app or by email.

For privacy questions or requests, email privacy@heytastebud.com.