Privacy Policy

This Privacy Policy explains how Vego ("we", "us", the "App") collects, uses and shares information when you use our mobile application. We built Vego to help you plan plant-based meals, shop, and eat out — and we try to collect only what is needed to do that well.

1. Who we are

The data controller is Jacopo Giannetti, operating the Vego application. You can reach us at any time at [email protected] for privacy questions, or [email protected] for everything else.

2. Information we collect

2.1 Information you give us

• Account information. When you sign in with Apple, we receive an identifier and, depending on your choice, an email address (which may be a private relay address provided by Apple).
• Your name. We ask for a first name during onboarding. It is optional — the App works the same without it. We use it to greet you and, if you join a shared space, to show the other person who checked off which item.
• How you found us. We ask which channel brought you to Vego (for example TikTok, the App Store, or a friend). It is optional, and it is used only to understand which channels work.
• Onboarding answers. Your answers to our taste questions, foods you exclude, allergies you type in, your spice preference, and your dietary profile (vegan, vegetarian or pescatarian).
• Content you create. Grocery runs, saved recipes, shopping lists, budgets, kitchen appliances, and recipes you import by pasting a link, sharing a post from another app, or scanning.
• Photos you capture. Images of restaurant menus that you choose to scan, taken with the camera or picked from your photo library.

2.2 Information collected automatically

• Usage and cost data. We record which features you use and how often, and what each AI request costs us in tokens and images. This is stored on your account so we can understand how the App is used and keep it sustainable to run. It contains counters and totals, not the content of what you generate.
• Device and app data. Through our attribution provider (see §6): device model, operating system version, app version, language, coarse region, and device identifiers. We do not use Apple's advertising identifier (IDFA).
• Purchase data. Subscription status, trial status, renewals and cancellations, received from Apple through our subscription provider. We never receive your payment card details.
• Notification tokens. If you use Live Activities, iOS gives us a push token so the progress of a shared shopping trip can update on the other person's lock screen. Tokens are tied to the activity, not to your identity, and are deleted when the activity ends.

2.3 What we do not collect

We do not access your photo library beyond the images you explicitly pick, we do not collect precise location, we do not access your contacts, and we do not use a crash reporting SDK. If you have chosen in iOS Settings to share analytics with developers, Apple may provide us with aggregated crash reports — that is Apple's mechanism and you control it there.

2.4 Tracking

We do not track you. Vego does not ask for App Tracking Transparency permission, does not use the advertising identifier, and does not share your data with anyone for cross-context behavioural advertising. Advertising measurement, where it happens, relies on Apple's privacy-preserving aggregate reporting (SKAdNetwork), which does not identify you.

3. How we use your information

4. Your dietary profile

Your dietary profile and food exclusions are used solely to condition what the App generates and shows you. We are aware that dietary choices can reflect health conditions, religious beliefs or ethical convictions. We do not ask why you eat the way you do, we do not infer it, and we do not use this information for advertising or share it with advertisers.

5. AI, photos and imported links

Vego uses artificial intelligence to generate recipes, create dish images, and read what you scan or share. Specifically:

• Recipes, substitutions, grocery lists and menu verdicts are generated using Google Gemini. We send the AI service your relevant preferences — cuisine, budget, exclusions, dietary profile, spice preference — but not your name, email or account identifier.
• Dish images are generated with fal.ai from a short text description of the recipe. No personal data is sent.
• Menu photos. When you scan a menu, the photo is uploaded to our storage, analysed, and kept in your account so you can reopen that menu later from your scan history. You can delete any scan from inside the App, which removes both the result and the photo. Deleting your account removes all of them.
• Barcodes. Product scans are read on your device; only the barcode number leaves the App. It may be looked up against the Open Food Facts public database.
• Links and posts. When you import a recipe from a web page, we fetch the page content at that URL to extract the recipe. When the link is a TikTok or Instagram post, the URL is sent to a third-party download provider, and the resulting video is analysed by the AI to extract the recipe. The video is processed in memory for that purpose only: it is never stored, and never made available for download.
• Shared extraction cache. The recipe we extract from a public URL may be cached and reused if someone else imports the same link. The cache holds the extracted recipe, not anything about you.

Please do not scan documents containing personal information: the scanning features are designed for menus and product packaging only.

6. Service providers

We share information with a small number of providers who process it on our behalf. Each is bound to protect it to the standard described in this policy.

We do not sell your personal data, and we do not share it for cross-context behavioural advertising.

7. Shared spaces

Vego lets you share grocery lists with one other person. If you use this feature:

• The other person sees the name you chose, the shared lists, and which items each of you has checked off — including a live update on their lock screen while shopping.
• The other person does not see your taste profile, your saved recipes, your scans, or your subscription. Those always stay private to your account.
• If you leave the space or delete your account, the space and its lists remain with the other person, and your name is removed from it. If nobody is left, the space and its lists are deleted.

8. International transfers

Our providers may process data outside the European Economic Area, including in the United States. Where this happens, transfers are covered by appropriate safeguards such as the European Commission's Standard Contractual Clauses or an adequacy decision.

9. How long we keep information

• Account, content and scanned photos: for as long as your account exists, so you can go back to them. You can delete individual items — a scan, a list, a saved recipe — at any time.
• Usage and cost counters: for as long as your account exists; daily aggregates are kept for up to 14 months.
• Records required by law (for example transaction records): as long as legally required.

When you delete your account, everything above is erased immediately, except records we must retain by law.

10. Your rights

Depending on where you live, you may have the right to access, correct, delete or export your data, to object to or restrict processing, to withdraw consent, and to lodge a complaint with your local data protection authority (in Italy, the Garante per la protezione dei dati personali).

Deleting your account. Open the App and go to Settings → Account → Delete account. This erases your profile, lists, saved recipes, scanned photos and sign-in credentials. It cannot be undone. If you would rather write to us, email [email protected].

Your subscription is billed by Apple, not by us: deleting your account does not cancel it. Manage or cancel it in Settings → Apple Account → Subscriptions on your device.

You can change notification permissions at any time in your device settings.

11. Children

Vego is not directed to children, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from them. We do not offer the App to anyone under 16, or under the minimum age of digital consent in their country where that is lower. If you believe a child has provided us with personal information, contact us and we will delete it.

12. Security

Data is transmitted over encrypted connections and stored with our providers using access controls. Requests between the App and our servers are authenticated and signed. No system is perfectly secure, but we take reasonable measures to protect your information.

13. Changes to this policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. If changes are significant, we will notify you in the App. The date at the top always reflects the current version.

14. Contact

Privacy questions and requests: [email protected] Everything else: [email protected]