Hot Flash Kitchen Privacy Policy
Effective date: November 6, 2026
This policy covers the Hot Flash Kitchen app ("the app", "we", "us") and explains what it does with information. The short version: what you enter stays on your phone. Only what's needed to link two phones and to check your plan goes online, plus a few anonymous daily counts of how far new users get (nothing about you in them). We don't run ads, we don't sell or share your information, and we don't track you across other apps or websites.
We're not a HIPAA-covered entity. Hot Flash Kitchen isn't a healthcare provider, health plan or healthcare clearinghouse, or a business associate of one, so the federal health privacy law HIPAA doesn't apply to the app. We protect your information as this policy describes, and the state consumer health data laws in our Consumer Health Data Privacy Policy do apply.
The app is for adults. Hot Flash Kitchen is intended for adults 18 and over.
What stays on your phone
Everything you enter or do in the app is stored only on your own phone and is never sent to us or anyone else. The exceptions are a partner's first name on a join request and a few anonymous daily counts with nothing about you in them, both explained below. This includes:
- your name, phone number (if you add a partner), pronouns, food preferences, and the city or ZIP code you type in
- your partner's name, pronouns and phone number, if you add them
- how you feel each day, the meals you choose, cook, save, order or eat out, and your ratings
- the patterns the app works out from your check-ins and ratings
- whether your partner has an iPhone, and whether your texts say how you feel
- a random household ID, and which plan was bought on this phone
- pictures you make to share (kept in the app's temporary files)
- your reminder settings
- in Partner Mode: the partner's own name and number, your name, number and pronouns, their city, the meals they make, order or save, and their alert settings
How we handle health-related information is also set out in our Consumer Health Data Privacy Policy.
The app doesn't use your phone's location services, contacts, camera, microphone or Apple Health. Your phone's own backups (such as iCloud Backup) include the app's data if you have them turned on, under Apple's terms.
What goes online, and why
Only the items below leave your phone on their own, and only to make two things work: linking your phone with your partner's, and checking whether your plan is active, plus the anonymous counts in item 4.
1. Linking two phones: Google Firebase
- An anonymous ID for each phone that uses linking: yours once you've added a partner, and your partner's once they enter your code. It's a random code, not tied to your name, email or phone number. If you use the app just for yourself, nothing goes to Firebase.
- The link record: a random household ID and the anonymous IDs of the linked phones (just yours until your partner joins).
- The invite code: the code, your anonymous ID and household ID, and when it was made and expires. Each code works once and expires after 48 hours; it's deleted once it's used or replaced.
- Your partner's first name, briefly. When your partner enters your code, the first name they type goes with their request so you can confirm it's them. It's deleted as soon as you answer, or if your partner withdraws the request. If you don't answer, the code expires after 48 hours and the request is deleted no later than the next time either of your phones opens the app.
- Technical data Firebase logs automatically: the phone's IP address and basic device details (such as the operating system version and which Firebase software versions the app uses), which Firebase keeps for a few weeks to protect against misuse.
2. Your plan: RevenueCat
- An ID for your plan: your random household ID (the same one that names your link record) with "-plan" added, so a partner plan can cover both phones. Before linking, your partner's phone uses a random ID from RevenueCat.
- Your purchase history for this app, as Apple reports it: which plan, when it started and renews, the price and store country, Apple's transaction IDs, and whether it's active.
- Technical data RevenueCat's service receives when checking your plan: the app version, device type, operating system version, your phone's language and App Store country, IP address, and the phone's identifier for apps from the same developer (Apple's "identifier for vendor", which resets if you delete every app from us). It isn't the advertising identifier, and it isn't used for tracking or advertising.
3. Payment: Apple Subscriptions are sold, billed and refunded by Apple through your Apple Account. We never see your payment details. Apple handles this under its own privacy policy.
4. How far new users get: anonymous daily counts (Google Firebase) So we can see where new users stop before choosing a plan, the app adds 1 to a few daily counters: phones opening the app for the first time, seeing the welcome screen, finishing setup, making a first check-in, seeing the plan screen, tapping a plan, and starting, cancelling, completing or hitting an error on a purchase (the error's type only, such as "network"). Each counter is one total per day and app version, kept in the same Firebase project as the link. Nothing travels with it: no user, device or install ID, no account, no time of day, nothing you enter and nothing about how you feel, so a count can't be tied to you or to your phone. If a count can't be sent, your phone keeps a plain note that it still owes it and tries again the next time the app opens.
That's everything. Beyond those counts, the app has no analytics, no crash reporting, no advertising, no advertising identifier, and no cookies.
These companies process this information for us as service providers, under their own terms: Firebase privacy, RevenueCat privacy, Apple privacy.
How we use it
Only to link your phone with your partner's, let you confirm who's joining, keep the link working, check and restore your plan, protect the service from misuse, and, from the anonymous daily counts, see where new users stop before choosing a plan. We don't use it for advertising, profiling or anything else, and we don't sell or share it. We don't collect, use, share or sell any information to train AI models, including large language models.
Our launch email list (the website)
If you sign up on our website to hear when Hot Flash Kitchen launches, we collect your email address. This is separate from the app: it isn't linked to anything you enter in the app, and you don't need to sign up to use the app.
- Why: to email you when the app is out, and now and then with news about it. Nothing else.
- Who handles it: our email service, Kit (kit.com), stores the list and sends the emails for us. Like most email services, Kit also records when you signed up and confirmed, and whether our emails are opened or their links tapped. We don't sell or share the list, and we don't use it for ads.
- How to unsubscribe: tap "Unsubscribe" at the bottom of any email, or email hotflashkitchenapp@gmail.com. Unsubscribing stops the emails at once.
- How long it's kept: until you unsubscribe or ask us to delete it. Ask, and we delete your address from the list.
When information is shared
Only with the service providers above (and Kit, for the launch email list), so the app and the list can work. We may also disclose information if the law requires it, to protect people's safety, or as part of a sale or transfer of the app (in which case this policy still applies to what was collected under it).
How long it's kept
- The link record and your anonymous ID: until you unlink or remove your partner, or until you ask us to delete them.
- Invite codes: until used, replaced, or 48 hours pass.
- Your partner's first name on a request: until you answer or your partner withdraws it. If the code expires first, until either of your phones next opens the app.
- Firebase's technical logs: a few weeks.
- The anonymous daily counts: kept as totals for as long as they're useful to us. They hold nothing about you, so there's nothing in them to delete.
- Purchase history at RevenueCat: while you have a plan, and afterward as needed for records, unless you ask us to delete it. Apple keeps its own purchase records under its terms.
Links you tap and texts you send
- Takeout and eating-out ideas can open Yelp, Google Maps, Uber Eats, DoorDash or OpenTable. When you tap one, that service receives the search: the cuisine, and for Yelp and Google Maps the city or ZIP code you entered. Without one, Google Maps searches near you, under Google's own location settings. What happens there is covered by that service's privacy policy.
- The "Text" buttons open your own Messages app with a message ready to send. The app doesn't send anything itself, and we never see your messages. If you choose, the text can say how you're feeling; you can change that on your Me tab under Partner.
- Share my plate makes a picture or a text on your phone and opens your phone's share sheet, so you choose where it goes. It shows how you feel only if you turn on "How I feel", which starts off every time. A picture carries our web address (hotflashkitchen.github.io/get), which sends people on to the App Store with the tag "share-card"; a text carries the App Store link with the tag "share-text". The tags are the same for everyone, so Apple can tell us how many downloads came from shares, never who shared.
- Print or save on Trends hands your summary to your phone's printing and saving. Where it goes from there is up to you.
Reminders
Reminders are notifications scheduled on your phone. No server is involved. Partner Mode's alerts work the same way, on the partner's phone. Turn them off in the app or in your phone's settings.
Deleting your information
- Everything on your phone: delete the app. To erase just your check-ins (how you felt and your meal ratings), tap "Erase my check-ins" on your Me tab.
- Everything at once: tap "Delete my data" on your Me tab. After it asks, it deletes your link record, any invite codes and your anonymous ID from Firebase (which disconnects the other phone) and everything the app saved on your phone, then starts over. It doesn't cancel a subscription; the same card opens your Apple subscription settings.
- The link: tap Unlink on your Me tab (your partner can do the same on theirs). This deletes the link record, any invite code and that phone's anonymous ID from Firebase right away, and disconnects the other phone. Removing a partner who was never linked, or switching to "Just me", deletes your invite codes, link record and anonymous ID the same way.
- Purchase history at RevenueCat: email hotflashkitchenapp@gmail.com with your Support ID (at the bottom of your Me tab) and we'll delete it. This doesn't cancel a subscription; to cancel, go to your Apple Account settings.
Your privacy rights
Depending on where you live (including California and other US states with privacy laws), you may have the right to know what information we have, get a copy, correct it, or have it deleted. You can also ask for the list of the specific companies we've disclosed personal information to: they are Google (Firebase) and RevenueCat, as service providers, and nobody else. We don't sell or share personal information, and we don't use it for targeted advertising or profiling. To make a request, email hotflashkitchenapp@gmail.com. Because we hold only random IDs, please include your Support ID, shown at the bottom of your Me tab in the app, so we can find your records. We won't treat you differently for using these rights.
Do Not Track: the app doesn't track you across apps or websites, so there's nothing for a Do Not Track signal to turn off.
Security
Information that goes online is sent encrypted (HTTPS). The link records are protected so each phone can reach only its own household's record. No system is perfectly secure, but we keep what's online as small as possible so there's little to protect.
Where it's processed
Firebase and RevenueCat may process information in the United States and other countries where they operate. The app is offered in the United States only.
Adults only
Hot Flash Kitchen is intended for adults 18 and over, and isn't meant for anyone younger. We don't knowingly collect information from anyone under 18. If you believe someone under 18 has used the link feature or bought a plan, email us and we'll delete what we hold.
Not medical advice
Hot Flash Kitchen shares food ideas to enjoy. It isn't medical advice, and it doesn't diagnose or treat anything. Please check with your healthcare provider before changing how you eat, especially if you take any medication or are pregnant. You know your body best, so check ingredients for anything you're allergic to, including cross-contact from shared kitchens and equipment. When you order in or eat out, confirm ingredients with the restaurant or food provider. In an emergency, seek immediate medical help.
Changes
If this policy changes, we'll update the date above and post the new policy here. If a change means new information goes online, we'll say so in the app before it happens.