Maggie’s Cookbook

Privacy Policy

Last updated 13 November 2026

Maggie’s Cookbook is a recipe app made by Ethan Gorman (“we”). You bring recipes in from links, photos and text, plan meals, make shopping lists and ask questions while you cook. This page says what the app keeps, why, who helps us run it, and how to delete it. We don’t sell your data, show ads, or track you across other companies’ apps and websites.

What we keep

• Your account. A random install ID kept in your phone’s keychain, which makes you a guest account, and a session token (we store only a hash of it). If you sign in with Apple, we also keep Apple’s user ID for you and the email Apple shares, which is often a private relay address.
• Your cookbook. Recipes you save, edit or type in, your notes and photos, the times you cook a recipe (the date, your rating, notes and the photos you add), favorites, collections, tags, meal plans, shopping lists, and the answers you give during setup (your name, how many you cook for, cooking nights, diets or allergies to avoid, cuisines you like).
• What you import. The links you share or paste, the photos and screenshots you scan, and the text you paste, so the recipe can be read out of them, plus a record of each import.
• Ask. Your questions and the replies, so a conversation can carry on and you can reopen it later.
• Pro. Whether you have Pro, which plan and until when, and how many free uses you’ve had. Payments are handled by Apple (or Google Play); we never see your card.
• Device check. On iPhone, Apple’s App Attest lets us confirm requests come from the real app on a real device. We keep the public key it creates for your install, which doesn’t identify you.
• Network details. Your IP address is used, without being stored by us, to limit abuse (for example, how many guest accounts one network can start a minute).

Step timers and meal reminders are scheduled on your phone and don’t pass through us. The app has no advertising or analytics SDKs.

Why we use it

Only to run the app: to keep your cookbook in sync, read recipes you import, answer your questions, show nutrition estimates, suggest recipes in Discover from what you save, search your cookbook, count free uses and Pro, and protect the service from abuse. We don’t use your data for advertising.

The shared library

When you import a recipe from a public link (a recipe website, or a TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, Facebook or Pinterest post), the recipe as published at that link may be added to Maggie’s shared library, after an automatic safety check, so other cooks can find it in Discover and Browse and on our website (its title, ingredients, times and tags; not the method). The library credits the original source and creator, not you. Your own edits, notes, photos and account are never shared. Recipes you scan, paste or type stay private to you.

Who helps us run it

These services process data on our behalf, only for the features described:

• Cloudflare hosts the app’s servers, database and stored images, and runs Workers AI models for the library’s safety check (Llama Guard) and for search.
• Google Cloud (Vertex AI, Gemini) reads recipes out of links, photos and text, answers Ask, paints recipe covers and matches ingredients to nutrition data.
• Microsoft Azure OpenAI and Runware paint covers and illustrations when Google can’t.
• TypeSafe suggests tags (like “weeknight” or “vegetarian”) from a recipe’s text.
• RevenueCat keeps track of Pro purchases, using your account ID and the store’s purchase records.
• Apple for Sign in with Apple, App Attest and purchases on iPhone; Google Play for purchases on Android.

We send each service only what its feature needs: the page, photo or text being read, or your question with the recipe it’s about and your setup answers. We don’t send them your email or Apple ID. When you import a link, our server fetches that page from the site it points to.

How long we keep it

Your cookbook and account stay until you delete them. Scanned pages are deleted from our storage as soon as they’ve been read; pasted text is kept only in the import’s short-lived processing record. Recipes in the shared library stay after you leave, since they came from public pages, but they’re no longer tied to your account.

Deleting your data

If you signed in with Apple: in the app, open Profile and choose Delete account. That deletes your account and everything it owns (recipes, photos, collections, tags, plans, lists, Ask conversations, import records, free-use counts and device keys) straight away.

If you use the app as a guest: open Profile and choose Delete my data. That deletes everything your guest owns (recipes, photos, collections, tags, plans, lists, setup answers, Ask conversations and import records) straight away. We keep only the bare guest: its random install ID, the device key that proves it’s this app, and how many free uses it has spent (which feature, and when), so deleting can’t be used to reset the free allowance. None of that identifies you, and a Pro purchase stays restorable.

Deleting doesn’t cancel a subscription: do that in your Apple Account (Settings → your name → Subscriptions).

You can also email support@maggiescookbook.org to ask for a copy of your data, a correction, or deletion.

Children

Maggie’s Cookbook isn’t meant for children under 13, and we don’t knowingly collect their data. If you think a child has used it, email us and we’ll delete the account.

Changes

If this policy changes, we’ll update this page and its date, and mention big changes in the app.

Contact

Questions or requests: support@maggiescookbook.org.