Privacy Policy for Plates

Last Updated: September 25, 2026

1. Overview

This Privacy Policy explains how Plates collects, uses, and protects personal information. By using the Service, you agree to this Policy.

Plates for iPhone changed how some data is handled in version 2.5.0. Where versions differ, this Policy says so: "version 2.5.0 and later" describes the updated app, and "version 2.4.3 and earlier" describes version 2.4.3 and all earlier versions. If you use version 2.4.3 or earlier, the descriptions for those versions apply until you update the app.

2. Information We Collect

We may collect:

• Account information: your email address and password if you create an email account, or your Apple or Google sign-in details; otherwise an anonymous account ID. To keep an anonymous account after you reinstall the app, the app stores its account ID in your device's secure storage (the Keychain on iPhone).
• Profile, body and nutrition data you choose to enter: for example date of birth, sex, height, body weight, activity level, goals, appetite level, strength-training frequency, profile photo, food logs, notes you add to a meal, favorites, custom foods and search history
• What has changed your appetite: version 2.4.3 and earlier ask this during goal setup (such as weight-loss medication or surgery, if you choose to answer). Version 2.5.0 and later no longer ask it. Answers you gave earlier stay in your account, are not overwritten, and may still be used to calculate your protein goal until you delete your account.
• Meal photos and text for AI analysis
• Voice recordings, if you log a meal by voice (used for speech-to-text and AI analysis)
• Food search text, when you search the food database (used to find matching foods)
• Device data: the identifier for vendor (IDFV) that iOS provides to apps from the same developer (it can be the same in other OpenHealth apps on the same device), used to apply the daily AI analysis allowance and to prevent abuse, and device and diagnostic data
• Usage analytics and crash reports (see Section 6)
• Answers to optional in-app surveys
• Purchase and subscription status (if you subscribe to Plates Plus). Payment is processed by Apple; we never receive your card details.

Some of this information, such as body weight and appetite or medication information, is health information and may be classified as sensitive depending on local regulations.

3. How We Use Your Information

Your information is used to:

• Provide and operate the Plates Service
• Generate calorie and nutrition estimations
• Improve functionality and user experience
• Provide basic marketing communications related to Plates
• Ensure safety, security, and legal compliance

We do not sell personal data.

4. Apple Health and Health Connect Integration

Plates offers optional integration with Apple Health (iOS) and Health Connect (Android) to read and write body weight data for Plates features such as weight history and calorie target calculation. This integration is disabled by default and requires your explicit opt-in from the Settings page.

Data collected:

• Body weight records (read from and written to Apple Health or Health Connect)

How we use this data:

• Display weight history and trend charts on the Stats page
• Calculate personalized daily calorie targets based on your current weight
• Keep the weight history used by Plates features up to date when you manually log a weight entry

User control:

• You can enable or disable the integration at any time from the Settings page
• You can revoke Apple Health or Health Connect permissions from your device settings
• No health data is accessed without your explicit consent

Data storage and security:

• Weight data you log in Plates, or that Plates reads from Apple Health or Health Connect, is stored securely in Firebase with encryption at rest
• We do not use Apple Health or Health Connect data for advertising, and we do not share health data with third parties for advertising or marketing purposes

Data deletion:

• You can delete individual weight records from the Stats page. This does not remove entries Plates already wrote to Apple Health or Health Connect; delete those in that app.
• Disabling the integration stops all future data access
• What happens to weight records stored on our servers when you delete your account is described in Section 10

5. AI Processing

We use third-party AI services to analyze the meal photos, voice recordings, and text you submit:

• Meal photos: analyzed by Google Gemini models, accessed through OpenRouter, which routes the request to Google.
• Voice recordings: converted to text by a Whisper speech-to-text model (developed by OpenAI) hosted by DeepInfra. The resulting transcript and any text you add are then analyzed by OpenAI GPT models, accessed through OpenRouter, which may route the request to OpenAI or Microsoft Azure.
• Food names produced by the analysis, and the words you type into food search, are matched to a nutrition database using AI models hosted by DeepInfra. Search words are sent without your account ID.

Only the minimum required data is sent to these providers to generate AI results. The specific AI models we use may change over time. Outputs may be inaccurate and should not be considered medical or nutritional advice.

Your permission (version 2.5.0 and later):

Before a meal photo or voice recording is first sent for analysis, the app shows a screen titled "Before we analyze your meal" that names the AI service providers that receive it, and asks for your permission. Food search asks separately: before your search text is first sent, the app explains that food search uses DeepInfra and asks for your permission. If you choose Not now, nothing is sent for that purpose, and you can still log meals by manual entry, saved foods or barcode. You can turn either permission off at any time in You > Settings > AI photo & voice analysis or You > Settings > Food search; the app asks again before it next needs to send. Turning a permission off stops future sending; it does not recall data already sent, and it does not delete your saved records.

Your choices are saved on your device for the Plates account you are signed in with. If you sign in with a different account, reinstall the app, or use another device, the app asks again.

Version 2.4.3 and earlier:

These versions do not show this permission step. When you log a meal by photo or voice, the photo or recording is sent for analysis as described above, and the text you type into food search is sent as you type.

Voice recordings, logs and search records:

Voice recordings are used only to create the transcript for your analysis. Our analysis server processes the recording in memory and does not store it after the analysis, and recordings are not added to your meal records. A copy of the recording may remain in the app's temporary storage on your device until your device's operating system clears it.

Our analysis server keeps operational logs for up to 30 days. Food search text is sent as part of the web address of the search request. Until September 25, 2026, these logs could include a short excerpt of a voice transcript or of a note you add, and food search requests were recorded in the analysis server's request logs together with technical details such as your IP address. Since September 25, 2026, those search request entries and the log entries that contained such excerpts are filtered out before they are stored; entries stored before then are deleted after up to 30 days. The analysis server has also recorded food search text, without your account ID, in a search analytics database; no retention period has been confirmed for these records yet.

Since September 25, 2026, our analysis server no longer writes food search text, voice transcripts or notes you add into its application logs or its search analytics database. Records written earlier are kept as described above.

6. Usage Analytics and Crash Reports

We use Google Analytics for Firebase to understand how the app is used (for example, that a meal was saved, or which input method was used) and Firebase Crashlytics to diagnose crashes and errors. These services use identifiers generated for your app installation.

Version 2.5.0 and later:

The app does not send your Plates account ID to Google Analytics or Crashlytics. It does not send health or goal attributes, such as your goal type, appetite, protein target, calorie target, calorie totals or body weight. When the app starts, it clears the account ID and the goal-related attributes that earlier versions set. Some error events can include a short error description. Crash reports contain the type of error and where in the app it occurred, not the text of error messages.

Version 2.4.3 and earlier:

These versions set your Plates account ID in Google Analytics and Crashlytics, so usage analytics and crash reports were linked to your account ID. They also sent goal-related attributes (such as your goal type, whether you reported a small appetite, your protein target range, strength training and how your targets were set) and some meal details, such as calorie totals and calorie targets. Crash reports could include the text of error messages.

Data that these services have already received is kept under their retention settings. Updating the app or deleting your account does not remove it.

7. Sharing of Information and Service Providers

We share data with the service providers below, only as needed to operate Plates. Statements about how a provider handles data summarize that provider's published terms.

• OpenRouter: routes AI requests to Google, OpenAI or Microsoft Azure. Receives meal photos, voice transcripts and notes you add. OpenRouter states that it does not use inputs or outputs for model training, that it does not log prompt and response content unless the customer turns logging on, that it keeps request metadata such as token counts and timestamps, and that it uses Standard Contractual Clauses for transfers from the EEA and the UK.
• Google (Gemini models, reached through OpenRouter via Google Vertex AI or Google AI Studio): receives meal photos. Google's terms for the paid Gemini API and Vertex AI state that prompts and responses are not used to improve Google's products. Which terms apply, including retention and location, depends on the service through which the request is routed.
• OpenAI or Microsoft Azure (GPT models, reached through OpenRouter): receive voice transcripts and notes you add. OpenAI states that data sent to its API is not used for training unless the customer opts in, and that it keeps abuse-monitoring logs for up to 30 days unless the law requires longer. Microsoft states that prompts and completions are not used to train models without the customer's permission, and that they may be stored for abuse monitoring.
• DeepInfra: hosts the speech-to-text and food-matching models. Receives voice recordings, food names produced by the analysis, and food search text. DeepInfra states that it does not use data submitted to its APIs for training models (except for certain third-party models, which Plates does not use there), that input is held in memory only while it is processed, and that data may be processed in the United States.
• Google Firebase and Google Cloud (Google LLC): store your account, meal records, photos and settings (Firebase Authentication, Cloud Firestore, Cloud Storage and Cloud Functions), run our analysis server and its logs, provide Google Sign-In if you use it, and provide Google Analytics for Firebase and Firebase Crashlytics (Section 6).
• RevenueCat (subscription management): receives purchase receipts and an app-specific user identifier to validate and manage Plates Plus subscriptions.
• Apple: processes App Store purchases and payments, and Sign in with Apple if you use it. Before an AI analysis, a one-time DeviceCheck token generated on your device is sent through our server to Apple's DeviceCheck service to check and update a per-device abuse flag; we store the result of this check (the device state and when it was checked) with your account ID.
• Legal authorities when required by law

We do not share information with third parties for their own marketing.

8. International Data Transfers

Your information may be processed in Japan, the United States, or other countries where the providers in Section 7 operate. We take reasonable measures to protect your data across borders.

9. Meal Photos (Purpose, Retention, and Deletion)

Meal photos are used to generate AI-based calorie and nutrition estimates and, if your analysis is saved, may be linked to your meal records.

• Purpose: Food analysis, meal logging, and history display in the app.
• Retention: Photos linked to saved meal records are retained while those records remain in your account. Draft or orphaned records may be cleaned up automatically (for example, old draft sessions).
• Deletion: When related meal records are deleted, associated photo files are deleted through backend cleanup processes. What happens to photos when you delete your account is described in Section 10.

10. Data Retention and Account Deletion

We keep your data while your account exists and as needed for the purposes described in this Policy (including security, fraud prevention, and legal compliance):

• Your account, profile, goals, meal records, meal photos, weight records and other data you save: while your account exists, or until you delete them
• Operational and request logs of our analysis server: up to 30 days (Section 5)
• Food search text in our search analytics database: stored without your account ID; no retention period has been confirmed yet (Section 5)
• Per-device daily counts of AI analyses: kept so that the daily allowance cannot be reset by deleting and re-creating an account; no retention period has been confirmed yet
• Usage analytics and crash reports: kept under the retention settings of Google Analytics and Crashlytics (Section 6)
• Purchase records: held by Apple and RevenueCat

Deleting your account (version 2.5.0 and later):

You can delete your account at any time in the app (You > Settings > Delete account).

This permanently deletes your account and the data stored with it on our servers, including your profile, goals, meal records, meal photos, weight records, favorites, custom foods and search history. The per-device daily counts of AI analyses are kept, but they are no longer linked to your account. Once deletion has started, no new data can be saved to the account from any device, anything that still arrives (such as a photo upload that was already in progress) is removed within about two hours, and if the deletion is interrupted, our servers complete it automatically. For this, we keep a minimal deletion record, containing only your account ID and the times the deletion was requested and completed, until about 7 days after the deletion is completed, and then delete it.

If you signed in with Apple, deleting your account also revokes the Sign in with Apple authorization that Plates holds.

Deleting your account (version 2.4.3 and earlier):

In these versions, deleting your account in the app deletes your sign-in and only part of your data, such as your profile and some older records. Your meal records, meal photos and other data stored with your account may remain on our servers. If you deleted your account with one of these versions, or cannot use the app, contact us at info@openhealth.co.jp and we will delete the remaining data.

In all versions:

Deleting your account does not remove operational and request logs until they expire, food search text in our search analytics database, usage analytics and crash reports that Google Analytics and Crashlytics have already received, or purchase records held by Apple and RevenueCat. Deleting your account does not cancel a Plates Plus subscription; cancel it in your Apple ID subscription settings first. Some data may remain in the app's storage on your device until you delete the app.

11. Your Rights

Depending on your region, you may have rights including:

• Access to your data
• Correction or deletion of your data
• Limiting certain types of processing

You can delete individual meal records in the app, and you can delete your account as described in Section 10. For other requests, contact: info@openhealth.co.jp

12. Children's Privacy

The Service is not intended for children under 13. We do not knowingly collect data from children under 13. If such data is found, we will delete it as required by law.

13. Updates to This Policy

We may update this Policy periodically. Continued use of Plates indicates acceptance of the updated Policy.

14. Contact

For privacy-related questions or requests:
OpenHealth Inc.
Email: info@openhealth.co.jp