Privacy Policy

Last updated: 20 August 2026

1. Introduction

This Privacy Policy describes how Curate ("Curate," "we," "us," or "our") collects, uses, discloses, and safeguards information in connection with the Curate mobile application and any associated websites (together, the "Service"). Curate is developed and operated by Ethan Foster. By using the Service, you agree to the collection and use of information as described in this policy.

2. Information We Collect

We collect only the information you provide to us directly or generate through your use of the Service.

2.1 Account and profile information

• Your email address, or the private relay address provided by Apple if you sign in with Apple.
• Profile details you choose to set: display name, handle (username), biography, and profile photo.
• Your account privacy setting (public or private), which governs the visibility of your content.

2.2 Content you submit

• Restaurants, visits, ratings, notes, dishes, and photographs you add to your journal.
• Companions you tag on a visit, and your responses to tags from other users.
• Comments and likes you leave on visits.
• Reports you submit concerning another user, comment, or visit.

2.3 Social connection information

• Accounts you follow and accounts that follow you. Follower and following lists are visible to any signed-in user.
• Accounts you block.
• "Curator" designations you assign to accounts whose recommendations you trust.

2.4 Device and location information

• A push-notification token associated with your device, used solely to deliver notifications to you (for example, when someone follows you, comments, or tags you).
• Approximate location, collected only when you enable proximity-based sorting or grant location permission to improve search results. This is used transiently and is not stored.
• Diagnostic reports when the app encounters an error or crashes. These contain your account identifier and username, the device model and operating system version, the app version, and a technical description of the error. They do not contain the content of your journal, photos, or messages.

We do not collect advertising identifiers or contact-list data, we do not track you across other apps or websites, and we do not sell your information. The diagnostic reports described above are used solely to fix faults, never to profile you or measure your behaviour.

3. How Information Is Shared With Other Users

4. Third-Party Service Providers

We engage the following categories of third-party service providers to operate the Service. Each processes information only as necessary to perform its function, and none is authorized to use your information for its own independent purposes:

• Cloud infrastructure. We use a third-party cloud platform to host, store, and secure account, content, and authentication data.
• Mapping and places data. When you search for a restaurant, your query and approximate location are sent to a third-party places and mapping provider to return results.
• Artificial intelligence processing. When you share a screenshot to identify a restaurant, or photograph a receipt to extract dish names, the relevant image or recognized text is sent to a third-party AI provider for that single purpose. It is not used to train models made available to the public.
• Push notification delivery. Your device's notification token and a short message are sent to a third-party notification service solely to deliver that notification.
• Sign-in providers. If you sign in using Google or Apple, we receive the profile information those providers make available to us (typically a name and email address, or Apple's private relay address).
• Error and crash reporting. When the app or our admin tools encounter an error, a diagnostic report is sent to a third-party error-monitoring provider so we can find and fix the fault. These reports are retained for a limited period and are used only to diagnose reliability problems.

These providers process information under contractual confidentiality and data-protection obligations consistent with this policy.

5. Moderation and Reports

If you submit a report concerning a user, comment, or visit, the report and any resulting moderation action are reviewed under restricted, credential-gated administrative access. Reports are never visible to other users and are retained, including after the reported account is deleted, for trust-and-safety and abuse-prevention purposes.

6. Data Retention and Account Deletion

You may view, edit, or delete your entries, comments, and connections at any time within the Service. You may permanently delete your account from Settings → Delete Account. Upon deletion, we promptly and permanently erase your profile, restaurants, visits, photographs, comments, likes, social connections, notifications, and uploaded files, and then remove your authentication record. This action cannot be undone.

Two categories of information are retained notwithstanding account deletion:

• Reports you filed or were named in, and any resulting moderation record, which are retained for trust-and-safety purposes and are never disclosed to other users.
• Where another user had tagged you as a companion on one of their visits, a residual internal reference to your account may remain within that user's records. It carries no name, handle, or photograph, as your profile no longer exists.

7. Children's Privacy

The Service is not directed to individuals under the age of 13, and we do not knowingly collect information from children under that age.

8. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. If we make a material change to what we collect or how it is used, we will update this page and revise the date above. Your continued use of the Service after a change constitutes acceptance of the revised policy.

9. Contact Us

If you have questions about this Privacy Policy, contact us at curatetheapp@gmail.com.