Privacy Policy · Hearth

The short version

We collect what Hearth needs to plan your meals, build your grocery list and keep your household in sync.
No ads. We don’t sell your information or share it for advertising, and the app has no third-party analytics or tracking tools.
Location is optional and only used once, to fill in your ZIP code. We never receive your GPS coordinates.
If you connect Kroger, items go to your Kroger cart only when you add them. You check out with Kroger, and Hearth never sees your store password or payment card.
You can export everything at any time, and delete your account in the app or by email.

Who we are

This policy covers the Hearth app for Android and this website. Hearth is made by Sycamore Hill Studios. “Hearth,” “we” and “us” mean Sycamore Hill Studios LLC, 6315 Sycamore Hl, Indianapolis, IN 46220-4330, United States, which operates the app and is responsible for your information.

What we collect

Your account

Email address and display name. We use your email to sign you in: each time you sign in by email, we send you a one-time code (emails are delivered by Microsoft Azure Communication Services).
Google or Apple sign-in, if you use it. If you choose Continue with Google (or Sign in with Apple, where it’s offered), we receive an account identifier from that provider and the email address and name it shares with us. We never receive your Google or Apple password.

Your household and its content

Household: your household’s name, its members and their display names, and invites you create.
Food preferences: diet type, allergies, ingredients you dislike, household size and default servings. Allergy information can be sensitive (it can say something about health), so we only use it to filter recipes and show allergen warnings for your household.
Your kitchen content: pantry items, meal plans, grocery lists and items (including who checked an item off), saved and imported recipes, photos you import, notes, favorites, ratings and cooking history.
Settings: units, appearance and notification choices.

Recipe imports

Web addresses (URLs) you import, and photos of recipes you take or choose. These are sent to Hearth’s servers to pull out the recipe. Imported photos are stored in Microsoft Azure Blob Storage so they show up with your recipe. See Recipe import and AI.

Location and stores

ZIP code: you can type your ZIP code, or allow location access. With your permission, the app asks your phone for its approximate location once and uses your phone’s location services to turn it into a ZIP code. Only the ZIP code (never coordinates) is sent to Hearth, and to Kroger to find nearby stores. It’s saved for your household.
Store connection (Kroger): if you connect a Kroger account, we receive and store the access tokens Kroger issues for Hearth. They’re encrypted at rest. We also save your chosen store, pickup or delivery preference, and the products you pick for grocery items so your next cart can pre-select them. We never see your Kroger password or payment details.

Subscriptions

Hearth Pro is bought through Google Play, and Google processes the payment. To unlock Pro, we receive and store the purchase token, the product (monthly or annual), and the subscription’s status, trial and renewal or expiry dates from Google. We never see your card or other payment details.

Notifications

If you allow notifications, we store your device’s Firebase Cloud Messaging token (and whether it’s an Android or iOS device) so we can send household notifications, like when the week’s grocery list is ready, someone starts shopping or the plan changes. We also keep the time we last sent you each kind of notification, so we don’t send too many.

Messages and technical information

Messages: anything you send us when you email us or use Help & feedback.
Technical information: when the app talks to our servers, our hosting provider records standard technical details such as the time, the request and any errors. We use your IP address briefly to stop repeated sign-in attempts, and keep these logs for security and troubleshooting only.

What we don’t collect

Your precise location or GPS coordinates.
Audio recordings. Voice commands are handled on your phone (see below).
Your contacts, or photos other than the ones you choose to import.
Payment card details or store passwords.
Advertising IDs. Hearth has no ads and no third-party analytics or tracking SDKs.

Phone permissions

Hearth asks for each permission only when you use the feature that needs it. Every one is optional.

Permission	What it’s for
Location (approximate)	Filling in your ZIP code once, so you can find nearby stores. You can type a ZIP instead.
Camera	Taking a photo of a recipe card or cookbook page to import it. Nothing else.
Microphone	Hands-free cooking commands like “next” and “repeat.” Your phone’s speech recognition service (on most Android phones, provided by Google) turns speech into words; Hearth only uses the recognized command and never records, stores or sends audio to our servers.
Notifications	Household updates and cooking timers. Turn them off in Settings → Notifications or in Android settings.

Choosing a photo from your gallery uses Android’s photo picker, which only shares the photos you pick. Hearth doesn’t ask for access to your whole photo library.

How we use it

To run Hearth: build plans that fit your preferences, combine your grocery list, sync it with your household and power cooking mode.
To import the recipes you ask us to import.
To find Kroger stores near your ZIP code and, when you ask, add items to your Kroger cart.
To unlock Hearth Pro when you subscribe, and check that the subscription is still active.
To sign you in, keep your account secure and prevent abuse.
To send the notifications you’ve allowed, and emails about your account (like sign-in codes).
To answer your messages and fix problems.
To meet legal obligations.

We don’t use your information for advertising, we don’t sell it, and we don’t share it for cross-context behavioral advertising.

Recipe import and AI

When you import a recipe from a web address or a photo, the address or image is sent to Hearth’s servers, which pull out the title, ingredients and steps. To read photos, and pages without structured recipe data, we send the page text or image to Microsoft Azure OpenAI Service. We also use it to sort unusual grocery items into the right aisle and to read ingredient lines our own parser isn’t sure about.

We only send what’s needed for that one task. Microsoft processes it for Hearth under its Azure terms and doesn’t use it to train AI models. Imported recipes and photos stay private to your household.

We share information only in these cases:

Kroger, if you connect it: Kroger receives your ZIP code when you search for stores, and the products and quantities you add to your cart, only when you add them. Kroger’s own privacy policy covers what happens next. We don’t send your list to any other store.

Service providers who run parts of Hearth for us, under contracts that limit how they use your data:

Provider	What they do
Microsoft Azure	Hosting, database, file storage (imported photos and data exports), sign-in emails (Azure Communication Services) and AI for recipe import (Azure OpenAI Service)
Google	Google Play billing for Hearth Pro, push notifications (Firebase Cloud Messaging) and Google sign-in if you use it
Apple	Sign in with Apple, only if you use it

Your household: members you invite see your shared household content (see Your household).
Legal reasons: if the law requires it, or to protect the safety, rights or property of our users, the public or Hearth.
Business changes: if Hearth is merged or sold, your information may move to the new owner, who must honor this policy. We’ll tell you first.

Websites you open in the app. When you browse recipe sites in Hearth’s built-in browser, those sites load directly on your phone and their own privacy policies apply. Store maps are loaded from OpenStreetMap, which receives your device’s IP address and the map area around the stores shown.

Your household

Hearth is built for sharing. Everyone in your household sees the shared meal plan, grocery list, pantry, recipes, favorites and notes, plus names on activity like who checked off an item. Your food preferences are shared too, because they shape the household’s plans, and members can see that the household has Hearth Pro. Your email address and sign-in details aren’t shown to other members.

Where it’s stored and how it’s protected

Your data is stored on Microsoft Azure in the United States.
Everything sent between the app and our servers is encrypted in transit (HTTPS).
Data is encrypted at rest, and Kroger access tokens get an extra layer of encryption. Sign-in codes and session tokens are stored as hashes, and your household’s data is only reachable by its members.
No system is perfectly secure. If we learn of a breach that affects you, we’ll tell you as the law requires.

How long we keep it

We keep your information while your account is open.
When you delete your account in the app (Settings → Delete account), your account is deleted from our live systems right away. If you’re the last member of your household, the household’s data and photos are deleted too. Otherwise the shared household content stays with the remaining members.
If you ask by email, we delete your account within 30 days of confirming it’s you.
Deleted data can remain in encrypted backups and deleted-file storage for up to 35 days before it’s overwritten.
Data export files are deleted from our storage after 7 days. Server logs are kept for up to 30 days.
We keep a small amount of information longer only when the law requires it, for example a record that we handled your deletion request.
Google keeps its own records of your Google Play purchases under Google’s policies. Deleting your Hearth account doesn’t cancel your subscription: cancel it in Google Play.

The account deletion page has the full details.

Your choices and rights

Access and export: Settings → Export my data downloads everything your household has added, as a JSON file or a printable cookbook, on every plan.
Correct: edit your name, preferences and content in the app at any time.
Delete: Settings → Delete account, or email us. See how to delete your account.
Location: type your ZIP code instead, or turn off location access in Android settings.
Notifications: turn them off in Settings → Notifications or in Android settings.
Store connection: disconnect Kroger in Settings → Connected stores.

Depending on where you live (for example, California or other US states with privacy laws), you may have rights to know, access, correct, delete or port your personal information, and to not be discriminated against for using them. To make a request, email sycamorehillstudios@outlook.com. We’ll verify it’s you by confirming through your account email, and we’ll respond within 30 days or sooner if the law requires. You can use an authorized agent. We don’t sell or share personal information as those laws define it.

Children

Hearth is for adults running a household, and it isn’t directed to children under 13. We don’t knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If you think a child has given us information, contact us and we’ll delete it.

Changes to this policy

If we make material changes, we’ll let you know in the app or by email before they take effect, and we’ll update the date at the top of this page.

Contact us

Sycamore Hill Studios LLC
6315 Sycamore Hl, Indianapolis, IN 46220-4330, United States
Email: sycamorehillstudios@outlook.com

For help with the app, visit Support.