Privacy Policy

ChowCheck
Last updated: June 7, 2026
Effective date: June 7, 2026

1. Who We Are

ChowCheck ("we", "us", "our") is a mobile application built for Nigerian university students to manage their food budgets and discover campus vendor menus. ChowCheck is operated by David ("the Developer"), based in Nigeria.

If you have any questions about this policy, contact us at:
📧 chowchecksupport@gmail.com

2. What Data We Collect and Why

We collect only what we need to run the app. Here is a plain-English breakdown:

2.1 Account & Identity Data

We do not collect your phone number, home address, or payment card details.

2.2 Profile & Preferences Data

When you complete the onboarding survey, we store your answers locally on your device and sync them to our secure cloud database. This includes:

• Your daily or monthly food budget target
• Your hostel location on campus
• Your meal frequency preferences (1, 2, or 3 meals per day)
• Your dietary restrictions, food blacklists, and allergies
• Your provisions inventory (e.g. Garri, Indomie, Bread)
• Your protein priority and variety preference sliders

This data is used solely to power ChowCheck's food recommendation engine. We do not sell it.

2.3 Subscription & Payment Data

We offer a 7-day free trial, followed by a ₦1,000/year subscription.

• Payments are processed externally by Paystack (paystack.com). ChowCheck does not handle, store, or transmit your card or bank details. Please review Paystack's Privacy Policy.
• We store a subscription status flag (trial active / subscribed / expired) and subscription expiry date in your profile record.
• We maintain a local payment history log showing the date and amount of past payments.

2.4 App Usage & Checklist Data

• Your daily task checklist items (text you type)
• Meals you log and check off
• Your saved meal combinations ("Saved Combos")
• Pantry items you mark as available

This data lives on your device (WatermelonDB/SQLite) and syncs to our cloud database when you have internet access.

2.5 Crowdsourced Price Reports

If you flag a menu item as "Sold Out" or report a price change, we collect:

• The item you flagged
• The price you reported
• A timestamp

We do not associate price reports with your personal identity in our public database. Reports are validated by multiple independent users before any global update is applied.

2.6 Push Notifications

If you grant notification permission, we send:

• A daily 7:30 AM meal suggestion based on your budget and campus vendor menus
• Budget alerts when your daily allowance is running low

You can disable notifications at any time in your device settings or within the app (Profile → Notifications).

2.7 Error & Crash Data

We use Sentry (sentry.io) to automatically capture crash reports and error logs. Sentry may receive:

• Device type and OS version
• App version
• Stack traces (code-level error details)
• A non-personally-identifiable session ID

Sentry data is used exclusively for debugging. We do not use it for advertising. See Sentry's Privacy Policy.

3. How We Store Your Data

Your data syncs to the cloud in the background when internet is available. If you use ChowCheck offline, your data stays local until connectivity is restored.

4. Who We Share Your Data With

We do not sell your personal data. We share it only with the following service providers, strictly to operate the app:

We may disclose your information if required by Nigerian law or court order.

5. Data Retention

6. Your Rights (NDPR & General)

Under Nigeria's National Data Protection Regulation (NDPR) and general data protection principles, you have the right to:

• Access — request a copy of all data we hold about you
• Correction — request we fix inaccurate data
• Deletion — permanently delete your account and all associated data (see Section 7)
• Portability — request your data in a machine-readable format
• Object — opt out of any non-essential data processing

To exercise any of these rights, email chowchecksupport@gmail.com with the subject line "Data Request" and your registered email address. We will respond within 14 business days.

7. Deleting Your Account

You can delete your ChowCheck account at any time:

Option A — In the app:
Profile → App & Account → Delete Account
This permanently deletes your record from our servers and wipes all local data from your device.

Option B — Web form:
Visit chowcheck.app/delete-account and submit a deletion request with your email address.

After deletion, your personal data is removed from our active systems within 72 hours. Anonymised, aggregated pricing data (your crowdsourced price reports) may remain as they are no longer linked to you.

Payment history records may be retained for up to 5 years for legal compliance purposes.

8. Children's Privacy

ChowCheck is intended for university students aged 16 and above. We do not knowingly collect data from children under 13. If you believe a child has created an account, contact us at chowchecksupport@gmail.com and we will delete it immediately.

9. Security

We implement the following measures to protect your data:

• Authentication tokens (JWTs) are stored in your device's Secure Enclave via Expo SecureStore — not in plain storage
• All data transmitted between the app and our servers uses HTTPS/TLS encryption
• Our Supabase database uses Row Level Security (RLS) — you can only access your own data
• Passwords (if using email/password sign-up) are hashed by Supabase using bcrypt — we never see your plain-text password

10. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy as the app evolves. When we do:

• The "Last updated" date at the top will change
• If the change is material, we will notify you via push notification or in-app banner

Continued use of ChowCheck after the effective date constitutes acceptance of the updated policy.

11. Contact

For privacy questions, data requests, or concerns:
📧 chowchecksupport@gmail.com
🌐 chowcheck.app

ChowCheck · Building smarter campus eating, one naira at a time.