Privacy Policy

This Privacy Policy describes how Trevor Nogues ("we," "us," or "our") collects, uses, and shares information when you use the Sweetest mobile application (the "App"). By using the App, you agree to this Privacy Policy. If you do not agree, do not use the App.

1. Information We Collect

Information you provide

• Account information. When you create an account, we collect your email address, password (stored only in hashed form by Firebase Authentication), and a username you choose.
• Profile information. Your optional display name, bio, home city, profile photo, privacy setting (public or private profile), and any custom categories you create.
• User-generated content. The places, rankings, cities, optional notes, and optional photos you add to the App, along with comments and likes you leave on other users’ entries.
• Social graph. The accounts you choose to follow, follow requests you send or receive, and any accounts you choose to block.
• Reports. If you report another user, comment, or entry, we collect the report category, your optional message, and the identifier of the reported content so we can review and act on it.
• Communications. If you contact us by email, we receive the contents of that email.

Information collected automatically

• Device and usage data. Our backend provider (Google Firebase) may collect basic technical information such as device type, operating system, app version, IP address, and crash logs to keep the service running and secure.
• Authentication metadata. Sign-in timestamps and authentication tokens needed to keep you signed in.
• Approximate device location (optional, foreground only). If you grant the App permission, we read a low-accuracy device location only while the App is open and use it to bias place-search results to where you are. We never track your location in the background, do not store the raw coordinates on our servers, and do not associate them with your account. You can deny or revoke this permission at any time in your device settings; the App will fall back to your home city or a default city for biasing.
• Usage analytics. When you use the App, we log behavioral events — such as completing signup, saving a ranking entry, creating a group, or accepting a group invite — along with your account identifier, app version, platform (iOS/Android), an anonymized session identifier, and enumerated parameters (for example, a dessert category or a boolean flag). We never log raw user content such as place names, notes, or usernames in analytics. These events are stored in our own Firestore database and also forwarded to Firebase Analytics (Google’s GA4 service). We additionally send a small set of account-level properties to Firebase Analytics: your home city (if set), an approximate usage tier based on entry count, your privacy setting (public/private), the week you created your account, and your app version.

We do not use third-party advertising SDKs.

2. How We Use Information

We use the information we collect to:

• Operate, maintain, and improve the App.
• Create and authenticate your account.
• Display your rankings, photos, and profile to you and to other users in accordance with your privacy setting.
• Aggregate rankings by city to show city-level lists.
• Detect, prevent, and respond to abuse, fraud, or violations of our Terms of Service.
• Comply with legal obligations.

3. How Information Is Shared

We do not sell your personal information. We share information only as follows:

• With other users. If your profile is set to public, your username, profile, rankings, photos, and follow relationships are visible to other Sweetest users. If your profile is private, only users you approve as followers can see your photos, notes, and individual ranking lists. Your votes still contribute anonymously to city-level leaderboards regardless of your privacy setting.
• City and region rankings. Aggregated, non-personally-identifiable counts of rankings per place, city, or region may be shown to all users.
• Service providers. We share information with vendors who process data on our behalf under contractual privacy obligations:
  • Google Firebase (Authentication, Cloud Firestore, Cloud Storage, Cloud Functions) hosts the App’s data and runs our backend. See Firebase’s Privacy and Security page.
  • Firebase Analytics (Google). We use Firebase Analytics (GA4) to understand how users engage with the App — for example, which features are used, how users progress through signup, and how often entries are saved. Firebase Analytics receives the behavioral events and account properties described in Section 1. Data is processed by Google under their Firebase Data Processing Terms. Google states it does not use Firebase Analytics data for advertising purposes. See Firebase’s Privacy and Security page.
  • Foursquare powers our place-search autocomplete. When you type into a place-search field in the App, we send your search query and an approximate location bias (your device location, your home city, or a default city) to Foursquare to retrieve matching place suggestions. Your account identifier is never sent. See Foursquare’s Privacy Policy.
  • App stores and testing programs. When you install Sweetest through the App Store or a testing program such as Google Play testing, Apple or Google may collect standard app store, tester, device, build, session, crash, and feedback details under their own policies. See Apple’s Privacy Policy and Google’s Privacy Policy.
• Legal and safety. We may disclose information if we believe in good faith that doing so is necessary to comply with law, enforce our Terms, or protect the rights, property, or safety of users or the public.
• Business transfers. If Sweetest is involved in a merger, acquisition, or asset sale, your information may be transferred as part of that transaction. We will notify you of any such change.

4. Data Storage and Security

Your information is stored on Google Firebase infrastructure, primarily in the United States. We use Firebase's security rules and authentication to restrict access so that, by default, you can only read and write your own data. No method of storage or transmission over the internet is 100% secure, and we cannot guarantee absolute security.

5. Data Retention

We retain your account information and content for as long as your account is active. If you delete your account, we will delete or de-identify your account information and user-generated content within a reasonable period, except where we are required to retain it for legal, security, or fraud-prevention purposes. Aggregate city-level statistics that do not identify you may be retained.

6. Your Rights and Choices

• Access and correction. You can view and update much of your information directly in the App (profile, rankings, photos, custom categories).
• Deletion. You can delete your account in the Sweetest app or request deletion by emailing sweetestbitesapp@gmail.com. See Delete your account for steps, deleted data, retained data, and retention details.
• California, EU/UK and other jurisdictions. Depending on where you live, you may have additional rights such as the right to access, correct, delete, port, or restrict the processing of your personal information, or to object to processing. To exercise any of these rights, email sweetestbitesapp@gmail.com. We will not discriminate against you for exercising your rights.

7. Children's Privacy

Sweetest is not directed to children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from anyone under 13. If you believe a child under 13 has provided us with personal information, please contact us at sweetestbitesapp@gmail.com and we will delete it.

8. International Users

The App is operated from the United States. If you access the App from outside the United States, you understand that your information will be processed in the United States, where data protection laws may differ from those in your country.

9. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. If we make material changes, we will update the "Effective date" above and, where appropriate, notify you in the App. Your continued use of the App after the changes take effect constitutes acceptance of the updated Policy.

10. Contact Us

If you have questions about this Privacy Policy or our privacy practices, contact us at:

Trevor Nogues
Email: sweetestbitesapp@gmail.com