Privacy Policy
Overview
Preplate is a meal planning and grocery shopping app published by Cooper Industries. Your meal data is stored on your device and in your own iCloud account. Some features send information to third-party services in order to work — the AI features, the food databases, and the grocery store lookup all require a network request. This page explains exactly what is sent, to whom, and when.
The short version: your meal data lives on your device and in your own iCloud. Several optional features send data to third-party APIs — most notably Google's Gemini AI, which powers the coach, photo logging, and menu scanning. Those requests pass through a small relay server we operate, which forwards them and does not keep a copy. We show ads through Google AdMob. We do not sell your data and we run no analytics or tracking SDKs.
What Stays on Your Device
Your recipes, meal plans, shopping lists, food logs, weight entries, water intake, household preferences, and macro targets are stored locally using Apple's SwiftData framework. If iCloud is enabled on your device, that data also syncs to your private CloudKit database so it is available across devices signed into the same Apple ID. This is your iCloud account — Cooper Industries has no access to it.
Apple Health
Preplate writes the nutrition of every food you log — calories, protein, carbohydrates, and fat — to Apple Health as a Food entry. This happens automatically each time you log a food.
Preplate can also read your step count, active energy burned, and body weight from Apple Health, so the dashboard can show your activity and keep your weight trend current from a connected scale or watch. Reading is off by default and only happens if you turn it on in Settings → Apple Health.
Health data read from Apple Health stays on your device and in your private iCloud database. It is never sent to advertisers. Note that if you use the AI coach, the coach's context includes your recent weight entries and food logs — see the AI section below. You can revoke Health access at any time in iOS Settings → Health → Data Access & Devices → Preplate.
AI Features (Google Gemini)
Several Preplate features are powered by Google's Gemini API. When you use them, data is sent from your device to Google by way of our relay server (see Our relay server below). The relay forwards the request and the reply and does not store either.
| Feature | What is sent to Google |
|---|---|
| AI coach chat | Your message, plus context about you: macro targets, household size, food preferences, recent weight entries and weight trend, up to 14 days of food logs, water intake, your current meal plan, and your recipe titles |
| Meal photo logging | The meal photo you take or select, plus any description you type |
| Menu scanning | The menu photo, plus your remaining calories and macros for the day |
| "Describe" food entry | The food description you type |
| AI meal plan generation | Your plan request, household size, and recipe library entries |
| Recipe import from a URL or social media post | The text of the recipe page, or the public caption of the post, you are importing |
| Shopping list generation | Your shopping list items and quantities, used to merge duplicate entries |
The shopping list item cleanup runs automatically whenever a shopping list is generated; you can turn it off in Settings → Smart List Cleanup. Everything else in this table happens only when you actively use that feature. If you prefer not to send data to Google, avoid the coach, photo logging, menu scanning, and AI meal planning — the rest of the app works without them.
Google's handling of this data is governed by the Gemini API terms and the Google Privacy Policy.
Food and Grocery Databases
| Service | What is sent | When |
|---|---|---|
| FatSecret | Your food search terms, the barcode you scan, and recipe titles used to find matching photos | You search for a food, scan a barcode, or recipe images are filled in |
| Open Food Facts | The product barcode you scan | You scan a barcode that FatSecret does not recognise |
| Kroger | The ZIP code you type, and your shopping list item names | You search for a store or view your list by aisle |
| Recipe and social media websites | A direct request from your device to the URL you paste, which reveals your IP address to that site. For Instagram posts the request identifies itself as a link-preview crawler so the public caption can be read | You import a recipe from a URL or public post link |
The ZIP code you enter for store lookup is typed by you and is used only to find nearby stores. Preplate does not use iOS Location Services and never reads your device's GPS position.
FatSecret and Kroger requests, like Gemini requests, go through our relay server. Open Food Facts and pasted recipe URLs are contacted directly from your device.
Our Relay Server
Cooper Industries operates one server for Preplate. Its job is to hold the API credentials for Gemini, FatSecret, and Kroger so they do not have to ship inside the app. When you use a feature backed by one of those services, your device sends the request to the relay, the relay adds the credential and forwards the request unchanged, and the reply comes back the same way.
- The relay does not store the contents of requests or replies. Your messages, photos, food logs, weight entries, and search terms pass through it and are not written down.
- Like any web server it keeps short-lived operational logs of the request path, timestamp, and the connecting IP address, used only to keep the service running.
- Requests carry no account identifier, because Preplate has no accounts.
- The one thing the relay does store is recipes you choose to share: when you create a recipe share link, or submit a recipe to the community catalog, that recipe's title, ingredients, and steps are saved on the server so other people can open them. Nothing about you is attached beyond the recipe itself.
Advertising
The free tier of Preplate displays banner advertisements from Google AdMob. iOS will ask whether you want to allow tracking. If you decline, the app cannot read your advertising identifier and Google does not receive it; ads are then served without it. If you allow it, your device's advertising identifier (IDFA) is shared with Google for personalized advertising. The AdMob software starts with the app for everyone, but Premium subscribers are never shown an ad. For details on what Google receives, see Google's advertising privacy policy.
Ads are never shown alongside, and are never targeted using, your health or nutrition data.
In-App Purchases
Premium subscriptions are processed entirely by Apple via StoreKit. Apple handles your payment information; Cooper Industries never sees your billing details, payment method, or Apple ID.
Analytics
None. Preplate contains no third-party analytics SDKs, crash reporters, or usage trackers. We do not log how you use the app, which screens you visit, or which features you tap. The only advertising or tracking technology in the app is Google AdMob, described above.
Data Sharing
We do not sell or rent your data. Data leaves your device only to the third-party services named on this page, and only for the purpose described. We never share your recipes, meal plans, food logs, or weight data with advertisers.
Household Sharing
If you invite household members to share recipes, meal plans, and shopping lists, sync happens through CloudKit using Apple's CKShare mechanism. Cooper Industries has no access to shared data — it travels directly between the iCloud accounts you authorize. Your personal profile, food logs, and weight entries are not part of household sharing.
Data Retention & Deletion
Deleting Preplate from your device removes all locally stored data. To remove iCloud-synced data, sign into icloud.com or open iOS Settings → your name → iCloud → Manage Account Storage → Preplate → Delete. Data sent to the third-party services above is retained according to each provider's own policy; we cannot delete it on your behalf.
Children's Privacy
Preplate is not directed to children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect data from anyone under 13. The app is rated for users 17+ in part because it tracks nutrition and body weight.
Changes to This Policy
If the app's data practices change, this page is updated and the date below changes with it. Material changes will also be noted in the app's release notes.
Contact
Questions or concerns? Email support@cooperindustries.cc. Support information is also available on the Preplate support page.