Privacy Policy
Coffee Bud ("Coffee Bud", "we", "us") is an independent iOS app — including its App Clip, Apple Watch app and widgets — and the website at coffeebud.app. This policy explains what information we collect, why, who we share it with, how long we keep it, and the choices you have. It applies to the app and the website.
1. Information we collect
Account information
- Email address, first and last name, username, and your password (stored by Firebase Authentication in hashed form — we never see it). If you use Sign in with Apple, we receive the name and email (or Apple private-relay email) Apple shares with us.
- Birth year, used only to confirm you are at least 13.
- Profile photo (optional), and the date you accepted our Terms and this Policy.
Location
- Precise location while you use the app — to show cafes near you and to confirm you're within 150 meters of a cafe when you check in. Your coordinates are used for that check and are not saved on the check-in; the check-in records the cafe, not where you were standing.
- Optional background geofence. If you grant "Always" location permission, after you check in your iPhone watches a single circular area around that cafe. When you leave it, the app removes your "at this cafe now" status so friends stop seeing you there. The monitoring happens on your device; we don't receive a continuous location trail, and you can switch it off any time in iOS Settings → Coffee Bud → Location.
Content you create
- Check-ins: the cafe, drink, vibe tags, optional photo, the visibility you choose (public, friends, or private), and the time.
- Live presence: when you check in, friends can see you're at that cafe. This status expires automatically after at most two hours.
- Photos you choose to attach to check-ins or your profile. We only access photos you pick or take; we do not scan your photo library.
- Social activity: friends, friend requests, blocks, cafe invites and RSVPs, and reports you submit.
- Preferences: saved drinks, hidden chains, notification settings, quiet hours, and privacy settings.
- Cafe submissions and claims: details of cafes you suggest, and — if you claim a cafe as its owner or staff — the business email, role, and message you provide.
Contacts (optional)
If you tap "Find friends from contacts", the app reads phone numbers from your contacts, converts each one into a one-way hash on your device, and sends only the hashes to our server to look for matching Coffee Bud accounts. We never receive names or raw phone numbers from your contacts, and the hashes are not stored after the lookup. If you choose to let others find you by phone number, we store a hash of your own number (never the number itself) in a private part of your account; you can remove it at any time.
Camera and menu photos
The camera is used only to scan a friend's QR code. Check-in photos and menu photos are ones you choose from your library. When you add a menu photo, its text is recognized on your device; only the recognized text is sent to our server to match it against drink names, and it is not stored.
Device and diagnostic data
- Push notification token (via Firebase Cloud Messaging / Apple Push Notification service), so we can send the notifications you've opted into.
- Usage analytics via Firebase (Google) Analytics — events such as sign-up, search, check-in, and drink saved, plus device model, OS version, app version and an app-instance identifier. We have disabled advertising-identifier (IDFA) collection.
- Crash reports via Firebase Crashlytics (stack traces, device model, OS and app version).
- App integrity signals via Firebase App Check (Apple App Attest / DeviceCheck), to block requests that don't come from the genuine app.
Website
- Waitlist: if you join, we store your email address and the date you signed up, and send you a confirmation email.
- Analytics: Cloudflare Web Analytics — aggregate, cookie-free traffic statistics. No cookies, no cross-site tracking, no individual visitor profiles.
- Spam protection: Cloudflare Turnstile checks that waitlist sign-ups come from a real browser.
2. How we use information
- To run the app: show nearby cafes, record check-ins, streaks and ranks, sync friends and presence, and deliver notifications.
- To keep the community safe: verify check-ins, apply rate limits, moderate photos, review reports, and enforce our Terms.
- To fix and improve the product: diagnose crashes and understand which features are used.
- To contact you about your account, support requests, and — if you joined the waitlist — the app's launch.
We do not sell or rent your personal information, we do not use it for third-party advertising, and we do not track you across other companies' apps or websites.
3. Who can see your information
- Other Coffee Bud users see your username, name, profile photo, rank and stats. Each check-in is shown only to the audience you chose — everyone (public), your friends, or only you (private). Friends can see your live "at this cafe" status.
- Nobody sees your email, birth year, phone hash, contacts, or location coordinates.
4. Service providers we share data with
We use the following providers to run Coffee Bud. They process data on our behalf and only as needed to provide their service:
- Google Firebase / Google Cloud (Authentication, Firestore, Cloud Functions, Storage, Cloud Messaging, Analytics, Crashlytics, App Check, Remote Config) — hosting, database, and backend. Data is stored in the United States (us-central1).
- Google Maps Platform (Maps SDK and Places API) — the map is rendered by Google's Maps SDK, which receives your device's map requests. Cafe searches go through our servers, so Google Places sees the search text and area, not your identity.
- Google Cloud Vision — scans uploaded photos for nudity, violence and similar content.
- Google Gemini — summarizes public cafe information (such as a cafe's website and menu). No personal data is sent.
- Apple — Sign in with Apple, push notifications, App Attest.
- Cloudflare — website hosting, Web Analytics, and Turnstile.
- Resend — sends the waitlist confirmation email.
We may also disclose information if required by law, to protect the safety of our users or the public, or as part of a merger or acquisition (in which case this policy continues to apply).
5. How long we keep it
- Account data and content: for as long as your account exists.
- Contact hashes: not stored — used only for the lookup.
- Live presence: removed when you leave the cafe, or after at most two hours.
- Analytics and crash data: kept according to Firebase's retention settings (analytics up to 14 months; crash reports about 90 days).
- Waitlist emails: until the app launches and we've sent the launch email, or sooner if you ask us to remove yours.
- Deleted accounts: see below.
6. Deleting your account
In the app, go to Profile → Settings (gear icon) → Delete account and confirm. If you can't access the app, email hello@coffeebud.app from the address on your account and we'll delete it for you.
Your account is deactivated right away and hidden from other users. You have a 30-day grace period — sign back in within 30 days to restore it. After 30 days we permanently delete your profile, email, birth year, phone hash, friendships, notification tokens, feed entries, presence, uploaded photos, and your sign-in credentials. Your past check-ins are anonymized rather than deleted: they are no longer linked to you in any way and survive only as anonymous counts on the cafe (for example, "12 people tagged this cafe quiet"). Residual copies in backups are overwritten in the normal course of operations.
7. Your choices and rights
- Choose the visibility of every check-in, and your default, in Settings → Privacy.
- Control whether people can find you by username in Settings → Privacy.
- Turn individual notification types off in Settings → Notifications, or all of them in iOS Settings.
- Change or revoke Location, Contacts, Camera and Photos permissions in iOS Settings at any time.
- Block or report any user or check-in from their profile or the feed.
- Request a copy of your data, a correction, or deletion by emailing hello@coffeebud.app. We respond within 30 days. Depending on where you live (for example California, or the EU/UK), you may have additional rights under local law; we honor them regardless of where you are. We will not discriminate against you for exercising them.
8. Children
Coffee Bud is not directed to children under 13, and we ask for your birth year at sign-up to prevent under-13s from creating an account. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If you believe a child has created an account, email hello@coffeebud.app and we will delete it.
9. Security
Data is encrypted in transit (HTTPS/TLS) and at rest on Google Cloud. Access to production data is limited to the operator, and backend requests require a signed-in user and a verified copy of the app. No system is perfectly secure, but we work to protect your information and will notify you of a breach as required by law.
10. International users
Coffee Bud is built for the United States. Our servers are in the United States; if you use Coffee Bud from elsewhere, your information is transferred to and processed in the U.S.
11. Changes to this policy
If we make material changes, we'll update the effective date above and ask you to review and accept the new version in the app before it applies to you.
12. Contact
Privacy questions, data requests, or deletion requests: hello@coffeebud.app. You can also visit our support page.