Privacy Policy
Last updated October 6, 2026
This policy explains what Scrounge collects, why, who helps us run it, and how to delete it. We wrote it to match what the app actually does.
Who runs Scrounge
Scrounge is run by Justin Giovinco, an individual in Pennsylvania, USA. Questions about this policy or your data: hello@getscrounge.com.
What we collect
Your account
- Your email address and the name you choose to show your household.
- Your password. Our sign-in provider stores it only as a one-way hash. We never see or keep the password itself.
- Sign-in sessions. Our sign-in provider records each session with the IP address and browser or device information it came from.
Your household
- The household's name, its members, and invite codes.
- Pantry items: names, amounts, where they're kept, whether they're running low, the food group, and whether they were added by hand, from a photo, or from a list.
- The shopping list, including any notes on items.
- Stores you add, the location name you give them, and the aisles you record.
- Saved recipes and favorites: the recipe's link, title, and photo link, your household's note, how often you made it, and short ingredient names.
- Kitchen tools, allergies, diet, and how far you got through setup.
- Which member added or changed an item, and when.
Things you choose to send
- Photos of your shelves, only when you take or choose them to add items.
- Lists you type, paste, or dictate. Dictation is done by your keyboard; Scrounge never records audio.
Counters
- Daily counts of how often your household used photo scanning, list reading, and recipe search, so we can keep within daily limits.
- A record of each attempt to join a household (who and when), so invite codes can't be guessed. Only the last hour counts. Older records are cleared the next time you try to join, and all of them when you delete your account.
On your device
The app keeps your sign-in session, small display preferences (such as collapsed sections), an invite code you followed, and the email address you're confirming until you confirm it. These stay on your device.
What we don't collect
No location, no contacts, no advertising IDs, and no analytics or tracking.
How we use it
Only to run Scrounge for you and your household: keeping your pantry and shopping list in sync, finding recipes that match what you have, sorting your list by store, sending sign-in emails, and keeping the service safe and within its limits.
Allergies and diet
Your household's allergies and diet are stored with the household and used only by our own code to hide recipes. They are never sent to any AI provider, never used for advertising, and never sold.
One exception to be aware of: if your household chooses Vegan, Vegetarian, Pescatarian, or Gluten Free, that word may be added to the recipe searches we send to our search provider (see below). Allergies are never included in a search.
Photos
Photos are made smaller on your device and sent to our AI provider, Groq, only to recognize the food items in them. You see the list and decide what to keep. Scrounge does not store your photos on its servers, and the app deletes its temporary copies on your device once they're sent.
Who helps us run Scrounge
These companies process data for us. Each receives only what's listed.
| Provider | What it does | What it receives |
|---|---|---|
| Supabase | Database, sign-in, and our server functions (in the United States) | Everything listed under "What we collect" above, except what stays on your device |
| Groq | AI that recognizes items and matches ingredients | Your pantry photos; the text of lists you type, paste, or dictate; item names to sort into grocery departments; ingredient lines from public recipe pages, each with up to 8 of your pantry item names that might match it; recipe names with their main ingredients, to write a short summary. Never your name, email, household name, notes, allergies, or diet. |
| OpenRouter | Backup AI, used only when Groq is busy | The same kinds of text as Groq (never photos). Requests are sent with zero data retention and data collection turned off. |
| Exa | Recipe search | Search phrases built from food names in your pantry or the foods you pick, such as "chicken thighs broccoli dinner recipe", plus a diet word if your diet filter is on. Nothing about your account. |
| Resend | Sends our emails | Your email address and the email itself (for example, your sign-up code or password reset link) |
| Expo | Hosts the Scrounge web app | Normal web traffic, such as your IP address and browser information |
| Cloudflare | Hosts this website and forwards email sent to hello@getscrounge.com | Normal web traffic to this site, and emails you send us |
Each provider handles data under its own terms. We don't allow any of them to use your data for their own advertising.
Recipe and store sites
Scrounge finds recipes on public websites and links to them. Those sites have their own privacy policies. Recipe photos load directly from those sites, so they can see your IP address, as with any web page. When our server reads a recipe page, it sends nothing about you. If you tap "Look up" for a store, the store's website opens with the item's name in the search.
No selling, no advertising, no analytics
We don't sell or rent personal data. Scrounge has no advertising and no analytics at this time. We will update this policy before adding either.
How long we keep it
- Account and household data: until you delete your account, or until the last member leaves a household, which deletes the household.
- Join attempts: cleared the next time you try to join after a day, or when you delete your account.
- Photos: not kept.
- Our providers keep short-term technical logs and may keep backup copies for a limited time. Data removed from a backup ages out when that backup is replaced.
Deleting your account
In the app, open Household, then Your account, then Delete my account. This removes your login, your profile, your sign-in sessions, and any invite codes you made that are still open.
- If other people are in your household, they keep the household: the pantry, shopping list, saved recipes, notes, stores, allergies, and diet. Items you added stay, without your name on them.
- If you're the only member, the household and everything in it is deleted too.
Deletion is immediate and can't be undone. See Delete your account for step-by-step help, or email us from your account's address if you can't sign in.
Children
Scrounge is not for anyone under 13. We don't knowingly collect data from children under 13. If you think a child under 13 has an account, email us and we'll delete it.
Security
Data travels over encrypted connections. Each household can only see its own data, enforced by the database itself, and passwords are stored only as hashes. No system is perfectly secure, so we can't promise that nothing will ever go wrong, but we work to keep your data safe and will tell you if something happens that affects it.
Your choices
You can see and change your household's data in the app at any time, and delete your account whenever you like. For anything else about your data, email hello@getscrounge.com.
Changes to this policy
When we change this policy, we'll update the date at the top. For important changes, we'll also tell you in the app or by email before they take effect.