Privacy policy

The controller responsible for your data is:
Paul Durant, operating Apeli
Zürich, Switzerland
Email: info@apeli.app

For any privacy question or request, write to info@apeli.app. We reply within 30 days.

• We use your data to run the app: log meals, track your goals, weight and sleep, and write your coach plan.
• What you eat, weigh and how you sleep is health data. We process it only with your consent, and only for you.
• Your meal photos are analysed by AI to identify foods. They are kept to improve recognition only if you opt in.
• Product analytics are off unless you turn them on. We never sell your data and show no ads.
• You can delete your account and all your data in the app at any time.

Account

When you sign in with Google we receive your email address, a Google account identifier and, if shared, your name. We use them to create and secure your account. Legal basis: performance of our contract with you (GDPR Art. 6(1)(b)).

Profile, goals and health data

To calculate your targets you provide your gender, date of birth, height, weight, units, main goal (for example weight loss or muscle gain), target weight, nutrient goals, time zone and meal reminder times. While using the app you add meals and portions, meal photos, weight entries and sleep entries. From this we compute daily nutrient totals, streaks, a food quality score and your coach plan.

Information about your diet, body weight and sleep is health data, a special category of personal data (FADP Art. 5(c); GDPR Art. 9). We process it on the basis of your explicit consent (GDPR Art. 9(2)(a)), which you give when you create your profile. You can withdraw it at any time by deleting your account; this does not affect processing that happened before.

Meal photos and AI analysis

When you scan a meal, the photo is uploaded to our servers and sent to an AI model (Google Gemini) to identify the foods and estimate portions. The result is matched to entries in public food composition databases (USDA FNDDS, ANSES Ciqual, the Swiss Food Composition Database and the German BLS). The photo is stored with your meal so you can see it in your journal.

Improving food recognition (optional)

Only if you switch on Improve food recognition do we keep a copy of your scans, the AI result and your corrections to evaluate and improve recognition quality. It is off by default. Turning it off in Profile → Data & privacy deletes this archive.

Coach plan

Every three days the app summarises your logged meals, weight, sleep and goals and uses an AI model (Google Gemini) to write a short plan, action items and meal suggestions. This is automated processing that produces suggestions only; it does not make decisions with legal or similarly significant effects about you, and you are free to ignore or change anything it proposes.

Subscriptions

Premium is bought through the Apple App Store or Google Play. Apple and Google handle payment; we never see your card details. Through our subscription service provider (RevenueCat) we receive your subscription status, product, renewal dates and transaction identifiers, linked to your account ID. Legal basis: contract (GDPR Art. 6(1)(b)) and our legal obligation to keep accounting records (GDPR Art. 6(1)(c)).

Product analytics (optional)

If you allow it, we collect usage events (for example which screens you open and whether a scan succeeded), your device model, operating system, app version and locale, linked to a pseudonymous account ID. Meal contents, photos, your email address and body measurements are never sent. Legal basis: consent (GDPR Art. 6(1)(a)); you can withdraw it in Profile → Data & privacy.

Error reports

To find and fix crashes we collect technical error reports (error message, stack trace, device and app version, pseudonymous account ID) for every user. They contain no meal contents, photos or body measurements. Legal basis: our legitimate interest in a working, secure app (GDPR Art. 6(1)(f)).

Reminders

Meal reminders are scheduled locally on your device. We do not collect push notification tokens.

Website and waitlist

If you join the waitlist we store your email address, which phone you use (iPhone or Android) and which form you used, to email you when Apeli launches (legal basis: consent). The website uses no analytics, advertising cookies or trackers. Our hosting provider processes technical request data (such as IP address and browser type) to deliver and protect the site (legitimate interest).

Support

If you email us, we use your message and address to answer you.

We use the following providers to run Apeli. They process data on our behalf under data processing agreements, except where noted as independent controllers.

Our main database and file storage are in the EU. Some providers above may process data in the USA or other countries. Where a country does not have an adequate level of data protection recognised by Switzerland or the EU, we rely on the Swiss-US or EU-US Data Privacy Framework (where the provider is certified) or on the European Commission’s standard contractual clauses, as recognised by the Swiss Federal Data Protection and Information Commissioner (FDPIC).

• Account, profile, meals, photos, weight, sleep and coach plans: until you delete your account. Deletion in the app removes them, including your stored photos, immediately.
• Recognition archive (opt-in): until you switch the option off or delete your account.
• Subscription records: as long as needed for the subscription and up to 10 years where Swiss accounting law requires it.
• Analytics and error reports: pseudonymous; kept no longer than needed for their purpose. Ask us at info@apeli.app to have them erased.
• Waitlist: until launch plus a reasonable follow-up period, or until you ask us to remove you.

Deleting your account does not cancel a subscription with Apple or Google; cancel it in your store account.

You have the right to:

• access the personal data we hold about you and receive a copy;
• have inaccurate data corrected (most data you can edit in the app);
• have your data deleted (Profile → Data & privacy → Delete account, or by email);
• receive your data in a portable format;
• restrict or object to processing based on legitimate interest;
• withdraw consent at any time, with effect for the future.

Send requests to info@apeli.app. You may also complain to the Swiss Federal Data Protection and Information Commissioner (FDPIC, edoeb.admin.ch) or, if you live in the EU/EEA, to the data protection authority of your country.

Data is encrypted in transit. Access to your records is restricted to your own account at database level (row-level security). Photos are stored in private storage. No system is perfectly secure, but we take reasonable technical and organisational measures to protect your data and will inform you as required by law if a breach affects you.

Apeli is intended for people aged 16 and over. We do not knowingly collect data from younger children. If you believe a child has given us data, contact us and we will delete it.

We may update this policy when the app or the law changes. The date at the top shows the latest version. If a change materially affects how we use your data, we will tell you in the app before it takes effect.