Thymely - Privacy Policy

Last updated: 2026-10-30

This Privacy Policy explains how Thymely (“the App”) handles information. Thymely works on your iPhone, does not require an account, and we do not collect any data about you. If you choose to share your kitchen, it is synced through Apple’s iCloud, which we cannot access.

Who Is Responsible

The App is made by NVM LIMITED PARTNERSHIP (NVM EE), Chania 73100, Crete, Greece (“we”, “us”). For any question or request about privacy, email [email protected].

Information the App Handles

Your data stays on your iPhone: the food you add, where it’s kept, its dates and prices, what you mark eaten or thrown away, your shopping list, and your settings are stored on your iPhone. Unless you share your kitchen, as described next, they are not sent to anyone. They are never sent to us, and we cannot see them.
Shared kitchen (optional): if you share your kitchen, or join one someone shares with you, its food and their details, the history of what was eaten and thrown away, the shopping list, and the shop, date and total of the receipts scanned are synced through Apple’s iCloud (CloudKit). They are stored in the iCloud account of the person who shared the kitchen, and count toward its storage, and are copied to the iPhone of everyone in it. The App keeps them in CloudKit’s encrypted fields, which are encrypted on the device before they are saved to iCloud; iCloud itself keeps technical details, such as when each record changed. Everyone in a shared kitchen can see, change and delete everything in it, and Apple shows them each other’s names and Apple Account contact details, as with any iCloud sharing. We never receive this data and cannot see it. iCloud is provided by Apple under its own terms and privacy policy. Receipt photos are never uploaded.
Receipts and pack dates: when you scan a receipt or the date on a pack, the photo is read on your iPhone by Apple’s text recognition and, where it’s available and turned on, Apple Intelligence’s on-device model. Photos are never uploaded, and the App keeps only the food it read, not the photo.
Barcodes: when you scan or type a product’s barcode, the App sends only that barcode to Open Food Facts, a free, open database of food products run by a non-profit association in France, to find the product’s name, brand, pack size and categories, and loads the product’s photo from it. Nothing else is sent: not your food, your receipts, your language or anything that identifies you. Like any website, Open Food Facts can see the internet (IP) address a request comes from; its privacy policy says what it keeps. Products you’ve scanned are remembered on your iPhone, so their details aren’t looked up again.
Camera and photos: the App uses the camera only while you scan, and reads only the photo you choose from your library.
Meal ideas: ideas for food that’s due are written on your iPhone by Apple Intelligence’s on-device model. The names of your food are not sent anywhere.
Shopping list: what’s running out, how many to buy and the day you usually shop are worked out on your iPhone, from your own history and receipts.
Reminders and widgets: reminders are scheduled on your iPhone, and the App shares what’s due next only with its own widgets on your iPhone.
Purchases: subscriptions and in-app purchases are processed by Apple. The App receives only the status needed to unlock Premium; we never see your payment details or your identity.
No analytics, no advertising and no tracking: the App contains no analytics or advertising, makes no network connections of its own other than the barcode lookups and, if you share your kitchen, the iCloud syncing above, and does not track you across apps or websites.

How Information Is Used, and Why

To run the App’s features (food timers, receipt and pack-date reading, reminders, history, meal ideas and widgets) on your iPhone.
To look up a barcode when you ask the App to, and only then.
To sync a shared kitchen through iCloud, when you share one or join one, and only then.
To unlock Premium using the purchase status provided by Apple.

Where the EU or UK General Data Protection Regulation applies, the barcode lookup is necessary to provide the feature you asked for (Article 6(1)(b)), and is also in our legitimate interest in making the App work (Article 6(1)(f)). A shared kitchen is synced by Apple’s iCloud between the devices of the people in it, because they choose to share it; we have no access to it. Everything else happens on your iPhone, under your control.

Data Sharing

We do not collect, sell or share your personal data, and we do not use it for targeted advertising or profiling.
Barcodes you scan are sent to Open Food Facts, as described above, and nothing else.
If you share your kitchen, its contents are shared with the people you invite, through Apple’s iCloud, because you choose to.
Prices and purchase status come from Apple’s App Store, under Apple’s Privacy Policy.

Data Retention and Control

App data stays on your iPhone until you delete it. “Delete all data” in Settings removes your food, history, shopping list, settings and the products you’ve scanned, and deleting the App removes everything it stored on your iPhone.
A shared kitchen stays in iCloud until the person who shared it stops sharing it, in Settings or with “Delete all data”, which deletes it from iCloud. You can also delete the App’s iCloud data in your iPhone’s iCloud settings.
When you leave a shared kitchen, or it ends, a copy of its food stays on each iPhone that was in it. Copies on other people’s iPhones are under their control: neither you nor we can delete them.
Like any app’s data, it can be included in your iPhone’s own backups to iCloud or a computer, which you and Apple control.
Your data is protected by your iPhone’s own security, such as its passcode and encryption. Keep your device secure: we have no copy of your data and cannot recover it.
Subscriptions can be managed or cancelled in your Apple Account settings.

Your Rights

Depending on where you live, you may have rights to access, correct, delete or move your personal data, to object to or restrict its use, and to withdraw consent. Because we hold no personal data about you, there is nothing for us to access, correct or delete: your data is on your iPhone, and you can view, change or delete it there at any time. If you share your kitchen, it is also in iCloud, which Apple operates: you can delete it as described above, and Apple’s privacy policy explains your rights over your iCloud data. You can still contact us at [email protected], and we will reply within the time the law requires.

If you live in the European Union, the European Economic Area or the United Kingdom, you may also complain to your data protection authority. Our lead authority is Greece’s Hellenic Data Protection Authority.

If you live in California or another US state with a consumer privacy law: we do not sell or share personal information, as those laws define it, we do not use it for targeted advertising, and we do not discriminate against anyone for exercising their rights.

Children

The App is not directed to children under 13, or under the age of digital consent where they live, and it collects no data from anyone.

Food Safety

The App’s times are general estimates from the USDA’s FoodKeeper data and other sources, for food kept properly. They are not food safety advice and do not guarantee that food is safe: check the food itself and the date on the pack. See the Terms of Use.

Product Data

Product names, brands, pack sizes, categories and photos come from Open Food Facts. Its database is available under the Open Database License, its contents under the Database Contents License, and its photos under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.

Changes to This Policy

We may update this policy, for example if the App changes. Changes will be reflected in the “Last updated” date, and if the App ever starts handling information in a new way, we will update this policy before it does.

Contact

Questions or requests about privacy: NVM LIMITED PARTNERSHIP (NVM EE), Chania 73100, Crete, Greece, [email protected].