Privacy Policy

Overview

Fossa ("we", "our", "the app") helps you scan barcodes and product photos to understand what's really inside the things you buy. This page explains what information the app accesses, what we do with it, and what stays entirely on your device.

The short version: your scan history, saved products, and allergy preferences are stored locally on your device. We do not run user accounts on our own servers, we do not sell your data, and we do not use advertising or third‑party analytics SDKs.

Information the app accesses

• Camera — used to scan barcodes and take photos of ingredient labels or product packaging. Photos are used only to identify the product and are not stored on our servers after analysis.
• Photo library (optional) — if you choose to analyze an existing photo, the app reads that single image via Apple's Photos picker. We never get broad access to your photo library.
• Product & ingredient data — barcodes, product names, and ingredient text are sent to our backend so it can be scored and analyzed.

How product analysis works

When you scan a product, the app may send the barcode, product name, ingredient text, and/or a photo of the product to our backend service, which uses a third‑party AI provider (Anthropic) to identify the product and evaluate its ingredients, and may query public product databases (Open Food Facts / Open Beauty Facts) to look up product details.

These requests are used only to generate your scan result and are not linked to your name, email, or Apple ID. We do not build advertising profiles from this data.

Information stored on your device

• Scan history & saved products — stored locally on your device and never uploaded to a server.
• Allergy & sensitivity list, Scoring Lens preferences — stored locally on your device and used to personalize scores and warnings.
• App ID & username — a randomly generated identifier and username created on first launch, stored locally. They are not tied to your real identity unless you choose to sign in.

Sign in with Apple

If you choose to sign in with Apple, we receive the name and email you authorize (or Apple's private relay email if you choose to hide your email). This information is stored locally on your device to personalize your profile. We do not use it for marketing and do not share it with third parties.

Subscriptions & payments

Subscriptions are handled entirely by Apple through StoreKit / the App Store. We never see or store your payment card details. Billing, renewals, and cancellations are managed by Apple under your Apple ID — see Apple's subscription support page for details on managing or cancelling a subscription.

Analytics & advertising

Fossa does not use third‑party advertising networks or analytics/tracking SDKs. We do not sell or rent your information to anyone.

Your choices

• You can delete individual scans or saved products at any time from within the app.
• You can clear your allergy list and Scoring Lens preferences at any time in Settings.
• You can sign out from Settings, which resets your locally stored profile.
• You can revoke camera or photo library access at any time in your device's Settings app.

Children's privacy

Fossa is not directed at children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect information from children under 13.

Changes to this policy

We may update this policy from time to time. Material changes will be reflected by updating the "Last updated" date above.