FareTable
Privacy policy
Effective October 2, 2026
FareTable is an app for finding somewhere to eat by what's on the menu and how long it takes to get there. It's run by Jack Wen, an individual in Seattle, Washington, USA ("we", "us"). This policy explains what the app collects, why, who helps us process it, and how you can see or delete it. Questions: privacy@faretable.app.
The short version
- We use your location while the app is open to search and plan trips from where you are. We don't keep a history of where you've been.
- Your lists, visits, notes and searches are private to your account.
- Places, menu tags and prices are a shared catalog anyone can browse. Menu photos you send are read by an AI service, then deleted.
- No ads, no analytics trackers, and we don't sell your data.
- You can delete your account and its data from the app at any time.
What we collect, and why
Your account
To make an account you give an email address and a password. Accounts are run by our sign-in provider, Clerk; we never see your password. We give you a username (which you can change) and an avatar you build from a few choices. We use your email to sign you in and to send account emails such as verification codes and password resets. We don't send marketing email.
You can browse without an account. Saving lists, logging visits, adding places and sending menus need one.
Your location
With your permission, the app uses your device's precise location only while it's open:
- to search for places within a travel time of where you are, and to plan routes to them;
- to name the street corner a search starts from;
- to suggest restaurants near you when you add a place; and
- when you log a visit, to check you're at the place (visits made there earn experience points) and, if the place's map pin is missing or slightly off, to correct it.
Your location is sent to our servers and routing service to answer each request and is not kept as a history. A visit is stored without its location. When a visit corrects a place's pin, the new pin is stored on the place, not linked to you. Without location permission, searches start from downtown Seattle and visits earn no experience points.
What you save
- Lists and bookmarks: the places you put in each list.
- Visits: the place, the time, and the private note you write.
- Searches: your recent and saved searches (the filters, travel mode and time limit, not your location).
- Experience points: a record of what earned them (which visit, menu photo or added place) and when.
If you log a visit without a connection, it's kept on your device until it can be sent.
What you contribute to the catalog
FareTable's catalog of places is shared: everyone can browse it.
- Places you add come from Google Maps (a search, a nearby result, or a link you share to the app). We record that you added them, to award points and limit spam, but don't show it to other people.
- Menu photos. When you send photos of a menu (taken with your camera or picked from your photo library), we store them and send them to OpenAI's API, an AI service that reads the menu. OpenAI doesn't use what it receives through its API to train its models, and may keep it for up to 30 days to detect abuse. What it finds (the place's name, dishes, cuisine and diet tags, and prices) becomes public in the catalog. We delete the photos once the menu has been read; photos that couldn't be read are kept until we retry or remove them. We record that you sent a menu, for points and limits, but don't show it to other people.
The app asks for camera and photo library access only to take or pick menu photos.
Technical information
Like any app that talks to servers, requests carry your IP address and basic device information, which our service providers may log for security and to keep the service running. The app downloads updates from Expo, which receives the same kind of information.
What other people can see
Places, their menu tags, prices and pins are public. Your lists, visits, notes, searches, location and email are private to you. Your username and avatar aren't currently shown to anyone else; when friend features arrive, they'll be visible to people you connect with, and we'll update this policy first.
Who processes your data
We use these service providers to run FareTable. They process data on our behalf and only for these purposes.
| Provider | What for | What they receive | Where |
|---|---|---|---|
| Clerk | Accounts and sign-in | Email, password, sign-in activity | USA |
| Supabase (on Amazon Web Services) | Database, file storage and server functions | Everything you save and contribute, menu photos until read | USA |
| Google Maps Platform (Places) | Restaurant details, nearby and name search | Your location or search text when you add a place | USA |
| OpenAI API | Reading menu photos | Menu photos you send | USA |
| Hetzner | Hosting our travel-time and routing service | Search start points and destinations | Germany |
| Expo | Delivering app updates | IP address, device and app version | USA |
| Cloudflare | Hosting this website and our email forwarding | IP address; emails you send us | Global |
When you tap Directions, FareTable opens your maps app (such as Google Maps) with the destination; that app's own privacy policy applies from there.
We don't sell or rent your personal information, share it for advertising, or use it, or let our AI provider use it, to train AI models. We'd only disclose it if the law required us to, or to protect people's safety or the service.
How long we keep it, and deleting it
We keep your account data for as long as you have an account. You can delete your account in the app: Profile → Settings → Delete account. It removes your profile, lists, visits and notes, searches and experience points right away, and deletes your sign-in account with Clerk. Places you added and menus you sent stay in the catalog, no longer linked to you. Deleted data may remain in encrypted backups for up to 30 days before it's overwritten.
Can't use the app? See how to delete your account by email.
Your choices and rights
- Turn off location, camera or photo access at any time in your phone's settings; the rest of the app keeps working.
- Edit your username and avatar, and remove lists or visits, in the app.
- Email us to get a copy of your data, correct it, or delete it. We'll answer within 30 days. Depending on where you live, you may have more rights under local law; we'll honor them.
Security
Data is encrypted in transit (HTTPS). Your personal data is protected by access rules so only your account can read it, and server keys are kept off your device. No system is perfectly secure; if something goes wrong that affects you, we'll tell you.
Children
FareTable is for people 13 and older and isn't directed at children. If you believe a child under 13 has made an account, email us and we'll delete it.
Where data is processed
FareTable is run from the United States, and data is processed in the United States and, for travel times, Germany.
Changes
If we change this policy, we'll post the new version here with a new date, and tell you in the app before significant changes take effect.
Contact
Jack Wen, Seattle, Washington, USA · privacy@faretable.app