Privacy Policy
This policy explains what happens to your information when you use the SwapGenie app and the website swapgenie.app. SwapGenie is run by Nikola Dimovski (doing business as SwapGenie), a MarVikIT project ("we," "us"). We are responsible for the information described here.
SwapGenie is built so that your personal details stay with you. There are no accounts and no passwords. Your profile, allergens, family members and scan history are stored on your phone, and we never receive them.
Questions? Write to hello@swapgenie.app.
The short version
- Your profile stays on your phone. Your name, allergens, lifestyle choices, nutrition goal, family members and scan history never leave your device.
- The camera only reads barcodes, on your phone. No photos or videos are saved or sent.
- To look up a product, the app sends the barcode number to public food databases. Nothing about you is sent with it.
- We use Google Firebase to count how the app is used and to fix crashes. No ads, no advertising ID, and we never sell your data.
- Payments go through Google Play (or the Apple App Store on iPhone). We never see your card.
- On the website, if you join the waitlist we keep your email to send your code. We use Google Analytics to count visits.
1. What stays on your phone
The app stores the following in its private storage on your phone:
- Your profile: the name you enter, allergens, lifestyle choices and nutrition goal
- Family members you add (Pro): their names, allergens, lifestyle choices and goals
- Your scan history and saved product details
- App settings, your daily swap count and whether you have Pro
Allergens and nutrition goals can say something about health. That's why this information never leaves your phone: we don't receive it, and it isn't included in analytics or crash reports.
You can delete all of it at any time in the app: Settings → Delete all my data. Uninstalling the app also removes it. Android or iOS may include app data in your own device backup, depending on your phone's backup settings. That backup is controlled by your Google or Apple account, not by us.
2. Camera
SwapGenie asks for camera access only to scan barcodes. The image is read on your phone by Google's on-device barcode reader (ML Kit), and only the barcode number is used. No photos or videos are stored or sent to us or anyone else. You can turn off camera access at any time in your phone's settings; scanning then stops working.
3. Product lookups and swap suggestions
When you scan, the app sends the barcode number to:
- Open Food Facts, an open food database run by a non-profit association in France
- USDA FoodData Central, a database of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, when Open Food Facts doesn't have the product
When you ask for swap suggestions, the app sends the product's food category (for example "hazelnut spreads") and your phone's country setting (for example "Serbia"), so products sold in your country come first. The requests go to Open Food Facts, with Spoonacular (a food data service in the United States) as a backup.
Like any internet request, these services can see your device's IP address and that the request comes from SwapGenie. Your profile, allergens, family members and scan history are never sent; the app compares products with your profile on your phone. These services have their own privacy policies.
4. App analytics and crash reports
The app uses Firebase Analytics and Firebase Crashlytics, provided by Google, which process this data for us. They collect:
- An app identifier: a random ID for this installation of the app. It isn't linked to your name, email or Google account, and it changes if you reinstall the app.
- App activity: for example when the app is opened, how long it's used, app updates, and events like starting or ending a subscription, the rating request being shown, or tapping "Need room for more? Tell us"
- Purchase events: that a subscription was bought or ended, with the product, price and currency (from Google Play)
- Approximate location: country or city level, which Google works out from your IP address. Your precise location is never collected.
- Device and app information: device model, operating system version, app version and language
- Crash reports: what went wrong in the app and the state of the device at that moment
- How you found the app: the Google Play install referrer, for example the tag on a link you followed
They do not receive your name, email, profile, allergens, family members or scans. The app doesn't use the advertising ID; it is removed from the app.
We use this information to see which features are used, to measure how the app grows, and to fix problems. Our legal basis is our legitimate interest in running and improving the app. The app has no switch to turn analytics off. If you don't want analytics, you can stop using the app, and uninstalling resets the app identifier.
5. Purchases
SwapGenie Pro is a subscription sold through Google Play (and the Apple App Store when the iPhone version is available). The store handles your payment details; we never see or store your card or bank information. The store tells the app whether your subscription is active so the app can unlock Pro. The app checks this on your phone.
Google and Apple send us sales reports (for example the number of sales per country) and pay us. We keep financial records as required by Serbian accounting and tax law. The Google and Apple privacy policies apply to the purchase itself.
6. The website
- Hosting: swapgenie.app is hosted by Netlify. Like every web host, Netlify's servers handle technical information such as your IP address and browser type to deliver the pages.
- Google Analytics: the website uses Google Analytics to count visits: pages viewed, approximate location, device and browser type, and the site that sent you. It uses cookies; see our Cookie Policy.
- Waitlist: if you enter your email to get the app and a promo code, we receive your email address through Netlify Forms. We use it only to send you the download link and your code. No newsletter, no marketing list.
- Email to us: if you write to hello@swapgenie.app, we use your message and email address to answer you.
8. International transfers
We are based in Serbia. Some of the services above process data in other countries, including the United States and the European Union. These providers use their own safeguards for international transfers, such as standard contractual clauses.
9. How long data is kept
| Data | How long |
|---|---|
| Profile, family members, scan history (on your phone) | Until you delete it in the app or uninstall the app |
| App analytics (Firebase / Google Analytics) | Detailed data up to 14 months; after that only totals that can't be linked to a device |
| Crash reports (Crashlytics) | 90 days |
| Waitlist email | Until we've sent your code, then deleted within 12 months, or sooner if you ask |
| Emails you send us | As long as needed to answer you, normally no more than 2 years |
| Financial records | As long as Serbian accounting and tax law requires |
10. Children
SwapGenie is meant for adults and isn't directed at children. We don't knowingly collect personal information from children. If you add a child as a family member, their details stay on your phone and are never sent to us.
11. Your rights and choices
Depending on where you live (for example under the Serbian Law on Personal Data Protection, the GDPR in the EU and UK, or U.S. state privacy laws), you may have the right to access, correct or delete your personal information, to object to or restrict its use, and to receive a copy of it.
- Data on your phone: you control it directly. Change it in Settings, or delete everything with Settings → Delete all my data.
- Waitlist email and messages: email hello@swapgenie.app and we'll delete them.
- Analytics: this data isn't linked to your name or email, so we usually can't find the data from one person. Email us and we'll help where we can. Uninstalling the app resets the app identifier.
We answer requests within 30 days. We don't sell personal information or share it for targeted advertising, so there is nothing to opt out of. You can also complain to a data protection authority. In Serbia, that is the Commissioner for Information of Public Importance and Personal Data Protection; in the EU, it is the authority in your country.
For details on deleting your data, see Delete your data.
12. Security
All data the app and website send is encrypted in transit (HTTPS). Data on your phone sits in the app's private storage. Because there are no accounts or passwords, there is no login information that could leak.
13. Changes to this policy
If what SwapGenie does with data changes, we update this page and the date at the top. For important changes, we'll also mention it in the app's release notes.
14. Contact
Questions about privacy or this policy: hello@swapgenie.app, or by post:
Nikola Dimovski (SwapGenie)
Jevrejska
21000 Novi Sad
Serbia