How we handle your data

We built KitchenTalk to know what's in your kitchen, not to build a profile of you. Here's plainly what that means in practice.

KitchenTalk is operated by KitchenTalk LLC. Last updated 18 October 2026.

What we collect

To let you in: your name and an email or phone number, so we can send you an invite code and, later, get in touch if something needs your attention. If you own a Circle or help run one, you can also add an email so we can send you a one-time sign-in code when you need to get back in.

What's in your kitchen: photos of your fridge, pantry, receipts, or trash when you scan something, and the item data KitchenTalk extracts from them.

What you ask: your chat messages with KitchenTalk, and (if you use voice) a transcript of what you said. For quick voice questions, we don't keep the audio itself, only a short-lived copy needed to answer you. For voice notes you record inside an inventory session, we do keep the audio file along with its transcript.

If you use WhatsApp: your WhatsApp phone number, so we know which circle your messages belong to, and the messages and voice notes you send to KitchenTalk on WhatsApp. Photos you send on WhatsApp aren't read or kept; we point you to Scan in the app instead. Voice notes are turned into text and the audio isn't kept.

If you send feedback on our website: whatever you type, plus your name and email or phone only if you choose to add them. If you record a voice note, we keep the recording and its text, the recording is turned into text by our speech service (OpenAI or Groq), and the recording is deleted after 90 days.

Basic usage: which features you use, so we can tell what's working and what's confusing. We don't use any third-party analytics or ad-tracking tools to do this: it stays on our own servers.

Optionally: your city and country, if you choose to enter them. Never required, never precise location.

Who else sees it

To answer your questions and read your photos, we send them to the AI providers that power KitchenTalk, currently Google, OpenAI and Anthropic. That means a scan photo, a chat message, or a voice note you send can be processed by their systems, subject to their own data-handling terms. When you speak to KitchenTalk, the recording is turned into text by OpenAI or Groq, depending on which of the two we are using at the time. Coco's spoken replies are produced by OpenAI. We use Resend to deliver invite, sign-in code and account emails, which means your name, email, and invite or sign-in code pass through their systems.

If you connect an AI assistant such as Claude or ChatGPT to your Circle (Beta), it can read your kitchen and suggest changes for someone in your Circle to approve. What you say to that assistant is handled by the company that runs it, under its own terms.

If you choose to chat with KitchenTalk on WhatsApp, your messages travel through WhatsApp, which is run by Meta. Meta handles them under WhatsApp's own terms and privacy policy, as it does for any WhatsApp chat. We only use WhatsApp's official business service. We only message you on WhatsApp if you linked your number from the app, or gave it to us on the request form so we could send your invite.

We don't sell your data, and we don't run ads.

Your permission for AI

Before Coco uses AI for you, the web app and the latest version of the app show you a screen called "Coco uses AI to help you". It lists which AI companies receive what: your chat messages, your photos and receipts, your voice notes (to turn speech into text), and Coco's spoken replies. You choose Allow or Not now. On the web and in the latest version of the app, nothing you type, photograph or say is sent to an AI company until you allow it. If your app doesn't show this screen yet, update it from the App Store or Google Play to get the choice; until then, the AI features work as they did before and your use of them is covered by this page. Each person in a Circle answers for themselves: the owner cannot allow it for a member, and a member cannot allow it for the owner. If the list of AI companies changes, the app asks you again.

You can change your mind at any time in Account → AI providers. Switching it off withdraws your permission straight away. With AI off you can still add items, see your inventory and use the shopping list; only the parts that need an AI company stop. If you connect an AI assistant to your Circle, it follows the Circle owner's choice.

If an answer from Coco is offensive, wrong in a harmful way, or just not right, tap Report this answer under it and we will review it.

How long we keep it

Your kitchen data and your chat history in the app are kept for as long as your account exists, and we don't have an automatic expiry on item photos yet. We're aware this means data can outlive its usefulness (for example, a photo of an item you later deleted may not be cleaned up automatically today), and improving that is on our list. Some things do expire on their own:

• WhatsApp keeps a short memory of your conversation with KitchenTalk, for 24 hours, so it can follow the thread.
• Copies of chat questions and answers that we use to improve KitchenTalk are deleted after 90 days.
• Requests to join KitchenTalk (name, email or phone) are deleted 30 days after they're approved or closed.

Your choices

• You decide whether Coco may use AI for you, and you can change that any time in Account → AI providers.
• You can report an answer from Coco with Report this answer.
• You can leave a household at any time, which removes you from it going forward.
• You can delete your data yourself from Account → Delete My Data (see below). If you'd rather we handle it, or you want a copy of what we have on you, email us and a real person will take care of it.
• You can stop using WhatsApp at any time: send stop in the chat (we'll ask you to confirm), or go to Account → WhatsApp → Disconnect. Your number is removed straight away.

Deleting your data

Delete My Data permanently removes your personal information from KitchenTalk: your account and login, your chat history (including the chat copies described above), your WhatsApp number and WhatsApp conversation memory, and your personal profile (cuisine, diet, goals). This can't be undone. When it's done we generate a confirmation you can save for your records.

If you share a circle (household) with other people, the shared inventory you contributed stays with the circle so it keeps working for everyone, but your personal connection to those items is removed, so they no longer identify you. If your circle uses the activity feed, it shows a note that "a member removed their personal data," with no name.

If you're the owner of a circle with other members, you'll be asked to hand ownership to another member before your own data is deleted. If you're the only person in your circle, deleting your data deletes the circle too.

What we keep: records the law requires us to retain (such as financial and payment records) are kept even after erasure, as permitted under GDPR Article 17(3)(b). Nothing we keep for that reason identifies you within the app.

Don't have the app any more? How to delete your account explains the steps, and how to ask us by email.

One more thing

KitchenTalk isn't intended for children under 13. If you believe a child has used it and shared personal information with us, please contact us and we'll remove it.