Privacy Policy

Introduction

Hot Dog Counter ("the app," "we," "us," or "our") is a personal app for logging the hot dogs you eat. This Privacy Policy explains what information the app collects, how it is used, who it is shared with, and the choices you have. By creating an account or using the app, you agree to the practices described here.

Hot Dog Counter is operated by Network Group Developments Inc., based in the Province of Ontario, Canada. If you have questions, contact us at noted@hotdogcounter.com.

Information You Provide

• Account information: the email address and password you use to create an account. Passwords are stored only in hashed form by our authentication provider; we never see or store your plain-text password.
• Hot dog entries: the details you record for each entry, which may include the date and time, quantity, star rating, notes, price and currency, venue type and name, and a city/country location.
• Photos: any photo you choose to attach to an entry.
• Optional demographic information: age, sex, and your opinion on whether a hot dog is a sandwich. This information is entirely optional and may be left blank.

Information Collected Automatically

• Location (only when you request it): if you tap "use current location," the app reads your device’s GPS coordinates once and converts them into a city and country. Only the resulting city/country text is stored — not your precise coordinates.
• Photo metadata: when you attach a photo, the app may read date, time, and GPS data embedded in the original image file (EXIF) to help pre-fill the entry. Any GPS data is converted to a city name; precise coordinates are not stored.
• Security and session data: to protect your account, we record login attempts (the email entered, whether the attempt succeeded, and a timestamp) and maintain session records (a basic device fingerprint derived from your language and time zone, your browser or device user-agent, and activity timestamps). This data is used solely for rate-limiting and session management.
• Local cache: your entries are cached on your device so the app works offline.

How We Use Your Information

We do not sell your personal information, and we do not use it to serve advertising.

• To provide the core features of the app: recording, displaying, and analyzing your hot dog history.
• To authenticate you and keep your account secure, including login rate-limiting and session monitoring.
• To provide optional features you choose to use, such as photo auto-fill and location look-up.
• To produce aggregate, anonymized statistics (for example, the community "is a hot dog a sandwich" percentage). Aggregate figures cannot be traced back to any individual user.

Photo Analysis ("Snap it")

When you use the optional "Snap it" feature, the photo you select is sent to our AI provider, Anthropic, to detect whether the image shows a hot dog and to suggest a count, type, and venue. The image is transmitted securely for this single analysis.

We do not use your photos to build advertising or marketing profiles. Anthropic processes the image only to return the analysis to the app; their handling of API data is governed by their own terms. If you never use "Snap it," no photo is ever sent for analysis.

How Your Information Is Shared

We share your information only with the service providers required to operate the app, each under their own terms and safeguards:

• Supabase — hosts our database, authentication, and backend functions, and stores your account, entries, and photos.
• Anthropic — analyzes photos you submit through "Snap it," and only when you use that feature.
• OpenStreetMap / Nominatim — when you use current-location or photo-location look-up, the coordinates are sent to this geocoding service to obtain a city name.

Legal Disclosures

We may disclose information if required to do so by law, or where we believe in good faith that disclosure is necessary to comply with legal process, enforce our terms, or protect the rights, property, or safety of our users or others. Apart from the service providers listed above and such legal disclosures, we do not share your personal information with third parties.

Data Retention

• We keep your account and entries until you delete them or delete your account.
• Login-attempt records are short-lived and are automatically pruned.
• Locally cached data remains on your device until you sign out, delete the app, or clear it.

Your Rights and Choices

• Access and export: you can export all of your data as JSON or CSV from Settings at any time.
• Correction: you can edit or delete individual entries at any time.
• Demographics: you can provide or clear the optional demographic information whenever you like.
• Permissions: camera, photo library, and location access are optional and controlled by your device settings. The app works without them, with reduced functionality.

Deleting Your Account

You can permanently delete your account and all associated data at any time from Settings › Account › Delete Account. This removes your entries, photos, sessions, and login credentials from our systems and cannot be undone. If you would like to keep a copy of your data, export it before deleting your account.

Data Security

We use industry-standard measures to protect your information, including encrypted transport (HTTPS), database row-level security so that each user can access only their own data, hashed password storage, and login rate-limiting. No method of transmission or storage is completely secure, but we work continually to protect your information.

Children's Privacy

Hot Dog Counter is not directed to children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. The app prevents users who indicate they are under 13 from saving demographic information. If you believe a child has provided us with personal information, please contact us and we will delete it.

International Users and Data Transfers

Your information may be processed and stored on servers located outside your country, including in locations where our service providers operate. By using the app, you consent to the transfer of your information to these locations.

Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. Material changes will be reflected by an updated effective date at the top of this policy and, where appropriate, noted within the app. Your continued use of the app after an update constitutes acceptance of the revised policy.

Contact Us

If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy or how your information is handled, contact us at noted@hotdogcounter.com.