chowchow Privacy Policy
Effective date: October 7, 2026
chowchow is operated by The Yarmar LLC ("we", "us"). Contact: privacy@getchowchow.com.
chowchow helps you save restaurants you find on TikTok and Instagram, remember why you saved them, and find them on a map. This policy explains what we collect, why, who helps us run the service, how long we keep it, and the choices you have.
chowchow is currently in a private beta, available only in the United States. Features may change during the beta; if a change affects your privacy, we'll update this policy and tell you in the app.
The short version
- You need an account (an email address) to use chowchow.
- We store the links you share with chowchow and the places you save, including your private notes, which only you can see.
- We don't sell your personal information, we don't show ads, and we don't track you across other companies' apps or websites.
- We use your location on your device to show your map and nearby search results; we don't send it to our servers. (Google's ratings component may receive it; see "Google ratings" below.)
- You can export your data or delete your account at any time in the app (Profile tab).
What we collect
Information you give us
| What | Why |
|---|---|
| Email address | To create your account and send you sign-in codes. We may also use it to reply when you report a problem. |
| Links you share or paste (TikTok and Instagram posts) | To find the restaurants in those posts for you. |
| Places you save and what you add to them: which places, "why saved", private notes, visit dates, 👍/👎, lists, archived places | To provide your personal restaurant map. Private notes are visible only to you. |
| Problem reports: category, your message, the capture or place it's about | To investigate and fix the problem you reported. |
| Waitlist email (if you join the waitlist on our website) | To tell you when chowchow is available. We won't use it for anything else, and you can ask us to remove it anytime. |
Information collected automatically
| What | Why |
|---|---|
| App activity: for example, that you opened the app, viewed a saved place, or asked for directions, plus the app version | To understand whether chowchow is useful and to improve it. It's linked to a random account ID, not to your email address, and never includes your notes, the text you type, or your location. |
| Device model and iOS version (only in problem reports) | To reproduce the problem you reported. |
| Technical logs (e.g. error messages, timing) | To keep the service running and secure. |
Location
If you allow it, chowchow uses your device's location to center the map and to prefer nearby results when you search for a place. This happens on your device through Apple Maps. We don't send your location to our servers or store it. You can change this anytime in iOS Settings → chowchow → Location.
Information about posts you share
When you share a post, we fetch its public information: the caption, the creator's public username, hashtags, the location tag and a text description. We use it to identify the restaurants it mentions. This is information about the post, not about you. If another chowchow user shares the same post, we may reuse the results, but other users can't see that you saved it or anything you added.
We don't store restaurant names, addresses or map coordinates from map providers. We store only the map provider's place identifier and look up current details when you open the app.
Who helps us run chowchow
We use service providers that process data on our behalf, only as needed to provide the service:
| Provider | What they do | What they receive |
|---|---|---|
| Supabase | Hosting, database, sign-in | All account and app data described above. Stored in the United States. |
| Google (Gmail) | Sends sign-in codes by email | Your email address and the code. |
| Resend | Sends the waitlist confirmation email | Your email address. |
| Cloudflare | Hosts our website | Standard web request information, such as your IP address. |
| Apify | Fetches public information about posts you share | The post link only, not who shared it. |
| Google (Gemini API) | Reads the public post information to find restaurant names | Post text only, not who shared it. |
| Apple (Apple Maps) | Maps, place search and place details | Place searches and place identifiers. Apple's handling is covered by Apple's privacy policy. |
| PostHog | Product analytics | App activity linked to a random account ID (see above). |
| Google (Places) | Shows Google ratings and reviews on a place card | The restaurant's name and city from the post (to find it on Google), then — from Google's own component in the app — your device's identifiers and, if you allowed location, your location, as described below. |
Google ratings
Place cards can show a Google rating and reviews. This part of the card is provided by Google's software inside the app, not by us. When it loads, Google may collect information such as your approximate or precise location (if you allowed location for chowchow), a device identifier, and how you interact with it, and use it as described in Google's Privacy Policy. To find the restaurant on Google, we send Google the restaurant's name and city as they appeared in the post, never who you are. We store only Google's place identifier.
When you tap Directions or Google Maps, you leave chowchow for that app or website, and its own privacy policy applies.
We may disclose information if required by law, to protect the rights and safety of our users or others, or as part of a merger or acquisition (in which case this policy continues to apply to your information).
What we don't do
- We don't sell or rent your personal information, and we don't "share" it for cross-context behavioral advertising.
- We don't show ads or use advertising identifiers.
- We don't track you across other companies' apps or websites.
- We don't make your saves, notes or lists public. There are no public profiles.
How long we keep information
| Data | Kept |
|---|---|
| Your account and everything in it (saves, notes, visits, lists, captures, problem reports) | Until you delete it or delete your account |
| App activity (analytics) | 13 months, then deleted automatically. If you delete your account, it's disconnected from you immediately. |
| Resolved problem reports | 12 months after we resolve them (or sooner if you delete your account) |
| Raw text we extracted from shared posts (used to improve restaurant matching) | 12 months |
| Public post information and map place identifiers (no personal information) | While needed to run the service |
| Backups | Up to 7 days, after which deleted data is gone from backups too |
Your choices and rights
- Export your data. Profile → Export my data gives you a file with your saved places, notes, visits, lists, captures and reports.
- Correct your data. Edit or remove notes, visits, lists and saved places at any time in the app.
- Delete your account. Profile → Delete account permanently deletes your account and personal data from our live systems immediately. It's removed from backups within 7 days.
- Location. Turn it on or off in iOS Settings.
- Ask us. Email privacy@getchowchow.com for anything the app doesn't cover, including access, correction or deletion requests. We'll respond within 30 days. We may need to confirm the request comes from the account owner.
Depending on the U.S. state you live in (for example, California), you may have additional rights, such as the right to know what we collect, and to correct, delete or get a copy of your data. You can exercise them through the app or by contacting us, and we won't treat you differently for doing so.
Children
chowchow isn't intended for children under 13, and we don't knowingly collect their information. If you believe a child has created an account, contact us and we'll delete it.
Security
We protect your data with encryption in transit, access controls that keep each user's data separate, and limited internal access. No service is perfectly secure, but we work to protect your information and will notify you as required by law if a breach affects it.
Changes to this policy
If we make material changes, we'll update the effective date above and let you know in the app before they take effect.
Contact
The Yarmar LLC · privacy@getchowchow.com