Phork It! Privacy Policy

Last updated: September 27, 2026

1. Who we are and what this covers

Phork It! ("Phork It!", "we", "us") decides how your personal information is used in the Phork It! app for iOS and Android, on phorkit.com, in our emails and in related services (the "Services"). Under the EU and UK GDPR, Phork It! is the data controller. You can reach us about anything in this policy at [email protected].

This policy explains what we collect, why, who we share it with, how long we keep it and the rights you have. It is part of our Terms of Service.

2. What we collect

We collect information you give us, information created when you use the Services, and information from partners.

Feedback. When we ask for feedback (in-app prompts, surveys, interviews, user tests, beta programmes or emails) and you choose to take part, we collect your answers, ratings, comments, ideas, bug reports, screenshots and, if you agree to it, audio or video recordings of interviews and tests, together with your account and usage data. Taking part is optional.

Where allowed by applicable law, we also receive information about you from data partners, advertising partners and public sources, such as interest segments and demographic estimates, and combine it with what we hold. We don't knowingly collect government IDs, payment card numbers, precise location or biometric data.

3. How we use it and our legal bases

The "legal basis" column applies to users in the EEA, UK and Switzerland, where the GDPR requires one for each use.

Feedback. We use Feedback to improve and build the Services, train our models, do product and market research, and, where you allow it, in marketing. Our legal basis is legitimate interests, and consent for recordings and for publishing anything that identifies you. Under our Terms of Service you give us a perpetual, irrevocable, worldwide, royalty-free licence to use Feedback for any purpose, and you permit us to collect, analyse, combine with your other data and share the personal information in it as this policy describes. We won't publish your name, photo or voice with your Feedback without your permission.

Where we rely on legitimate interests, we have weighed them against your rights. You can object at any time (Section 9). Where we rely on consent, you can withdraw it at any time without affecting earlier processing. We don't make decisions about you that have legal or similarly significant effects by automated means alone.

4. Who we share it with

Service providers process data for us, under contracts that limit them to our instructions:

Research and survey tools (survey, user-testing, interview recording and transcription services) receive Feedback, your email address and, if you agree, recordings, so we can run and analyse feedback sessions.

Advertising, data and marketing partners. Where allowed by applicable law, we sell personal information to, and share it with, advertising networks, data brokers, marketing and analytics partners, brands, retailers, research partners and our affiliates, as Section 5 explains.

Legal and safety. We disclose information when the law requires it, or to protect the rights, safety and property of our users, creators, Phork It! or others.

Business transfers. If Phork It! is sold, merges or reorganises, information may pass to the new owner under this policy.

With your permission. For example, when you choose to share a recipe with someone.

De-identified and aggregated data that can't reasonably identify you may be shared, licensed or sold without restriction. We don't try to re-identify it and require recipients not to either.

5. Selling, sharing and targeted advertising

Where allowed by applicable law, we sell personal information and share it broadly with third parties, including "selling" and "sharing" for cross-context behavioural (targeted) advertising as those words are defined in California and other US state privacy laws.

• What we may sell or share. Identifiers (such as advertising IDs, hashed email addresses and IP address), usage and activity in the Services, device information, approximate location, attribution data, and the profiles and inferences we build about your cooking interests, household and shopping habits.
• Who receives it. Advertising networks and platforms, data brokers and data partners, marketing and analytics partners, brands, retailers and grocery services, research partners and our affiliates.
• What they may do with it. Show you targeted ads on and off the Services, measure those ads, build and enrich audience segments and profiles, combine it with other data they hold, and use it for their own marketing and business purposes under their own privacy policies.
• Combining data. Where allowed by applicable law, we combine what we hold about you with data from partners and public sources to build interest profiles and improve targeting.
• Opting out. Use the "Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information" link at the bottom of our Privacy Policy page or in the app's settings. It opens an email to [email protected] with the subject "Do Not Sell or Share": send it from the address on your account, or tell us which email to cover. You can also write to that address directly. We act on it within 15 business days and honour Global Privacy Control (GPC) signals where required by applicable law. Opting out doesn't undo sales made before it, and it doesn't stop non-targeted ads.
• Consent where required by applicable law. In the EEA, UK and Switzerland, and anywhere else the law requires it, we only do this with your prior consent, which you can withdraw at any time. On iPhone we ask through Apple's App Tracking Transparency prompt before we access your advertising identifier.
• Under 16. We don't sell or share personal information of users we know are under 16 without the opt-in consent required by applicable law.
• Health-related information. Allergies, diets and other food preferences that could reveal health information are never sold or used for targeted advertising without your separate, explicit consent.
• No penalty. Opting out doesn't change the price or quality of the Services.

6. Emails and push notifications

• Mailing list. We only add you to our newsletter and product news if you agree to receive them: on phorkit.com, by submitting your email address under the statement "By continuing, I agree to receive news about Phork It!", or in the app. We keep a record of your consent: the wording, the date and time, and where you gave it. You can unsubscribe with the link in any email or by emailing [email protected].
• Service emails. While you have an account we send emails you can't opt out of, such as sign-in links, one-time codes and important changes to our Terms or this policy.
• Push notifications. The app uses push notifications for app features, such as telling you an import has finished or a cooking timer is done. We ask your permission first, and you can turn them off in your device settings at any time. If we ever want to send marketing through push, we will ask for your separate consent first.

7. How long we keep it

Feedback is kept for as long as it is useful to us. Recordings of interviews and tests are deleted within 24 months, and Feedback linked to your account is de-identified or deleted within 30 days after you ask us to delete your account, unless you agreed to its publication.

We may keep information longer if the law requires it, or to resolve disputes and enforce our Terms.

8. International transfers and security

Transfers. We and our providers may store and process your information in the United States, the European Union and other countries whose data protection laws may differ from yours. When we transfer personal data out of the EEA, UK or Switzerland, we use an approved safeguard: an adequacy decision (including the EU-US Data Privacy Framework where a provider is certified) or the European Commission's Standard Contractual Clauses with the UK addendum. You can ask us for a copy of these safeguards at [email protected].

Security. We protect your information with encryption in transit, access controls, sign-in without passwords and optional two-factor authentication. No system is perfectly secure. If a breach affects your personal information, we will tell you and the authorities as the law requires.

9. Your rights

EEA, UK and Switzerland (GDPR). You have the right to access your data, correct it, delete it, restrict or object to how we use it (including an absolute right to object to direct marketing), take a copy to another service (portability), and withdraw consent at any time. You can also complain to your local data protection authority, for example the State Data Protection Inspectorate in Lithuania, but please contact us first so we can try to help.

California and other US states. Depending on where you live (including California, Colorado, Connecticut, Virginia, Texas and other states with privacy laws), you have the right to:

• know what personal information we collect, use, disclose, sell and share, and get a copy of it;
• delete it and correct it;
• opt out of its sale, of sharing for targeted advertising and of profiling (Section 5);
• limit the use of sensitive personal information (we only use food preferences that may reveal health information to run the Services, unless you consent to more);
• not be discriminated against for using these rights.

How to use your rights. Email [email protected] from the address on your account. We will verify your request by confirming that email address, and may ask for more information if needed. An authorised agent can ask for you with your signed permission. We reply within one month (GDPR) or 45 days (US state laws), and tell you if we need more time. If we refuse a request, you can appeal by replying to our answer with "Appeal" in the subject; if we deny the appeal, you can contact your state's attorney general.

10. California notice

This table uses the categories of the California Consumer Privacy Act. It covers the 12 months before the date at the top, and what we expect to do while this policy applies. Sources and purposes are in Sections 2 and 3, and retention in Section 7.

We don't use or disclose sensitive personal information for purposes other than those the CCPA allows without a right to limit.

11. Children, changes and contact

Children. The Services are not for children under 13, or under 16 in the EEA, UK and Switzerland. We don't knowingly collect their personal information. If you believe a child has given us information, email [email protected] and we will delete it.

Changes. We may update this policy. We'll post the new version with its date at the top, and for important changes we'll notify you in the app or by email before they apply. Where the law requires your consent to a change, we will ask for it.

Contact. Phork It!, [email protected]. Use this address for questions, requests about your rights, opt-outs and complaints.