Our approach in one sentence
Dietly is built to keep your data on your device: your food diary, weight history, and personal profile stay on your phone by default, you don't need an account, and we don't sell or share your data with advertisers - ever. The only exception is if you actively choose to use an AI feature (like the DietlyAI coach chat, meal-photo scanning, or unusual-food lookup) - using those sends the relevant data to our server and an AI provider to generate a response, as explained below.
Who we are
Dietly ("we", "us") is operated by Jelte Ludeke, based in the Netherlands. This policy explains what information the Dietly mobile app ("the App") handles, how it's used, and the choices you have. If anything is unclear, contact us at [email protected].
Data stored only on your device
The following information is stored locally on your phone and is never transmitted to our servers:
- Your profile (age, sex, height, weight, activity level, goals)
- Your food diary, saved meals, favorites, and water intake
- Your weight history and progress data
- Streaks, achievements, and app preferences
Because this data lives only on your device, deleting the App deletes it. You can also export a copy at any time from inside the App (Settings → Export data).
Data processed to make features work
Food search. When you search for a food, your search query is sent to our nutrition database service to return results. Queries are not linked to your identity.
Creating a food. When you create a custom food in the App, it's saved on your device immediately and usable right away. In the background, its details (name, brand, barcode, and nutrition values) are also sent to our server together with a random per-install device ID and your IP address, so it can be reviewed for possible inclusion in the shared Dietly food database - where it becomes searchable for all users only after we manually approve it. Submissions are not linked to your name or account; the device ID and IP are used only for spam prevention and moderation.
AI food lookup. If a search comes up empty and you ask Dietly to look up an unusual or restaurant food, your text query is sent to our server, which asks Anthropic's Claude to estimate the nutrition and returns the result. The generated entry is cached in our shared database (marked with a lower "AI-estimated" confidence score) so future searches for the same food are instant - the cached entry does not include your query text as typed or any identifying information.
AI meal-photo scanning. When you use "Snap a meal" (Dietly PRO), the photo you take or pick is sent to our server, which forwards it to a Together AI vision model to estimate the food and its macros, then returns the estimate to the App. We do not store the photo - it's processed for that one request and discarded. This feature is opt-in: it only runs when you take or choose a photo.
DietlyAI coach chat. When you open and use the AI chat coach (Dietly PRO), your message plus a snapshot of your current profile, goals, today's diary entries, water intake, and recent weight history is sent to our server and forwarded to a Together AI (Qwen) model to generate a reply. This is the one feature where your diary and profile data leave your device, and it only happens when you send a message in the chat. We do not store the conversation or the snapshot on our server beyond generating that reply; any log entries the AI creates or edits on your behalf are written straight into your local, on-device diary as usual.
Healthier-swap suggestions. When you tap "Suggest a healthier alternative" on a food (Dietly PRO), a few of that food's nutrient values are sent to our server and forwarded to a Together AI (Qwen) model to generate one suggestion. No profile or identity data is included.
Anthropic and Together AI process this data only to generate the response to your request, under their own standard API terms (see Anthropic's privacy policy and Together AI's privacy policy). Every AI request also carries the random per-install device ID described above, purely so we can apply a fair usage budget per install - it is not a persistent tracking identifier shared with advertisers.
Purchases & subscriptions. Payments are handled entirely by the app store you downloaded Dietly from (Apple App Store or Google Play). To manage your subscription we use RevenueCat, which processes a randomly generated app user ID and your purchase history (product, price, renewal status). This contains no name, email, or payment details - we never see your payment information. See RevenueCat's privacy policy.
Notifications. Meal reminders and streak alerts are scheduled locally on your device. We do not run a push-notification server and cannot see when or whether you open them. You can turn them off in the App's Settings or in your device's system settings.
Crash & performance diagnostics. To find and fix bugs, we use Sentry to collect anonymous crash reports and basic performance data (error stack traces, screen load times, device model, and OS version). We disable personal-data collection, so this is not linked to your identity, and it is used only to keep the App stable - never for advertising, and never sold. See Sentry's privacy policy.
DietlyAPI developer accounts
If you create a DietlyAPI developer account (the API product at getdietly.com/api), we process a little more than for the App, because an account is required:
- Account data. Your username, a hashed password (never the password itself), and your API key. If you sign in with Google, we also store your Google account email and a Google account identifier so you can sign in again; we receive no other Google data.
- Usage data. Per-key daily request counts, used to show your dashboard usage and enforce plan limits. IP addresses are used transiently for rate limiting and abuse prevention and are not stored with your account.
- Billing. Paid plans are sold by Dietly and processed by Stripe as our payment processor. Stripe processes your payment details, billing address, and email under its own privacy policy; we receive your invoice and subscription identifiers, the email used at checkout, and the plan you bought, which we use to activate your plan and provide support. We never see your card details.
- Retention. Account and usage data are kept while your account exists. Email [email protected] to delete your account; billing records are retained as required for tax and accounting.
Legal bases: performance of a contract (providing the API and your plan) and legitimate interest (rate limiting, abuse prevention, service statistics). Your GDPR rights described below apply equally to API account data. Use of the API is governed by the API Terms of Service.
What we don't do
- No account or registration required for the App - we don't collect your name or email (DietlyAPI developer accounts are described above)
- No advertising and no advertising trackers
- No sale, rental, or sharing of personal data with third parties for their own purposes
- No tracking across other apps or websites
Health data
The information you enter about food, weight, and goals is sensitive to you. It remains on your device as described above. Dietly does not read from or write to Apple Health or Google Health Connect unless a future version adds that integration, in which case it will be opt-in and this policy will be updated first.
Legal bases (GDPR)
For users in the European Economic Area, we process the limited data described above on these bases: performance of a contract (delivering search results and managing your subscription), your consent (each time you actively choose to use an AI feature - chat, meal-photo scanning, unusual-food lookup, or healthier-swap - or submit a custom food), and legitimate interest (preventing fraud and spam, keeping purchases working across reinstalls, and keeping the App stable through anonymous crash diagnostics). You can withdraw consent for the AI/community features simply by not using them.
Your rights
Depending on where you live (including under the GDPR), you may have the right to access, correct, delete, or export personal data, and to object to or restrict processing. Since nearly all data is on your device, you can exercise most rights directly: export from Settings, or delete the App to erase local data. For purchase-related data held by RevenueCat, email us and we will handle the deletion request. You also have the right to complain to your data protection authority (in the Netherlands: Autoriteit Persoonsgegevens).
Data retention & security
Where your data lives. Our servers are hosted by Hetzner in Germany (EU). Website and API traffic is routed through Cloudflare, which acts as our content delivery and security layer and processes visitor IP addresses transiently to serve and protect the site. We keep nightly backups of DietlyAPI account data for up to 30 days, after which they are automatically deleted.
Local data persists until you delete it or uninstall the App. Purchase records are retained as long as needed to honor your subscription and meet legal/accounting obligations. Data in transit is protected with TLS (HTTPS) encryption. Photos sent for AI meal scanning and messages sent to the AI chat coach are processed transiently and are not stored on our server after the response is returned. Foods you submit for community review are retained on our server (pending, approved, or declined) so we can moderate and prevent duplicate/spam submissions; approved foods become a permanent, non-identifying part of the shared database.
Children
Dietly is not directed at children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect personal data from them. Calorie tracking is intended for teens and adults.
Changes to this policy
If we change this policy, we'll update the date at the top of this page. Material changes will be highlighted in the App.
Contact
Questions or requests: [email protected]