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Privacy Policy

Effective date: April 27, 2026

Lactose Safe is built around a simple privacy model: the app does its work on your device, and your photos, scans, and ingredient text never leave it.

1. Who we are

Lactose Safe is a mobile app published by LactoSafe LLC, a Tennessee, USA company. References to “we,” “us,” and “our” in this policy refer to LactoSafe LLC.

2. Summary

• No account, no login. The app does not ask you to register.
• Scans are processed on your device. The OCR engine (Google ML Kit) runs entirely on your phone. Photos and recognized ingredient text are not uploaded to us.
• No third-party advertising or tracking SDKs. We do not embed Firebase Analytics, AdMob, Mixpanel, Amplitude, Sentry, Crashlytics, or similar services.
• We do not sell your data. Ever.

3. What data the app uses

Camera and photo library

When you tap the scanner, the app asks for permission to use your camera and, optionally, to pick an image from your photo library. The captured or selected image is processed locally and is not transmitted to us or to any third party. The microphone is not used.

Recognized ingredient text

Text recognized from a label is matched against an on-device dictionary of dairy-related ingredients (e.g., lactose, milk, casein, whey). The recognized text is held in memory while you view the result and is not sent off-device.

Scan history

When you scan a label, the app saves a copy of the captured image and the recognized ingredient text to your device’s local storage as part of your scan history. This data is stored in the app’s private sandbox on your device and is never uploaded to us or transmitted to any third party. You can view, rename, and delete individual entries in the History screen, or clear your entire scan history in Settings. You can also export your history as a CSV or ZIP file — this export stays on your device until you explicitly share it.

Settings and preferences

The app stores your settings (language preference, OCR language, free scan counter, premium entitlement state) locally on your device using the platform’s standard preference storage (UserDefaults on iOS, SharedPreferences on Android). These never leave your device.

On-device usage counters

Lactose Safe keeps a few anonymous, scalar usage counters on your device — for example, how many scans you have performed, whether you have seen the paywall, and whether a premium subscription is active. The app uses these counters locally to drive its own in-app behavior (such as enforcing the monthly free-scan limit and deciding when to show the paywall). They are written to your device’s standard local storage (UserDefaults on iOS, SharedPreferences on Android) and stay there.

These counters:

• Never leave your device. They are not transmitted to us, to Apple, to Google, or to any third party. There is no analytics backend that receives them.
• Never include the photos you took, any recognized ingredient text, or any other content you viewed.
• Never are linked to your name, email, Apple ID, Google account, advertising identifier (IDFA, AAID), device identifier, IP address, or any other personal identifier — there is nowhere for such linking to happen, since the counters are processed only on your device.
• Never are used for “tracking” as defined by Apple’s App Tracking Transparency framework, and are never combined with data from any other app or website for advertising, measurement, or any other purpose.

Settings → Privacy → Share Data lets you turn off even this local recording. The toggle is on by default because the counters are used only for the app’s own in-app behavior and no data ever leaves the device either way. You can also clear all local app data through your phone’s system Settings.

Because no data is transmitted off your device, this feature falls under Apple’s “Data Not Collected” category as defined in the App Store Privacy guidelines: collection requires transmission to a developer or third party, and none takes place. Our App Privacy declaration on the App Store reflects this — we declare that we do not collect data. If we ever add a backend that would receive these counters, we will update both this Privacy Policy and our App Privacy declaration before that change ships.

In-app purchases

Subscription and lifetime purchases are processed by Apple (App Store) or Google (Google Play). We do not see your payment method or your store account email. We only see the entitlement signal that tells the app whether a premium subscription is active.

Promotional content

The app fetches a small JSON file of self-hosted promotional content (links to our own Lactose Safe and Dairyish pages) from https://go.lactosafe.com/promos.json. This is a one-way GET request. No user data is sent in this request beyond the standard HTTPS connection metadata that any web request carries (such as the IP address used to connect to our server).

4. Required-reason API declarations (iOS)

Apple requires apps to declare why they use certain platform APIs. For Lactose Safe, the declared reasons are:

• FileTimestamp — used by standard storage libraries to manage on-device app state.
• DiskSpace — used by the photo picker and file storage helpers.
• SystemBootTime — used by the in-app purchase library to validate receipt timestamps.
• UserDefaults — used by the standard preference storage to remember your settings and entitlement state.

The app declares NSPrivacyTracking = false in its privacy manifest and does not perform any tracking as defined by Apple’s App Tracking Transparency framework.

5. Data we do not collect

• Real name, address, phone number, or email (unless you choose to email us at the address below).
• Location, contacts, calendar, browsing history, or files outside the photo you choose to scan.
• Health, financial, or biometric data.
• Advertising identifiers (IDFA, AAID).

6. Children

Lactose Safe is not directed to children under 13. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children. If you believe a child has used the app and you have concerns, please contact us and we will help.

7. Your choices

• Camera access: grant or revoke at any time in your phone’s system Settings → Lactose Safe.
• Photo library access: same path; you can also restrict the app to selected photos.
• Scan history: delete individual entries or clear all history in the History screen or in Settings.
• On-device usage counters: turn off the local recording in Settings → Privacy → Share Data inside the app.
• Subscriptions: manage or cancel through your App Store or Google Play account.

8. Security

All network requests made by the app use HTTPS. The app’s NSAppTransportSecurity configuration on iOS enforces HTTPS-only connections for any network call.

9. International users

Because the app processes data on your device and we do not collect personal information on our servers, there is no international transfer of personal data initiated by the app itself. If you contact us by email, your message will be received in the United States.

10. Changes to this policy

We may update this Privacy Policy as the app evolves. When we do, we will update the effective date at the top of this page. Material changes will also be summarized in the app’s release notes.

11. Contact

Privacy questions, data requests, or any other concerns: contact@lactosafe.com.