Last updated: October 17, 2026
Pennyplate (“Pennyplate”, “the App”, “we”, “us”) is developed and operated by Codisty. This Privacy Policy explains what information the App uses and how. It covers the App on iPhone and Apple Watch, including its widgets, share extension and complications.
Summary
Pennyplate does not collect your personal data. Your household details, budget, meal plans, shopping lists, pantry, saved recipes and prices stay on your devices. We have no user accounts, no advertising and no analytics or tracking. The only exception is optional: if you choose to share your plan and list with your household, they are stored in iCloud so your household’s phones can sync (section 6).
1. Information you enter
You may enter how many people you cook for, your budget, diets and foods to avoid, preferred cuisines, kitchen equipment, store type and region, pantry items, your own prices, and recipes. This information is stored only on your device, in a container shared with the App’s widgets, share extension and Apple Watch app. It is never sent to us.
2. Saving recipes from links
When you save a recipe from a link, the App downloads that web page (or, for some social media links, the post’s public caption through the service’s public embed endpoint) directly from your device to read the recipe and its photo. The request goes to that website, under its own privacy policy; we do not receive it. If a page needs it, the App opens it in an in-app browser, where cookies are kept separate from Safari’s.
3. Reading captions with Apple Intelligence
On supported iPhones, captions and notes are turned into recipes using Apple’s on-device language model. This happens on your iPhone; the text is not sent to us.
4. Camera
If you scan a recipe card, the camera image is processed on your device to read the text. Images are not uploaded.
5. Recipe, price and photo updates
The App regularly downloads new recipes, prices, exchange rates and recipe photos from data.codisty.com (hosted on GitHub Pages). These are the same public files for everyone; no information about you is sent beyond what any web request includes (such as your IP address, which the host may log for security, as any website does). If background app refresh is on, iOS may let the App download them while it is closed. Recipe photos are Creative Commons photos found through Openverse and credited on each recipe.
6. Sharing with your household (optional)
If you create or join a household, the App stores, in the App’s iCloud (CloudKit) public database: the first name you type, the household’s six-letter code, your meal plan for the recent and coming weeks (including any of your own recipes it uses), and your shopping list’s check-offs and added items. Anyone with the code can see this; share the code only with people you live with. Your budget, diets, pantry, prices and other settings are never shared. Leave the household in the App to delete your record. We can technically access this database to operate the service but do not read, analyse or share it.
7. Apple Reminders, sharing and other apps
If you send your list to Apple Reminders, the App creates a “Pennyplate groceries” list on your device with your permission; Reminders and iCloud then handle it under Apple’s privacy policy. “Share my week” and “Send as text” create content that you choose where to share.
8. Apple Watch and widgets
Your shopping list and tonight’s dinner are shared with your Apple Watch through Apple’s WatchConnectivity, directly between your own devices, and with the App’s widgets on your iPhone.
9. Notifications
The weekly new-recipes note, shopping-day, cooking and timer reminders are scheduled locally on your device. We do not send push notifications from a server.
10. Purchases
The free trial, subscriptions and lifetime purchase are processed entirely by Apple through the App Store. We do not receive your payment details. Apple’s privacy policy applies: https://www.apple.com/legal/privacy/.
11. Deleting your data
Delete everything any time in Settings → Delete all data, or by deleting the App. If you shared with a household, leave it first to remove your iCloud record. Your data is included in your normal device backups, which you control.
12. Children
Pennyplate is not directed to children and does not knowingly collect data from anyone.
13. Changes
We may update this policy; the new version will appear on this page with a new “Last updated” date.
14. Contact
Questions? Contact us at info@codisty.com.