Privacy Policy

Groce (“we”, “us”, or “our”) is a collaborative grocery list app for Android and iOS. This Privacy Policy explains what information we collect when you use Groce, how we use it, and with whom we share it. We have tried to write this in plain language — if anything is unclear, please contact us at jordan@araujojordan.com.

1. What Information We Collect

Account information

When you create an account — either with an email and password or via Google Sign-In — we store:

• Your email address
• Your display name
• Your profile photo URL (if provided by Google; otherwise none)
• A legal-age confirmation timestamp — recorded once at sign-up when you self-attest that you are of legal age to purchase alcohol, tobacco, and other age-restricted products in your jurisdiction. We do not collect your date of birth, identity documents, or biometric data.

This information is stored in Firebase Authentication and in a users document in Cloud Firestore.

Grocery list data

When you use Groce, we store the content you create in Cloud Firestore:

• List names and the email of the list owner
• Item names, quantities, units, categories, and checked/unchecked state
• Optional item photos you capture or select from your photo library
• The display name of whoever added each item

Sharing and collaboration data

When you share a list, we store the email addresses of people you invite, people who have accepted an invitation, and people who have requested access via a shared link. This is necessary to grant the correct collaborators access to each list.

2. What We Do Not Collect

• Your contacts or address book
• Your location (we never request location permission)
• Keystroke or usage analytics beyond what Firebase provides by default
• Any data from people who have not created a Groce account

3. Third-Party Services

Groce integrates with several third-party services. When you use certain features, your data is sent to these services:

Google Firebase (Authentication & Firestore)

All user accounts and grocery data are stored in Google Firebase. Your data is processed according to Google’s Firebase Privacy Policy.

Google Sign-In

If you sign in with Google, we receive your Google account’s email address, name, and profile photo URL. We do not receive any other Google account data (e.g., contacts, Drive, Gmail).

Google AdMob

Groce includes Google AdMob to display ads. AdMob may collect:

• Your advertising identifier (Google Advertising ID on Android; IDFA on iOS)
• Device information (model, OS version, language, time zone)
• IP address and coarse location derived from IP

See Google’s Privacy Policy for details on how AdMob uses this data.

4. Device Permissions

Groce requests the following device permissions and uses them only for the stated purpose:

• Camera — to scan product barcodes and to capture photos for grocery items.
• Photo library — to let you attach an existing photo to a grocery item.
• Internet — required for all features (Firebase sync, image search, etc.).

We do not use the camera or photo library for age verification, identity verification, or biometric data collection of any kind.

5. How We Use Your Information

• To create and authenticate your account.
• To store, sync, and display your grocery lists to you and your collaborators.
• To enable sharing features (invitations, join links, pending requests).
• To fetch product information and images on your behalf.
• To display advertisements via AdMob.

We do not sell your personal information to third parties.

6. Sharing Your Data with Others

When you share a grocery list with another person, that person will be able to see:

• All items in the list, including who added each item.
• The display names and email addresses of other collaborators on the same list.

Only people you explicitly invite (or who you approve after they request access) can see a shared list.

7. Data Retention and Deletion

Your grocery lists and items remain in Firestore until you delete them within the app. If you would like to delete your account and all associated data, please visit our Account Deletion page for instructions; we will process your request within 30 days.

Note: in-app account self-deletion is not yet available. We plan to add it in a future update.

8. Children and Age Requirements

Groce is not directed at children under 13. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13.

At sign-up, every user must self-attest that they are of legal age to purchase alcohol, tobacco, and other age-restricted products in their jurisdiction. Users who decline this attestation cannot use the app. We do not perform AI-based, photo-based, or biometric age checks — the attestation is a simple self-declaration. If you believe we have inadvertently collected information from an ineligible user, please contact us and we will delete it promptly.

9. Security

All data transmitted between the app and Firebase is encrypted in transit using TLS. Data stored in Firestore is encrypted at rest by Google. We apply Firebase security rules to ensure users can only read and write data they are authorised to access.

10. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. When we do, we will update the effective date at the top of this page. Continued use of Groce after a change constitutes your acceptance of the updated policy.