1. DATA RETENTION OVERVIEW

We apply different retention periods to different categories of data based on legal requirements, business necessity, and your choices. The following table summarizes our retention practices:

2. DETAILED RETENTION SCHEDULES

2.1 Account and Profile Data

• Email address, username, display name: Retained while your account is active. Deleted within 30 days of account deletion.
• Password (hashed): Deleted immediately upon account deletion.
• Profile photo/avatar: Deleted within 30 days of account deletion or when you remove it.
• Bio and location (optional): Deleted within 30 days of account deletion.
• Phone number (optional): Deleted within 30 days of account deletion.

2.2 User-Generated Content

• Recipes: Retained while your account is active. Deleted within 30 days of account deletion, except for recipes that have been saved or shared by other users.
• Photos and Videos: Deleted from our systems within 30 days of account deletion or when you remove them.
• Comments and Reviews: Deleted within 30 days of account deletion.
• Stories: Automatically deleted 24 hours after posting. Story view data is deleted after 7 days.
• Saved/Favorited Content: Your saved items are deleted upon account deletion. Content you saved from others remains with its creator.

2.3 Social and Communication Data

• Direct Messages: Messages are end-to-end encrypted and retained until you or the recipient deletes them. When you delete your account, your copy of messages is deleted; recipients retain their copies.
• Following/Followers Lists: Deleted within 30 days of account deletion.
• Blocked Users List: Deleted within 30 days of account deletion.
• Circle Memberships: Your membership is removed upon account deletion. Circle data owned by others remains.
• Gathering Participation: Your participation records are removed upon account deletion. Gathering data created by others remains.

2.4 Shopping and Financial Data

• Shopping Lists: Retained while your account is active. Deleted within 30 days of account deletion.
• Shopping History: Retained for savings calculations while your account is active. Anonymized upon account deletion.
• Budget Settings: Deleted within 30 days of account deletion.
• Cost-Splitting Records: Retained for 7 years for financial record-keeping purposes, then deleted.
• Savings Analytics: Aggregated and anonymized data may be retained indefinitely for service improvement.

2.5 Health and Dietary Data

• Dietary Preferences/Restrictions: Deleted within 30 days of account deletion.
• Allergy Information: Deleted within 30 days of account deletion.
• Nutritional Goals/Macro Tracking: Deleted within 30 days of account deletion.
• Pantry Inventory: Deleted within 30 days of account deletion.
• Expiration Reminders: Deleted when the reminder is triggered or upon account deletion.

2.6 Technical and Security Data

• Device Information: Deleted within 30 days of account deletion.
• Push Notification Tokens: Deleted immediately upon disabling notifications or account deletion.
• IP Addresses: Retained in logs for 90 days for security purposes.
• Audit Logs (security events): Retained for 2 years for security and compliance purposes.
• Error Reports (Sentry): Retained for 90 days.
• Analytics Data (Firebase): Retained for 26 months in accordance with Firebase Analytics retention policies.

3. ACCOUNT DELETION PROCESS

When you delete your account, the following process occurs:

3.1 Immediate Actions (Day 0)

• Account is deactivated and inaccessible
• Profile becomes invisible to other users
• Authentication credentials are invalidated
• Push notification tokens are deleted

3.2 Within 30 Days

• Personal data is permanently deleted from primary databases
• User content (recipes, photos, videos) is deleted
• Social connections are removed
• Dietary and health data is deleted
• Shopping lists and pantry data are deleted
• Cascading deletion across all related data

3.3 Within 90 Days

• Backup copies are purged
• Cached data is cleared from CDNs and edge servers
• Storage references are cleaned up

3.4 Retained After Deletion

• Anonymized, aggregated analytics data (cannot identify you)
• Audit logs (for 2 years, for security purposes)
• Data subject to legal holds or preservation requirements
• Cost-splitting records (for 7 years, for legal compliance)
• Content that has been shared with or saved by other users (in their accounts)

4. DATA EXPORT

Before deleting your account, you can export your data:

• In-App Export: Use the data export feature in your account settings to download your data in a machine-readable format (JSON).
• Manual Request: Contact privacy@gruby.app to request a data export.

Your data export will include:

• Profile information
• Recipes you created
• Photos and videos you uploaded
• Comments and reviews
• Shopping lists and history
• Dietary preferences
• Pantry inventory
• Following/followers lists
• Circle and Gathering membership data

5. THIRD-PARTY DATA RETENTION

Our third-party service providers have their own data retention policies:

• Firebase: Data is deleted in accordance with our deletion requests. Analytics data follows Firebase Analytics retention policies (default 26 months).
• Google Gemini AI: AI interaction data is subject to Google's data retention policies and our data processing agreement.
• Sentry: Error reports are retained for 90 days.
• Expo: Push notification tokens are deleted immediately upon our request.

6. LEGAL HOLDS AND EXCEPTIONS

We may retain data beyond the stated retention periods when:

• Legal Obligations: Required by law, regulation, or court order
• Legal Proceedings: Data is subject to a legal hold in connection with litigation, investigation, or regulatory inquiry
• Dispute Resolution: Necessary to resolve disputes or enforce our agreements
• Security: Required for fraud prevention or security investigations
• Tax and Financial Records: Required for financial record-keeping (typically 7 years)

7. YOUR RIGHTS

You have the following rights regarding your data:

• Access: Request information about the data we hold about you
• Export: Download a copy of your data in a portable format
• Correction: Request correction of inaccurate data
• Deletion: Delete your account and personal data
• Restriction: Request restriction of processing in certain circumstances

To exercise these rights, visit your account settings or contact us at privacy@gruby.app.

8. INACTIVE ACCOUNTS

For accounts that have been inactive for an extended period:

• 12 months of inactivity: We may send you a reminder email about your account
• 24 months of inactivity: We may send a final notice that your account will be scheduled for deletion
• After 24+ months: Inactive accounts may be deleted at our discretion

You can prevent account deletion by logging in or contacting us before the deletion occurs.

9. CHANGES TO THIS POLICY

We may update this Data Retention Policy from time to time. We will notify you of material changes by posting the updated policy on this page with a new effective date. Your continued use of the Service after the effective date constitutes acceptance of the changes.

10. CONTACT US

If you have questions about this Data Retention Policy or want to exercise your data rights, please contact us:

Gruby Privacy Team
Email: privacy@gruby.app