Privacy Policy
Effective October 1, 2026
This policy explains what information the Venes mobile app ("Venes", "we") uses, where it goes, and the choices you have. Venes is built to need as little of your information as possible.
In short
- No account. We never ask for your name, email or phone number.
- No ads, no tracking, no analytics. We do not sell or share your information for advertising.
- Your history and settings stay on your phone.
- Photos you choose to analyze are sent to an AI service to read them, and are not stored on our server.
- Location is optional and only used to find store prices near you.
What Venes uses, and why
Barcodes you scan
The barcode number is sent from your phone to Open Food Facts to look up the product. If it is not found there, our server looks it up with USDA FoodData Central and Kroger. A barcode identifies a product, not you.
Photos of food labels and meals
When you choose to photograph a label or a meal, the photo is compressed on your phone and sent to our server, which passes it to an AI service to read the label or estimate the meal. Our server does not save the photo; it is processed in memory and discarded once the answer is returned. The AI services we use are:
- Google Gemini API (main service). While Venes uses Google's free tier, Google may use content sent to it to improve its products, as described in the Gemini API terms. We will update this policy when this changes.
- OpenRouter (backup, used only when Gemini is unavailable), which passes the photo to the AI model provider it selects. See the OpenRouter privacy policy.
Please photograph only food. Avoid including people, documents or anything personal in the picture. A small copy of your meal photos is kept on your phone (the 30 most recent) so you can see them in History; it is never uploaded again unless you ask Venes to re-estimate that meal.
Searches
Product searches are sent to our server, which asks Open Food Facts and, if you have set a location, Kroger. Restaurant searches are answered by our server from its own menu data and are not sent to anyone else.
Location (optional)
To show grocery prices near you, you can enter a ZIP code or allow device location. Device location is rounded to about 1 km (0.6 miles) on your phone before it is sent, is used only to find the nearest store, and is not stored: the app keeps it in memory for up to 10 minutes. A ZIP code you enter is saved on your phone. The ZIP code or rounded location is sent to our server and to Kroger to find the nearest store and its prices. You can turn prices off at any time in Settings, and Venes works without location.
Prices
To show prices reported by shoppers, the product's barcode (not your location) is sent to Open Prices by our server.
Links to maps and stores
"Find nearest" opens Apple Maps or Google Maps, and "Buy online" opens a store's website or app. Those services handle your visit under their own privacy policies.
History and settings
Your scan, meal and search history (up to 200 entries) and your settings (sugar and salt tolerance, allergen alerts, ZIP code) are stored only in the app on your phone. We cannot see them. You can remove entries or clear all history in the History tab; deleting the app deletes all of it.
Our server
Our server runs on Oracle Cloud in the United States. It handles requests in memory and does not keep a database of users or requests. To keep the service running and fair, it:
- keeps short technical logs (time, the type of request, whether it worked and how long it took) for up to 30 days. The logs do not include search words, ZIP codes, locations or photos;
- uses your device's IP address in memory to limit how many requests can be made (for example, photo analyses per hour). The app does not write IP addresses to its logs, and forgets them within an hour.
All connections between the app and our server are encrypted (HTTPS).
Services we use
| Service | What it receives | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
| Open Food Facts | Barcodes, product search words | Product information |
| USDA FoodData Central | Barcodes (from our server) | Product information |
| Kroger | Barcodes, search words, ZIP code or rounded location (from our server) | Nearest store, prices, store-brand information |
| Open Prices | Barcodes (from our server) | Prices reported by shoppers |
| Google Gemini API | Label and meal photos you choose to analyze | Reading labels, estimating meals |
| OpenRouter | Those photos, only when Gemini is unavailable | Backup for the above |
| Oracle Cloud | Hosts our server | Hosting |
Permissions
- Camera: to scan barcodes and photograph labels and meals.
- Photos: only if you choose a meal picture from your library.
- Location: only if you allow it, for nearby prices.
Venes does not use the microphone, contacts or tracking across apps. You can change permissions at any time in your phone's settings.
Children
Venes is not directed to children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect information from them.
Your rights and choices
Because we do not keep accounts or a database of users, there is no personal profile to access or delete on our side; everything personal stays on your phone, under your control. If you have a question or request about your data, including under US state privacy laws, contact us below. We do not sell or share personal information.
Health information
Scores, estimates and suggestions in Venes are for general information only and are not medical or dietary advice. Always check the package or ask the restaurant if you have an allergy.
Changes
If this policy changes, we will update the date above and describe important changes in the app or on this page.
Contact
Email support@venes.app.