Privacy Policy
Hearth ("Hearth", "we", "us", "our") is a recipe vault app published by LiveWithLove.
This policy explains what information Hearth collects, how it's used, and the choices you
have. Hearth's Android package identifier is com.withlove.hearth.
Summary
- Hearth is fully usable offline, without an account.
- Your recipes and meal plans are stored on your device and are only sent to our cloud servers if you choose to sign in, so they can sync across your devices or be shared with your household.
- Hearth's hands-free cooking mode uses on-device speech recognition. Your microphone audio is never uploaded or sent anywhere.
- We do not sell your data.
What we collect, and why
Recipes, ingredients, steps, photos, and categories
When you save a recipe — by typing it in, importing a screenshot, taking a photo, or pasting a link — Hearth stores that recipe content (title, ingredients, steps, photos, and any categories or tags you add) in a local database on your device (SQLite). This works fully offline and does not require an account.
If you sign in, your recipe text and meal plans are synced to our cloud backend so they're available on your other devices and, if you use household sharing, to the household members you've invited. Recipe photos are additionally uploaded to a private cloud storage bucket, but only if you're subscribed to Hearth Plus.
Meal plans
Meal plans you create work the same way as recipes: stored locally always, and synced to the cloud only when you're signed in.
Account information
Creating an account is optional. If you choose to sign in, you can do so with an email address, or with Google Sign-In (which shares your email address and name with us). We use your account only to authenticate you and to enable sync and household sharing. Your authentication tokens are stored securely in the Android Keystore on your device.
Household sharing
If you invite someone to your household (or accept an invite), the recipes and meal plans in that household's shared collection become accessible to invited household members. Access is scoped to the household you create or join — it is not public.
Hands-free cooking voice input — on-device only
Hearth's hands-free cooking mode lets you navigate a recipe by voice while your hands are full or messy. Speech recognition for this feature runs 100% on your device. Your microphone audio is never recorded to a file, uploaded, or sent to us or anyone else — it is processed locally and immediately discarded. We consider this a core privacy commitment, not just a technical detail.
Camera and photos
If you use your camera to create an "image recipe" (a recipe saved as a photo, e.g. of a handwritten card or cookbook page), that photo is stored locally on your device. It is only uploaded to our private cloud storage if you are signed in and subscribed to Hearth Plus, so it can sync across your devices.
Recipe URL import
If you paste a web link to import a recipe, the URL you paste is sent to Hearth's backend (running on AWS Lambda) so it can fetch and parse that page into a recipe for you. Only the URL itself is sent — we don't send your recipe collection, account details, or other personal data as part of this request.
Advertising (free tier)
If you're using Hearth's free tier, we show ads through Google AdMob (banner and, in certain non-cooking contexts, interstitial ads). AdMob may collect your advertising ID and device/usage information to show and measure ads. If you're in the EEA/UK, you'll be shown a consent prompt (via Google's User Messaging Platform) before any personalized advertising data is collected. Ads are removed entirely if you subscribe to Hearth Plus.
Analytics and crash reporting
We use Google Firebase (Analytics, Crashlytics, and Remote Config) to understand app usage at an aggregate level and to diagnose crashes. This includes things like which screens are used, crash logs, and device information (device model, OS version). We do not send your recipe content or other personally identifying content through analytics.
Subscriptions
Hearth Plus subscriptions are processed by RevenueCat, which handles subscription state (purchase history and an app-user identifier) on our behalf. Actual payment is handled by Google Play — Hearth does not see or store your payment card details.
Notifications
Meal-plan reminders are scheduled and delivered entirely on your device using Android's local notification system. They are not sent from a server.
On-device vs. synced — at a glance
| Data | Stored on-device | Sent to the cloud |
|---|---|---|
| Recipes, meal plans (text) | Always | Only if signed in |
| Recipe photos | Always | Only if signed in AND on Hearth Plus |
| Hands-free voice audio | Processed & discarded on-device | Never |
| Imported recipe URL | — | Sent to our backend to fetch/parse the page |
| Account email/name | — | Only if you create an account |
Third parties we work with
Hearth relies on a small number of service providers to operate:
- Amazon Web Services (AWS) — Cognito (authentication), AppSync/DynamoDB (synced recipe and meal plan data), S3 (private recipe photo storage for Plus subscribers), and Lambda (recipe URL import). See AWS's privacy notice.
- Google Play & Google Sign-In — app distribution, optional sign-in. See Google's privacy policy.
- Google AdMob — advertising for free-tier users. See Google's ad privacy information.
- Google Firebase — analytics, crash reporting, remote config. See Firebase's privacy and security page.
- RevenueCat — subscription management. See RevenueCat's privacy policy.
We do not sell your personal data to third parties.
Data retention
Locally stored data (recipes, meal plans, photos, and voice processing) remains on your device until you delete it or uninstall the app. Synced data is retained in our cloud backend for as long as your account is active, or until you delete it. If you delete your account, we delete your synced recipes, meal plans, photos, and account information from our production systems, other than what we're required to retain for legal, security, or fraud-prevention purposes, or residual copies in backups that age out on a routine schedule.
Your rights and how to delete your data
You can delete an individual recipe or your entire local library at any time from within the app — this is available whether or not you're signed in. If you have an account, you can delete your account and all associated synced data from Hearth's Settings screen, or by following the steps on our account deletion page. You can also request deletion by emailing us (see Contact below).
Depending on where you live, you may have additional rights over your personal data (such as access, correction, portability, or objection to processing). Contact us using the details below to exercise these rights.
Children's privacy
Hearth is rated for a general audience (age 4+ on the Play Store) and is not directed at children under 13. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If you believe a child has provided us with personal information, please contact us and we will delete it.
Changes to this policy
We may update this privacy policy from time to time. We'll update the "Last updated" date above when we do. Material changes will be reflected in the app's release notes where appropriate.
Contact us
Questions about this policy or your data? Email us at support@withlove-apps.com.