Privacy Policy
Effective September 24th, 2026
The short version
- You don't need an account to use Sear, and Sear shows no ads.
- Your recipe library, meal plans, grocery lists, photos and cooking notes live on your iPhone, and in your own iCloud account if you turn on iCloud for Sear. We can't see them.
- If you share a grocery list with your family, the people you invite can see and change it, through Apple's iCloud sharing. We still can't see it.
- When you import a recipe from a link, Sear sends that link to our servers to see if we've already prepared the recipe. We don't record who asked for it.
- Sear can collect anonymous usage statistics to help us understand how it's used and fix problems, but only while Share Usage Statistics is turned on in Settings. Right now it's off, and Sear collects none.
- We don't sell your personal information, and we don't use it to track you across other companies' apps or websites.
The rest of this policy explains the details.
1. Who we are
Sear is made by Davis Kimoto ("Sear," "we," "us" or "our"). We are responsible for the personal information described in this policy. You can reach us at privacy@searcooking.com.
This policy covers the Sear app for iPhone, including its share extension and widgets (together, the "App"), the website at searcooking.com (the "Site"), and the servers the App uses to import recipes (together with the App and the Site, the "Services").
2. Information that stays with you
Most of what you put into Sear never reaches us. This includes:
- recipes you save, write or edit, and the photos attached to them;
- meal plans, dinner times and reminders;
- grocery lists;
- your cooking history: photos of what you cooked, ratings and notes;
- thermometer readings; and
- your settings.
Your recipe library and everything else in this list lives on your iPhone. If iCloud is turned on for Sear (in iOS Settings › [your name] › iCloud), Apple also keeps a copy in your private iCloud account, so it's on all your devices and restored if you get a new iPhone. iCloud data is stored and protected by Apple under Apple's Privacy Policy, and we can't access it. If iCloud is off, your data stays only on your device.
2.1 Sharing with your family
You can share a grocery list with family members or anyone else you invite, so everyone can add to it and check things off. Sharing works through Apple's iCloud sharing, not our servers:
- What they see. Everyone you invite can see, add to, change and delete everything on the shared list. Sear may show which person added or checked off an item. Apple may show them your name and the email address or phone number of your Apple Account as the person who shared the list, and show you the same about them.
- Where it's stored. A shared list is kept in the iCloud account of the person who shared it, and copied to each participant's devices. We can't access it.
- Who's in control. The person who shared the list can remove people or stop sharing at any time, and anyone can leave. When someone leaves or is removed, the list is taken off their devices, but we can't undo anything they already saw or copied.
- Only what you choose. Sharing a grocery list doesn't share your recipes, plans, photos or anything else in Sear.
Please only invite people you trust who are at least 13 (see section 10), and don't add personal information about others to a shared list without their permission.
If Sear offers purchases that support Apple's Family Sharing, Apple decides who in your family can use them. We don't learn who's in your family.
2.2 Processing on your device
Some features process your information on your device:
- Apple Intelligence. Where your device supports it, Sear uses Apple's on-device language model to do things like name recipes and sort groceries into aisles. This happens on your device and nothing is sent to us.
- Screenshots and text. When you share a screenshot or a block of text to Sear, it reads the recipe on your device.
- Siri. When you use voice commands like "Sear, next step," Apple processes your voice under its own privacy policy. Sear only receives the command.
3. Information we collect
3.1 Recipe imports and the recipe cache
To make imports faster and more reliable, we keep a shared cache of recipes from popular public posts and web pages (for example on TikTok and Instagram) that have already been prepared in Sear's format. Here's what happens when you import a recipe from a link:
- The App sends the link to our servers to check whether the recipe is in the cache. This request is not linked to you and uses an anonymous identifier. If it is, our servers send back the recipe's ingredients and steps.
- If it isn't in the cache, the App fetches the page or post directly from its source (for example, the recipe website, TikTok or Instagram) and reads the recipe on your device. The source will see your request as it would if you'd opened the link, under its own privacy policy.
- We may add the link to the cache. Our servers may fetch the same public post or page themselves and use machine-learning tools, some of which run on cloud services provided by third parties, to extract its ingredients and steps. This way the next person to import it gets it right away.
What the cache stores: the link, the site or platform it came from, the name or handle the creator published it under (so we can credit them), the ingredients and steps we extracted, and when the entry was created and last used. The cache does not store who asked for a recipe. It's a shared library of public recipes, not a record of your activity.
What our servers log: like most online services, our servers automatically record technical details of each request, including your IP address, the time, the App version and the link you asked about. We use these logs only to operate and secure the service, prevent abuse and fix problems, and we delete them after 90 days.
Recipes you type, paste or share as text or screenshots are not sent to our servers. Only links are.
3.2 Usage statistics (analytics)
Sear may collect usage statistics. The Share Usage Statistics switch in the App's settings is used to manage this. Sear will only collect usage statistics while that switch is on. These statistics would help us understand which features people use, where the App is confusing or slow, and when something breaks. That would include:
- events in the App, like opening a screen, starting cooking mode, or an import succeeding or failing;
- crash and performance information; and
- your device model, iOS version, App version, language and region.
These statistics would be tied to a random identifier that we generate, not to your name, email address, Apple Account or advertising identifier. They wouldn't include the content of your recipes, plans, lists or photos. We would use Posthog to collect and analyze them for us. We don't use analytics for advertising, and we don't combine them with information from other companies to track you.
You can turn usage statistics on or off at any time in the App under Settings › Privacy › Share Usage Statistics. Separately, if you've allowed it in iOS, Apple may share crash reports with us. You can change that in iOS Settings › Privacy & Security › Analytics & Improvements.
3.3 When you contact us
If you email us, answer a survey or join a beta through TestFlight, we receive what you send us, such as your name, email address and message, and, for TestFlight, the feedback and crash information Apple passes on. We use this to reply to you and to improve the App.
3.4 The website
The Site doesn't use cookies or advertising trackers. Our hosting provider, Cloudflare, records standard server logs, including your IP address, browser type and the pages you visit, to deliver and secure the Site.
3.5 Purchases
If Sear offers purchases or subscriptions, Apple processes the payment. We receive a record that a purchase was made, but not your name or payment details.
4. Device permissions
Sear asks for permission before using these features of your device. You can change your mind at any time in iOS Settings.
| Permission | What Sear uses it for |
|---|---|
| Camera | Taking photos of what you cooked. Photos are saved in your library, not sent to us. |
| Bluetooth | Reading temperatures from a Combustion thermometer. Readings stay on your device. |
| Notifications | Reminders to start cooking, and asking how a dish turned out. |
| Alarms | Cooking timers that ring even when your phone is silenced. |
| Local network | Finding your other devices nearby so you can cook together. Information passes directly between your devices. |
5. How we use information
We use the information described above to:
- provide the Services, including importing recipes and building and running the recipe cache;
- understand how the App is used, and improve it and its recipe extraction;
- find and fix bugs, crashes and performance problems;
- protect the Services and their users from abuse, fraud and security threats;
- answer your messages and provide support; and
- comply with the law and enforce our Terms of Use.
We don't sell personal information, share it for cross-context behavioral advertising, or use it to make decisions that have legal or similarly significant effects on you.
6. Who we share information with
We share personal information only as described here:
- Service providers that process information on our behalf and under our instructions, such as our hosting and cloud providers, the providers of the machine-learning tools that prepare cached recipes, our analytics provider and our email provider. They may use it only to provide their services to us.
- Consultants, contractors and professional advisors, such as developers, designers, lawyers and accountants who help us build, run or advise on the Services. They see only what they need for the work, and are bound by confidentiality obligations.
- Apple, which provides iCloud, the App Store, TestFlight, Siri and on-device features under its own terms and privacy policy.
- For legal reasons, when we believe in good faith that the law requires it, or that it's needed to protect the rights, property or safety of Sear, our users or others.
- In a business transfer, such as a merger, acquisition or sale of assets. We'll tell you before your information becomes subject to a different privacy policy.
- With your consent, or at your direction, for example when you share a recipe or a photo from the App.
The ingredients and steps in the recipe cache aren't personal information, and anyone who imports the same link will receive them.
7. How long we keep information
| Information | How long |
|---|---|
| Recipes, plans, lists and photos in the App | On your device, and in iCloud if it's turned on, until you delete them. We never hold them. |
| Recipe cache entries | As long as they're useful, or until a creator or rights holder asks us to remove them. |
| Server logs | 90 days |
| Usage statistics | 24 months, then deleted or aggregated so they no longer relate to any device |
| Emails and support requests | As long as needed to help you, then up to 3 years |
We may keep information longer if the law requires it, or to resolve disputes and enforce our agreements.
8. Security
We protect information with reasonable technical and organizational measures, including encryption in transit and limited access to our systems. No method of transmission or storage is completely secure. If a breach affects your personal information, we'll notify you and the relevant authorities as the law requires.
9. Your choices and rights
- Usage statistics: turn them on or off in the App under Settings › Privacy.
- Permissions: change them in iOS Settings.
- Your data in the App: delete recipes and other items in the App, or delete the App. To stop syncing, turn off iCloud for Sear in iOS Settings › [your name] › iCloud. To remove data already in iCloud, go to iOS Settings › [your name] › iCloud › Manage Storage.
- Shared lists: stop sharing, remove people or leave a shared list in the App.
Depending on where you live, you may have the right to know what personal information we hold about you and get a copy of it, to have it corrected or deleted, to object to or restrict certain processing, to move it to another service, and to withdraw consent. To make a request, email privacy@searcooking.com. We'll respond within the time the law requires. We may need to verify your request, and you can have an authorized agent make a request on your behalf. Because we don't link imports or usage statistics to your identity, we may not be able to find information that relates to you. We won't treat you differently for exercising your rights.
US state privacy rights
Residents of California and other US states with privacy laws have the rights above. In the past 12 months, we collected these categories of personal information for the purposes in section 5, and shared them with the recipients in section 6: identifiers (IP address, random usage identifier); internet or other electronic network activity (usage events, server logs); and, if you contacted us, contact details. We don't sell or "share" personal information as those laws define it, and we don't collect sensitive personal information. If we deny your request, you can appeal by replying to our decision. If you're not satisfied, you can contact your state attorney general.
European Economic Area, United Kingdom and Switzerland
We process personal information on these legal bases:
- Contract: to provide the features you ask for, such as importing a recipe.
- Legitimate interests: to run the recipe cache, keep our servers secure and understand how the App is used so we can improve it. You can object to this processing.
- Consent: where the law requires it. You can withdraw consent at any time.
- Legal obligation: where we must keep or disclose information by law.
We're based in the United States, and so are our servers and most of our service providers. When we transfer personal information out of the EEA, UK or Switzerland, we rely on appropriate safeguards such as the European Commission's Standard Contractual Clauses. You also have the right to complain to your local data protection authority.
10. Children
Sear is for people 13 and older, or older if their country requires it, as our Terms of Use say. It isn't directed to children under 13, and we don't knowingly collect their personal information. If you think a child has given us personal information, contact us and we'll delete it.
11. Changes to this policy
We may update this policy as Sear changes. We'll post the new version here and update the effective date, and for significant changes we'll also tell you in the App before they take effect.
12. Contact
Questions or requests: privacy@searcooking.com
Davis Kimoto, hello@searcooking.com