Home Brewed Privacy Policy

Effective: June 8, 2026

Home Brewed is built and maintained by Zach Hicks. This policy explains what data the app collects, where it lives, and what you can do about it. The short version: we don't run any servers, we don't sell anything, and we don't track you. Almost everything stays on your device or in your iCloud account.

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What we collect, and where it lives

Home Brewed groups data into three places. You decide what ends up where.

1. On your device

The following always stays local to your iPhone, iPad, or Apple Vision Pro:

• Your recipes, ingredients, and brewing steps

• Your inventory items (beans, syrups, equipment), including roast dates and photos you attach

• Your Brew Journal entries, including ratings, tasting notes, and photos

• Your household name and member code if you've joined or created one

• Your app preferences and onboarding state

• Cached community avatars and tile images (for performance)

If you're signed in to iCloud on your device, iOS automatically syncs this data through your private iCloud database to your other Apple devices using the same Apple ID. Apple holds the encryption keys; we do not. We never receive or process this data.

2. In Apple's CloudKit (public area), only if you choose to share

The Community tab uses Apple's CloudKit public database. Data is uploaded only in response to actions you take:

• A recipe you tap Share with the community on

• Reviews (0–5 stars) you submit on other people's recipes

• A community profile you create (display name, optional bio, optional profile photo)

• Reports you file on objectionable content

• Save counts and follower counts (automatically tracked on community records)

• Subscription records so you can be notified when authors you follow post new recipes

This data is associated with your iCloud user record identifier (an opaque string Apple gives the app — not your Apple ID, email, or name). Other Home Brewed users can see it, because that's the point of sharing it. We do not collect, store, or have access to your iCloud user record name outside of CloudKit itself.

You can delete any recipe or profile information you've uploaded at any time from inside the app, and the underlying CloudKit record is permanently removed.

3. In Apple Health, only if you opt in

If you enable Sync caffeine to Health in Settings, Home Brewed writes dietary-caffeine entries to your Apple Health app for each brew you log. These entries:

• Are written to your local Health database on your device

• Are governed by Apple's Health privacy settings, not ours

• Are never transmitted to us or to any third party

• Can be revoked at any time in iOS Settings → Health → Data Access & Devices → Home Brewed

We never read data from Health. We only write caffeine entries you've logged.

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Permissions the app may request

| Permission | What it's for | When asked |

|---|---|---|

| Camera | Scanning printed recipes for OCR import; taking photos of beans, syrups, and brews | Only when you tap a scan/photo action |

| Photo Library | Selecting an existing photo to attach to a recipe, inventory item, or brew log | Only when you tap a photo picker |

| Notifications | Bean-freshness alerts (3, 14, and 28 days post-roast for beans you've added with a roast date) | Only when you enable the alerts from Settings or the onboarding screen |

| HealthKit | Writing caffeine entries (write-only) | Only when you enable the toggle |

You can deny any of these and the app continues to work — the related feature is simply disabled until you change your mind in iOS Settings.

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Information we do not collect

• We do not run any analytics. No Firebase, no Mixpanel, no Google, no Meta, no anything.

• We do not show advertising and do not use App Tracking.

• We do not collect device identifiers, IP addresses, or location.

• We do not sell, rent, or share data with any third party.

• We do not have user accounts in the traditional sense; you sign into iCloud the same way you do for any other Apple app.

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How long data is kept

• On-device data: until you delete it or uninstall the app.

• iCloud private data: until you delete it through the app, sign out of iCloud, or delete the app on every device.

• CloudKit public community data: until you delete the specific record through the app or until Apple's CloudKit retention policy removes it. Reports and review records linked to your iCloud user record can be deleted by you or removed at our discretion if they violate the Community Guidelines.

• Health entries: governed by your Apple Health settings. You can clear them in the Health app at any time.

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Children's privacy

Home Brewed is rated 12+ on the App Store. We do not knowingly collect any personal information from anyone under 13, in accordance with the U.S. Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA). If you believe a child has uploaded content through Home Brewed, please email us and we'll remove it.

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Your rights

Depending on where you live, you may have specific rights under laws like the GDPR (Europe), UK GDPR, CCPA / CPRA (California), or similar:

• Access the data we hold on you (almost all of which lives in your own iCloud account and Apple Health, both of which you can already see in full)

• Delete that data by deleting it inside the app, or by deleting the app and signing out of iCloud

• Object to processing by disabling the relevant feature

• Lodge a complaint with your local data protection authority

To exercise these rights for any community-side data we can reach, email me with the request. Because community records are stored only against an opaque CloudKit user identifier (we cannot see your name or email), please contact us from the email associated with your Apple ID so we can verify the request.

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User-generated content and moderation

When you upload a recipe or review to the Community, you confirm that the content is yours to share. We reserve the right to remove content reported by other users or that violates the in-app Community Guidelines you accepted on first community upload. We act on reports within 24 hours where reasonably possible.

You can:

• Report any recipe or profile from the menu on its detail screen

• Block another author, hiding their content from your feed

• Delete your own community uploads at any time

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International users

Home Brewed is built in the United States. If you use the app from outside the U.S., your data still lives in your own iCloud account in the Apple region associated with your Apple ID. We do not transfer or process your data outside of Apple's infrastructure.

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Changes to this policy

If we change this policy in a meaningful way, we'll update the Effective date at the top and, where reasonable, surface a notice in the app the next time you open it. Continued use of Home Brewed after a change means you've accepted the updated policy.

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Contact

Questions, requests, or feedback:

Zach Hicks

info@zachhicksapps.com