Privacy Policy
The Kitchen
Effective date: Oct 1, 2026
Last updated: Sep 16, 2026
The Kitchen is a voice-guided cooking companion for iPhone, made by Chestnut Place, LLC ("we," "us," "our"). This policy explains what information we collect when you use the app and the website at getthekitchen.app, how we use it, who we share it with, and the choices you have.
If you have questions, email us at hello@getthekitchen.com or visit getthekitchen.app/support.
1. Information we collect
Account information
The Kitchen requires an account. When you sign up with Sign in with Apple, Google, or an email address and password, we receive and store:
Your email address (if you use Apple's "Hide My Email," we receive the private relay address instead)
Your name, if the sign-in provider shares it
A unique account identifier
Which sign-in method you used
We use these to create and secure your account, sync your data across devices, and contact you about your account.
Onboarding and preferences
During setup we ask you to choose a cooking companion (Olive, Graham, Hazel, or Clove), tell us your cooking experience level, and tell us how you heard about The Kitchen. We store these choices with your account. The "how did you hear about us" answer is used only to understand which channels bring people to the app.
Recipes and cooking activity
We store the recipes you save to your recipe box, including any edits or substitutions you make, and records of your cooking sessions: which recipe you cooked, when, whether you completed it, and a running count of sessions. We also store the text of your conversations with your companion during a cooking session (see "Voice" below). This is what lets you return to your recipes and lets us understand how the app is being used.
Voice
The Kitchen is designed to be used hands-free, so it listens for your voice while you cook. Here is exactly what happens:
Speech to text happens through Apple's speech recognition on your iPhone. Depending on your device and iOS settings, Apple may process audio on-device or send it to Apple's servers under Apple's privacy terms. We do not receive or store your raw audio.
The text of what you say is sent to Google's Gemini API, along with the recipe and recent conversation, so your companion can respond. We store the text of these exchanges with your account.
Your companion's replies are turned into speech by ElevenLabs. Only the reply text is sent to ElevenLabs; nothing you say is sent there.
The microphone is only active during a cooking session, and you can mute it at any time from the cooking screen or turn it off entirely in Account settings. If you decline microphone or speech-recognition permission, you can still use the app by tapping.
Photos, videos, and links you import
When you import a recipe from a photo, a video, or a link (including links shared to The Kitchen from other apps using the iOS share sheet), the content you choose is sent to Google's Gemini API to be turned into a structured recipe. We store the resulting recipe in your recipe box. We do not keep the original photo or video after processing.
Camera and photo library access are only requested when you choose to import from a photo, and are used for nothing else.
Usage and diagnostics
We collect technical information to keep the app working and to understand how it's used:
Crash reports and performance data via Firebase Crashlytics (device model, iOS version, app version, the state of the app when it crashed)
Usage analytics via Google Analytics for Firebase: events such as signing up, completing onboarding, starting and finishing a cook, and importing a recipe, along with device model, iOS version, app version, session and engagement time, and your approximate country (derived from your IP address). Analytics assigns your install a random app-instance identifier; it is not connected to your name or email, and we do not link it to Google Ads
Per-request usage metrics for the AI services we call (for example, how much text was processed), which we use to monitor cost and reliability
We do not use advertising identifiers, and we do not track you across other apps or websites.
Website
getthekitchen.app is hosted on Squarespace, which collects standard server logs and runs its built-in site analytics under Squarespace's own privacy policy. Squarespace uses first-party cookies to count visits and page views and to record referring sites, browser and device type, and approximate location derived from your IP address. We do not run advertising, third-party analytics, or cross-site tracking on the site.
2. How we use your information
To provide the app: guiding you through recipes, responding to your voice, saving your recipes
To keep your account secure and your data synced
To fix bugs, prevent abuse, and keep the service running
To understand how the app is used and improve it
To respond when you contact us
We do not sell your personal information. We do not use your data to show you ads.
Use of your data to train AI
We do not use your conversations, recipes, or voice to train our own AI models. We use Google's Gemini API as a paid service, and under Google's terms for paid services Google does not use your prompts or responses to train or improve its models. ElevenLabs receives only your companion's reply text, never anything you say. Each provider's handling of data is governed by its own terms, linked in section 3.
3. Who we share your information with
We share data only with the service providers we need to run The Kitchen. Each is bound by its own terms and privacy policy:
Google Firebase (authentication, database, crash reporting, and Google Analytics for Firebase) — stores your account and app data. Data is stored in the United States.
Google Gemini API — processes the text of your requests, recipes, and imported content to generate responses.
ElevenLabs — converts your companion's replies to speech.
Apple — speech recognition and Sign in with Apple, under Apple's terms.
Render — hosts our backend servers, which relay requests between the app and the services above.
Squarespace — hosts our website.
We may also disclose information if required by law, to protect the rights and safety of our users or others, or as part of a merger, acquisition, or sale of assets (in which case this policy will continue to apply to your data until you're told otherwise).
4. Data retention
We keep your account data for as long as your account exists. When you delete your account, we delete your profile, recipes, cooking history, and conversation records from our database. Crash reports are kept by Firebase Crashlytics for 90 days. Server logs are kept for 14 days. Analytics event data is kept by Google Analytics for Firebase for two months; aggregated statistics that don't identify individual users are retained indefinitely. We do not keep separate backups of our database, so once your deletion is processed it is permanent.
5. Your choices and rights
Delete your account. Go to Account → Delete account in the app. This permanently removes your data as described above. You'll be asked to confirm.
Sign out from the same screen.
Microphone. Turn the mic off in Account settings, mute it during a cook, or revoke permission in iOS Settings.
Sign in with Apple. You can revoke The Kitchen's access under iOS Settings → [your name] → Sign in with Apple.
Access or correction. Email us and we'll help.
If you live in California, the UK, the EU, or another region with data-protection laws, you may have additional rights to access, correct, delete, or port your data, or to object to certain processing. Email us to exercise them; we'll respond within the time the law requires. We don't discriminate against anyone for exercising these rights.
6. Children
The Kitchen is not directed at children under 13 (or the equivalent minimum age in your region), and we do not knowingly collect personal information from them. If you believe a child has created an account, email us and we'll delete it.
7. Security
All data travels between the app, our servers, and our providers over encrypted connections. Access to our database is restricted to authenticated requests. No system is perfectly secure, and we can't guarantee absolute security, but we take reasonable steps to protect your information.
8. Changes to this policy
We may update this policy as the app changes. If the changes are significant, we'll let you know in the app or by email before they take effect. The "Last updated" date at the top always shows the current version.
9. Contact
Chestnut Place, LLC