Overview
FamilyHatch is a household management app for iPhone, iPad, and Apple TV. We respect that your family's data is sensitive, and we collect only what we need to make the product work. This policy explains what we collect, why, where it lives, and the choices you have.
FamilyHatch is currently in private beta and is operated by an independent developer. If anything below is unclear, write to [email protected] and we'll explain in plain language.
Information we collect
Account information
When you sign up, we collect your email address and a password (stored as a bcrypt hash — we never store your plaintext password). We use your email to log you in, send household invitations, and send service emails like waitlist confirmations.
Household content you create
FamilyHatch stores the data you and your household members enter into the app. This includes:
- Names, colors, and avatars of household members ("People")
- Calendar events, meals, and recipes
- Chores, points, and rewards
- Shopping lists and pantry items
- Announcements you post for your household
- An optional household location label and approximate coordinates (used to fetch local weather)
Receipt and barcode images
When you use the receipt scanner or barcode scanner to add items to your pantry, the image is sent to our backend and forwarded to Anthropic's Claude API for parsing. Receipt images are not stored on our servers after processing — only the extracted item names, quantities, and categories are saved to your pantry.
Diagnostic information
Our backend logs request metadata (IP address, user-agent, timestamps, and error traces) for security and debugging. We may keep these logs for up to 30 days.
Information we do not collect
- We do not use third-party advertising or analytics SDKs.
- We do not sell, rent, or share your data with advertisers.
- We do not collect precise GPS location in the background.
- We do not track you across other apps or websites.
How we use your information
- To operate the app and sync your household data across your devices.
- To send transactional emails (login, invitations, waitlist confirmations).
- To fetch weather for the household location you provide.
- To parse receipts and barcodes you submit via the pantry scanner.
- To investigate bugs, abuse, and security incidents.
Third-party services
FamilyHatch relies on a small number of services to function:
- Apple WeatherKit — fetches weather forecasts for the household location.
- Anthropic (Claude API) — parses receipt images and barcode lookups. See Anthropic's privacy policy.
- Zoho Mail — delivers transactional email (invites, waitlist confirmations).
- Open Food Facts — looks up product details for barcodes you scan.
Each provider sees only the data needed for the specific request — for example, the weather service receives latitude and longitude but not your identity, and the receipt-parsing service receives the receipt image but not your household roster.
Data storage and security
Your data is stored in a PostgreSQL database operated by us. Connections between the app and our backend use HTTPS. Authentication uses signed JSON Web Tokens. Passwords are stored as bcrypt hashes.
No system is perfectly secure. If we ever discover a breach affecting your account, we will notify you by email without unreasonable delay.
Children's privacy
FamilyHatch is intended to be administered by a parent or guardian. Children may appear in the app as "People" within a household — that is, a parent may create a record for a child to assign chores, meals, or events. Children are not expected to create their own accounts, and we do not knowingly solicit information directly from children under 13. If you believe a child has created an account without parental consent, contact us at [email protected] and we will delete it.
Your rights and choices
- Access and export. Email us and we will send you a copy of the data associated with your account.
- Correction. You can edit your household, people, meals, and other records inside the app at any time.
- Deletion. You can permanently delete your account from inside the app at Settings → Account → Delete Account. The deletion is immediate and irreversible. If you are the only member of your household, all of its data — meals, recipes, events, chores, announcements, shopping lists, and pantry — is deleted along with your account. If others share your household, the household continues without you and your name is removed from the active people list, though events and meals you previously appeared in remain in the family's history. You can also email [email protected] to request deletion if you no longer have access to the app. Backups roll off within 90 days.
- Email opt-out. Transactional emails (login, invites) are required for the service to function. Marketing emails — if we ever send any — will include an unsubscribe link.
International users
Our servers are located in the United States. If you use FamilyHatch from outside the US, you consent to your data being processed in the US. Where required by law (for example, the EU GDPR or California's CCPA), you retain the rights described above; contact us to exercise them.
Changes to this policy
We may update this policy as the product evolves. Material changes will be announced in the app and by email. The "Effective" date at the top of this page reflects the most recent revision.
Contact
Questions about this policy or your data? Write to [email protected].