Overview
ShopMate is a grocery price tracking app for iOS and Android. This policy explains how ShopMate handles information used to provide account features, receipt scanning, barcode scanning, grocery price records, store comparison, and support.
Account Data
ShopMate may collect account information such as your name, email address, authentication identifiers, profile settings, and app preferences so the app can provide account-based features and support.
Camera, Receipt Scanning, and Barcodes
ShopMate uses the camera for two things: reading a receipt and reading a product barcode. Both happen on your device.
Receipt text is extracted on your device using Apple's on-device text recognition on iOS, and Google ML Kit's on-device text recognizer on Android. Receipt images are not uploaded by the receipt scanning flow on either platform. You review everything that was read before anything is saved, and only the prices and product details you confirm leave your device.
Barcode detection also runs on device. Camera frames are not saved or uploaded by the barcode-scanning flow.
You choose the date of the shopping trip a receipt belongs to, so a receipt scanned later still records when the prices were actually seen.
Optional Photos
You may choose to add product photos, store photos, or price-entry photos. These photos are user-initiated and are separate from the receipt scanning flow.
Location and Store Coordinates
Location permission is optional. ShopMate never requires it to compare prices.
When you ask ShopMate to find stores near you, your approximate coordinates are sent to the mapping services that hold store listings, so they can return nearby results:
- Google Places (both platforms)
- Apple Maps (iOS only)
- OpenStreetMap, via the Overpass service (Android, used only when Google Places is unavailable)
When you add a store by capturing its position, that single coordinate is also sent to a geocoding service to determine which country the store is in, which is how ShopMate knows the currency its prices are in.
These services receive a location and return places. They do not receive your ShopMate account, your shopping lists, or your price history. Each has its own privacy policy governing what it does with a location request.
If you decline location, you can still add a store by typing its name and capturing its position, and every price comparison continues to work.
Submissions and Community Safety
ShopMate may process product records, price entries, vendor or store details, reviews, reports, and related submissions that you create in the app. These records are used to provide the app, maintain data quality, support moderation, and respond to reports.
How Information Is Used
Information is used to operate ShopMate, authenticate accounts, save selected grocery prices, compare prices by store, provide support, improve app quality, maintain security, prevent abuse, and comply with legal obligations.
De-identified Aggregated Insights
ShopMate may use de-identified, aggregated pricing data for broader market insights. These insights are designed to avoid identifying individual users.
No Sale of Personal Data
ShopMate does not sell personal data. Personal information may be shared with service providers that help operate the app, when required by law, or when needed to protect the service and its users.
Firebase Services and Analytics
ShopMate may use Firebase services to operate account, app quality, analytics, and security features. ShopMate does not use advertising identifiers, does not track you across other apps or websites, and does not use your data for advertising. On iOS this is enforced by which Firebase components the app includes: the advertising identifier component is deliberately left out.
Account Deletion
You can request account deletion in the app by going to Settings > Delete Account. If you need help, contact support@shopmatehq.com.
Your Choices
You can manage camera, photo, and location permissions in your device settings. You can also review detected receipt items before saving selected prices and choose whether to add optional photos.
Children
ShopMate is not intended for children under 13. ShopMate does not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13.
Changes
This policy may be updated from time to time. The updated version will be posted on this page with a new effective date.
Where Your Information Is Processed
ShopMate is operated from the United States. Firebase and the mapping services above process information on servers in the United States and other countries. If you use ShopMate outside the United States, your information is transferred to and processed in the United States.
Contact
Privacy and support questions can be sent to support@shopmatehq.com.