Privacy

This covers macrochef.site and the MacroChef app. It is short because there is not much to say: the site is built to know as little about you as it can while still working. Last updated 12 September 2026.

The short version

• You can use every recipe page, the calculator and the quiz without an account, and nothing about you is stored beyond an anonymous page count.
• An account is an email address and a password. That is all it holds until you save something.
• Your body measurements never leave your device. Only the resulting calorie and protein target is saved.
• Card details go to Stripe, Apple or Google. We never see them.
• There are no advertising networks, no tracking pixels, no third-party analytics, and nothing is sold or shared for marketing.
• Deleting your account deletes it - the row, your saved data, your sessions - immediately and permanently.

What is collected, and when

Just browsing

Each page view records the path (for example /recipes/garlic-butter-chicken/), the referring website's host name (for example tiktok.com, never the full address), and a visitor token. The token is a one-way hash of your IP address and browser, salted with a value that is generated each day and deleted the next. It lets us count how many different people visited on a given day; it cannot be reversed to your IP address, and the same person on two different days produces two unrelated tokens. No cookie is set and no IP address is stored. This runs on our own server; nothing is sent to an analytics company.

When you make an account

We store your email address and a bcrypt hash of your password - the password itself is never stored and cannot be recovered from the hash. Signing in sets one cookie, mc_s, holding a random session token; only a hash of that token is kept on the server, and the session ends after 90 days or when you sign out.

To slow down password guessing, sign-in attempts are counted for 15 minutes against a hash of your IP address and against the email tried. The hash is discarded with the count.

If you ask for a password reset, an email goes to your address from noreply@macrochef.site with a link that works once and expires after an hour.

What you save

Your meal plan, your daily target, the recipes you picked for the grocery list and the items you ticked off are stored in your browser or on your phone. If you have Plus, the same four things are also stored on our server against your account, so they follow you between devices. That is the whole of what sync carries.

The calculator and the quiz ask for your sex, age, height, weight and training days. These stay on your device. They are kept there so the form comes back filled in; they are not part of sync and are never sent to our server or anyone else. The only thing that leaves is the result - a calorie and protein figure.

When you pay

On the website, payment is handled by Stripe. Your card details are entered on Stripe's page and never touch our server. We store Stripe's identifiers for your customer and subscription, its status, and the date it renews or ends - enough to know whether you have Plus, and nothing about how you paid.

In the app, payment is handled by Apple or Google through their own subscription systems, with RevenueCat validating the receipt and telling our server when a subscription starts, renews, or ends. RevenueCat receives your purchase receipt and an anonymous account number; it does not receive your email. We store the same status and dates as for Stripe, plus which store it came from.

What is never collected

No advertising identifiers. No fingerprinting beyond the daily-salted token above. No location. No contacts. No health data from your phone. Nothing from the app is sent to an analytics service - the app contains no analytics at all. Nothing is sold, rented, or shared with anyone for marketing.

Who else is involved

• Hostinger hosts the website, the database and the noreply@ mailbox.
• Stripe processes website payments and holds your card details under its own policy.
• Apple, Google and RevenueCat process app subscriptions, as above.
• Google Fonts serves the typeface on the website. Your browser requests the font files from Google, which sees your IP address as it would for any web resource. The app uses the phone's own typeface and makes no such request.
• Amazon: the Kit page and some recipe pages contain affiliate links. Following one takes you to Amazon under its policy; we learn nothing about you from it beyond a commission if you buy.

Cookies and storage

The website sets exactly one cookie, mc_s, and only when you sign in. Everything else - your plan, target, grocery list, calculator inputs, unit preference and quiz answers - lives in your browser's local storage, under keys starting macrochef., where you can clear it at any time. The app keeps the same things in its own on-device storage, plus your session token and a cached copy of your subscription status so the app works without a connection.

How long things are kept

• Page-view records: kept, but the daily salt that would tie a visitor token to a person is deleted every day, after which no record can be connected to anyone.
• Sessions: 90 days, or until you sign out.
• Sign-in attempt counts: 15 minutes.
• Password reset links: one hour, or once used.
• Payment webhook records: 30 days, held only to ignore duplicates.
• Your account and saved data: until you delete them.

Deleting everything

On the website: Account → Delete account, with your password. In the app: Account tab → Delete account. Either one deletes your account row and, with it, your sessions, your saved data and your subscription record, immediately - there is no soft delete and no retention window. Anything stored on your own device or browser stays there until you clear it. An active subscription should be cancelled first, through Stripe's billing page or your phone's subscription settings; deleting the account does not cancel a store subscription on its own.

To see what the server holds about you, or for anything else, write to macrochef@macrochef.site.

Age

MacroChef is for adults. The calculator refuses an age under 18, and we do not knowingly hold an account for anyone younger. If you believe a child has made one, write to the address above and it will be removed.

Changes

If this page changes in a way that matters, the date at the top changes with it. The current version is always at https://macrochef.site/privacy/.