Privacy Policy

Last updated October 7, 2026

Donbu is an iPhone app that remembers what you eat and picks your next meal. This policy explains what Donbu collects, what it does with it, and the choices you have. "We" means Donbu.

What we collect

Your account

Our sign-in provider keeps your email address, the name Apple or Google shares if you sign in with them, and your sign-in sessions. There's no password. After you sign in, the app sends Donbu your first name, if your Apple or Google account shares one, and your phone's time zone.

Your profile

Your profile holds what you tell Donbu during setup and in Account:

Your name and time zone
Your goals and diet pattern
Your allergies, including ones you type, and foods you avoid
Dishes you like
Your usual meal times, or that they vary
Your area, as a place name, its region and map coordinates
Your budget per meal ($10, $15, $25 or any)
How you get around (walking or driving)
Whether AI is on, and when you allowed it
When you finished setup, and when your profile was created and last updated

Your meals

For each meal you log, Donbu stores:

When you ate it, and in which time zone
Its name and dish
Its food groups
Which meal it filled (breakfast, lunch, afternoon, dinner or an extra)
Whether Donni read it or you logged it yourself
A photo, if you added one

Before a photo leaves your phone, the app shrinks it to 1024 pixels on its long edge and saves it as a new JPEG. That drops the photo's metadata, such as where it was taken.

Your Ask Donni chats

Donbu stores your conversations with Donni as Donni's memory, in the same database as the rest of your data.

What we don't collect

Donbu never stores calories. It doesn't collect your contacts or your calendar.

Permissions on your iPhone

Donbu uses these iPhone features.

Camera: To take a photo of a meal. The prompt reads "Take a photo of a meal to log it. Donni reads it for food groups."
Location, while using the app: Donbu asks only when you tap Use current location in Account, under Area. The app reads your location once and turns it into a place name. Donbu saves that name with the map coordinates of where you were. Donbu never uses your location in the background. That one lookup, and anything you type in area search, goes to the maps provider listed in Who handles your data.
Photos: When you pick a photo, iOS shows your library without giving Donbu access to it. Donbu gets only the photo you pick.
Face ID: If you sign in with Face ID, iOS checks it on your phone. Donbu never receives face data.

How we use it

We use your data only to run Donbu for you:

Pick your next meal and give the reason
Read your meal photos for food groups
Answer your questions in Ask Donni
Keep your meals and settings in sync across your devices
Help you when you email support

We never use your data for ads. Donbu has no ads and no analytics SDK. We don't track you across other apps or websites, and we don't sell your data or share it for advertising.

AI

Donni uses AI to pick meals, read meal photos and answer you in Ask Donni.

What gets sent: Meal photos and notes, your area, your questions and your food rules.
Who reads it: Our AI providers, whichever does that job best. They're listed in Who handles your data.
When: Only while Allow AI is on. Turning AI off stops new AI work. Your meals stay, and you can still log by typing.
What Donni won't do: Count calories, or promise a dish is safe for an allergy. Suggestions can be wrong, so check with the restaurant.

If what we send to AI or who receives it changes, for example a new provider, the app counts your earlier yes as not asked. It asks you again before it sends anything new.

Who handles your data

These providers handle your data so Donbu can run.

Provider	What it does	What it receives
Clerk	Signs you in and keeps you signed in.	Your email address, the name Apple or Google shares when you sign in with them, and your sign-in sessions.
Supabase	Hosts the database, meal photo storage and live sync between your devices, on AWS in us-east-1, United States.	Your profile, your meals and meal photos, and your Ask Donni chats.
Render	Runs the Donbu server the app talks to, in Virginia, United States. It keeps no copy of your data. Your data lives in Supabase.	Each request from the app, such as a meal you log, a change to your profile or a question for Donni.
OpenAI	Runs the AI model behind picks, photo reading and Ask Donni. Only while Allow AI is on.	Meal photos and notes, your area, your questions and your food rules.
Anthropic	Runs the AI model behind picks, photo reading and Ask Donni. Only while Allow AI is on.	Meal photos and notes, your area, your questions and your food rules.
Google	Runs the AI model behind picks, photo reading and Ask Donni. Only while Allow AI is on.	Meal photos and notes, your area, your questions and your food rules.
Apple	Apple Maps finds the city or neighborhood you set as your area.	What you type in area search, or your location once when you tap Use current location.

Like any internet service, these providers see your device's IP address when the app connects to them.

Where it's stored and how it's protected

Donbu stores your profile, meals, photos and Ask Donni chats in the United States, in the us-east-1 region. Donbu's server keeps none of it itself.

Meal photos sit in a private storage bucket. A signed-in person can read only their own data and their own photos. The app talks to every service over HTTPS.

How long we keep it

Donbu keeps your data while you have an account. When you delete a meal, its photo goes with it. When you delete your account, Donbu removes the data listed in Deleting your account. Copies in our providers' backups expire on their normal rolling schedule.

Your choices

Change your profile in Account, under Your food, Meal pattern and Area.
Turn Allow AI off or on in AI and your data.
Get your profile and every meal as a JSON file with Download my data. The file doesn't include photos or chats.
Fix what Donni read, or delete a meal and its photo.
Delete your account and its data with Delete account.

Deleting your account

In the app, tap your initial at the top right of Today, then AI and your data, then Delete account, and confirm.

Donbu then removes your profile and every meal, your Ask Donni chat memory, every photo in your storage folder, and your sign-in account, in that order. If it stops partway, trying again picks up where it stopped. The app also clears Donbu's copy on that phone and returns to Sign in.

No longer have the app? Delete your account explains how to ask by email.

Children

Donbu isn't directed at children under 13. If a child under 13 signed up, email support@donbu.app and we'll delete the account.

Changes to this policy

When we change this policy, we update the date at the top. If a change affects what we send to AI or who receives it, the app asks you about AI again before it sends anything new.

Contact

Questions about this policy or your data? Email support@donbu.app, or visit Support.