Privacy Policy

1. Who we are

Varietal is a personal coffee brewing companion that helps users track coffee beans, organize brewing equipment, save recipes, and log brew results.

2. Information Varietal handles

Data stored on your device

Varietal stores your app content locally on your iPhone using Apple technologies including SwiftData and app preferences storage. This may include:

• Coffee bean information, such as roaster, origin, producer, process method, varietal, and tasting notes
• Brewers and grinders
• Recipes and recipe steps
• Brew logs, ratings, and notes
• Photos you choose to attach to beans, brewers, or grinders
• App preferences and Quick Brew settings

Varietal does not require account creation or sign-in.

Optional off-device processing for coffee bag scanning

Varietal includes an optional AI-assisted feature that lets you scan a coffee bag to help fill in bean details.

When you use this feature:

• The app captures an image using your camera
• The app performs text recognition on-device using Apple's Vision framework
• The captured image is sent to Varietal's backend through Google Firebase Functions
• The backend uses Google Gemini to analyze the image and extract structured bean details, such as roaster name, bean name, origin, producer, process method, varietal, and tasting notes
• The extracted details are returned to the app to prefill the bean form

This scan feature is optional. You can always add bean details manually instead.

Data Varietal does not currently collect

Varietal does not currently:

• Collect your name, email address, or account credentials for app use
• Require registration or profile creation
• Use advertising SDKs
• Track you across apps or websites
• Collect analytics, telemetry, or crash reporting data
• Process payments or subscriptions in the current version of the app

3. Camera and photo access

Camera

Varietal requests camera access only so you can scan a coffee bag for the optional bean-detail extraction feature.

Photos

Varietal lets you choose photos from your photo library to attach to beans, brewers, or grinders. These selected photos are stored locally on your device unless you separately choose to use them in another feature that sends data off-device.

4. Third-party services

Varietal uses the following third-party services only for the optional coffee bag scanning feature:

• Google Firebase Functions, used to receive and process scan requests
• Google Gemini, used to analyze the scanned coffee bag image and return structured bean details

These services are used only to power the scan feature described in this policy.

Any third-party service providers that process data on our behalf are expected to provide the same or an equivalent level of protection for that data as described in this Privacy Policy.

Third-party privacy information:

• Google Firebase Privacy
• Google Gemini API Terms

Varietal does not currently integrate third-party analytics, advertising, or marketing SDKs.

5. Data retention and deletion

Because most Varietal data is stored locally on your device, you control that data.

You can delete your Varietal data at any time using the in-app Delete All Data setting. This removes locally stored beans, brewers, grinders, recipes, recipe steps, and brew logs from the app.

Deleting the app from your iPhone will also remove locally stored app data.

For the optional bag scanning feature, scan images are sent for processing only to return extracted bean details to the app. Varietal does not use scan images for advertising, analytics, or tracking.

6. Children's privacy

Varietal is not directed to children under 13. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If you believe a child has provided personal information through the app, please contact us at tastybeanjuice@gmail.com.

7. Changes to this policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. If we make changes, we will update the effective date at the top of this page.

---

8. Contact

If you have questions about this Privacy Policy or how Varietal handles data, contact:

Thomas Larose
tastybeanjuice@gmail.com