Reela is built so that your recipes stay with you. This policy explains what happens to your information when you use Reela, the recipe app for iPhone, iPad and Android developed by Ilyas Abdulkadir (“we”, “us”).
In short
- An account is optional. Without one, Reela works fully and we store nothing about you. If you sign in with Apple or Google, your library is also kept on our server so it syncs between your devices (see Your Reela account).
- We don’t sell your personal data or use it for advertising.
- There are no ads, no analytics, no crash reporting and no tracking in the App.
- Your saved recipes, plans and shopping lists are stored on your device, and on our server only if you sign in.
- To read some recipes, and to translate them with Reela Pro, the App sends the recipe’s text (and on Android sometimes the video’s audio) to our AI service, without any account details or device identifiers (see How Reela reads recipes).
- Subscriptions are bought through Apple or Google Play and checked with RevenueCat (see Purchases).
Information we don’t collect
Unless you create an account, we don’t collect your name or email address. We never collect your contacts, location, photos, browsing history, device identifiers, advertising ID or usage data. We don’t use third-party analytics, crash reporting or advertising tools, and we don’t track you across other apps or websites.
Information stored on your device
To work, Reela stores the following on your phone or tablet:
- the links you save and the text, title and thumbnail that come with them;
- your recipes, notes, collections, meal plans and shopping lists;
- your settings, such as language, units, household size and reminder time.
This information stays in the App’s storage on your device. On iPhone and iPad, it is also kept in the share extension that saves links for you. We don’t receive it unless you sign in to sync (see Your Reela account). It may be included in your device backups: on iPhone and iPad depending on your iCloud and backup settings, on Android depending on your Google backup settings. Deleting the App deletes this information from your device; backups are managed in your iCloud or Google Account settings.
Your Reela account (optional)
You can sign in with Apple or Google in Reela’s Settings (Account) to back up your library and keep it in sync on your other devices. If you don’t sign in, nothing in this section applies.
- What we receive. When you sign in, Apple or Google confirms it to our server and gives us an account ID, your email address (with Apple, possibly a private relay address) and, if you share it, your name. We never receive your Apple or Google password.
- What is synced. Your saved recipes (title, source link, creator name, thumbnail link, the recipe itself, caption text, favourites, cook count, last cooked date and your notes), your collections, meal plan and shopping list. Photos aren’t uploaded: each device downloads the thumbnail again from its link. Translations stay on the device that made them.
- Where it’s stored. On our sync server, which runs on Cloudflare (Cloudflare Workers and the Cloudflare D1 database). It also keeps a hashed sign-in token for each signed-in device and sees your IP address, which it uses to limit how many requests can be made. We use this data only to sync your library, never for advertising, analytics or tracking.
- How long we keep it. Until you delete your account. Signing out ends the session on our server; your recipes stay on your device.
- Deleting your account. In the App: Settings › Account › Delete account. This immediately deletes your account, your sign-in details and everything synced from our servers; recipes on your device stay there. Without the App, follow the steps at https://reela-sync.ilyasabdulkadir922.workers.dev/delete-account.
When you save a link
When you share or paste a link into Reela, your device connects directly to that service, such as TikTok, Instagram, YouTube or a recipe website, to read the public post or page, its caption and its preview image. If the caption links to a recipe website, Reela may open that page from your device too. On Android, to read a recipe from a video’s audio, your device may also download the public video. These services receive the requests from your device, including your IP address, under their own privacy policies. We don’t see these requests.
On iPhone and iPad, links you share from another app are saved by Reela’s share extension. On Android, Reela receives the shared link directly.
How Reela reads recipes
Reela first tries to read the recipe on your device: it looks for recipe information on the page, reads the caption with its own rules, and reads a recipe website the caption links to.
- On iPhone and iPad, when the rules can’t make sense of a caption, Reela may use Apple’s on-device model on devices that support Apple Intelligence. Recipe cards are built on your device; the caption and video are not sent to our AI service to build them.
- On Android, when the caption or page doesn’t contain the recipe, Reela may send the post’s caption text and the video’s audio to our AI service, which writes the recipe card. The audio is taken from the public video on your device, and no more than 3 minutes of it is sent.
Translation and cleaner titles (Reela Pro). With Reela Pro, recipes written in another language can open in your language, with steps rewritten in short, clear sentences, and newly saved recipes can get a cleaner title. To do this, the recipe’s text (such as its title, summary, notes, ingredients and steps) is sent to our AI service. On iPhone and iPad, you can turn translation off in Reela’s Settings (Translate recipes › Never).
Translation on your device. Reela can also translate recipes without our AI service: on iPhone and iPad with Apple’s translation features, and on Android with Google ML Kit, which downloads language models to your device. In both cases the recipe’s text stays on your device.
Our AI service
Requests to our AI service go to a small server we run on Cloudflare (ai.stako.fit). It forwards them to OpenRouter and to the AI model provider OpenRouter routes them to (for example Google or Anthropic), which write the result and send it back. The result is stored with the recipe on your device.
- No account details or device identifiers are sent with these requests.
- Our server sees your IP address, which it uses to limit how many requests can be made.
- Our server doesn’t store what is sent. It logs only technical details, such as the response status and the model used.
- OpenRouter and the model providers process the requests under their own terms and privacy policies, including OpenRouter’s at https://openrouter.ai/privacy.
Notifications
If you start a timer in cook mode or turn on the daily reminder, Reela schedules the notifications on your device. No notification data is sent to us.
Purchases
If you buy Reela Pro, the purchase is made through Apple on iPhone and iPad, or through Google Play Billing on Android. We don’t receive your name, payment details, Apple Account or Google Account. To check whether you have Reela Pro, the App uses RevenueCat, a subscription service. RevenueCat receives your App Store or Google Play purchase records, a random ID the App creates, your device model and system version, the App’s version and your IP address. We use this only to unlock Pro features and to see sales totals, never for advertising or tracking. RevenueCat handles this data under its privacy policy at https://www.revenuecat.com/privacy. Apple and Google also give us sales reports, which we use only to keep our accounts.
Children
Reela is suitable for all ages and does not knowingly collect any personal information from anyone, including children.
Your choices and rights
Because your recipes and settings stay on your device, you’re in control of them: you can edit or delete any recipe in the App, or delete everything by removing the App. Depending on where you live, you may have rights under data protection laws such as the GDPR or the UK GDPR. If you have a Reela account, you can delete it and everything synced to it at any time (see Your Reela account), and you can ask us for a copy of that data or to correct it. Without an account we don’t hold personal data about you, so there is usually nothing for us to access, correct or delete, but you can contact us with any request or question.
Changes to this policy
If we change how Reela handles information, we’ll update this policy and the date at the top of this page. If a change is significant, we’ll let you know in the App or on this website.
Contact
Questions about privacy? Contact us at ilyasscolz@gmail.com.