Brew Buddies — Privacy Policy

Last updated: August 2026

Introduction

Brew Buddies ("we", "our", or "us") is a mobile application designed to help friends coordinate coffee orders. This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, and protect your information when you use our app.

Information We Collect

We collect the following information to provide our services:

• Display Name: A name you choose when you first open the app, used to identify you within coffee run rooms. We do not require an email address, password, phone number, or any other account credential — the app has no login. Your display name is stored on your device and sent to our server only when it is attached to something you create (a coffee run, an order, a favourite, a saved theme, or a subscription record).
• Order Information: Details of coffee and snack orders you place, including drink names, sizes, customisations, and (optionally) prices.
• Menu Photos (Optional): If you choose to scan a coffee shop menu, the photo is uploaded to our servers and processed by a third-party AI service to extract menu items. Photos are not publicly shared. See the "Data Retention" section below for how long we keep them.
• Payment Links (Optional): If you are a host, you may optionally share a PayPal or Venmo payment link so participants can pay you for their orders. These links are stored with the coffee run and visible only to room participants.
• Push Notification Token (Optional): If you opt in to notifications, we store your device's push notification token so we can tell you about coffee-run activity (new order added, order removed, order marked paid). The token is only stored against a coffee run you are participating in.
• Installation Identifier: A random identifier we generate on your device the first time you open the app. It is stored locally on your device and sent to our server only when you create a coffee run, so that the free-tier monthly-run allowance follows the installation rather than the display name you choose. It is not a hardware identifier or advertising ID, is not linked to any account, is never sold, and is never used for advertising or analytics.

Camera & Photo Library Permission

Our app may request access to your device's camera and photo library. These permissions are used solely to allow you to take or select photos of coffee menus so friends in your coffee run can view the same menu. Camera and photo library access are optional and the app functions fully without them.

How We Use Your Information

• Create and manage coffee run rooms
• Display your orders to other participants in a coffee run
• Send push notifications about coffee run status updates (if you opt in)
• Process premium subscription payments through Google Play Billing
• Track your monthly coffee run usage against a random installation identifier for free-tier limits, so the limit follows the installation rather than the display name you choose
• Extract menu items from photos using AI, to make ordering faster

AI Processing of Menu Photos

When you upload a photo of a coffee shop menu, the image is sent to OpenAI's GPT-4o Vision API via our secure backend for text extraction. OpenAI processes the image to identify menu items and prices, then returns that data to our app. We do not use your photos to train AI models. For more information, see OpenAI's Privacy Policy.

Payment Processing

Premium subscriptions are processed through Google Play Billing (on Android). We do not store your credit card information — payment data is handled directly by Google in accordance with their Privacy Policy. We receive from Google only the subscription status (active/expired/cancelled), a purchase token, and an order ID; we never see your payment method.

Payment links (PayPal / Venmo) that a host optionally shares in a coffee run are processed directly between participants and those external services — Brew Buddies does not handle the money.

Data Sharing

We do not sell, trade, or share your personal information with third parties, except:

• Within Coffee Runs: Your display name, orders, and uploaded menu photos are visible to other participants in the same coffee run room.
• AI Menu Extraction: Menu photos are sent to OpenAI for processing (see above).
• Payment Processing: Google Play Billing processes subscription payments on our behalf.
• Legal Requirements: We may disclose information if required by law.

Data Storage and Security

Your data is stored on secure servers using MongoDB Atlas with encryption at rest and in transit. We implement industry-standard security measures to protect your information.

Data Retention

We do not run a scheduled deletion or purge job. Coffee runs, orders, favourites, saved themes, and subscription records are kept indefinitely on our servers until they are explicitly deleted.

The installation identifier persists on your device (and follows Android Auto Backup if you have that enabled) until the app is uninstalled. On the server, we retain a per-month run count against the identifier for the current calendar month only; the count resets on the 1st of the following month.

Menu photos are an exception. When a coffee run is marked Completed, the associated photos are automatically removed from our servers. Extracted menu item names and prices are retained with the run.

Once a viewer's device has downloaded a menu photo, a copy may remain in that device's local image cache for a period determined by the operating system. Server-side deletion (either manual or on run Completion) removes our copy but does not clear these device caches; they expire on their own schedule or when the operating system reclaims space.

You control deletion through the app:

• Coffee runs: a host can delete a coffee run they created; the run and all its orders, menu photos, and payment links are removed.
• Individual orders: you can delete your own order from any coffee run you are in. Hosts can also delete orders from their own runs.
• Menu photos: a host can delete individual menu photos from their run. Photos are also automatically deleted when a host marks the run as Completed.
• Favourites: you can delete any favourite you have saved.

If you want us to erase everything associated with your display name (favourites, saved theme, subscription record, and orders you placed in runs hosted by other people), contact us at brewbuddies@litewagon.com and we will action the request.

Children's Privacy

Our app is not intended for children under 13 years of age. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13.

Your Rights

You have the right to:

• Access the personal information we hold about you
• Request correction of inaccurate information
• Request deletion of your personal information
• Opt out of push notifications at any time via your device settings

Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. We will notify you of any material changes by posting the new Privacy Policy within the app and updating the "Last updated" date above.

Contact Us

If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy or wish to request data deletion, please email us at brewbuddies@litewagon.com.