Privacy Policy

Introduction

FlareCare is a gut health tracking app for people with IBS, IBD and other gut conditions. This policy explains what we collect when you use the FlareCare app and flarecare.io, why we collect it, who helps us process it, and the choices you have. If you have questions, email us at privacy@flarecare.io.

The short version:

• We never sell your data.
• In the app, your health information is saved only after you create an account and check the health data box.
• AI features use the providers named below. They never get your name or email.
• Analytics and crash reports help us improve FlareCare. You can turn them off in Settings.
• You can export or delete everything from Settings in the app.

How You Agree to This Policy

• When you tap Continue on the first screen of the app, you agree to our Terms of Service and this Privacy Policy. From then on, product analytics and crash reports are on. You can turn either off at any time in Settings, then Privacy.
• Health information and AI get their own, separate yes. When you create your account, you check a box agreeing that FlareCare can store the health information you share, use it to run and improve the app, and analyze it with the AI providers named below. Until then, your onboarding answers stay on your phone and are left out of analytics.
• Your phone asks for some permissions itself: notifications, Apple Health, camera and photos, and on iPhone, permission to track you across other companies' apps and websites.
• Period tracking is a separate opt-in. You can turn it off at any time.

Information We Collect

Account Information

• Your email address and how you sign in (Apple, or email and password)
• The first name you choose to give us, if any
• Passwords are handled by our sign-in provider and are never stored in plain text

Health Information

Saved to your account once you create it and agree:

• Onboarding answers: your condition, how long you've had symptoms, symptoms, suspected triggers and medications
• Bowel movements, symptoms, meals and drinks, including photos you take of them
• Medications and doses, lab results (including scans of lab reports), sleep and daily check-ins
• Your period and cycle, if you turn period tracking on (we ask your sex only to decide whether to offer it)
• Data from Apple Health, if you connect it, limited to the types you allow
• Messages and photos you send to Ember, our AI assistant

FlareShare

Posts, replies and reactions you share in FlareShare, our community, along with your handle and avatar. Other members can see these.

Purchases

Your subscription status from Apple, Google or our website checkout. We never see your full card number.

Our Website

If you take the gut check on flarecare.io, we save your answers and, if you give it, your email, so your profile can attach to your app account when you sign up. The code we give you expires after 30 days.

Device and Usage Information

• Device model, operating system and app version
• Screens viewed and features used
• Crash reports and performance data
• A push notification token, if you allow notifications
• On iPhone, your advertising identifier, only if you allow tracking

How We Use Your Information

• To run FlareCare: tracking, your Gut Score, insights, doctor reports, reminders, recipes and FlareShare
• To power AI features (see below)
• To understand what's working and fix what isn't, through analytics and crash reports
• To measure which of our ads bring people to FlareCare (see Advertising Measurement)
• To help you when you contact us, and to meet legal obligations

We never sell your data, and we never use your health information to target ads.

AI Features

Ember, food photo and label scans, FODMAP checks, insights, doctor report summaries, recipe tools and lab report scans use AI models from Google, OpenAI and Anthropic, reached through OpenRouter. When you use one of these features, we send only what it needs, such as the relevant logs, the photo you took or your message. Your name and email are never sent. Every request goes through OpenRouter with data collection turned off, so it only reaches providers that don't store your data or use it to train their models.

You can turn AI processing off in Settings, then Privacy. Features that depend on AI stop working until you turn it back on.

Who We Share It With

We work with service providers who process data on our behalf, only for the purposes below:

• Supabase: our database, sign-in and file storage
• OpenRouter, Google, OpenAI and Anthropic: AI features
• RevenueCat, Apple, Google and Stripe: subscriptions and payments
• PostHog: product analytics
• Sentry: crash reports
• AppsFlyer: ad measurement in the app
• OneSignal: push notifications
• USDA FoodData Central, FatSecret and Open Food Facts: food lookups. They get the food names or barcodes you search, not who you are
• Google Analytics, Meta, TikTok and PostHog: visits and ad measurement on flarecare.io

We may also share information when the law requires it, to protect FlareCare or our users, or as part of a merger or sale of FlareCare. If that happens, we'll tell you first.

Advertising Measurement

We advertise FlareCare on platforms like Meta and TikTok. In the app, AppsFlyer tells us which ads led to an install and to milestones like creating an account, finishing onboarding, viewing the subscription screen or logging for the first time. On iPhone, AppsFlyer gets your advertising identifier only if you allow tracking. On our website, Meta, TikTok and Google Analytics see page visits and steps of the gut check. None of these partners receive your condition, your symptoms or what's in your logs.

Consumer Health Data

If you live in Washington, Nevada or another state with a consumer health data law, our Consumer Health Data Privacy Policy explains what health data we collect, why, who processes it, and how to see it, delete it or withdraw your consent.

Data Storage and Security

We protect your data with:

• Encryption in transit (HTTPS) and encryption at rest by our database provider
• Database rules that limit each account to its own data
• Access to production systems limited to the people who need it

FlareCare is a consumer app, not a healthcare provider, so HIPAA generally doesn't apply to it. We protect your data with these safeguards regardless. No system is perfectly secure; if a breach affects your data, we'll notify you as the law requires. FlareCare and most of our providers are based in the United States, so your data is processed there.

Data Retention

We keep your data while your account is open. Deleting your account in Settings permanently deletes your logs, photos, reports and profile from our database and storage. Copies in our providers' backups and logs expire on their normal schedules.

Your Rights and Choices

• Export: Settings, then Export My Data
• Correct: edit your profile and logs in the app
• Delete: delete individual logs and posts, or your whole account in Settings
• Turn off analytics, crash reports or AI processing: Settings, then Privacy
• Notifications, Apple Health, camera and tracking: your phone's Settings

To use any right you have under the laws where you live, including California, Washington, Nevada, the EU and the UK, email privacy@flarecare.io. We won't treat you differently for using them. If you're in the EU or UK, we rely on your consent for health data, AI and analytics (you can withdraw it at any time in Settings or by deleting your account), on our agreement with you to run the app, and on our legitimate interest in keeping FlareCare secure.

Children's Privacy

FlareCare is for people 16 and older. We don't knowingly collect data from anyone younger. If you believe someone under 16 is using FlareCare, email privacy@flarecare.io and we'll delete their account.

Contact Us

If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy, please contact us at: