BestBefore
Privacy Policy
Last updated: 16 October 2026
BestBefore keeps your pantry on your phone. There is no account, no developer server, no advertising and no analytics. The only thing the app collects is a crash report if the app crashes (see “Crash reports”). We do not sell or share your personal data.
What the app stores
Your pantry items, expiry dates, shopping list, settings, product photos and any shop locations you save are stored only in the app's local database on your device. They are never sent to us, because we do not run a server.
Camera
The camera is used to scan barcodes, read printed expiry dates and photograph food items. Recognition runs on your device (Google ML Kit on Android, Apple Vision on iOS). Photos you take are saved only on your device.
Internet requests
When you scan a barcode, the app asks Open Food Facts for the product's name and picture. That request contains the barcode number, and, as with any web request, Open Food Facts' servers can see your IP address. No name, account or device identifier is added by the app. Product pictures are also loaded from Open Food Facts. See their privacy policy.
Crash reports
If the app crashes, it sends a crash report to Firebase Crashlytics, a Google service, so we can find and fix the bug. A report contains the technical details of the crash (the stack trace), the device model, the operating system and app versions, free memory and disk space at the time, and a random installation ID that Firebase creates to group reports from the same installation. It contains no pantry items, photos, locations, name or account. Crash reports are not used for advertising or tracking, and are kept for 90 days. See Firebase's privacy information.
Location (optional)
Location is off by default. If you turn on shop reminders, you can save a shop's position and the app shows your shopping list when you are near it. Saved positions stay on your device. On Android, nearby-shop detection is performed by Google Play services on your device; see Google's privacy policy. You can turn the feature off, or revoke the permission, at any time.
Notifications, backups and sharing
- Expiry reminders and digests are scheduled locally on your device.
- Exporting a backup or sharing a shopping list or recipe idea only happens when you choose to, and goes where you send it.
- Your phone's own backup (Google or iCloud) may include the app's data. That is controlled by your device settings, not by us.
Children
The app is not directed at children. Apart from the crash reports described above, we do not knowingly collect data from anyone.
Your control
You can edit or delete any item inside the app. Uninstalling the app deletes its data from your device.
Changes
If this policy changes, the new version will be published on this page with an updated date.
Contact
Questions? Open an issue on GitHub.