Handful — privacy policy
Effective date: 30 October 2026
Short version: Handful doesn't collect any data. Your photos and your shopping list stay on your iPhone or iPad.
Your photos
- Reading a recipe. When you take a photo of an ingredients list, or pick one from your photo library, Handful reads it on your device using Apple Intelligence's on-device model. The photo is never uploaded, and Handful doesn't use Apple's Private Cloud Compute.
- Camera. Handful asks for camera access the first time you open it. The camera is only on while you're taking a photo of a recipe.
- Photo library. Handful uses Apple's photo picker, which runs separately from the app. Handful never has access to your photo library; it only receives the photo you choose. The "Recipes" filter in the picker is Apple's own Photos search, which runs on your device.
- Keeping photos. The photo of each recipe is kept inside the app with the shopping list it belongs to, so you can check a quantity. It's deleted when that list is deleted, and you can remove a recipe and its photo from a list at any time.
Your shopping list
- Your lists, the items on them, the aisles you move items to and the order you shop in are stored on your device only. They aren't synced or sent anywhere.
- Location. If you allow it, Handful notes roughly where you are when you open or tick off a list, so it can learn the aisle order of each shop you use separately. Handful asks the first time you tick something off. Each shop is kept as an approximate position on your device only, with no name or address, and it's never sent anywhere. Handful only checks your location while it's open, never in the background. If you don't allow it, Handful learns one order for all your shopping instead. "Reset Shop Order" in the list's menu forgets every shop.
- The Lock Screen, Dynamic Island and widgets show your list using the same on-device data.
- If you share a list with the share sheet, it goes only where you choose to send it.
- Deleting Handful deletes everything it stored.
If you email us
- Report a Misread (on a recipe's photo), Report a Problem and Suggest a Feature (in About Handful) open an email in Mail addressed to support@vibeslopsoftware.com. Report a Misread attaches that recipe's photo and lists each line as Handful read it; the others add the Handful and iOS versions. You can read and change the email first, and nothing is sent unless you send it.
- We use what you send only to answer you and to make Handful read recipes better, and we never share it.
What Handful doesn't do
- No account or sign-in.
- No analytics, advertising or tracking, and no third-party code that does any of these.
- No data sold or shared with anyone.
Crash reports
If you've chosen to share analytics with app developers in your device's settings (Settings › Privacy & Security › Analytics & Improvements), Apple may send us anonymous crash reports and usage statistics for Handful. We use them only to fix problems. You can turn this off at any time in the same place.
Changes
If this policy changes, the new version will be published on this page with a new effective date.
Contact
Questions: hello@vibeslopsoftware.com