Privacy Policy

Information We Collect

CartWise collects only the minimum information required to provide price comparison results. When you search for a product, your search query and any product identifiers (such as UPCs or search terms) are transmitted through CartWise's Cloudflare proxy to grocery and retail data providers, including the Kroger API at launch. These queries are used solely to fetch current pricing and availability data on your behalf.

Standard request metadata — such as device type, operating system version, and IP address — may pass through Cloudflare's infrastructure as part of normal HTTP request routing. CartWise does not separately log or store this information on its own servers. If you grant location permission, your approximate geographic coordinates are used to identify nearby stores; this location data is not stored on CartWise's servers.

On this website, CartWise uses Cloudflare Web Analytics to understand aggregate traffic patterns. Cloudflare Web Analytics does not use cookies, does not collect any personal identifiers, and does not build individual user profiles. It records anonymized, aggregated page view counts only.

How We Use Your Information

Product search queries are used for one purpose: to fetch price and availability results from retail data providers on your behalf. CartWise does not retain your search queries, analyze them for advertising purposes, or share them with any party other than the data provider whose API is being queried.

Location data, when granted, is used to find physical stores near you and to check local in-store availability. CartWise transmits location coordinates to data providers only as needed to complete a proximity-based query. Location is never stored on CartWise's servers.

Aggregate analytics data from Cloudflare Web Analytics is used solely to understand which pages on this website are visited, in order to improve the site experience. No individual user session is tracked and no personal profile is created.

Third-Party Services

Kroger API: CartWise uses the Kroger API to retrieve grocery product data, pricing, and store availability for Kroger-family stores. When you search for a product, your search query is transmitted to Kroger's API. Kroger's own privacy policy governs how Kroger handles this data on their systems. CartWise does not send your saved grocery list to the Kroger API — only the specific product identifiers being searched.

Cloudflare: This website and CartWise's API proxy are hosted and routed through Cloudflare's network. Cloudflare may process standard request metadata (IP address, request headers) as part of its infrastructure services. Cloudflare's privacy policy governs their handling of this data. CartWise uses Cloudflare Workers as a proxy layer so that API credentials are never exposed to client devices.

Amazon Associates: CartWise participates in the Amazon Associates affiliate program. When you tap an Amazon product link in the app and make a qualifying purchase, Amazon places a standard affiliate attribution cookie on Amazon's domain. This cookie is placed by Amazon, not by CartWise. CartWise does not have access to your Amazon account, browsing history, or purchase history. The Amazon Associates program is governed by Amazon's own privacy policy.

Microsoft Azure (alert service): CartWise's price-alert service is hosted on Microsoft Azure. When you set a price or stock-up alert, the watched item's product identifier and an anonymous device push token are stored on this service so it can check prices and notify you. No account, name, or identity is associated with this data. Azure's privacy terms govern the hosting infrastructure.

Apple Push Notification service & Google Firebase Cloud Messaging: CartWise delivers price-alert notifications through Apple's and Google's push services, which require a device-specific token to route a notification to your device. These services are governed by Apple's and Google's respective privacy policies. CartWise uses them only to deliver alerts you requested.

On-device speech recognition (Apple / Google): CartWise's voice input uses the device's built-in speech recognition. Where the OS performs the transcription, that processing is governed by the device maker's privacy policy. CartWise does not store or transmit your audio.

Cloudflare Web Analytics: This website uses Cloudflare Web Analytics for aggregate traffic measurement. It is cookieless and does not collect personal identifiers. No data from Cloudflare Web Analytics is shared with advertisers. See Cloudflare's privacy policy for further details on their analytics data handling.

Location Data

Location access is entirely optional. CartWise will request permission to access your device's location only when you attempt to find stores near you or check local in-store availability. You can decline this permission and still use all core price comparison features — product search, price comparison across retailers, and shopping list management continue to work without location access.

When you grant location access, CartWise uses your device's GPS or network-based location to query nearby store availability. Your coordinates are transmitted to the relevant data provider API (for example, the Kroger API's store locator) for the duration of that query only. CartWise does not store your location history on its servers, does not build a movement profile, and does not share your location with advertisers.

You can revoke location permission at any time through your device's system settings (iOS: Settings → Privacy & Security → Location Services; Android: Settings → Apps → CartWise → Permissions). Revoking location permission does not affect your ability to use CartWise's core price comparison features.

Microphone & Voice Input

CartWise includes an optional voice-input button on the shopping list screen. When you tap the microphone and speak an item name, CartWise converts your speech to text so you can add the item by voice instead of typing. Speech recognition runs on your device where the device supports it (Apple's on-device speech recognition on iOS; the Android system speech recognizer on Android). CartWise does not record, store, or upload audio to CartWise's servers, and the transcript is simply placed into the add-item field for you to confirm before saving.

On some devices the operating system's speech service (provided by Apple or Google) may process the audio to produce the transcription; that processing is governed by the device maker's privacy policy, not CartWise's. The microphone is active only while you are holding an active dictation session — CartWise has no background or always-on listening of any kind.

Microphone access is optional. You can decline it, or revoke it at any time in your device settings (iOS: Settings → Privacy & Security → Microphone; Android: Settings → Apps → CartWise → Permissions). Declining the microphone does not affect typing items in manually.

Price Alerts & Push Notifications

CartWise can notify you when an item you're watching drops in price or comes back in stock. This is the one feature where item data leaves your device: when you set a price alert or stock-up alert, CartWise sends that item's product identifier and an anonymous push-notification token for your device to CartWise's alert service (hosted on Microsoft Azure) so the service can check prices on a schedule and notify you. This data is not tied to an account, your name, or your identity — only to an anonymous device token. If you never set an alert, no item data is sent to the alert service.

Push notifications are delivered through Apple Push Notification service (on iOS) and Google Firebase Cloud Messaging (on Android), which require a device-specific push token to route a notification to your device. CartWise does not use these tokens for advertising or tracking and does not share them with advertisers.

You stay in control: removing an alert deletes its stored item from the alert service, and you can revoke notification permission at any time in your device settings. Uninstalling CartWise stops all alert delivery.

Children's Privacy

CartWise is not directed at children under the age of 13. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. CartWise does not require account registration and does not collect name, email address, or any other personal identifier as part of normal app use. The information CartWise transmits — product search queries and, optionally, location coordinates — is not associated with an account or a persistent user identity.

If a parent or guardian believes that their child under 13 has provided personal information to CartWise, please contact us at the email address in the "Contact Us" section of this policy. We will take prompt steps to investigate and, if applicable, delete any such information from our systems.

Data Retention

CartWise does not maintain user accounts and does not operate a server-side database of user profiles. All app data — your grocery shopping list, saved preferences, and any cached price results — is stored locally on your device. When you uninstall CartWise, all locally stored app data is deleted in accordance with your device's standard app uninstall behavior. The one exception is the price-alert service: items you actively set an alert on, plus an anonymous device push token, are held on CartWise's Azure alert service so it can notify you. That data is deleted when you remove the alert, and the device token stops being used when you revoke notification permission or uninstall the app.

On the server side, Cloudflare's infrastructure may retain standard proxy request logs (including IP addresses and request metadata) in accordance with Cloudflare's own data retention policies. CartWise does not maintain a separate server-side data store of user search history or activity. For details on Cloudflare's log retention, refer to Cloudflare's privacy policy.

Your Rights

Because CartWise does not require account registration and stores no personally identifiable data on its own servers, there is no account to delete and no server-side user profile to export. To remove all CartWise data from your device, uninstall the app. Your device's operating system will remove all locally stored app data as part of the uninstall process.

If you have questions about data held by third-party service providers — such as Kroger or Cloudflare — you should contact those providers directly and refer to their respective privacy policies, as CartWise does not control their data handling practices.

Depending on your jurisdiction, you may have rights under applicable privacy law (such as GDPR, CCPA, or similar statutes) to access, correct, or request deletion of personal data. If you believe any personal data has been collected in connection with your use of CartWise and wish to exercise a data rights request, contact us at the email address below and we will respond within 30 days.