AI Calorie Tracker Privacy Policy

Last updated November 2, 2026

AI Calorie Tracker is a calorie counter and food diary for Android (the "App") published on Google Play by Lantern Tales ("we", "us" or "our"). In the App you log what you eat by taking a photo of a meal, scanning a barcode or a nutrition label, describing a meal in words or searching foods, and you track calories, macros, water, weight and progress photos. This Privacy Policy explains what information the App handles, why, who it is shared with, how long it is kept and the choices and rights you have. It also covers the pages of the App on this website and the messages you send us.

By installing or using the App you acknowledge that you have read this Privacy Policy. If you do not agree with it, please do not use the App.

The short version

No account and no sign up. Your food diary, meal photos, weights, progress photos and body details stay on your phone and are never sent to us or any server.
The AI that recognizes your meals runs on your phone: Gemini Nano, which Android provides on the phones that have it, or Google's open Gemma model, downloaded once. Meal photos are not uploaded.
When you scan a barcode or search brands online, only the barcode number or the search words go to Open Food Facts, an open food database.
The App is free and shows ads from Google AdMob, with the consent choices your region requires. Ads never receive your diary, photos or body details.
Google Firebase counts how the App is used, such as which screens are opened and whether a scan worked, and reports crashes, without your diary, photos or body details.
Questions go to [email protected].

1. Information the App handles

Your diary stays on your phone

The foods and meals you log with their amounts, calories and nutrients, the meal photos you take, the weights, water and progress photos you add, your own foods and favorites, the details you enter for your plan (sex, year of birth, height, weight, goal weight, activity level and pace), your goals, reminders and settings are stored only in the App's storage on your phone and in your Android backup if you have backups turned on with Google. They are never sent to us or to any server, and we have no access to them.

Camera and photos

The App does not ask for the camera permission. When you tap to scan a meal or a nutrition label, your phone's camera app takes the photo and hands only that photo to the App. Photos you pick come through the Android photo picker, which gives the App only the photos you choose and no access to the rest of your library. Barcodes are scanned by the Google code scanner of Google Play services, which returns only the barcode number to the App. Meal photos you log and progress photos you add are saved in the App's storage on your phone for your diary.

The AI runs on your phone

Meal photos and meal descriptions are read by an AI model on your phone:

Gemini Nano, Google's on-device model that Android provides through Android AICore and ML Kit on the phones that have it, under Google's terms. It runs on the phone.
Google's open Gemma model on phones without Gemini Nano. It is downloaded once from Hugging Face, a model hosting service, as a 2.6 GB file over Wi-Fi when you choose to download it. Like any download, the request reveals your IP address and device and network information to Hugging Face and the content delivery network that serves its files, which handle it under their own policies, see the Hugging Face privacy policy. The request contains nothing from your diary. After the download the model runs entirely on your phone.

Nutrition labels are read with Google's on-device text recognition of ML Kit (Google Play services). The calories and nutrients come from a copy of the USDA FoodData Central database that is part of the App. None of this sends your photos or words to us or to any server.

Food lookups online

When you scan a barcode, or tap Search brands online, the App asks Open Food Facts, an open food database run by the non-profit Open Food Facts association, for the product. The request contains only the barcode number or the search words you typed, together with what any internet request reveals, such as your IP address and the App's name and version. Open Food Facts handles it under its own privacy policy. Nothing from your diary is sent.

Reminders

Meal and weigh-in reminders are local notifications scheduled on your phone. They are not sent through any server.

Information you give us

If you email us, we receive your email address, your message and anything you choose to include, such as screenshots, your phone model and the app version. We use it to answer you and to improve the App.

Information collected automatically

The App uses Google Firebase Analytics and Firebase Crashlytics, services of Google LLC, to understand how the App is used and to fix crashes. They receive events such as the screens you open, which way you log a food, whether a scan worked, and the app language, crash reports with the device state at the time of the crash, and a random identifier of your installation of the App, never the names, amounts or photos of what you eat or your body details. Firebase keeps this information for up to 14 months under Google's Firebase privacy terms.

When the App shows ads, Google AdMob, described in section 3, collects device and usage information:

Device and app information such as phone model, Android version, app version, language, time zone, screen size, network type and carrier.
Identifiers such as the IP address and the approximate location derived from it, the Android advertising ID of your phone, an app set ID and random identifiers that the ad service creates for your installation of the App.
Ad interactions such as the ads requested, shown and tapped, and when and how often you see them.

The ad service does not receive your food diary, photos or body details.

What we do not collect

We do not ask for or collect your name, contacts or precise location, and we do not receive your food diary, photos or body details. Please do not send us sensitive information by email.

2. How we use information

To provide the App and its features, such as meal recognition, food lookups, your diary, plan, progress and reminders.
To understand how the App is used and fix crashes, with Firebase as described in section 1.
To show ads, measure their performance and limit how often you see them, personalized only with your consent where the law requires it.
To answer your messages and requests and to improve the App.
To keep the App and its users safe and to prevent fraud, spam and abuse.
To comply with the law, enforce our terms and protect the rights, property and safety of our users, Lantern Tales and others.
In connection with an organization, reorganization, merger, sale or transfer of the App or our business, see section 4.

Legal bases for users in the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom and Switzerland. We process personal data to perform our contract with you (to provide the App you chose to use), for our legitimate interests (to keep the App working, secure and improving, to show non personalized ads that fund the free App, to answer your messages and to establish, exercise or defend legal claims), which we balance against your rights, with your consent (personalized ads), which you can withdraw at any time without affecting earlier processing, and to comply with legal obligations.

3. Advertising

The App shows banner, native and full screen (interstitial) ads served by Google AdMob, a service of Google LLC. Google serves ads from its own advertisers and from the advertising partners it works with, and we may add other ad networks through AdMob mediation in the future, in which case we will update this policy. These companies collect the information described in section 1 to deliver, measure and, where permitted, personalize ads, to limit how often you see an ad and to detect fraud, and they may combine it with information from other apps and websites under their own policies. How Google uses information from apps that use its services.

Advertising ID. You can reset or delete your advertising ID, or opt out of personalized ads, at any time in your phone's settings, under Google or Privacy, Ads.
European Economic Area, United Kingdom and Switzerland. The App asks for your consent through Google's consent form, which follows the IAB Transparency and Consent Framework, before personalized ads are shown. You can change your choice at any time in the App under Profile, Ad privacy choices.
US states. Under some US state laws, letting ad partners use your identifiers for personalized ads may count as "selling", "sharing" or "targeted advertising". You can opt out with the advertising ID setting above or by writing to us, see section 10.

Ads are provided by third parties. We do not endorse and are not responsible for the products, services or websites they promote.

Service providers and partners described in sections 1 and 3, Google for ads, analytics, crash reports, translation models, the on-device AI, text recognition and the barcode scanner, Hugging Face for the one time model download and Open Food Facts for barcode and brand lookups, only to provide their services, under their terms.
Authorities, when the law requires it or to protect the rights, property and safety of our users, Lantern Tales and others.
A buyer or successor in an organization, reorganization, merger, sale or transfer of the App or our business, under this policy.

We do not sell your personal information for money.

5. How long information is kept

Everything on your phone stays until you delete it in the App, clear the App's storage or uninstall the App. Emails are kept as long as needed to answer you and for our records, then deleted. Information collected by Google for ads is kept under Google's policies.

6. Security

Your diary is protected by the security of your phone and of Android, the App's storage is private to the App. Food lookups and the model download use encrypted connections. No method of storage or transmission is completely secure, but we keep what we handle to a minimum.

7. International transfers

Our partners may process information in the United States and other countries whose data protection laws may differ from yours. Where the law requires it, transfers rely on safeguards such as the standard contractual clauses of the European Commission.

8. Children

The App is not directed to children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from children. If you believe a child has sent us personal information, write to us and we will delete it. Teens should talk with a parent or a doctor before changing how they eat.

9. Your choices and rights

Delete any entry in the App, or everything with Profile, Delete all data, or by uninstalling the App.
Export your diary as a CSV file in Profile, Export diary.
Delete the downloaded AI model in Profile, AI on your phone.
Turn reminders and ad consent on or off at any time, as described in sections 1 and 3.
Depending on where you live, you may have the right to access, correct, delete or port personal information, to object to or restrict processing, to withdraw consent and to complain to a data protection authority. As your diary stays on your phone, you control it directly. For anything we hold, such as your emails, write to [email protected] and we will answer within the time the law requires.

10. Notice for US state residents

In the last 12 months the App handled the categories described in section 1: identifiers and internet activity for ads (through Google AdMob) and the information you send us. We do not sell personal information for money. Showing personalized ads may count as "selling" or "sharing" under some state laws, and you can opt out as described in section 3. We do not use or disclose sensitive personal information for purposes that would give you a right to limit it, and we do not discriminate against you for using your rights. To use your rights write to [email protected].

11. Other things you should know

Estimates, not medical advice. Calories, portions and nutrients from photos, descriptions, labels and databases are estimates and can be wrong, always check them. The App is for general wellness and is not a medical device or medical advice. Talk to a doctor before big changes to your diet, especially if you are pregnant, under 18 or have a medical condition.
Do Not Track and Global Privacy Control. These are browser signals. In the App, use the phone and in-app controls described in section 3. The pages of the App on this website set no cookies and load no advertising or analytics scripts.
Third party content and links. Ads, the websites they lead to and Open Food Facts data belong to their owners and are provided under their own terms. We are not responsible for their content or practices.
Offline use. Your diary, meal recognition once the model is on your phone and the food database work without an internet connection. Barcode lookups, brand search, the model download and ads need a connection.

12. Changes to this policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time, for example when we add features or when the law changes, and we will change the date at the top when we do. When a change is material, we will also give notice in the App or on its store page where the law requires it. The updated policy applies from its date, and continuing to use the App after that means you accept it to the extent permitted by law.

13. Who we are and how to contact us

AI Calorie Tracker is published on Google Play under the developer name Lantern Tales and may be distributed through the developer accounts of Lantern Tales or its affiliates. For any question about this Privacy Policy or your information, email [email protected] and put Calorie Tracker in the subject.