Privacy Policy

Last updated: October 31, 2026

CheapFoodMap is operated by AI Park Consulting, LLC, a Texas limited liability company. This Privacy Policy describes how we collect, use, and protect your information.

What we collect

  • Email address (when you sign up)
  • IP address (for security and rate limiting)
  • Your location, only if you allow it in your browser (see Location below)
  • Content you submit (meals, prices, comments, photos)
  • How you use the site, through Vercel Analytics and PostHog: pages you visit, what you tap, and session recordings (see Session recordings below)

How we use it

  • Run the service (show you the map, save your contributions)
  • Send you account emails (login links, notifications you opt into)
  • Send members occasional CheapFoodMap update emails. Each one has an unsubscribe link, and you can turn them off in Settings.
  • Prevent spam and abuse (rate limits, moderation)
  • Improve CheapFoodMap (analytics and session recordings, see below)

Who we share it with

  • Supabase (database, sign-in, and photo storage)
  • Vercel (hosting and analytics; every page request passes through it)
  • Google: Google Maps on the map, place search when you add a spot (it receives what you type in the restaurant search box), the fonts every page loads, and sign-in if you choose "Continue with Google"
  • PostHog (product analytics and session recordings, on the live site only)
  • Sentry (error reports, which can include your IP address and the page you were on)
  • Resend (email delivery, including sign-in emails)
  • Facebook (sign-in, only if you choose "Continue with Facebook")
  • YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram, when their videos are shown (see Embedded videos below)

We do NOT sell or share your personal data with advertisers or third-party marketers.

Session recordings

On the live site, PostHog records about half of all visits so we can find and fix problems: the pages you visit, where you tap and scroll, and what's on the screen. Passwords and anything you type are hidden. Recordings are kept for 30 days.

Location

  • If you allow it in your browser, the map uses your location to show spots near you. We don't save it to your account or send it to our analytics.
  • To choose Today's Pick, your browser sends our server a rough area (about 17 miles across), not your exact position.
  • The map remembers the last area you looked at, in your browser, for up to 60 days.
  • Whether or not you allow location, our hosting, analytics, and error-report services can estimate your city or country from your IP address.
  • On the Cities page, we use that estimate to open the section for your area (Dallas–Fort Worth, Houston or New York). Only the area's name is sent to your browser, in a cookie that lasts an hour, and we don't keep it.

YouTube

Our video features use YouTube API Services. We use them to show YouTube videos about meals and to check that those videos are still available. We keep each video's link and the date it was published (as the date of the prices it shows). Its cover image, size, and, for videos we import, its title are refreshed at least every 30 days, or removed when YouTube says the video is no longer available. When we add spots from a YouTube video, we send the video's public link to Google's Gemini AI to list the places it shows.

We never ask to connect to your YouTube or Google account, and YouTube doesn't send us any information about you. Google's Privacy Policy applies to YouTube: Google Privacy Policy.

Embedded videos

  • YouTube: a video's cover image loads from YouTube's servers when it comes into view. The YouTube player loads only when you tap play.
  • TikTok: a video's cover image loads from TikTok's servers when it comes into view. The TikTok player loads only when you tap play.
  • Instagram: Instagram's own embed loads when the post scrolls near the screen and there's room for it. Otherwise we show a card that links to Instagram.
  • Once a cover, player, or embed loads, the company behind it receives your IP address, serves its own content into the page, and its player may set its own cookies, under its own privacy policy.

What other people can see

Your display name, your profile page (My Spots, the dishes you recommend, your posts, level, and badges), your comments, the spots you add (also listed in Recent activity), and your name on price updates you make. A spot added without an account shows no name on its spot page or the home page, but our full Recent activity page lists it under the random name we give guest accounts. You can hide your profile in Settings.

Your rights

  • View your data: contact feedback@cheapfoodmap.com
  • Delete your account: in Settings, tap Delete my account at the bottom. Your profile, acorns and saved lists are deleted right away. What you added (meals, photos, votes, comments, posts) stays, shown as from a former member. See how to delete your account; if you can't sign in, email feedback@cheapfoodmap.com from your account's email address.
  • Export your data: contact feedback@cheapfoodmap.com
  • Opt out of non-essential emails

California Residents

If you are a California resident, the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) gives you specific rights regarding your personal information, including the right to know what categories of personal information we collect, the right to delete it, and the right to opt out of the sale or sharing of your personal information.

We do not sell or share your personal information with third parties for monetary or other valuable consideration.

To exercise your CCPA rights, contact feedback@cheapfoodmap.com.

Data retention

  • Our hosting, database, analytics, and error-report providers keep logs (including IP addresses) for limited periods under their own policies
  • Account data is retained while your account is active
  • When you delete your account, your sign-in, profile, acorns, saved lists and settings are deleted right away. Meals, photos, votes, comments and posts you added stay, shown as from a former member, without your name
  • Guest accounts: if you add a spot, vote, or update a price without signing up, we create a guest account. We periodically delete guest accounts with no activity for 90 days, along with their votes and other activity. A guest account that added a spot is kept, so the spot stays on the map.

Photos

Profile photos have location data removed. Meal and post photos are stored as uploaded (very large ones are resized first, which removes it), so if your phone saved a location in a photo, it can stay in the file.

Cookies and browser storage

  • We use essential cookies for login and session management, including for guest accounts, and one that tells the Cities page which area to open (see Location above)
  • If you open a friend's invite link, a cookie remembers who invited you for 30 days, so they can get credit if you sign up
  • The site saves a few things in your browser: the email and sign-in method you last used, where the map was, which welcome and reminder cards you've seen or closed, whether the activity panel is open, and spots you opened recently so we can ask whether you tried them
  • PostHog stores an ID in a cookie and in your browser so it can tell visits apart; the cookie lasts up to a year. Vercel Analytics doesn't use cookies.
  • Google Maps, YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram may set their own cookies when their content loads
  • We don't use tracking cookies for advertising

Do Not Track

The site and the services above work the same way whether or not your browser sends a Do Not Track signal.

Children

  • CheapFoodMap is for users 13 and older
  • We don't knowingly collect data from children under 13
  • If you believe we've collected data from a child under 13, contact feedback@cheapfoodmap.com and we'll delete it

Changes to this policy

  • We'll post changes here and update the date above
  • Continued use after changes means you accept them

Contact

Questions? Email feedback@cheapfoodmap.com