Privacy Policy

S-Tier Eats ("the App") is a small, independent iOS application that helps users discover restaurants in The Woodlands, Texas area, place them on a personal S/A/B/C/F tier list, and (optionally) contribute to a community consensus ranking via Apple iCloud. This policy explains exactly what the App accesses, what it stores, and what it never does.

Information the App accesses on your device

The App requests access to your device's location, only while the App is open. Your location is used for two purposes:

• To display your position on the map alongside nearby restaurants
• To sort the restaurant list by distance from where you are

Your location is never transmitted to any server, never stored, and never shared with any third party. Denying the permission still lets the App function — distances and the "near me" sort are simply unavailable.

The App requests access to your Photo Library only when you tap "Add" on a restaurant's Dish Photos section. The photo you select is then uploaded to Apple's iCloud (see below). The App does not browse, scan, or upload any other photos.

Information stored in your Apple iCloud

The App uses Apple's CloudKit Public Database to power its community features. CloudKit is provided by Apple, and your interactions are attributed to your iCloud account by Apple — the App never sees your Apple ID, email, or full name. The following data is stored in CloudKit, attributed to an opaque iCloud user identifier:

• Tier placements: when you place a restaurant in S/A/B/C/F, that placement (restaurant + tier) is saved so it can be averaged into the community consensus and re-loaded on your other devices.
• "Permanently closed" reports: if you mark a restaurant as closed, that report is saved as a count toward the closed-flag the App shows to other users.
• Dish photos: if you add a dish photo, the image and (optionally) caption are uploaded so other users can see them. Each photo is stamped with your opaque iCloud user identifier so the App can let other users block you or report your photo.
• Display name (optional): if you fill in a display name on the Profile tab, that text is stored so it can be shown when you request "Foodie Pro" status. The display name is shown only to the App's administrator during the approval flow; it is not publicly displayed to other users in this version.
• Foodie Pro request status: "requested" or (after admin approval) "approved" — used to weight your rankings on the Pros leaderboard.
• Restaurant suggestions: if you suggest a missing restaurant, the name, address, area, cuisines, and description you typed are stored for admin review. Approved suggestions become public restaurant entries visible to all users.
• Photo reports and block list: when you report a dish photo, a report record is created in CloudKit (containing only the photo ID and your opaque user ID) so the administrator can review it. When you block an uploader, the same kind of report record is created so the administrator is notified to investigate that uploader's other photos; in addition, the block decision is stored locally on your device so that uploader's photos are immediately hidden for you across the app.

Apple's general CloudKit data-handling practices are covered by Apple's privacy policy.

How the data is used

Data stored in CloudKit is used only for:

• Showing you and other users a community consensus tier list and per-restaurant rankings
• Showing you and other users dish photos attached to a restaurant
• Letting the administrator review and approve Foodie Pro requests, restaurant suggestions, and photo reports
• Letting you re-sync your own placements when you reinstall the App or use it on another device under the same iCloud account

None of the data described above is used for advertising, marketing, profiling, or analytics. No CloudKit data is sold or shared with any third party. (Separately, the App displays a small banner advertisement supplied by Google AdMob — see "Advertising" below for details on what data AdMob receives.)

What the App does not do

• The App does not transmit your location to any server
• The App does not contain analytics SDKs and does not perform cross-app tracking (the Google AdMob banner described below is configured for non-personalized ads, so it does not request the Apple advertising identifier or build a cross-app profile)
• The App does not collect your name, email, phone number, or any contact information
• The App does not require account creation or login (iCloud identity is provided implicitly by your device)
• The App does not sell, share, or rent any user data to any third party
• The App does not link the data it stores to your real-world identity

Advertising

Starting in version 1.1, the App displays a single small banner advertisement at the bottom of the Map and Browse tabs. The banner is supplied by Google AdMob. The App is configured in non-personalized mode (the standard npa=1 setting), which means:

• The App does not request access to Apple's advertising identifier (no App Tracking Transparency prompt is shown)
• AdMob does not use your data to personalize the ad you see
• AdMob does still passively receive standard request data when the banner loads — including the device IP address, basic device characteristics (model, OS version, language), the coarse region, and SDK diagnostic and performance telemetry. This data is governed by Google's privacy policy.
• This advertising data is not joined to any of the CloudKit data described above and is not used by the App's developer for any purpose. The developer's only access to AdMob is an aggregate revenue dashboard.

External links and deeplinks

The App contains buttons on each restaurant's detail page that hand off to other apps you may have installed — for example, "Reserve" opens OpenTable, "Order" opens DoorDash or Uber Eats, "Website" opens Safari, and "Directions" opens Apple Maps. Tapping these buttons sends only the restaurant's name (and, for Maps, its coordinates) to the destination app. Once you leave the App, the destination app's own privacy policy applies. The App does not transmit any data to these services in the background; the handoff happens only when you tap the corresponding button.

The App's Profile tab also contains a one-tap "Buy me a coffee" link to ko-fi.com/subtlefoodie. Tipping is entirely optional and is processed by Ko-fi under its own privacy policy; the App never sees your payment information.

Content moderation, reporting, and blocking

The App contains user-generated content in the form of dish photos and (admin-visible) display names. As required by Apple App Review Guideline 1.2:

• Every user must accept the App's terms of use on first launch. The terms state that there is zero tolerance for objectionable content or abusive behavior, and that violating users may be removed from the service.
• You can report any dish photo by long-pressing it and choosing "Report photo." Reports are reviewed by the administrator within 24 hours and offending content is removed.
• You can block any uploader by long-pressing one of their photos and choosing "Block this uploader." Blocking immediately hides that uploader's photos across the App for you, and also creates a report record so the administrator is notified to investigate that uploader's other content.
• The administrator can hide individual photos for all users, which removes them from view across the App.
• To contact the administrator about objectionable content or any other concern, email acompofelice@outlook.com.

Deleting your data

To remove your data from CloudKit:

• Tier placements, closure reports, dish photos, your profile, suggestions you submitted, and photo reports you filed are stored under your iCloud account and can be deleted by Apple via your iCloud account settings (Settings → [your name] → iCloud → Manage Storage).
• You can also email the address below and the administrator will delete any data attributable to your opaque user ID on request.

Apple's MapKit

The App uses Apple's MapKit framework to display maps and to hand off directions to Apple Maps. Map tile rendering and directions are handled by Apple under its own privacy policy.

Children's privacy

The App is not directed at children under the age of 13 and does not knowingly collect information from anyone under that age.

Changes to this policy

If this policy changes, the updated version will be posted at this URL with a new effective date.