Privacy Policy

Last updated: February 23, 2026

Effective date: February 23, 2026

This Privacy Policy ("Policy") describes how EatingMinds ("Company," "we," "us," or "our") collects, uses, stores, shares, and protects your personal data when you use the EatingMinds platform, website (eatingminds.com), mobile applications, and related services (collectively, the "Service").

This Policy is published in compliance with the Information Technology Act 2000, the Information Technology (Reasonable Security Practices and Procedures and Sensitive Personal Data or Information) Rules 2011, the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules 2021, and the Digital Personal Data Protection Act 2023 ("DPDPA") of India.

By using the Service, you consent to the collection and use of your data as described in this Policy. If you do not agree, please do not use the Service.

1. Information We Collect

1.1 Information You Provide Directly

1.2 Information Collected Automatically

1.3 Information from Third-Party Authentication

When you sign in via Google or LinkedIn, we receive your name, email address, and profile picture from those services. We do not receive or store your Google/LinkedIn passwords. We access only the minimum data required for authentication as authorized by you during the sign-in process.

2. Lawful Basis for Processing (DPDPA 2023)

Under India's Digital Personal Data Protection Act 2023, we process your data based on:

• Consent: You provide explicit consent when creating an account and accepting this Policy. You may withdraw consent at any time by deleting your account.
• Legitimate Use: Processing necessary to provide the Service you have requested (e.g., showing your profile to potential meal partners, facilitating meal matching).
• Legal Obligation: Processing required to comply with applicable laws (e.g., responding to lawful requests from authorities, maintaining records as required by law).

3. How We Use Your Information

• Provide the Service: Create and display your profile, facilitate meal discovery and matching, enable messaging between confirmed partners.
• Safety and Trust: Detect and prevent fraud, abuse, and violations of our Terms. Implement blocking and reporting features. Monitor for suspicious activity.
• Communications: Send transactional notifications (meal requests, confirmations, cancellations, reminders). Send optional promotional emails (which you can opt out of).
• Improvement: Analyze usage patterns to improve features, fix bugs, and optimize performance. Conduct research and analytics in aggregated, de-identified form.
• Legal Compliance: Respond to legal requests, enforce our Terms, and protect the rights, property, and safety of EatingMinds and its users.

4. How We Share Your Information

4.1 With Other Users

• Profile Information: Your name, age, gender, profession, bio, photos, and city are visible to other users when browsing meal listings.
• Meal Listings: Your availability details (meal type, date, time, location, payment preference) are publicly visible on the Discover and Circles pages.
• Contact Information: Your phone number is shared only with confirmed meal partners and only when you explicitly choose to share it using the "Share Contact" feature. You can revoke this at any time.
• Reviews: Aggregate review ratings may be visible to other users.

4.2 With Service Providers

We share data with trusted third-party service providers who assist in operating the Service:

All service providers are contractually obligated to process data only as instructed by us and to maintain appropriate security measures.

4.3 For Legal Reasons

We may disclose your information if required to do so by law or in response to:

• Valid legal process (court orders, subpoenas, government requests).
• Protect the rights, property, or safety of EatingMinds, our users, or the public.
• Detect, prevent, or address fraud, security, or technical issues.
• Enforce our Terms of Service.

4.4 Business Transfers

In the event of a merger, acquisition, or sale of all or a portion of our assets, your data may be transferred as part of that transaction. We will notify you via email or prominent notice on the Service before your data is transferred and becomes subject to a different privacy policy.

4.5 What We Do NOT Share

• We do not sell your personal data to third parties.
• We do not share your data with advertisers for targeted advertising.
• We do not share your private messages with anyone other than the intended recipient.

5. Data Storage and Security

5.1 Storage Location

Your data is stored on Microsoft Azure servers. While our primary infrastructure is hosted in Azure regions, data may be processed in data centers outside India as part of Azure's global infrastructure. By using the Service, you consent to this transfer, provided that appropriate safeguards are in place.

5.2 Security Measures

We implement industry-standard security measures including:

• Encryption of data in transit (TLS/HTTPS) and at rest (AES-256).
• Secure authentication via Google and LinkedIn OAuth 2.0.
• Input validation and sanitization to prevent injection attacks.
• Rate limiting to prevent abuse and DDoS attacks.
• Regular security audits and code reviews.
• Access controls limiting employee access to personal data on a need-to-know basis.
• Secure password hashing for any stored credentials.

While we strive to protect your data, no method of transmission over the Internet or method of electronic storage is 100% secure. We cannot guarantee absolute security.

5.3 Breach Notification

In the event of a data breach that is likely to result in a risk to your rights, we will notify affected users and the relevant Data Protection Board of India as required under the DPDPA 2023, within 72 hours of becoming aware of the breach.

6. Data Retention

7. Your Rights

Under the DPDPA 2023 and applicable law, you have the following rights:

7.1 Right to Access

You may request a summary of your personal data that we process. Your profile information is always accessible through the app.

7.2 Right to Correction

You may update or correct your personal data at any time through the Edit Profile feature in the app, or by contacting us.

7.3 Right to Erasure (Right to be Forgotten)

You may delete your account through Settings > Delete My Account. This will:

• Immediately hide your profile from other users.
• Cancel all active meal listings and pending requests.
• Cancel all upcoming confirmed meals.
• Permanently delete your personal data within 30 days.

Certain data may be retained beyond 30 days where required by law or for legitimate business purposes (e.g., preventing re-registration of banned users, legal compliance).

7.4 Right to Withdraw Consent

You may withdraw your consent to data processing at any time by deleting your account. Withdrawal of consent does not affect the lawfulness of processing based on consent before withdrawal.

7.5 Right to Grievance Redressal

If you believe your data has been processed in violation of your rights, you may raise a grievance with our Grievance Officer (see Section 12) or file a complaint with the Data Protection Board of India.

7.6 Right to Nominate

Under the DPDPA 2023, you have the right to nominate another individual to exercise your data rights on your behalf in the event of your death or incapacity. To register a nominee, contact us at privacy@eatingminds.com.

8. Location Data

We collect location data in two ways:

• GPS (precise location): Collected only when you explicitly grant location permission in your browser or device settings. Used to show nearby meals and calculate distances. You can revoke this permission at any time through your device settings.
• City/area (approximate location): Your home city, which you manually provide in your profile. Used as a fallback when GPS is not available.

We do not track your location in the background. Location is only accessed when you actively use the Discover or Circles features.

9. Cookies and Local Storage

We use the following client-side storage:

We do not use third-party tracking cookies. We do not use cookies for advertising purposes. If we implement analytics in the future (e.g., Google Analytics), we will update this Policy and provide opt-out mechanisms.

10. Children's Privacy

The Service is strictly intended for users aged 18 and above. We do not knowingly collect personal data from anyone under the age of 18. If we become aware that we have collected data from a person under 18, we will promptly delete that data. If you believe a minor is using the Service, please report it to safety@eatingminds.com.

11. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. When we make material changes:

• We will update the "Last updated" date at the top of this page.
• We will notify you via in-app notification or email at least fifteen (15) days before the changes take effect.
• For significant changes that affect how we use your data, we will request your renewed consent where required by law.

Your continued use of the Service after the effective date of changes constitutes acceptance of the updated Policy.

12. Grievance Officer

In accordance with the Information Technology Act 2000 and the IT (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules 2021, the Grievance Officer for EatingMinds is:

If you are not satisfied with our response, you may escalate your complaint to the Data Protection Board of India as established under the DPDPA 2023.

13. Contact Us

For any questions, concerns, or requests related to your privacy, contact us at: