Privacy Policy

01Who we are

Truth ("the app") is a food scanner and daily tracker for Android (food, water, steps, walks and runs), published by FreeLabs Studio ("we"). This policy explains what data the app handles and why.

FreeLabs Studio is operated by PASALA JAYANTH (individual), Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. See the contact page.

Questions? Contact us at omrwork41@gmail.com.

02In short

• There is no account and no login. We never ask for your name, email or other personal details.
• We run one small helper that reads pack photos when the phone cannot and, from version 1.4, explains ingredients with AI. It keeps nothing about you.
• Your scan history stays on your phone. It is not uploaded and is excluded from cloud backups and device transfers.
• Photos leave your phone only to be read (printed dates the phone cannot read, or photos you take to add or complete a product) and, for products you add or complete, to be published on Open Food Facts.
• Barcode numbers are sent to Open Food Facts to look up products.
• The app is free and shows ads from Google AdMob, which collects data as described below. There are no purchases or subscriptions.
• Steps and calories burned are read from Health Connect only if you allow it. They are shown on your phone and never sent anywhere.
• Walks and runs you track, with their routes, stay on your phone. The only location that leaves your phone is a position rounded to about 1 km, used to show air quality.
• What you eat, your water and your meal plans stay on your phone. If you describe a meal for an estimate, only those words are sent.

03Data the app handles

Camera images

Processed on your phone to read barcodes and QR codes and, when you tap "Scan dates live", the dates printed on a pack. If the phone cannot read the dates within a few seconds, a black-and-white crop of the date area only is sent to Truth's text-reading helper (see below). Never stored by us.Why: to scan codes and read pack dates

Photos of pack dates

If you take or choose a photo of a pack's dates, its text is read on your phone. The photo is deleted right after reading and never uploaded. The dates you confirm are saved only in your on-phone history.Why: to show manufacturing and expiry dates

Reminders

Only if you allow notifications: Android schedules them on your phone, using the expiry dates in your on-phone history (a week and a day before a pack expires), plus, from version 1.5, short reminders to scan when you have not opened Truth for a day or more: at most one a day, stopping after two weeks. Nothing is sent to us or anyone else.Why: to remind you before a product expires

Photos of a product you add or complete

Only if you tap "Add it with photos" or "Add from photos": the photos are read on your phone and by Truth's text-reading helper to fill in the details. The photos and the details you confirm (name, brand, size, ingredients, nutrition table) are sent to Open Food Facts and published there under an open licence only when you tap publish.Why: to add a missing product, or missing details, to the public database

Quick questions

Only if you answer one: your yes / no answer and a random ID created on install (not linked to you) are sent to Open Food Facts' Robotoff service, where answers from many people decide changes to the product.Why: to help correct product data

Home screen widget

From version 1.5, if you add it: the widget shows Truth's mood and how many products you checked today, worked out on your phone from your on-phone history, and, from version 1.6, the latest air quality reading (see Air quality below). Nothing else is sent to us or anyone else.Why: a quick look and a Scan button on your home screen

Steps and calories (Health Connect)

From version 1.6, only if you allow it: Truth reads your steps and active calories burned for today and recent days from Health Connect, to show them on Home and in the calendar. Truth only reads; it never writes to Health Connect. This data stays on your phone and is never sent to us or anyone else, never used for ads, and never sold. See the Health Connect section below.Why: to compare calories had with calories burned

Walk and run tracking (location and steps)

From version 1.6, only after you tap Start on "Track a walk or run": the app uses your phone's precise location (GPS) and step sensor to measure distance, pace, speed and steps and to draw your route. A notification shows the whole time, and tracking stops when you tap Finish. Truth does not use location in the background otherwise. Your walks, runs and routes are stored only on your phone.Why: to record your walk or run

Maps

From version 1.6, routes are shown on Google Maps inside the app. Like any map, Google receives the map area being shown and technical data such as your IP address and device information, under Google's privacy policy. Your saved routes are not sent to Google.Why: to show where you walked

Air quality

From version 1.6: when a walk starts, and at most once an hour while the app is open (only if you have already allowed location; Truth never asks for location just for this), your position is sent to Truth's helper (see below). The helper rounds it to about 1 km and asks Google's Air Quality API. The rounded place and the answer are kept for at most one hour and are not linked to you. The reading is shown on the track screen, Home and the widget, and saved with your walk on your phone.Why: to show the air quality around you

Food and water log, meal plans

From version 1.6: what you mark as eaten, your water, your steps goal and the meals you plan are stored only on your phone. Home dishes come from a list built into the app (Indian Nutrient Databank, INDB), so searching them sends nothing.Why: your daily calories had, water and plans

Meal descriptions

From version 1.6, only if you type a meal and tap Estimate (for example "2 chapati with dal"): those words are sent to Truth's helper, which asks AI models through OpenRouter for a calorie estimate. The words are sent with a random ID created on install, used only to limit how often one phone can ask. No name, account or location. Estimates are saved by the words only, so the same words get the same answer, with no link to you.Why: to estimate a meal that isn't in Truth

Product links

From version 1.5, shared product cards include a link and QR code with the product's barcode, such as truth.freefinance.site/p/8901234567890. Opening one shows that product in Truth. The link contains only the barcode, nothing about you.Why: so friends can open a product you shared

Update check

When the app opens, it asks Google Play whether a newer version exists and reads small files on truth.freefinance.site listing the oldest version that may still be used and, from version 1.5, whether a festival look (such as Diwali) is on. Nothing about you is sent beyond what any internet request includes, such as your IP address.Why: to offer updates and stop very old versions

Problem reports

Only if you tap "Report a problem": your own email app opens with a draft containing the app version. Nothing is sent until you send the email yourself.Why: so you can tell us what went wrong

Barcode numbers

Sent to the Open Food Facts API (openfoodfacts.org and its sister databases).Why: to look up product information

QR and Data Matrix contents

Read on your phone. Only a product number found in the code is sent to Open Food Facts. Batch and expiry details are saved only on your phone. Links open in your browser only if you tap Open. Payment codes are never opened.Why: to show product, batch and expiry details

Web pages from QR codes

Only if you tap "Show full details": the app loads the page the code links to, as a browser would (so that website sees your IP address), and reads the product details on your phone.Why: to show medicine and product details

Scan history (My shelf)

Product name, brand, scores and time scanned, stored only on your phone. In the app this list is called My shelf (History in versions before 1.3).Why: so you can see earlier scans, even offline

Diet & allergies

Only if you set them (version 1.3 and later): your diet and allergies are stored only on your phone and checked against products on your phone. They are never sent anywhere.Why: so each food page can tell you whether it fits

Better choices

On food pages (version 1.3 and later): the product's category (for example "dry biscuits"), the country (India) and the Nutri-Score grades to look for are sent to Open Food Facts' search (search.openfoodfacts.org, or its main API as a backup). The results are kept on your phone for up to a week and deleted when you delete the scan.Why: to suggest similar products with a better Nutri-Score

Ingredient explanations

On food pages (version 1.4 and later): the product's ingredient list and the ingredient names are sent to Truth's helper (see below), with a random ID created on install, used only to limit how often one phone can ask. The barcode and your scan history are not sent. Answers are kept on your phone.Why: to sort the list and explain each ingredient

Shared product pictures

Only if you tap Share: the picture is made on your phone and handed to the app you choose, such as WhatsApp. Truth itself sends it nowhere.Why: so you can send a product's verdict to someone

Product photos

Downloaded from images.openfoodfacts.org and kept in the app's cache on your phone for up to 30 days.Why: so photos appear instantly next time

Scanner diagnostics

Google ML Kit, which reads barcodes and text on your phone, sends Google technical data such as device model, OS version, app version, performance and error codes, with an identifier for this installation. No images or scan contents.Why: so Google can keep the scanner working well

Advertising data

Advertising ID, app set ID, IP address, device information, app usage (such as app launches and taps), diagnostics and ad interactions, collected by Google AdMob.Why: to show and measure ads and prevent fraud

04Open Food Facts

Product lookups go directly from your phone to Open Food Facts, a non-profit open database. Each request contains the barcode, the app's name and version, and the technical data every internet request includes, such as your IP address.

Open Food Facts privacy policy: world.openfoodfacts.org/privacy

05Truth's text-reading helper

Some print is too small, curved or faint for the phone to read, such as dates etched on a bottle. Then the app sends the picture to a small helper we run on Cloudflare Workers, which passes it to an AI text-reading model through OpenRouter and returns only the text it found (dates, or the details on a label). Pictures are sent only during a scan you started or for photos you took to add or complete a product.

From version 1.4, the helper also sorts ingredient lists and explains ingredients. On food pages the app sends it the ingredient list and names, which it passes to AI models through OpenRouter.

From version 1.6, the helper also estimates calories for meals you describe (the words only), and looks up air quality for a position it rounds to about 1 km, using Google's Air Quality API. Neither is linked to you.

• What is sent: the picture (for dates, only a black-and-white crop of the date area; product photos shrunk to at most 1280 pixels) or the ingredient text, plus a random ID created on install, used only to limit how often one phone can ask. No name, account, location or scan history.
• What is kept: no pictures, no text read from them, and no logs. Sorted ingredient lists and ingredient explanations are saved and shared with everyone who scans the same ingredients, with no link to you or your phone.
• Other services: OpenRouter and the model providers handle the picture or ingredient text and may keep request data for a limited time under their own policies (free models may be used to improve them). Don't photograph people, documents or anything personal.

Their policies: openrouter.ai/privacy · cloudflare.com/privacypolicy · policies.google.com/privacy

06Health Connect

Truth reads two kinds of data from Health Connect, only with your permission: steps and active calories burned. They are used only to show your activity in the app, on your phone. Truth does not write data to Health Connect, does not send this data to us or anyone else, does not use it for ads, and does not sell it or use it to decide credit or insurance.

Truth's use of information received from Health Connect adheres to the Health Connect Permissions policy, including the Limited Use requirements.

You can remove Truth's access at any time in Health Connect settings (Settings → Apps → Health Connect → App permissions → Truth).

07Google AdMob ads

Truth shows ads served by Google AdMob:

• a banner at the bottom of product and dish pages,
• one sponsored card at the end of Home, Add, Activity and My shelf, and
• occasionally, a full-screen ad when you leave a product page.

Google may collect and use your phone's advertising ID, app set ID, IP address, information about how you use the app and interact with ads (such as app launches, taps and video views), and diagnostic information, to serve ads, personalise them where you have agreed, measure them and prevent fraud.

• In the European Economic Area, the UK and Switzerland, the app asks for your consent with Google's consent tool before any ad is requested. In regions with other privacy laws, such as some US states, it shows the choices those laws require.
• You can change your choice at any time in the app: About & privacy → Privacy options for ads (shown where it applies).
• You can reset or delete your advertising ID in Android Settings → Google → Ads.

How Google uses data: policies.google.com/technologies/partner-sites

08Your choices

• Delete your history: on My shelf (History in older versions), swipe a scan away, or long-press to select several and delete them, or use About & privacy → Clear My shelf (Clear scan history in older versions). Deleting a scan also deletes its saved better choices. Uninstalling the app also deletes everything.
• Diet & allergies: change or clear them any time in About & privacy → My diet & allergies.
• Camera: you can refuse camera permission and type barcodes and dates instead.
• Reminders: turn expiry reminders or scan reminders off in About & privacy, or block Truth's notifications in Android settings.
• Adding a product is optional: nothing is published unless you take the photos, check the details and tap publish. Once published it is public under an open licence and cannot be withdrawn by us, though anyone, including you, can edit it on Open Food Facts.
• Online reading only when needed: the text-reading helper is used only during a date scan you started, after the phone could not read the dates itself, or for photos you took to add or complete a product. Typing the dates or details yourself never sends a picture. Ingredient text is sent when a food page opens, as described above.
• Ads: see the Google AdMob section above.
• Health Connect: remove Truth's access any time in Health Connect settings. Truth then shows only walks you tracked.
• Location: tracking and air quality work only if you allow location. You can turn it off in Android settings; the rest of Truth keeps working.
• Your log and walks: stored only on your phone and deleted when you uninstall the app.

Because we hold no data about you, there is nothing for us to access, correct or delete on our side. For data held by Google or Open Food Facts, use their policies linked above, or contact us and we will help.

09Children

Truth is not designed for children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect their data.

10Not medical advice

Ratings and product details are for general information only. They are not medical, dietary or nutritional advice. The data comes from a crowd-sourced database and can be incomplete or wrong. Always check the product's packaging, especially for allergens. Calories, steps, pace and air quality are estimates for general information, not medical advice.