Last updated 12 October 2026
The short version. No ads, no selling data, no tracking you around the internet. We collect the minimum needed to make the app work, most of it stays on your phone, you can export all of it whenever you like, and you can delete everything from inside the app.
We back up your tracking data so it survives reinstalls and device changes: day history, achievements and gallery progress, streaks, hydration entries, favourites and custom foods, weight entries (numbers and notes, not progress photos), daily check-ins (hunger, sleep and notes), any macro targets you entered from a coach, your spreadsheet column layout, your drink list, learned food preferences, your profile details from onboarding, and app settings. This is stored with our backend provider (Supabase) and protected by row-level security, so only your authenticated account can read or write your rows.
Caterpillar uses an account so your history survives losing or changing a phone. You can create one two ways:
When you use Snap Your Plate, Menu Scan or a nutrition-label scan, your photo (compressed) is sent over an encrypted connection through our server function to our AI provider (Google's Gemini API) solely to generate the nutrition analysis. Optional numeric portion measurements derived on-device from LiDAR travel with it, never raw depth data. The result is returned to your device. If you use "Ask AI" or voice input, the text or audio of what you asked is processed the same way. We do not build advertising profiles from any of it.
Requests are rate-limited per device to keep the shared service usable. Enforcing that involves counting requests on your device; the counts are not tied to your identity.
Search queries are sent to food databases (our own curated database, plus Open Food Facts, USDA and Australian government datasets via our server) to return results. Queries are used to answer the search and are not linked to your account.
Caterpillar records which features are used (that a meal was logged, that a paywall was shown, that onboarding finished) so we can tell what is working and what isn't. This is deliberately built so it cannot identify you:
If you buy Caterpillar Pro, the purchase is handled entirely by Apple's in-app purchase system. We never see your payment details. The app checks your entitlement with Apple to know whether Pro is active.
If you import history from another tracker, you pick the file yourself and it is read entirely on your device. We don't browse your files and the file isn't uploaded anywhere. The meals, weigh-ins, water and activity it contains then become part of your own history, and your cloud backup if you're signed in, exactly like data you logged in Caterpillar.
You can export everything you've logged as CSV files at any time, straight from the app.
Notifications are optional and off until you allow them. Reminders are scheduled and delivered on your device. Their content, meaning what you have or haven't logged, is never sent to a server to generate them.
Cloud data is kept while your account exists. Delete your account in-app (Nest → Delete Account) and your request is actioned within 48 hours, permanently removing your cloud data. Deleting the app removes all local data immediately. Contributions already approved into the shared food database (which contain product facts, not personal information) remain, as other users rely on them. You can also email us to exercise access or correction rights under the Australian Privacy Principles.
Caterpillar is not directed at children and is not intended for users under 16.
If this policy changes materially we'll say so in the app before the change takes effect. The date at the top of this page always reflects the current version.
Privacy questions or requests: JackKGrant@icloud.com