Privacy Policy for Adulting is (NOT) Hard

Effective Date: November 30, 2025

This Privacy Policy explains how Impact Strategy Group LLC ("we," "us," or "our"), the developer of the "Adulting is (NOT) Hard" mobile application and website (the "Service"), collects, uses, protects, and discloses information about you.

1. Information We Collect

We collect information directly from you when you use the Service, as well as information generated by your use of the app.

A. Information You Provide Directly

  • Account Information: Your email address, chosen username, and encrypted password (for authentication purposes).

  • Group Data: Names and usernames of friends you add to groups, custom group names, and options you create (e.g., titles and descriptions of custom decision lists).

  • Search and Preference Data: ZIP codes, search radius, food type preferences, meal filters (e.g., "vegetarian," "gluten-free"), and minimum star rating preferences.

  • Rating Data: Your 1-5 star ratings for restaurants or meals.

B. Usage and Technical Data

  • Interaction Data: This includes the timestamp and nature of your voting decisions ("yes," "no," "maybe," or ranking order) within group sessions.

  • Location Data: We access your device's precise location (GPS) only with your explicit permission, primarily to perform local searches (e.g., "Find an Event near me"). This data is generally used transiently for the search and is not stored long-term.

  • Device Information: Technical information about your device, including the operating system, device type, and application version, used for security and debugging.

2. How We Use Your Information

We use the information we collect for the following primary purposes:

  • Service Delivery and Core Functionality: To run the core features of the app, including establishing your groups, synchronizing votes between members, and determining the overall group match.

  • Personalization and Recommendations: To calculate and display your individual "My Choices" and to power the foundational data for future personalized features (e.g., recommending a restaurant you haven't visited).

  • Security and Authentication: To verify your identity, secure your account, and prevent fraud, especially when accessing secure resources (Cloud Functions).

  • Fulfilling Requests: To call the Gemini API to generate personalized recipes, instructions, and shopping lists based on your filtered meal selections.

3. How We Share Your Information

We only share information necessary to provide the Service or to comply with the law.

A. Third-Party Services (Our Service Providers)

We rely on third-party services for our core operations. These services handle the data as necessary to perform their functions securely:

Third-Party Service

Data Shared

Purpose

Google Firebase (Authentication, Firestore, Functions, Hosting)

All user account data, group data, and usage data.

Secure account management, real-time data synchronization, and hosting the application.

Google Places API (via Cloud Functions)

Search criteria (ZIP Code, location, keywords).

Fetching nearby restaurant and place information.

Google Gemini API (via Cloud Functions)

Meal names, number of people, and preference details (filters).

Generating recipes and shopping lists upon user request.

B. Affiliate Links and Advertising

  • The Service contains links to third-party services, most notably Amazon.

  • These links include an Associate Tag (Affiliate ID) that tracks sales originating from our app. When you click an Amazon link and make a purchase, we may earn a commission.

  • We do not receive or store any personal data related to your purchase (such as your payment information or shipping address).

C. Legal Compliance

We may disclose your information if required to do so by law or in response to valid requests by public authorities (e.g., a court order or government agency).

4. Your Privacy Rights and Data Deletion

You retain full control over your account information.

  • Account Deletion: You may contact us at the email below to request that your account be deleted. Upon your request, we will delete your personal account data (email, username, UID) and disassociate all your generated content (votes, rankings, custom lists) from your identity.

  • Data Retention: We retain your account data as long as your account is active or as needed to provide you with the Service. Usage data (votes, rankings) is kept indefinitely to facilitate group functionality and future recommendation models, but it can be anonymized upon request.

5. Children's Privacy

The Service is not intended for use by children under the age of 13. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If we become aware that we have collected personal information from a child under 13, we will take immediate steps to delete the information and terminate the account.

6. Contact Us

If you have any questions or concerns about this Privacy Policy or our data practices, please contact us using the email or contact form below.