Privacy Policy

Last updated: August 29, 2026

Label X-Ray ("the app") helps you understand food and cosmetic ingredient labels, and search official government recall databases. This page explains exactly what data the app handles and why, in plain language.

Camera

The app uses your device's camera in a few ways:

• Barcode scanning happens entirely on your device using Google's ML Kit. No photo or image is captured, stored, or transmitted — only the barcode number detected in the frame is used.
• Ingredient list photos (an alternative to typing, for food or cosmetics) are sent to Anthropic so it can read and analyze the ingredients in the photo, the same way pasted text is. The photo itself is not stored by us afterward — see "Data retention" below.
• Recall photo identification (an alternative to typing a product name when searching for recalls) is sent to Anthropic to read the product name and brand off the photo. The photo itself is not stored afterward.

What we send to our server

Depending on how you use the app, we send the following to our backend server so it can generate a result:

• The barcode number (if you scanned or entered one)
• The ingredient text and product name (either pasted by you, or retrieved from a public product database using the barcode)
• A photo of an ingredient list, if you choose to use the photo option instead of typing
• A product name or photo, if you're searching for recalls
• Your question (and an optional photo), if you use the "Ask a question" feature — sent to Anthropic the same way as an ingredient analysis, to generate an answer
• The allergies or sensitivities you've added in the app's Settings, if any — sent along with each scan, photo, or question so Anthropic can check for them and flag a match. This list is saved on your device, but is sent off your device every time you use the app, not just kept locally — we don't store it on our server afterward (see "Data retention" below)
• Your device's language setting, so responses can be given in that language

The app also generates a random device identifier (not tied to your name, email, or any personal information) and sends it with each request, so we can enforce the free monthly scan limit described below. Recall search itself is free and unlimited and is never counted against that limit — the device identifier is still sent with recall requests, but only to enforce a generous daily cap on the optional photo-identify feature, to prevent abuse. "Ask a question" has its own separate monthly usage limit, shown in the app.

We do not require or collect any account information, name, email address, or other personal identifiers to use the app.

Subscriptions and purchases

Label X-Ray offers an optional paid subscription and one-time "scan pack" purchases for additional scans beyond the free monthly limit. All payments are handled entirely by the app store you downloaded the app from — Google Play Billing on Android, or the App Store on iOS — we never see or store your payment card, billing address, or other payment details. When you make a purchase, Google or Apple provides our server with a purchase token or transaction ID, which we send to that store's own server API (Google Play Developer API, or Apple's App Store Server API) to confirm the purchase is genuine before granting access. We store only: your device's random identifier, whether it currently has an active subscription (and its expiry date), and any remaining scan-pack credits.

Sharing a result

The optional "Share result" button generates an image (your scan's score and verdict) entirely on your device — nothing is sent to our server to create it. The image is saved temporarily to your device's own cache storage so your phone's operating system can hand it to whichever app you choose from the share menu (Messages, WhatsApp, etc.), then gets overwritten the next time you share. We have no visibility into, or control over, what happens to it once you pick where to send it.

Third-party services we use

• Anthropic (Claude API) — the ingredient text, ingredient list photo, or Ask question/photo you submit is sent to Anthropic to generate the plain-language analysis or answer. See Anthropic's Privacy Policy.
• Open Food Facts and Open Beauty Facts — when you scan a food or cosmetic barcode, we query the relevant one of these free, public product databases to retrieve the product's name and ingredient list. See Open Food Facts' Privacy Policy.
• Official recall databases — US recall searches query the Consumer Product Safety Commission (general consumer products) and the FDA's openFDA service (food) directly. Health Canada is queried directly too, and already covers food recalls alongside other categories. EU recall searches query two sources: OpenDataSoft, a third-party platform that hosts the EU Safety Gate (RAPEX) dataset for general consumer products, and the European Commission's own RASFF (Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed) service, queried directly, for food and feed. We only forward your search terms to retrieve matching results; we don't otherwise share data with these services.
• Google Play Billing — processes subscription and scan-pack payments on Android. See Google's Privacy Policy.
• Apple App Store — processes subscription and scan-pack payments on iOS. See Apple's Privacy Policy.
• Sentry — our server sends it details of unexpected errors (so we can find and fix bugs), which can include the IP address a request came from and, in some cases, your device identifier. Sentry doesn't receive your ingredient submissions or photos. See Sentry's Privacy Policy.

International data transfers

Our server and its third-party providers (including Anthropic) may process data outside of your own country, including in the United States. Where required, we rely on the safeguards those providers maintain (such as standard contractual clauses) for handling data transferred internationally.

Legal basis for processing (EEA/UK users)

If you're in the European Economic Area, UK, or a similar jurisdiction: we process the data described above based on our legitimate interest in providing the app's core functionality and preventing abuse (like the scan and daily-cap limits), and to perform the service you're requesting when you submit a scan or search. We don't process your data for marketing, and we don't need your consent for the processing described here since no more data is used than necessary to provide the feature you asked for. You have the right to lodge a complaint with your local data protection supervisory authority if you believe we've mishandled your data.

Data retention

Photos are never stored — every photo you submit (an ingredient list, or a product photo for recall lookup) is processed and discarded immediately. The AI-generated analysis result itself — the verdict, score, and flags — also isn't stored anywhere on our end; it's returned to your device and that's the only copy. Your allergy/sensitivity list works the same way: it's sent with each request so it can be checked, then discarded — we don't save it, or a record of what you're allergic to, on our server.

What we do retain:

• A per-device product cache. When you scan or analyze a barcode, we save the product name, ingredient list, and category, tied to your device's random identifier and that specific barcode, for about 400 days. This is what lets a repeat scan of something you've already checked come back instantly instead of being re-analyzed from scratch. You can ask us to delete this — see "Your rights" below.
• A short-lived shared product cache. Barcode lookups against Open Food Facts and Open Beauty Facts are cached for 24 hours, shared across everyone using the app (not tied to your device), purely to speed up repeat lookups of popular products.
• Usage counters, tied only to your device's random identifier: scans used this month (resets monthly), recall photo-identify requests used today (resets daily), your subscription status and expiry if you're subscribed, and any unused scan-pack credits.
• A one-time "first seen" marker per device, kept permanently with no expiry, recording only that a device has used its free trial. This one is intentionally permanent — without it, reinstalling the app could otherwise be used to claim an unlimited number of free trials.

Recall search terms aren't stored beyond what's needed to return your results.

How we keep data safe

All requests between the app and our server are encrypted in transit (HTTPS). As explained under "Data retention" above, what we hold onto is deliberately limited — no photos, no analysis results, and everything else either expires automatically or is tied only to an anonymous, randomly generated device identifier, never your name or any other personal identifier. No method of transmission over the internet is ever 100% secure, but there's very little sensitive information to protect in the first place. If a data breach ever puts your information at risk, we'll notify affected users and any authorities required by law, without undue delay.

Analytics, advertising, and cookies

The app contains no advertising and no analytics or user-tracking SDKs — nothing that watches how you use the app or builds a profile of your activity. Our server does use Sentry for error monitoring (see "Third-party services we use" above), which exists to catch bugs, not to track you. The labelxray.app website doesn't use cookies or any tracking technology either — it's a static set of pages with no visitor tracking of any kind.

Your rights, and data we don't sell

We do not sell, rent, or share your personal information with anyone for advertising or marketing purposes — there's nothing to sell in the first place, since we only retain the minimal, non-identifying data described above. You can ask us what we store for your device, or request it be deleted, at any time — see our data deletion page for how. Since we don't collect your name, email, or other identifying information, most requests can be handled quickly once you provide your device identifier.

Children's privacy

Label X-Ray is not directed at children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from children.

Changes to this policy

If this policy changes, the "Last updated" date above will be revised. Continued use of the app after changes means you accept the updated policy.

Contact

Questions about this policy or the app can be sent to [email protected].