Privacy policy

Last updated: 29 September 2026

This policy covers the Tarkka app for iOS and Android. It replaces the policy for the earlier price-comparison version of Tarkka: this version has no ads, no in-app purchases and no analytics.

1. Who is responsible for your data

Tarkka is the data controller for the personal data described in this policy.

For anything about privacy or your data, email privacy@tarkka.app.

2. What we collect and why

Your account

The first time you open Tarkka, the app creates an anonymous account for you. It has a random user ID and nothing else: no name, email or phone number. The ID is what lets your lists sync and lets other people in your household see what you add.

If you choose to sign in with Google or Apple, we also keep the email address and name that the provider gives us, and which provider you used. This lets you reach your lists on a new phone. If you use Apple's "Hide My Email", we only see Apple's relay address.

Your household's lists and content

To run the app we store what you and your household put into it:

• Lists: each list's name and the order of its categories.
• Items: the name, quantity, unit, note and category, who added or ticked the item, and when.
• Household memory ("what we buy"): the items your household has bought before, their categories, how often they were bought and when last. The app uses this to suggest items and sort them into the right aisle.
• Recipes: the name, number of servings, ingredients and method.
• Household and members: the household's name, each member's display name and initials, their role (owner or member) and when they joined.
• Invites: an invite code, the household's name, the name of the person who invited you, the display names of up to three members and how many members there are, and when the invite expires. This is what someone sees before they join.

Crash reports

If the app crashes or hits a serious error, it sends a crash report to Firebase Crashlytics so we can fix the problem. A crash report contains technical details: where in the code the error happened, your device model, operating system and app version, a random installation ID, a session identifier, and the time. It never contains your lists, items, recipes, household names, your name or your email address.

Kept only on your phone

Your theme and language choice, and an offline copy of your lists so the app works without a connection. These stay on your device.

What we don't collect

No location, contacts, photos, camera or microphone access, advertising ID, payment details, browsing history or usage analytics. We show no ads and we don't track you across other apps or websites. We never sell your data.

3. Who can see your data

• People in your household. Everything in a household (its lists, items, household memory, recipes and member names) is visible to, and can be changed by, every member of that household. Nobody else can see it. People join only through an invite link or code that a member shares. Anyone who has a valid invite can join until it expires or the owner resets it, so share invites only with people you trust. The owner can remove members, and you can leave a household at any time.
• Google, as our service provider. Tarkka runs on Google Firebase: Firebase Authentication for accounts, Cloud Firestore to store and sync your lists, and Firebase Crashlytics for crash reports. Google processes this data on our behalf and only to provide these services, under its data processing terms. See Privacy and security in Firebase.
• Google or Apple sign-in. If you sign in with one of them, that company knows you signed in to Tarkka. Their own privacy policies apply.
• No one else, unless the law requires us to hand data over.

4. Where your data is stored

Your lists and household data are stored in Cloud Firestore in the EU, in Google Cloud's data centre in Finland (europe-north1, Hamina). Firebase Authentication and Crashlytics may process data on Google's servers outside the EU, including in the United States. Those transfers are covered by the EU–US Data Privacy Framework and the European Commission's Standard Contractual Clauses.

Data is encrypted in transit (TLS) and at rest.

5. Legal basis

• Providing the app you asked for (GDPR Art. 6(1)(b)): your account, storing and syncing your lists, and sharing them with your household.
• Our legitimate interest in a working, secure app (GDPR Art. 6(1)(f)): crash reports, and protecting the service against abuse.

6. How long we keep it

• While you use the app, we keep your account and your household's content.
• Deleted items and lists stay in "Recently deleted" for 30 days so you can restore them, and are then permanently removed. Items you tick and clear from a list are removed on the same schedule. Household memory is kept until the household is deleted, because it is what makes suggestions work.
• When you delete your account, you lose access immediately and your data is erased from our servers within 30 days. See Deleting your account for what happens to shared households.
• If you never signed in, your account has no name or email attached, so if you uninstall the app we can't reconnect you to it. Uninstalling does not delete your account; to erase its data, delete the account in the app first.
• Crash reports are kept for 90 days.

7. Deleting your account

In the app, go to You → Account → Delete account. You lose access straight away, and your data is erased from our servers within 30 days.

• A household where you are the only member is deleted with everything in it.
• A household you share with other people stays for them, with its lists. If you own it, ownership passes to another member.
• Items you added to a shared household's lists stay on those lists, because they belong to the whole household. Your name is removed from them, and they show as added by "a former member".

No longer have the app? See tarkka.app/delete-account or email privacy@tarkka.app.

8. Your rights

Under the GDPR you can ask to see the data we hold about you, correct it, delete it, receive it in a portable format, restrict how we use it, or object to our use of it. You can edit and delete most of it yourself in the app. For anything else, email privacy@tarkka.app. We answer within one month.

You can also complain to the Finnish Data Protection Ombudsman (tietosuoja.fi) or to the data protection authority where you live.

9. Children

Tarkka is not directed at children under 13. If you believe a child has given us personal data, contact us and we will delete it.

10. Changes to this policy

If we change this policy, we update the date at the top. If a change affects how we use your data, we tell you in the app before it takes effect.

11. Contact

Email privacy@tarkka.app. For help with the app, email support@tarkka.app.