Privacy Policy

Last updated: October 24, 2026

Palate is a personal wine-tasting journal. This page explains, in plain language, what information Palate collects, what it's used for, and the choices you have.

What Palate collects

Account information: the email address and password you sign up with. Your password is never stored in readable form, only a one-way cryptographic hash of it.
Tasting data you choose to enter: wine names, vintages, your reaction, personal tier, notes, context, and tags for wines you log; wines on your want-to-try list; and answers to the optional taste survey.
A recovery code, generated for you when you sign up and used only to verify your identity if you reset your password. It's stored as a hash, the same way your password is.

How scanning uses your photo. When you scan a wine list or a bottle, the photo is sent to Palate's servers and processed by a third-party AI provider in order to read the wine names printed on it. Palate does not store the photo in the app or your account. The wine names read from it are checked against a wine database to identify each bottle. Each time you scan, Palate's operator also receives a copy of the photo or photos, the email address on your account, and the wines that were read, sent by email. This is used to monitor that scanning works and to improve how accurately Palate reads wine lists and labels. Please avoid photographing people or anything private; the photo is not shared with other users.

How voice input works. When you speak instead of typing, the speech is turned into text by your device's own speech recognition. On devices that support recognition entirely on the device, Palate requires it, so the audio never leaves your phone; on devices that do not, Apple's speech service performs the recognition. Either way Palate never receives or stores the audio itself. The resulting text is sent to Palate's servers and processed by a third-party AI provider to work out which wines and tastes you described, and you are shown the result before anything is saved to your account.

How your data is used

Your tasting data is used solely to build your personal taste profile and generate recommendations for you, inside the app. It is tied to your account and is not visible to other users or used for any purpose beyond operating and improving Palate, and for the weekly reminder described next.

Weekly reminder email. Once a week, on Thursday evening (US Eastern time), Palate emails you a short list of wines you've liked or put on your want-to-try list, with search links to help you find them, so you can pick one up for the weekend. It's sent to the email address on your account and contains nothing but your own list. Every email has an unsubscribe link that works immediately, with no sign-in needed.

If you subscribe. Palate's paid plan is handled by Stripe, on Stripe's own checkout page in your browser. Your card details are entered there and never reach Palate's app or servers: Palate neither sees nor stores them. Stripe gives Palate a customer reference and the status and renewal date of your subscription, which is stored against your account so the app knows your plan is active. What Stripe does with the payment details you give it is governed by Stripe's own privacy policy.

Where your data is stored

Data is stored in an encrypted-in-transit PostgreSQL database (hosted by Neon). Access requires an authenticated session tied to your account. There is no public or shared access to your data.

Your controls

Delete any wine or wishlist entry at any time from within the app.
Delete your account entirely from Profile → Delete account. This immediately and permanently removes your account, your tasting history, your wishlist, and your taste profile. This action cannot be undone.

Age

Palate is a wine-tasting app and is intended for adults of legal drinking age in their jurisdiction. It is not directed at children, and Palate does not knowingly collect information from children.

Changes to this policy

If this policy changes, the "last updated" date above will change accordingly.

Contact

Questions about privacy or your data: matt10erickson@gmail.com

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