Merinda is an offline-first cooking companion app that respects your privacy. It is developed and operated by an independent developer based in Finland ("we", "us"). Every feature works without an internet connection, and no account creation or registration is required — simply download and start cooking. This policy explains how we handle your data.
All data is stored locally on your device. The app stores:
Merinda never transmits this data to us or to anyone else. It may be included in your device's own backup — see "Device Backups" below.
For full transparency, these are the only situations in which anything leaves your device. None of them involve our servers — we don't have any.
We do not share, sell, rent, or transfer your data to anyone. Merinda does not use analytics, advertising SDKs, or tracking tools. The app is built only on open-source libraries for local functionality — local storage, text-to-speech, on-device voice recognition, and the on-device AI runtime — none of which collect or transmit personal data.
When you enable hands-free voice control in recipe steps, the microphone listens continuously while a recipe's cooking steps are open, so it can recognise commands like "next", "back", "done", and "start timer" without you touching the screen.
Merinda can answer cooking questions using an AI language model that runs entirely on your device.
If something goes wrong, Merinda writes a small technical error log on your device: what failed and when, the app version, and the operating system version. It never includes your recipes, preferences, or any personal content.
If you have device backups enabled, your Merinda data (favourites, preferences, history, lists) is included in your phone's own backup — Google backup on Android, iCloud on iOS — so your data survives moving to a new phone. These backups belong to your personal Google or Apple account and are managed by your operating system; Merinda has no access to them. Large re-downloadable files, such as the AI model, are excluded to keep backups small. You can turn device backups off in your device settings.
Since all data is stored locally on your device, you remain in full control at all times. To permanently delete all app data, uninstall Merinda from your device. This removes all locally stored preferences, history, and settings.
You can also restart the first-time setup experience through Profile → Reset Onboarding. Note that this only restarts the onboarding flow — it does not delete your stored data.
Merinda does not knowingly collect data from children. The app is designed for general audiences and stores all data locally without age verification requirements.
Merinda is available on Android and iOS. Both platforms follow the same privacy practices with local-only storage. No data synchronisation occurs between devices.
We may update this privacy policy to reflect app improvements or legal requirements. Changes are announced in the app store listing's release notes, and the "Last updated" date at the top of this page always reflects the current version. Continued use of the app after changes constitutes acceptance of the updated policy.
If you have questions about this privacy policy or how Merinda handles your data, contact us at privacy@merinda.app. For anything else, say hello at hello@merinda.app.