Privacy Policy

Last updated: 27 August 2026  ·  Effective: 27 August 2026

1. Who we are

Westie is a grocery price comparison app operated by Miss Tech ("Westie", "we", "us"). This policy explains what information the Westie mobile app and service collect, why, and what control you have over it. It applies to the Westie app and to westie.fyi.

Miss Tech is the data controller for the information described here. You can reach us at jmfrankl@gmail.com — see Contact us for full details.

2. What we collect

Account information

When you create an account we collect your email address and a password, and we generate a user identifier for you. Accounts are managed with Amazon Cognito; your password is held by Cognito in hashed form and is never visible to us. If you choose a display name or handle, we store that too.

Location

With your permission, Westie collects your device's location while the app is open, to find the stores near you and to attach the correct store to a price you log. Westie does not collect location in the background or when the app is closed. Prices you log are stored with the store they belong to; we don't build a history of your movements.

Photos and camera

Westie collects the photos you take or choose inside the app — shelf tags, product shots, barcodes and receipts. These are uploaded to our storage and analysed to extract prices and product details (see Automated photo analysis). If a photo you select from your library has GPS coordinates saved in it, we read those coordinates to work out which store the photo was taken at.

Receipt information

If you scan a receipt, we extract and store the text on it that's relevant to pricing: the store name and address, the date and time of purchase, the items purchased with their quantities and prices, and the subtotal, tax and total. A receipt may also show a transaction number and an abbreviated payment method (for example a card brand and the last four digits); where that text appears on the receipt it may be extracted and stored along with it.

Westie does not process payments and does not collect full payment card numbers, CVV codes, bank credentials or similar details. If you'd rather not share any of this, obscure it before photographing the receipt, or enter prices manually instead.

Content you contribute

We collect the prices, product names, sizes, quantities, units, store selections, notes and photos that you submit, together with the time you submitted them.

Social activity

If you follow other users or share a price, we store those relationships and actions so the feature can work.

Technical information

When the app talks to our servers we receive basic technical information that's inherent to an internet request — such as your IP address, the app version and the time of the request. This is used to operate and secure the service. Westie includes no advertising, analytics or tracking SDKs, and does not use cookies for tracking.

3. Device permissions

Westie requests the camera, location, photo-location and notification permissions described on our permissions page. Each is requested in context, and each is optional — you can decline or later revoke any of them in your device settings, though features that depend on a permission won't work without it.

4. How we use information

• To create and secure your account and sign you in.
• To show prices for the stores near you and let you search the catalogue.
• To read prices and product details off the photos you submit.
• To attribute prices you log to the correct store and product.
• To build price history so items can be compared over time.
• To operate social features you use, such as following and sharing.
• To notify you when your photos have finished processing, if you've allowed notifications.
• To respond to your support requests.
• To detect, investigate and prevent abuse, fraud, and violations of our Terms.
• To meet legal obligations.

Where the law requires a legal basis (for example in the UK and EEA), we rely on: performance of our contract with you, to provide the service; your consent, for device permissions such as camera, location and notifications; and our legitimate interests, in keeping the service working, accurate and secure.

5. Automated photo analysis

Photos you submit are analysed automatically so Westie can read the price, product name, size, barcode and similar details off them. This involves two things:

• On-device barcode decoding and image handling in the app itself.
• Analysis by a third-party AI service. Photos are sent to Anthropic's Claude API, which reads the image and returns the structured details found on it. Anthropic processes the image to provide that result and, under its commercial API terms, does not use it to train its models. See Anthropic's privacy policy.

Automated analysis can misread a photo. Nothing you submit is published as a price without you reviewing and confirming it first, and these processes don't produce legal or similarly significant effects for you.

6. How information is shared

We do not sell your personal information, and we do not share it for cross-context behavioural advertising. We share information only as follows:

• With other users — the prices and related content you contribute, as described in What's visible to others.
• With service providers who run the infrastructure behind Westie, and only so they can provide it to us:
  • Amazon Web Services — hosting, storage of your photos, accounts and authentication (Cognito), and our APIs. United States.
  • Anthropic — automated analysis of submitted photos, as described above. United States.
  • Neo4j Aura — the database storing products, stores and price records. United States.
  • Typesense — the search index that powers item search. United States.
  • Google Play — app distribution and updates. Google's own handling of that is governed by its privacy policy.
• For legal reasons — where we reasonably believe disclosure is required by law or legal process, or is necessary to protect the rights, safety or property of our users, the public or us.
• In a business transfer — if Westie is involved in a merger, acquisition or sale of assets, information may transfer as part of that transaction. We'll notify you before your information becomes subject to a materially different policy.

7. What's visible to others

Westie is a shared price database, so content you contribute is visible to other users. That includes the price, product, store, unit and date of prices you log, the photos attached to them, and your display name or handle as the contributor. Users who follow you can see prices you log, and a price you share can be viewed by anyone who receives the link.

Your email address is never shown to other users. Please don't photograph anything you don't want shared — check that receipts and shelf-tag photos don't capture personal details before you submit them.

8. How long we keep it

• Account information — for as long as your account exists.
• Photos — while they're needed to support the prices they document, and deleted when you delete your account.
• Prices and price history — retained as part of the shared catalogue. When you delete your account, prices you contributed are disassociated from you, so the price record remains but is no longer linked to your identity. See Deleting your account.
• Support correspondence — up to two years after your last message.
• Records we must keep by law — for as long as the law requires.

9. Deleting your account

You can delete your Westie account and associated data yourself, at any time, and it takes effect immediately:

• In the app — Settings → Account → Delete my account.
• On the web — westie.fyi/delete-account. You'll sign in and confirm with a code we email to your registered address.

If you can't sign in, email jmfrankl@gmail.com from the address you registered with, with the subject "Delete my Westie account". We'll verify the request and action it within 30 days, and confirm when it's done.

What is deleted: your account and login credentials, your email address, your display name, the photos you uploaded, your follow relationships, and your support correspondence.

What is retained: the price records you contributed remain in the shared catalogue in a form that is no longer associated with you or your account, so that historical price comparisons stay intact for other users. We also keep anything we're required to keep by law.

If you'd like the price records themselves removed as well, email us and we'll review the request.

10. Your rights

Depending on where you live, you may have the right to: access the personal information we hold about you; correct it; delete it; obtain a portable copy; object to or restrict certain processing; and withdraw consent you've given (such as a device permission) at any time.

California residents. You have the rights to know, delete, correct, and to opt out of the sale or sharing of personal information. We do not sell or share personal information as those terms are defined by the CCPA/CPRA, and we do not knowingly sell the personal information of anyone under 16. We won't discriminate against you for exercising your rights.

UK and EEA residents. You also have the right to lodge a complaint with your local supervisory authority.

To exercise any of these rights, email jmfrankl@gmail.com. We may need to verify your identity before acting, and we'll respond within the time the applicable law allows.

11. Security

Data sent between the app and our servers is encrypted in transit using TLS. Your login token is stored on your device using the platform's secure storage — the iOS Keychain, or Android's encrypted shared preferences. Photos and database contents are stored on AWS and Neo4j Aura infrastructure with encryption at rest, and access to production systems is restricted.

No service can promise perfect security, but if a breach affects your personal information we'll notify you and the relevant authorities as required by law.

12. International transfers

Westie is operated from the United States, and the service providers listed above process information in the United States. If you use Westie from outside the US, your information will be transferred to and processed there, where data protection laws may differ from those in your country. Where required, we rely on appropriate safeguards such as the European Commission's standard contractual clauses.

13. Children

Westie is not directed to children. You must be at least 13 years old (or 16 in the UK/EEA, or the minimum age required in your country) to create an account. We don't knowingly collect personal information from children under those ages. If you believe a child has given us personal information, contact us and we'll delete it.

14. Changes to this policy

We may update this policy as the app changes. We'll revise the "Last updated" date above, and for material changes we'll give notice in the app or by email before they take effect. Continuing to use Westie after a change means you accept the updated policy.

15. Contact us