Effective date: July 6, 2026 · Last updated: July 9, 2026
Jala (“Jala,” “we,” “us,” or “our”) is a personal nutrition-logging app for iOS. This policy explains what information the app handles, where it is stored, and the choices you have. We have tried to keep it plain and specific to how Jala actually works.
Your personal data — your profile, food log, water, weight, recipes, custom foods, goals, and reminders — is stored in your own private iCloud account, not on our servers. Apple does not share your private iCloud data with us.
The only things that leave your device to our backend are a food search query, a barcode number, or — if you use the Scan (photo) feature — a photo of your meal and any optional hint text you type. Meal photos are also sent to OpenAI to identify what’s in the photo. We do not receive your logged entries, your profile, or any identifier that ties a lookup or scan to you.
We do not use analytics, advertising, or third-party trackers, and we do not sell your data.
You can export all your data, and you can delete all of it from inside the app at any time.
Information we collect and store
Jala stores the information you enter so the app can function as a personal tracker. This includes:
Profile: first name, age, sex, height, weight, goal weight, and activity level.
Weight history: weight and timestamp for each weigh-in.
Recipes and recipe ingredients, including their nutrition.
Custom foods: food templates you save (name, serving size, calories, macros, and an optional note about where the food originally came from).
Reminders: the time, type, and on/off state of any local reminders you set.
Daily goals: your calorie, macro, water, and tracked-nutrient targets.
Where your information is stored
Your data is stored in your own iCloud account, in Apple’s private CloudKit database. This is a privacy-protective design: Apple does not share the contents of your private CloudKit database with us, and we cannot read it. If you use Jala on more than one device signed in to the same Apple Account, iCloud syncs your data between those devices.
If iCloud is unavailable, Jala stores your data locally on your device instead.
When information leaves your device
To look up foods, Jala sends requests to our backend service at api.unamicconsulting.com:
When you search for a food, the app sends your search text.
When you scan a barcode, the app sends the barcode number.
When you use Scan to log a meal photo, the app sends a downscaled copy of the photo, plus any optional hint text you add, to our backend. Our backend forwards the photo to OpenAI to identify the food and estimate portions, and separately queries FatSecret for matching products so you can pick an exact nutrition match. Our backend does not write meal photos to disk; they are processed in memory to generate your results and then discarded. OpenAI does not use API inputs like these photos to train its models by default.
Our backend uses these to query a third-party food database (FatSecret) on your behalf and returns the nutrition results to your device. The backend does not receive your logged food entries, your profile, your goals, or any account identifier. Search queries, barcode lookups, and meal photos are used only to return results; they are not linked to your identity.
Third parties
Apple iCloud — stores and syncs your data in your private CloudKit database. Your data is subject to Apple’s Privacy Policy.
Our backend (api.unamicconsulting.com) — proxies food search, barcode lookups, and meal photo scans, as described above.
FatSecret — the food and nutrition database that powers Jala’s food search, barcode lookups, and photo-scan grounding, queried server-side by our backend. Food and nutrition data is Powered by FatSecret (platform.fatsecret.com). We send only your search text, a scanned barcode number, or a meal photo to retrieve results; no profile, log, or identifying information is shared.
OpenAI — used server-side by our backend to analyze meal photos you submit through the Scan feature (identifying food items and estimating portions). We send the photo and any optional hint text you add; we do not send your profile, log, or identifying information. See OpenAI’s Privacy Policy.
We do not share your personal log, profile, or goal data with any third party.
What Jala does not do
We do not use analytics or usage-tracking SDKs.
We do not show advertising.
We do not use third-party trackers.
We do not sell or rent your data.
We do not collect device identifiers for tracking.
We do not send usage telemetry to the developer.
Your choices and rights
Export your data. From Profile → Data, you can export all your data as JSON — food, water, and weight logs, imported Apple Health summaries, custom foods, recipes, your profile, goals, and reminders. A CSV option exports your food and water logs as a flat table.
Delete your data. From Profile, “Delete Everything” permanently erases your profile, food log, water log, weight history, recipes, custom foods, goals, and reminders from this device and from any other device signed in to the same Apple Account. This also cancels your scheduled reminders. This action cannot be undone.
Because your data lives in your own iCloud account, you can also manage or remove Jala’s iCloud data through your device’s iCloud settings.
Data retention
Jala keeps your data for as long as it remains in your iCloud account or on your device. When you delete your data using the in-app controls above, it is removed from your devices and your private iCloud database. We do not retain copies, because we never held them.
Children’s privacy
Jala is intended for a general audience and is not directed to children under 13. As described above, any information entered stays on your own private iCloud account and/or personal device. Because we never hold your data, a parent or guardian who wants information removed from device or iCloud can erase all of it directly in the app using Profile → Delete Everything. If you have any questions, contact us at support@unamicconsulting.com.
Changes to this policy
If we change this policy, we will update the “Effective date” above and post the revised policy at this URL. Significant changes may also be surfaced in the app.