Privacy policy
Last updated: October 4, 2026
Your family's recipes are precious, and so is your privacy. This page explains, in plain language, what information Heirloom Recipes (heirloom-recipe-books.com, "we") collects, why, who helps us handle it, and the choices you have. Questions? Email hello@heirloom-recipe-books.com.
What we collect
Your account
When you start a book, we create an anonymous account for you automatically (through Google's Firebase Authentication), so you can begin without giving us anything. If you choose to sign in to keep your book safe, we also receive your email address — and, if you use Google sign-in, the name and profile picture on your Google account. If you sign in with an emailed link, that email is sent for us by Firebase.
Your recipes
The photos you take of recipe cards, the recipe text we read from them, any notes, stories, names and dates you add, the book title, style and other choices you make, and the dish illustrations created for your recipes.
Orders and gifts
- Printed books: the recipient's name, shipping address, phone number and email, plus what you ordered.
- Gifts: the "from" and "for" names, your gift message, your email and the gift code.
- Payments: handled entirely by Stripe. We never see or store your card number. Stripe tells us whether a payment succeeded and its amount.
Messages and technical information
If you email us, we keep the conversation. Like most websites, our hosting and analytics tools also receive basic technical information such as your browser, device type, approximate location (from your IP address), pages you visit and the site that sent you to us.
How we use it
- To make your book: read your recipe cards, lay out the pages and create the PDF or printed book.
- To process payments, print and ship orders, and send gift codes.
- To send you emails about your account and orders, such as sign-in links, receipts and shipping updates.
- To answer your questions and fix problems.
- To understand how people find and use the site, measure our ads, and improve the product.
- To prevent fraud and abuse, and to meet legal, tax and accounting obligations.
We don't use your recipes, photos or stories in our marketing without asking you first.
How AI is used on your photos
To read each recipe card, we send the photo to Google's Gemini AI models, running on Google Cloud Vertex AI. To create a dish illustration, we send the recipe's title and ingredients to a Gemini image model. Google processes this data for us as our service provider; under Google Cloud's terms, it is not used to train Google's models. AI can make mistakes, which is why you review every recipe and a full preview before anything is printed. Dish illustrations are AI-generated, not photos of your food.
Companies that help us
We share information only with the companies we need to run Heirloom Recipes, and only what they need:
| Company | What they do | What they receive |
|---|---|---|
| Google (Firebase & Google Cloud) | Sign-in, hosting, database and file storage, server functions, Gemini AI on Vertex AI | Your account details, recipe photos and text, book and order data |
| Stripe | Payments | Your payment details and email (entered directly with Stripe) |
| Lulu | Printing and shipping your books | The book files, and the recipient's name, address, phone number and email |
| Resend | Sending our emails | Your email address and the content of the email (for example an order confirmation) |
| Google Analytics | Website statistics | Pages visited and actions taken on the site, device and approximate location |
| Meta (Facebook & Instagram) | Measuring and improving our ads | Pages visited and key actions (for example starting a book or making a purchase), device and browser information |
We may also share information if the law requires it, to protect people's safety or our rights, or as part of a sale or merger of the business (in which case this policy would continue to apply). We do not sell your information for money.
Share links
Your book is private until you share it. When you create a share link, anyone who has that link can view the book — including the recipes, photos and notes in it — without signing in. Only send it to people you trust. You can stop sharing from the app, and the link stops working.
Cookies, analytics and ads
We use Google Analytics to understand how the site is used, and the Meta Pixel to measure our Facebook and Instagram ads. Both use cookies or similar technology. We also store a few small things in your browser so the site works properly, such as your sign-in and your privacy choices.
We keep these tools away from private information: gift codes, sign-in links, private share links and checkout details are removed before anything is sent to Google Analytics, and the Meta Pixel doesn't run on gift, sign-in or share pages at all.
If you're visiting from Europe or the UK, analytics and ad tools only load after you choose "Accept" on the cookie banner. If you choose "Decline", they don't load.
Do not sell or share my info
We don't sell your information for money. But under some US state laws, such as California's (CCPA), using the Meta Pixel to measure ads can count as "sharing" information for advertising. You can opt out at any time:
After you opt out, the Meta Pixel won't load in this browser and Google Analytics runs with advertising features turned off. Because the choice is saved in your browser, please opt out again on each browser or device you use (or if you clear your browser data). We also honor the Global Privacy Control signal automatically. You can also email us to opt out.
Deleting your account and data
You can delete everything at any time: open the app and choose "Delete my account". This permanently deletes your account, your books, recipe photos and recipe text. Or email hello@heirloom-recipe-books.com and we'll do it for you.
Some order and payment records may be kept where the law requires it (for example for tax and accounting), and books already sent to the printer will still be printed and shipped.
Your privacy rights
Wherever you live, you can ask us to:
- tell you what information we hold about you, and give you a copy;
- correct information that's wrong;
- delete your information;
- stop using your information for advertising (see Do not sell or share).
California residents have these rights under the CCPA, including the right to know, delete, correct and opt out of the sale or sharing of personal information, and the right not to be treated differently for using them. In the last 12 months the categories we collected are the ones described above: identifiers (like email and account ID), customer records (name, address, phone), commercial information (orders), internet activity, approximate location, and the photos and text you upload. We don't use sensitive personal information to infer things about you.
If you're in the EU or UK, you also have the right to object to or restrict some uses, to withdraw consent at any time, and to complain to your local data protection authority. We rely on your consent for analytics and ad cookies, and on the need to provide the service you asked for for everything else.
To use any of these rights, email hello@heirloom-recipe-books.com. We may need to confirm it's really you — usually by replying from the email on your account. You can also have someone you authorize make a request for you.
Children, security, retention and changes
Children
Heirloom Recipes is not intended for children under 13, and we don't knowingly collect information from them. If you think a child has given us information, email us and we'll delete it.
Security
Your data is stored with Google Cloud and Firebase, protected by sign-in and access rules, and sent over encrypted connections. No system is perfect, but we work to keep your recipes safe.
How long we keep things
We keep your books and recipes for as long as your account exists, so they're there when you come back. When you delete your account, we delete them. We keep order records as long as we need to for tax, accounting and customer service.
Where data is processed
We and our service providers may process your information in the United States and other countries.
Changes
If we change this policy, we'll update the date at the top. If the change is significant, we'll let you know on the site or by email.
Contact
Heirloom Recipes · hello@heirloom-recipe-books.com · Contact page