Privacy Policy

1. Scope and operator

TextMyLink LLC, which owns and operates Beanly (“Beanly,” “we,” “us,” or “our”), provides the Beanly Coffee Guide mobile application, beanly.app, related account and support services, and any feature that links to this Privacy Policy (collectively, the “Services”).

This policy applies only to the Services. It does not govern other TextMyLink LLC products or third-party sites, merchants, roasters, app stores, or services that have their own privacy notices.

2. Important points at a glance

• Guest accounts still use an identifier. Beanly may automatically create an anonymous Firebase account so scans, credits, cloud sync, and abuse controls work even before you add an email address.
• Third-party AI processing is optional. If you turn on the separate third-party AI setting, Beanly may send resized coffee-package images to Google Gemini and limited public-coffee discovery requests to OpenAI as described below. You can turn this setting off in Beanly Settings. Scanning requires the setting, but Beanly's Past Scans, catalog, Shelf, Wish List, and taste tools remain available without new third-party AI requests. Do not photograph people, documents, addresses, payment cards, screens, or other sensitive information.
• Successful scans are saved privately. Beanly automatically saves each successfully completed scan to Past Scans so you can review the result without purchasing another scan. The private scan record may sync with your Firebase account. Beanly stores the front scan photo in the app's private storage on your device. If you use verified-email backup, Beanly also stores a compressed copy of that front coffee-package photo in private Firebase Cloud Storage so it can restore the photo with Past Scans, your Shelf, or your Wish List. The optional back image is used for scan analysis but is not stored as a recovery copy. Private recovery photos are not catalog contributions.
• Email backup and marketing are distinct uses. A verified email can restore your account and may qualify for bonus Beans. Beanly may also send marketing only as disclosed and permitted; every marketing email will provide an unsubscribe method. Essential account, purchase, security, and policy messages may continue.
• Release builds send limited crash reports. Beanly uses Firebase Crashlytics to receive stack traces, technical application state, app and operating-system versions, device characteristics, timestamps, and installation identifiers when the app crashes. Beanly does not attach your email, Firebase user ID, scan photos, coffee records, private notes, searches, or Analytics breadcrumbs to Crashlytics, and does not use crash reports for advertising or cross-app tracking.
• Affiliate links may earn Beanly a commission. Beanly records certain recommendation and link interactions. A merchant may separately collect information when you leave Beanly, and the merchant's policy then applies.
• Beanly does not sell personal information or share it for cross-context behavioral advertising. We also do not use scan photos to train our own general-purpose AI model.

3. Information we collect

Beanly generally links app information to the anonymous Firebase account, email-linked account, or device-promotion state used to provide the Services. Beanly does not use this information to track you across apps or websites owned by other companies.

Please do not place sensitive personal information in a coffee photo, search, private note, support message, or other free-text field. Beanly does not request government ID numbers, financial-account credentials, precise location, health records, biometric identifiers, or information about protected characteristics.

4. Coffee photos, recommendations, and artificial intelligence

Your optional AI permission. Beanly does not send a scan image to Google Gemini or start a new OpenAI web-search request for you unless the current third-party AI setting is on in the app and Beanly's server has recorded the corresponding current permission. The first-use choice is separate from accepting the Terms and acknowledging this Privacy Policy, is off until you select it, and is not required to enter Beanly. You can change it in Settings.

Turning the setting off stops future third-party AI requests for your account. Bag scanning will remain unavailable until you turn it on again, while Beanly can still use its catalog, your Past Scans, Shelf and Wish List records, deterministic taste tools, affiliate inventory, and public coffee facts already stored in Beanly's de-linked source inventory. Turning the setting off does not reverse processing already completed by a provider or delete public coffee facts that are no longer linked to your account.

What happens during a scan. Beanly resizes and encodes the front image and, if you provide one, the back image. The app sends the image data, basic image measurements, and an authenticated request to Beanly's backend. The backend sends the images and an objective extraction instruction to Google Gemini. Gemini returns suggested coffee-package details. Beanly does not intentionally include your taste profile, Past Scans, Shelf, Wish List records, private notes, email address, password, or raw Firebase user ID in the Gemini scan prompt. Google may receive network and request metadata associated with Beanly's backend request.

Beanly applies its retail-package safety gate and reviewed catalog matching after Gemini extraction. Only when a specific, confidently identified bag still lacks important public product facts may Beanly ask OpenAI's Responses API to search the public web. That OpenAI request may include visible public label facts such as roaster, product name, roast, origin, process, and flavor notes, plus a one-way safety identifier. It does not include either scan image, your private palate, Past Scans, Shelf, Wish List records, private notes, email address, password, or raw Firebase user ID. Beanly accepts public facts only when deterministic identity checks agree and the provider returns a matching HTTPS source. Beanly's own deterministic scoring logic, not Gemini or OpenAI, calculates Beanly Match.

AI-assisted recommendation discovery. Beanly first retrieves and ranks its reviewed catalog, eligible affiliate inventory, reusable sourced-coffee inventory, and an exact-query cache. If those stored sources cannot adequately satisfy a recommendation or search request, Beanly may make one OpenAI Responses web-search request. The request may include the text you entered or a short discovery query derived from limited coffee preferences, such as format, decaf, roast, brew method, flavor family, or broad taste direction, plus a one-way safety identifier. Beanly does not intentionally include your email address, password, private notes, raw Firebase user ID, full Past Scans, Shelf or Wish List, complete ratings history, scan photos, or complete taste profile in that request.

De-linked public-source records and caches. Beanly may retain normalized public coffee facts and source links in a separate sourced-coffee review inventory so the same public coffee can be reviewed and considered later without repeating a search. Those records do not contain the raw recommendation query, Firebase user ID, one-way user hash, profile packet, private note, scan photo, or user-specific match score; they do not automatically become Beanly catalog records. Beanly displays a source link when a recommendation depends on public-web information.

The exact-query cache stores a versioned one-way digest rather than the raw query, together with bounded candidate identifiers and an expiry. Positive entries stop serving after 30 days and negative entries after 24 hours. The scan-enrichment cache is keyed from normalized public label facts rather than an account and stores no image, raw user identifier, email, private palate, Past Scans, Shelf, Wish List, or private note. Accepted scan-enrichment entries stop serving after 30 days, negative or rejected entries after seven days. Short-lived error entries reduce repeated failing provider calls. Firestore's physical deletion of an expired cache document may occur asynchronously after the serving expiry.

Storage and recovery. Beanly automatically saves every successfully completed scan as a private Past Scan on your device and may sync the private scan record with your Firebase account. The front scan photo remains in Beanly's private app storage on your device until you remove its last Past Scan, Shelf, or Wish List reference, clear the app's data, delete your account, or remove the app. If you link and verify an email address, Beanly may create a compressed JPEG copy of the front coffee-package photo and store it in owner-restricted Firebase Cloud Storage under your Firebase account identifier. Beanly uses that private recovery copy to display and automatically restore Past Scan, Shelf, and Wish List photos after you sign in on a new or reinstalled device. Guest and unverified-email accounts do not receive cloud photo recovery. The optional back image is sent for scan analysis but is not stored as a recovery copy.

A private recovery photo is not published, contributed to Beanly's catalog, shared with a merchant, used in marketing, or used to train Beanly's own general-purpose AI model. Beanly's scan backend processes the submitted front and optional back images in memory and is not designed to save them in Beanly's database or operational logs. Extracted coffee facts, AI output, confidence data, and privacy-filtered usage metrics may be retained.

AI training and provider retention. Beanly does not use scan photos to train its own general-purpose AI models. Beanly uses Google's paid Gemini API for the production Service. Under Google's current paid-service terms, Google states that it does not use prompts, files such as images, or responses to improve its products. Google currently states that it retains Gemini API prompts, contextual information, and outputs for 55 days for abuse monitoring and that content flagged by its safety systems may be reviewed by authorized Google personnel under access controls. Beanly explicitly disables request storage for its Gemini Generate Content requests, but that setting does not control Google's separate abuse-monitoring retention. Google's terms and privacy documentation may change.

Beanly sets OpenAI's store option to false for its scan-enrichment and recommendation-discovery requests so they do not create stored Responses application state. Under OpenAI's current API data practices, API inputs and outputs are not used to train its models by default unless the API customer opts in. OpenAI states that its standard abuse-monitoring logs may contain customer content and are generally retained for up to 30 days, unless longer retention is required by law or reasonably necessary to protect its services or a third party. Public-web sources reached through the search feature may separately receive ordinary network requests and are governed by their own terms and privacy practices.

Your responsibility. Photograph only a retail coffee package that you are authorized to photograph. Keep faces, bystanders, children, mail labels, receipts, computer screens, vehicle plates, and confidential or identifying material outside the frame. If you submit unrelated or unsafe content, automated safety systems may analyze and reject it. AI results may be incomplete, incorrect, or fabricated; review the package before relying on them.

5. How we use information

We use information as reasonably necessary to:

• create, authenticate, link, restore, administer, and secure accounts;
• process scans, identify coffee packages, save successful results to Past Scans, build a Shelf and Wish List, sync data, and privately back up and restore eligible front-package photos;
• calculate taste profiles, match scores, and personalized recommendations;
• verify App Store purchases, grant and reconcile Beans, and prevent duplicate or fraudulent redemptions;
• verify authentic app installations, enforce request limits, and apply one-time device promotion eligibility rules;
• operate, maintain, debug, measure, secure, and improve the Services and coffee catalog;
• review corrected or high-quality extracted coffee facts without publishing private photos or notes;
• measure recommendation and affiliate-link performance and calculate commissions;
• send verification, password-reset, security, purchase, support, and other service communications;
• send optional Beanly news, offers, coffee recommendations, and affiliate-containing marketing only after you separately enable it, and honor opt-outs;
• enforce our Terms, protect users and third parties, comply with law, and establish or defend legal claims; and
• create aggregated or de-identified statistics that cannot reasonably identify you.

If we later want to use personal information for a materially different purpose, we will provide any notice or obtain any consent required by law.

6. When we disclose information

We may disclose information to the following categories of recipients:

• Service providers and processors. These include Google Firebase for authentication, database services, private photo storage and recovery, and Crashlytics crash reporting; Google Gemini for coffee-package extraction; OpenAI for limited public-web scan enrichment and recommendation discovery; Netlify or other infrastructure providers for hosting and request delivery; Amazon Web Services, including Amazon SES, if Beanly activates separately consented marketing email delivery; email-hosting and support providers for operational correspondence; and vendors that support security, analytics, customer support, or operations.
• Public-web sources. When the web-search feature locates or retrieves a source, the source or supporting search infrastructure may receive ordinary network and request information from the service performing the lookup. Beanly does not intentionally send your email address, raw Firebase user ID, private notes, scan image, or complete taste profile to a public website for this purpose.
• Device integrity providers. Apple and Google may process app-attestation or device-verification tokens and related technical information to verify genuine installations, protect the Services, prevent abuse, and enforce one-time promotional limits.
• Apple. Apple processes in-app purchases and may provide transaction, refund, revocation, storefront, and account-token information needed to validate a purchase.
• Affiliate partners and merchants. When you select an affiliate or external purchase link, the destination receives the ordinary web request and may receive an affiliate attribution code. The merchant may later report pseudonymous or aggregated conversion and commission information. Beanly does not send your private taste profile, notes, or scan photo to a merchant merely because you select a link.
• Professional advisers and legal recipients. We may disclose information to lawyers, accountants, insurers, auditors, regulators, courts, law enforcement, or other parties when reasonably necessary to comply with law, protect rights and safety, prevent fraud, or handle a legal claim.
• Corporate transactions. Information may be reviewed, transferred, or assigned in connection with financing, due diligence, reorganization, acquisition, sale, merger, bankruptcy, or transfer of some or all of TextMyLink LLC's assets or business.
• At your direction or with your consent.

Service providers that receive personal information from Beanly are required to use it only for authorized purposes and provide the same or equal protection of user data as described in this Privacy Policy and required by applicable law and Apple platform rules. Beanly uses contractual, technical, and organizational safeguards appropriate to each provider's role to support this requirement.

We may disclose aggregated or de-identified information for any lawful purpose and will not attempt to reidentify it except to test whether de-identification protections work or as otherwise permitted by law.

7. Affiliate links, advertising, and marketing email

Beanly may recommend coffees, equipment, or other products through links for which TextMyLink LLC can earn a commission. Using an affiliate link does not ordinarily increase the merchant price you pay, although the merchant controls its own price. Affiliate compensation does not determine Beanly's taste-match score. Sponsored or affiliate relationships will be disclosed where required.

If you separately enable marketing, Beanly may use limited taste-preference categories, such as roast, brew method, or decaf preference, to select relevant emails. Marketing emails may contain affiliate links. You can unsubscribe through the link in the email or by contacting support@beanly.app. We may retain a minimal suppression record so we do not add the address back to marketing. Unsubscribing from marketing does not disable account recovery or stop non-promotional service messages.

Beanly does not currently sell personal information or share it for cross-context behavioral advertising, and it has not done so during the preceding 12 months. Beanly does not knowingly sell or share personal information of anyone under 16. If our practices change, we will update this policy and provide legally required choices before the change applies.

8. Website storage, cookies, and third-party links

The public Beanly website is currently a static site and does not use advertising cookies or third-party behavioral analytics. It uses ordinary browser features needed to navigate pages. Hosting providers may still process IP addresses, request headers, and security logs when the site is requested. If we add non-essential cookies or tracking technology, we will update this policy and provide consent controls where required.

Beanly does not collect activity over time across third-party websites for behavioral advertising and does not permit third parties to use the Beanly website for their own cross-site behavioral advertising. Because of those practices, Beanly does not currently take separate action in response to a browser's Do Not Track setting. We honor legally applicable opt-out preference signals when they apply to our practices.

The Services may link to a merchant, roaster, article, app store, or other third-party service. We do not control that third party's content, security, prices, or privacy practices. Review the third party's terms and privacy notice before giving it information or completing a purchase.

9. Retention

We keep personal information only for as long as reasonably necessary for the purposes described in this policy, including to provide the Services, preserve account continuity and credit balances, comply with accounting or legal duties, resolve disputes, enforce agreements, prevent fraud, and maintain security. Retention depends on the data and context:

• device photos and local app data remain until you remove their last Past Scan, Shelf, or Wish List reference, clear app data, delete the account, or remove the app;
• private front-photo recovery copies generally remain while the linked coffee remains in your cloud Past Scans, Shelf, or Wish List and your verified-email account remains active;
• account, cloud library, profile, and recommendation-memory data generally remain while the account is active and until deletion is requested;
• scan images are processed transiently by Beanly's backend and are not intended for Beanly database storage;
• Beanly explicitly disables request storage for Gemini Generate Content calls; Google currently states that it retains Gemini API prompts, contextual information, and outputs for 55 days for abuse monitoring, and that content flagged by its safety systems may be reviewed by authorized Google personnel under access controls;
• OpenAI may retain standard API abuse-monitoring logs for up to 30 days, or longer in the limited circumstances described in its data practices, while Beanly's requests set the store option to false;
• Firebase Crashlytics generally retains crash stack traces and associated installation identifiers for 90 days before beginning removal from live and backup systems;
• the de-linked recommendation query and scan-enrichment caches stop serving under the type-specific 30-day, seven-day, or 24-hour periods described in Section 4, while short-lived error entries reduce repeated failing provider calls and physical deletion may occur asynchronously after expiry;
• normalized public coffee facts and source links may remain in Beanly's separate review inventory while useful for source verification, reuse, review, audit, or catalog governance; stale, held, rejected, or duplicate records are not served;
• one-way device-promotion claim records may remain while the applicable promotion is active, then for 24 months after Beanly formally retires that promotion; account deletion removes the account claimant link but does not reset the device-level claim;
• limited App Store transaction and refund records from which Beanly removes active account identifiers may remain for seven years from purchase. Those records are no longer tied to an active Beanly account but may retain transaction-level facts for accounting, fraud prevention, refunds, disputes, or legal obligations. Minimal deletion receipts may remain for 24 months;
• the production Firestore database uses seven-day point-in-time recovery, daily managed backups retained for up to 14 days, and weekly managed backups retained for up to 14 weeks;
• managed backups and point-in-time recovery data are isolated from ordinary product use and expire under their configured schedules. A technical restore creates a separate database that remains isolated from ordinary customer-facing service. A restored snapshot may contain information that was later deleted or changed. Beanly does not maintain a complete independent post-snapshot deletion and consent ledger, so a recovered database is not automatically returned to customer-facing service;
• other limited credit, fraud-prevention, security, and legal records may be retained after account deletion when reasonably necessary or required; and
• Beanly does not intentionally retain a retrievable soft-deleted recovery-photo copy after a successful item or account deletion; records deleted from active systems may remain in the managed recovery copies described above until those copies expire, but are not available through the Services or used for ordinary account recovery.

When information is no longer needed, we will delete it, de-identify it, or securely isolate it, subject to technical and legal limitations.

10. Security

Beanly uses administrative, technical, and organizational safeguards designed for the nature of the information, including authenticated access, access controls, transport encryption, server-owned purchase and credit verification, request limits, and privacy-filtered operational logging. No method of transmission, storage, or security control is perfect. We therefore cannot guarantee absolute security, uninterrupted availability, or that unauthorized parties will never defeat safeguards.

Protect the device and email account associated with Beanly, use a unique password, and notify support@beanly.app promptly if you suspect unauthorized access.

11. Your choices and account deletion

• Third-party AI: use the Privacy setting in Beanly to turn optional third-party AI processing on or off. Turning it off prevents future Gemini scan and OpenAI web-search requests for your account; scanning will be unavailable, but catalog and saved-coffee features remain available.
• Camera and scans: you may decline camera access and choose not to submit a scan. Taking a coffee-package scan photo requires camera access and enabled third-party AI processing.
• Email backup: you may use Beanly as a guest without adding an email, although recovery and certain benefits will be unavailable.
• Marketing: use the unsubscribe link in any marketing email or contact support@beanly.app. We honor legally required opt-out signals where applicable to our practices.
• Individual content: use the app controls to edit or delete Past Scans, Shelf items, and Wish List items. Removing the last Past Scan, Shelf, or Wish List reference to a coffee removes its active local and cloud recovery photo.

Account deletion. Use “Delete account and data” in Beanly Settings to request deletion of either an email-linked or automatically created guest account. The in-app flow begins a staged process that deletes the active Firebase Authentication account, associated cloud data including active private recovery photos, and Beanly data stored on the device. If a server-side stage cannot finish immediately, limited retry state coordinates automatic completion. If the in-app flow cannot complete, email support@beanly.app with the subject “Account Deletion.” We may request information reasonably necessary to find the account and verify that you control it. We normally complete a verified support request within 30 days and will confirm completion; a longer period may apply where permitted by law or reasonably necessary to verify it.

After the staged process completes, the Firebase Authentication account, active cloud library, profile, recommendation memory, and other active account data are deleted. Deleting your account removes unused free, bonus, and paid Beans from the deleted account. Beanly does not restore Beans already used. Apple, not Beanly, handles any App Store refund request under its applicable rules. Beanly may retain limited App Store transaction and refund records after removing active account identifiers, together with limited promotion-eligibility, fraud-prevention, security, deletion-receipt, and legal records described in this policy. Deleting a cloud account cannot erase data stored only on your device outside Beanly's managed storage or information retained by Apple. Account deletion, reinstalling Beanly, or transferring a device does not automatically reset a prior device-level promotion claim. If you acquired a used device and believe a prior claim affects your eligibility, contact support@beanly.app.

12. U.S. state privacy rights

Depending on where you live and whether the applicable law covers TextMyLink LLC, you may have the right to request access to or a copy of personal information, correction, deletion, portability, information about collection and disclosure, restriction of certain processing, or an appeal of a denied request. You may also have the right to opt out of sale, targeted advertising, or certain profiling. Beanly does not engage in sale or cross-context behavioral advertising as described above.

Submit a request to support@beanly.app. We will verify and respond as required by applicable law. You may use an authorized agent where the law permits, but we may require proof of authorization and direct verification. We will not unlawfully discriminate against you for exercising a privacy right. If we deny an appealable request, our response will explain how to appeal.

California notice at collection

In the preceding 12 months, to the extent people interacted with beta or production Services, Beanly has collected the categories below. We retain each category under the criteria in Section 9.

Beanly has not sold personal information or shared it for cross-context behavioral advertising in the preceding 12 months. Beanly does not use or disclose sensitive personal information for purposes that trigger a right to limit under California law. California's Shine the Light law may allow residents to ask about disclosure for third parties' own direct marketing; Beanly does not disclose personal information to third parties for their own direct marketing.

13. Notice of financial incentive: verified-email bonus Beans

Beanly may offer a one-time award of five bonus scan Beans after you voluntarily link and verify an email address. One Bean permits one eligible coffee-package scan. The exact award shown before you opt in controls if the offer changes.

Marketing is not required to receive bonus Beans and remains off unless you separately enable it.

• Information involved: email address, Firebase user ID, verification status, a one-way device promotion claim, and a record that the award was granted.
• How we use it: account authentication and recovery, cloud backup, service communications, and prevention of repeated or fraudulent bonus claims. Marketing and marketing personalization require a separate choice.
• How to join: choose email backup, review the disclosed offer, submit an email and password, verify the address, and claim the award. Participation is optional.
• Your choices after joining: you may unsubscribe from marketing without changing your verified-email account, account recovery, cloud backup, or Beans. Beanly does not currently offer a way to remove the verified email from an email-linked account or return that account to guest status. To remove the email-linked account and its cloud backup, use “Delete account and data” in Settings. Account deletion forfeits unused Beans, does not restore Beans already used, and does not reset prior device-level promotion eligibility.

Good-faith value estimate. Based on current Bean pack prices, five Beans have an approximate retail-equivalent range of $0.25 to $0.50. Beanly uses this retail-equivalent range as a practical estimate of the value provided through the verified-email promotion. Beanly does not sell the information involved in the program. The estimate may change as Bean pack prices, scan costs, or program terms change.

14. United States operation and regional availability

Beanly is operated by TextMyLink LLC in the United States and the app is currently offered through the United States App Store. Information may be processed in the United States and in other countries where our service providers operate. Those countries may have privacy laws different from those where you live.

Depending on where you live and whether applicable law covers TextMyLink LLC, you may have the privacy rights described in Section 12. Contact support@beanly.app to make a request. Additional legal bases, transfer requirements, disclosures, or regional controls may apply before Beanly intentionally expands app availability outside the United States.

15. Age restriction and children

The Services are for adults age 18 or older and are not directed to children. Do not use Beanly or submit information if you are under 18. We do not knowingly collect personal information from a child under 13. If you believe a minor has provided information, contact support@beanly.app. We may delete the information and terminate the account after appropriate verification.

16. Changes to this policy

We may update this policy to reflect changes in the Services, vendors, law, or our practices. We will post the updated policy and revise the date above. If a change is material, we will provide additional notice or obtain consent when required. The updated policy applies prospectively from its stated effective date.

17. Contact

TextMyLink LLC, owner and operator of Beanly
Woodland Hills, California, United States
Email: support@beanly.app

Use the subject “Privacy Request” for privacy rights or “Account Deletion” for an account-deletion request.