SimpleShelfPrivacy
Last updated: October 20, 2026 (price estimates added)
SimpleShelf is designed to work without knowing who you are.
- No accounts, no tracking, no ads. We don't use analytics, cookies, or advertising trackers.
- Stored on your device only. Your last-chosen store, lists, favorites, recently scanned products, cached search results for stores searched live, and whether you dismissed the install prompt are kept in your browser's local storage and cache so the app works fast and offline. You can clear them anytime in your browser settings.
- Camera. If you tap Start camera or Scan a photo, SimpleShelf reads the barcode on your device. Camera video and photos are never uploaded, stored, or shared; the camera turns off as soon as a barcode is read, when you leave the Scan tab, or when you switch apps. You can revoke camera permission anytime in your browser or phone settings.
- Barcode lookups. A scanned or typed barcode is first checked against the product data built into the app. Only if it isn't found there is the barcode number (just the digits) sent to the Open Food Facts product API to fetch its details; results are cached on your device.
- Price estimates. Estimated prices come from Open Prices (crowd-sourced receipts, ODbL) and are mostly built into the app. When you open a product that has no built-in price, the app may send only its barcode number to the Open Prices API (prices.openfoodfacts.org) to look one up; results are cached on your device. “Add a price” opens the Open Prices website, which has its own privacy policy.
- Lists and favorites. Your shopping lists, favorites and recently scanned items are stored only in your browser's local storage on this device. They are never sent to us. Sharing a list uses your device's share sheet or clipboard, and only goes where you send it.
- Third-party requests. Product photos load from Open Food Facts (images.openfoodfacts.org). When you type a store that isn't built in, your search (store name and category) is sent to the Open Food Facts API (world.openfoodfacts.org). Those requests reveal your IP address to Open Food Facts as with any website; see the Open Food Facts privacy policy.
- Hosting. Our web host may keep standard server logs (such as IP address and pages requested) for security and reliability.
- Children. SimpleShelf is a general-audience tool and does not knowingly collect personal information from anyone.
Data source and accuracy. Product information comes from Open Food Facts, © Open Food Facts contributors, under the Open Database License; images under CC BY-SA. Data is crowd-sourced and may be incomplete or out of date. SimpleShelf is not medical or nutritional advice.
Contact. Questions? Email [email protected].