Free pilot · Last updated October 26, 2026
This notice is for families and clinicians in the free PlateWorks pilot, which uses the PlateWorks web app and our pilot sign-up form. Using PlateWorks from the App Store? Its Privacy Notice applies instead.
At a glance
We’re two parents building PlateWorks for families like ours, and we’d want to know exactly what happens to our kids’ information, too.
- We collect as little as we can: mainly your name and email, your child’s first name or a nickname, an age, and the foods on their menus and plates. The specifics are below.
- Your kitchen, plate history and notes are kept in the web app on your phone. Menus and plates pass through our servers in encrypted form and are deleted within about a day.
- We use what we collect to run the pilot and to learn whether PlateWorks helps. That’s it.
- We never sell your information, never show ads, and never use it to advertise to you or your child.
- A parent sets everything up and gives permission. Children don’t create accounts, enter contact details or have access to any settings.
- You can delete your family’s app data in the app (Settings → Delete family and data), and see, change or delete anything else by emailing contact@plateworks.app.
Who we are
PlateWorks, Inc. is a Delaware company run by its co-founders, Deborah Barak and Jesse Reiner. This notice explains how we handle information during the free PlateWorks pilot. Questions go to contact@plateworks.app or by mail to PlateWorks, Inc. · 3571 Far West Blvd #3263, Austin, TX 78731.
What we collect
| Information | Where it comes from | Why we need it |
|---|---|---|
| Your first name, last name (optional), email and country | You, on the sign-up form | To set you up, send setup help and check-ins, and see where families are joining from |
| Whether you’re signing up as a parent or caregiver or as a clinician. Clinicians also give their profession and, optionally, their practice or clinic | You, on the sign-up form | To send you the right information and know which clinicians are interested in PlateWorks |
| Your child’s age, for example 7. We don’t ask for a birthdate | You, on the sign-up form | To understand which ages PlateWorks helps |
| Whether you have an iPhone and an iPad | You, on the sign-up form | The pilot needs both, so we know whether you can take part |
| How stressed your child is around meals and how stressed you are during meals and meal prep (each on a scale of 1 to 5), and how many times your child was distressed at mealtime in the last week | You, on the sign-up form | To have a starting point, so we can learn whether PlateWorks makes mealtimes easier |
| A referral code, if you have one | You, on the sign-up form | To count how many families a clinician or other source introduced. We never tell them who you are |
| How you heard about us | You, on the sign-up form | To know which communities we’re reaching |
| Check-in answers: stress ratings and anything you choose to write about mealtimes. All optional | You, in reply to a check-in email or an app pop-up | To learn whether PlateWorks makes mealtimes easier |
| Your child’s first name or a nickname | You, in the app | To show it on the child’s screen, on your phone and in notifications. It’s stored encrypted |
| Foods in your kitchen, the menus you send, the foods your child picks | You and your child, in the app | This is how the app works. Your kitchen, plate history and plate notes are kept in the web app on your phone. Menus and plates pass through our servers, encrypted, to get between your phone and the iPad |
| Your founding-member answer, if you give one: the plan you’d choose, or the price you’d pay | You, in the app | To plan the App Store launch. Nothing is charged, and it doesn’t commit you to anything |
| A family code and random app IDs | Created by the app | To pair your phone and your child’s iPad. They don’t include your name |
| A notification address for each device | Your browser, if you turn on notifications | To send the notifications you’ve allowed, such as “menu is ready” on the iPad and “picked their plate” on your phone |
| How the app is used: screens opened, menus sent, plates returned, device type, error codes | Collected automatically | To fix problems and to see whether families keep using PlateWorks |
| Your email, if you join the launch list | You, on our website or the sign-up form | To send launch news (including Android) and occasional updates. You can unsubscribe at any time |
What we don’t collect: your child’s full name, birthdate, photo, voice or diagnosis; precise location; contacts; or advertising identifiers. We get your approximate city and state from your internet connection; we don’t keep your IP address.
Snapshots, the one-page summaries you can make for your child’s care team, are created in your browser and are never uploaded to us. You decide whether and where to send one.
How we use it
- To run the app: send menus to your child’s iPad and plates back to your phone.
- To send notifications you’ve turned on. You can turn them off at any time in your browser’s or device’s settings.
- To help you: setup emails, check-ins, reminders if you’ve asked for them, and answers to your questions. If you’ve joined the launch list, we also send launch news and occasional updates.
- To learn whether PlateWorks helps and to improve it.
- To report pilot results in anonymized form, for example “most families were still using PlateWorks after two weeks,” including to investors and grant funders. We may quote what you tell us without your name (e.g. “parent of a 10-year-old”). We’ll only use your name, or your child’s, if you tell us we can.
We don’t use your information for advertising, and we don’t sell it or share it for anyone else’s marketing.
Who we share it with
We share information only with the companies that help us run PlateWorks, and only so they can do that job. They aren’t allowed to use it for anything else.
| Service | What it does for us |
|---|---|
| Loops | Sign-up forms and the emails we send you |
| Google (Firebase, Workspace) | Stores app data and syncs your phone and iPad; our email inbox |
| Vercel | Hosts the web app |
| PostHog | Measures how the app is used, so we can fix problems and track results |
| Hostinger | Hosts our website, plateworks.app |
| Your browser’s push service (for example Apple or Google) | Delivers notifications to your devices. Notification text, which can include your child’s first name, passes through it |
We will also share information if the law requires it, or to protect someone’s safety.
Clinicians: if a clinician gave you a code, we only ever tell them how many families used it, never who. If you want your clinician to see your child’s plate history, you can show it to them yourself or send them a Snapshot.
If PlateWorks is ever sold or merged, your information would move to the new owner only under the same promises in this notice, and we’d tell you first.
Children’s privacy
PlateWorks is used by children, so we follow the US Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) and equivalent rules elsewhere.
- A parent or legal guardian signs up, agrees to this notice, and sets up the child’s side of the app. Children can’t sign up on their own.
- What the child’s side collects: only the foods your child puts on a plate and three basic events (connected, plate sent, reconnected). Children don’t enter names, contact details or free text.
- We collect only what the app needs to work. You don’t have to give us anything extra to take part.
- You’re in control: you can review what we hold about your child, ask us to delete it, delete it yourself in the app, or tell us to stop collecting it. Stopping means leaving the pilot, because the app can’t work without menus and plates.
How long we keep it
- In the web app on your phone: your kitchen, plate history and notes stay until you delete them, clear your browser’s data for PlateWorks, or delete your family.
- Menus, plates and your child’s name on our servers: deleted automatically within about 24 hours of the last change.
- Your family record (family code, encryption key, paired devices, your consent, your email, your founding-member answer and reminder settings): until you delete your family in the app or ask us to.
- Sign-up and check-in answers: for the duration of the pilot, unless you ask us to delete them sooner.
- Usage statistics: deleted after 12 months.
Anonymized totals (like “45 families took part”) can’t identify anyone, and we may keep those.
PlateWorks in the App Store is a separate app with its own history. Your pilot plate history stays in the web app on your phone; we don’t hold a copy, so it doesn’t move to the App Store app.
Security
Information is encrypted in transit. Your child’s name, menus and plates are also encrypted with a key unique to your family before they’re stored. We use well-known providers, and only PlateWorks founders and employees can access family information. PlateWorks is a prototype during the pilot, so we keep what we collect small on purpose.
If family information is ever exposed or shared without permission, we’ll tell affected families promptly, and within 60 days at most.
Your choices and rights
- Delete your family: in the app, Settings → Delete family and data. This deletes your family record, menus, plates and your child’s name from our app database right away and unpairs your devices. Email us if you also want your sign-up answers, check-ins, usage statistics or email address deleted.
- Notifications: turn them on or off in your browser’s or device’s settings.
- Emails: every email has an unsubscribe link. Reminders, check-ins, launch news and updates can each be stopped separately.
- Leave the pilot at any time, with no reason needed.
You can also email contact@plateworks.app to see what we hold about you and your child, correct anything that’s wrong, or have it deleted. We’ll reply within 30 days, and it’s always free. We’ll check it’s really you before we share or delete anything, usually by replying to the email address you signed up with.
Families outside the US
PlateWorks is based in the United States, and your information is stored with US providers.
Australia: we handle your information in line with the Privacy Act 1988 and the Australian Privacy Principles. If you’re unhappy with how we’ve handled a concern, you can complain to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC).
UK: we rely on your consent to handle your information, and you can withdraw it at any time. You have the rights listed above under UK data protection law, and you can complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO).
Changes to this notice
If we change how we handle your information, we’ll update this page and change the date at the top. If the change matters, for example if we collect something new, we’ll email you first.
Contact
Deborah Barak and Jesse Reiner
contact@plateworks.app
PlateWorks, Inc. · 3571 Far West Blvd #3263, Austin, TX 78731