Privacy Policy

1 Information you provide and information we receive

To create and complete an account, you provide an email address, username, name and surname, accept the Terms of Use, acknowledge this policy and confirm that you are at least 18. Without the required account details and confirmations, you cannot complete account setup. A profile photo, biography, home city and newsletter subscription are optional. We also store your language and account preferences.

Our authentication service provider handles sign-in, including password verification when you use email and password. If you choose Google sign-in, Google supplies basic account information, such as an account identifier, email address, name and profile image where available. We use that information to sign you in and set up your account. This sign-in does not give Dinedex access to your Gmail messages, contacts or Google Drive files.

We store the information you contribute or generate through the service: reviews, ratings, photos, comments, likes, follows, blocks, saved restaurants, visits, lists, badges, restaurant suggestions, notifications and support requests. We record the document versions you accept, the time and language of acceptance, your newsletter choice and the time of your adult declaration. The age declaration does not ask for your date of birth or an identity document and is not independent age verification.

Our hosting, authentication and other service providers receive technical information needed to respond to requests and protect their services, including IP addresses, browser or device information and logs. We receive information directly from you, through your interactions with Dinedex and, when chosen, from Google. Other users may also mention you in contributions or reports.

We do not ask for health, religious or other sensitive information to use Dinedex. Reviews, photos and support messages can nevertheless reveal it. Avoid sharing sensitive information or private details about other people. Contact us if you want us to review or remove such information. Posting it publicly does not authorise every possible further use.

2 How we use information

We use information to provide accounts and restaurant discovery, display contributions, maintain saved places and social features, remember preferences, respond to requests, moderate content, protect the service and deal with legal obligations or disputes where necessary.

Recommendations can use your chosen home city and cuisine preferences inferred from restaurants you have saved or reviewed. This personalisation uses activity within Dinedex and is separate from optional device location.

Where permitted by the content licence in the Terms of Use and applicable law, we may use public contributions and their associated public username, displayed name and avatar to promote Dinedex, its community and featured restaurants. This can include social-media posts, advertisements, promotional emails, publications and third-party websites. A copyright licence does not replace any separate privacy permission required by law.

We do not sell private account contact details or private support correspondence. The Terms of Use permit commercial licensing of public user content, which may contain personal information, as explained below. We do not currently provide restaurant bookings or payments, or display paid third-party advertising within the web app. Newsletter marketing is a separate choice. Acknowledging this policy is not blanket consent to optional tracking or uses that require a separate permission.

3 Public activity and visibility

Your username, display name and surname, avatar, biography, home city and profile identifier can be public. Your account email, administrator status, language preference and exact signup time are not displayed as public profile fields. Names, surnames and other personal details you include in your public profile or contributions can be seen by others.

Reviews, ratings, photos, comments, likes, follow relationships and public lists can be seen by other people. Favorites and Been lists are public. Want to try and custom lists follow the visibility setting available for that list. There is currently no switch for making your whole account private. Blocking limits certain interactions and access; it does not make all previously public activity confidential.

Public content may be copied, indexed or retained by other people. Badges can reveal facts about your activity, such as whether you joined before a particular date. Username availability checks reveal whether a name is already taken. Your agreement records and newsletter choice are not public profile information.

Public content may also appear outside Dinedex through the promotional and commercial uses described in the Terms of Use. Making a contribution private or closing your account does not automatically withdraw copies already used or licensed for those purposes. Private content, unpublished drafts, account contact details and private support messages are not included in that promotional licence.

4 Location and photos

If you allow browser location access, Dinedex uses it to position the map and find nearby places. You can decline or revoke that permission in your browser. You can still use searches and map controls without allowing device location. Search text, coordinates or the area shown on the map may be sent to the services needed to provide those results.

When you upload profile or review photos, we process them to remove embedded metadata, such as EXIF location information. The image itself can still reveal people, places or private details. If a photo concerns you, remove it using the available controls or contact us.

5 Providers and international handling

We use third-party service providers to help operate Dinedex, including website hosting, authentication, data and file storage, email delivery, maps and location search. They receive information needed to provide those services, such as account identifiers, stored content, email addresses, message content, search information and technical request data. They may use subcontractors to support those services.

Map providers receive requests from your browser, and location-search providers receive information needed to return search results. If you choose Google sign-in, Google also processes information under its own privacy practices. Visiting a restaurant website or another external link takes you to a separate service with its own privacy practices.

For the permitted promotional and commercial uses of public content, we may share that content and its associated public attribution with marketing agencies, publishers, social-media platforms, restaurants and other commercial partners. They may use it on their own channels under the licence described in the Terms of Use. This is separate from sending private account or support information to service providers to operate Dinedex.

We operate from Australia. Our service providers store or process personal information overseas, including in Japan and the United States. Their support, security, backup and subcontracting arrangements may involve other countries. Privacy laws in those countries may differ from those in Australia. Contact us for further information about overseas handling of your information.

Information may also be disclosed where necessary and permitted by law to respond to a legal requirement, investigate abuse, resolve a dispute or protect people's rights or safety. We limit such disclosures to what is appropriate in the circumstances. This policy does not ask you to waive any safeguards required by applicable law.

6 Cookies and communications

We use cookies or browser storage for sign-in, account recovery, language, appearance preferences and carrying your agreement choices through Google sign-in. A short-lived protected cookie supports account-deletion retries. Unpublished review drafts are stored in your browser for the signed-in account and cleared on sign-out. Signing out does not delete published reviews. Clearing browser storage may sign you out or remove local drafts and preferences.

We use Google Analytics for visits identified as coming from Australia to understand website usage and improve Dinedex. Google uses cookies and similar technologies to collect usage information, such as pages visited and interactions, cookie identifiers, IP address, device and browser information and approximate location. Google may process this information outside Australia. See how Google uses information from sites and apps that use its services.

Cookies are small files stored on your device. You can block or delete cookies through your browser settings. Blocking cookies may affect sign-in and other website functions. Blocking cookies does not necessarily prevent all analytics requests or remove information already collected.

Newsletter marketing is optional and off unless you choose it. You can change your preference in Settings or contact support@dinedex.app. If we send marketing, we use your current choice and provide an unsubscribe method. Account confirmation, recovery, security and essential service emails are separate. Signing in again with Google does not replace your existing newsletter choice.

7 Retention and deletion

We retain account information and contributions while needed to provide the service, until you remove them or close your account, subject to the promotional-copy, legal, security and dispute-related provisions below. You can use the available content and account-deletion controls or contact us for help. Account deletion requires recent sign-in and confirmation. Shared restaurant listings are not deleted simply because one user closes an account.

Account deletion removes the account and linked active records, including the user's reviews and lists. Stored photo deletion is processed separately, with retries if removal fails. A photo link can remain accessible until file removal succeeds. Contact us if content remains accessible after you request deletion. We cannot remove copies independently made by other people or guarantee immediate erasure from every provider backup.

Copies of public content used or licensed for promotion or other commercial purposes may remain separately from your account, together with associated public attribution where lawful. The content licence survives account closure, but is not permission to keep personal information indefinitely. We retain such copies only while needed for the permitted uses or other lawful purposes, considering campaign duration, ongoing licensed use, requests and legal obligations, and delete or de-identify personal information when no longer needed unless law requires retention. Contact us to request review, correction or removal; we will assess the request and take action required by applicable law, including with relevant recipients where required.

We normally delete resolved support email correspondence six calendar months after resolution. A specific legal obligation or ongoing dispute may justify retaining relevant correspondence longer; we review those exceptions. This period concerns support emails, not every technical or support record within the web app. Deletion requests are considered separately and do not simply wait six months.

Completed technical cleanup records are normally removed by our scheduled process after 90 days from completion. Unfinished records remain while needed to complete deletion and retries. This is retention of the technical record after the work is completed, not permission to keep deleted user content active for 90 days.

Service providers may retain limited records and backup copies for their operational, security and legal purposes. Removal from active systems may occur before those copies are deleted under the applicable retention cycles. Deleting information from Dinedex does not remove messages already delivered to an email inbox.

Other support records, acceptance records, security logs and provider records have different purposes and lifecycles. Retention depends on whether they are needed for an outstanding request, security investigation, legal obligation or dispute, and on the provider's deletion processes. Ask us about a particular category or deletion request.

8 Security and your choices

We use authentication, access controls and database permissions to restrict access. No online service can guarantee complete security. Protect your sign-in details and contact us promptly if you suspect unauthorised access. Do not email passwords or recovery links.

You can edit supported profile fields, change newsletter preferences and use the account-deletion controls. To request access, correction or deletion, or raise a privacy complaint, email support@dinedex.app with enough detail to identify the issue. Both operators monitor that address. We may ask for proportionate information to verify that the request concerns your account, but please do not send identity documents unless we explain why they are needed.

We will assess your request, explain the outcome or any limits, and respond within a reasonable time and any deadline required by applicable law. Where further work is needed, we will explain the next steps. Depending on the law that applies, you may have additional rights, including portability, restriction, objection or withdrawal of consent. You can contact a regulator with jurisdiction, including the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner at oaic.gov.au where applicable. Nothing here limits rights you have under applicable law.

9 Age and policy changes

Dinedex accounts are for people aged 18 or older. If you believe someone under 18 has an account, contact us so we can review it and take appropriate action, including account closure and handling the information under applicable law. A parent or guardian can contact us about a child's information.

We will update this policy when our practices change and show its publication date and time. We will give additional notice of material changes where appropriate and seek separate consent for a new use where required. A policy update does not itself authorise a use that requires your separate permission.