My Perfect Cookie — Privacy Policy

Effective date: July 12, 2026

My Perfect Cookie (perfect.meliscookies.com, and the My Perfect Cookie mobile app) is a free baking helper from Meli's Monster Cookies. It is operated by Meli's Spud Collective, Inc., doing business as Meli's Monster Cookies ("Meli's," "we," "us"). This page explains what the app collects, why, who else touches your data, and what your choices are — in plain English, because nobody should need a law degree to bake cookies.

The short version

• •You can chat with Melissa and get recipes without giving us anything personal at all.
• •If you save a cookbook, we ask for your email so your recipes can follow you across devices — and you'll join our email list (unsubscribe anytime, one click).
• •Photos are optional and only used to give you feedback on your bake.
• •Your chat messages and any bake photos you upload are sent to Anthropic (the company behind the Claude AI) so Melissa can answer you and analyze your cookies. Anthropic does not use them to train its AI.
• •You can delete your account and everything in it, anytime, from inside the app.
• •We don't sell your information. No ad trackers. Ever.

What we collect, and why

• •Your email address (optional). Only if you choose to save a cookbook, join our newsletter, or claim a share-a-coupon offer. It's the key that syncs your recipes across devices, where we send your verification code when you restore your cookbook on a new device, and where we send recipes and cookie news if you've opted into email.
• •Your cookie preferences, saved recipes, and bake logs. The stars, notes, ratings, and preferences you save — stored with your cookbook so Melissa remembers what "perfect" means to you.
• •Bake photos (optional). If you take or upload a photo of your cookies, our AI looks at it to give you feedback (spread, browning, texture). We strip location and camera metadata (EXIF/GPS) from every photo when you upload it. Tip: photograph just the cookies — please keep people, especially kids, out of the frame.
• •Your chat messages to Melissa. What you type to the assistant, so it can answer you.
• •Device identifiers and login tokens. When you sign in and sync your cookbook across devices, we store a token/identifier on your device and in our records so we can keep you logged in and match your cookbook to you. We don't collect precise location.
• •Basic usage analytics. Limited, non-identifying usage data (page views, chat opens, feature use, bake grades, and feedback you submit) to fix bugs and improve the app.

We don't collect passwords in the traditional sense (you sign in with an emailed verification code), we don't collect payment information (the app is free), and we don't collect precise location.

Third-party AI — the part we most want you to read

Melissa runs on Claude, an AI service made by Anthropic, PBC. To answer your questions and analyze your bakes, we send your chat messages and any bake photos you upload to Anthropic's Claude API. Anthropic processes them to generate Melissa's replies and photo feedback and returns the result to us.

Under our commercial agreement with Anthropic, Anthropic does not use your chats or photos to train its AI models. Anthropic's own commercial terms state that it "may not train models on Customer Content from Services."

If you would rather your photos not be analyzed by AI, simply don't upload them — photo upload is always optional, and you can use Melissa and get recipes without it.

Who else helps us run the app

A few trusted companies process data on our behalf. They handle your data only to run the app for us — we don't hand your information to anyone else, and we never sell it.

• •Vercel (US) — hosts the app and stores your cookbook, account record, and photos in private storage. Your email appears in storage labels only as a scrambled one-way code (a hash); your actual email is kept in your private account record.
• •Anthropic (US) — provides the Claude AI behind Melissa; processes your chat messages and uploaded photos to generate responses and feedback, as described above.
• •Klaviyo (US) — sends our emails, including your login verification codes and the Meli's newsletter.
• •Shopify (US) — issues and manages the discount and coupon codes you can claim through the app.
• •Google (US) — limited analytics/feedback logging (a private spreadsheet) to help us fix bugs and improve the app.

Email marketing

Saving a cookbook, joining our list, or claiming a coupon signs you up for Meli's emails ("Perfect Cookie" list) — recipes, baking tips, and occasional cookie news. We tell you this at the point you sign up. Every marketing email has an unsubscribe link that works with one click. Unsubscribing doesn't delete your cookbook, and verification-code emails will still reach you when you need to log in.

Your photos

Bake photos are stored privately and used only to analyze your bake and improve the app's feedback. We strip location and camera metadata from every photo on upload. We keep photos for up to twelve (12) months after upload, then delete them automatically; they're also deleted when you delete your account. Want one gone sooner? Delete it in the app, or email us (below) and we'll remove it.

Deleting your account and data

You can delete your account and all associated data — your email, cookbook, recipes, bake logs, and photos — at any time from within the app. When you delete your account, we remove your account record and photos from our storage and unsubscribe and suppress your email in our email system. You can also email us at the address below and we'll do it for you.

Kids

My Perfect Cookie is for grown-up bakers (including grown-ups baking with kids). It isn't directed at children under 13 and we don't knowingly collect personal information from them. If we learn we have, we'll delete it. Parents: if you think your child gave us their information, email us and we'll take care of it.

Your choices and your rights

• •Use the app anonymously — no email required unless you save a cookbook, join our list, or claim a coupon.
• •Unsubscribe from marketing anytime via the link in any email.
• •Delete everything — from inside the app, or by emailing us. We honor deletion requests for everyone, regardless of where you live.
• •Ask what we have — email us to request a copy of the personal information we hold about you. We'll respond within 30 days.
• •Depending on where you live (California, Texas, and a growing list of states), you may have specific legal rights to access, correct, or delete your data. We honor access and deletion requests for everyone, regardless of location.

Changes to this policy

If we change how the app handles your information, we'll update this page and the effective date at the top. For material changes, we'll give you notice in the app or by email.

Contact

Questions, requests, or anything privacy-related:

privacy@meliscookies.com

Meli's Spud Collective, Inc. (d/b/a Meli's Monster Cookies)