Questions and answers

Who can see my shopping list?

You, whoever is in your household, and whoever you’ve invited to a shared list. Nobody else. The data is stored on a server at Infomaniak in Switzerland. Encrypted backups are also kept at Hetzner in Germany. None of it is sold or analysed for advertising.

Does my receipt or cupboard photo go to an AI?

For four features, yes, and each only once you’ve agreed: reading receipts, reading cupboard photos, recipes (suggestions and recipes from a website) and, in the background, assigning new items to shop aisles when our catalogue doesn’t know them. For this, the image or the item names go to Anthropic in the USA.

We don’t store the images permanently. They’re analysed, and only the result is stored, i.e. the recognised lines. The content isn’t used to train models.

If you don’t agree, your data doesn’t go out. The shopping list and pantry work without it. If someone else in your household uses the recipes with their consent, the names of your shared pantry items go along too, including items you created. The details are in the privacy policy.

And the photos I attach to an item myself?

They stay with us. They don’t go to any AI or to anyone else; they stay in the database until you delete them or close your account. They can be seen by whoever is in your household or on the same shared list.

What happens to my email address?

It’s your login. For confirmation and password emails, it goes to Brevo, with servers in the EU. Who else receives it is set out in the privacy policy. No advertising, no reselling, no newsletter you didn’t sign up for.

Can I delete my account and all my data?

Yes, in the app itself. Gear icon in the header, right down to ‘Close account’. You see beforehand everything that will disappear, and you type the word DELETE to confirm. After that, nothing is left.

If you’re in a household with others, the household carries on for them. You’re just removed from it.

What happens after the 30 days?

For the first 30 days you have full access, no credit card. After that, the Free plan applies. Nothing is deleted: pantry, recipes and plans stay where they are. Only receipts, cupboard photos, recipes and the meal plan are locked.

How do I add a detail like ‘35 L’ or a photo to an item?

Tap the item’s name in the list, or press and hold the line. The detail view then opens with note, photo, name, aisle, contents per pack and shop.

The photo helps where the name isn’t enough in the shop: that one deodorant cream without alcohol and without aluminium, the right kind of coffee.

An item is in the wrong aisle.

Open the detail view and set the aisle by hand. The app remembers it for next time.

Do I have to keep the pantry up to date?

No. The shopping list works on its own, and lots of people use only that. You add the pantry if you want to know what’s still there, what’s expiring soon and what you can cook with it.

What’s the difference between a household and a shared list?

A household shares everything: shopping list, pantry, recipes and meal plan. It learns your habits. That’s the family or the flatshare.

A shared list is just a shopping list, for the office, the club or a party. No pantry, no learning, no suggestions.

You invite people to either via the gear icon in the header, under ‘Share household’ or ‘Share list’. You switch between them at the top, in the header.

Why do ticked items stay on the list?

Because only ‘Done shopping’ records the purchase. Until then, you can undo a tick without anything happening. With the button, everything ticked off goes into the pantry and into the learning history.

If you forget it, the app completes the shop itself the next time you open it, once it’s more than twelve hours old.

How does a receipt get into the app?

Tap ‘Scan’ at the bottom, then ‘Receipt’, then choose a photo, PDF or screenshot of the online order. The app reads out the lines, you check them and add them.

Anything you’ve ticked off on the list in the last three days isn’t counted by the receipt as a purchase a second time. Otherwise the same shop would distort the order the app has learned.

Does the app work offline?

The shopping list does. You can tick off and add items, and the changes go out as soon as you’re connected again. Receipts, cupboard photos and recipes need a connection.

I’ve forgotten my password.

On the login page, tap ‘Forgotten your password?’ and enter your address. The link comes by email and works once.

I’ve found a bug or have a request.

Write to hallo [at] proviato.com. Provi is a one-man operation, and the answer comes straight from me.