Thank you for choosing EMBER ("we," "us," or "our"), a smart smoker control app for Traeger and RecTeq grills. This Privacy Policy explains what information EMBER collects, how it is used and stored, and the choices you have. EMBER is published by Browntown Apps.
Information We Collect
Account Information
Sign-In Identity: EMBER uses Google, Apple, or Facebook Sign-In through Supabase Auth. We receive a user identifier and basic profile information (such as email and display name) from the provider you select.
Profile Settings: Your preferred temperature units (°F/°C), theme (dark/light), disconnect timeout preference, and the timestamp at which you accepted the safety disclaimer.
Device Information
Smoker Devices You Add: The name, brand (Traeger or RecTeq), model, local network host (IP address or hostname), and port of grills you pair with EMBER, plus which device you have set as default.
Push Notification Token: An Expo push token (and the underlying APNs/FCM token) associated with your account so we can deliver cook alerts to your device.
Recipes and Cooks
Recipes: Built-in recipes are provided with the app. Recipes you create, duplicate, or edit are stored with your account, including title, description, protein category, tags, duration, and the recipe body (stage definitions).
Cook Sessions: When you run a cook, EMBER stores the session status, a snapshot of the recipe being run, the current stage index, start and end times, and any notes you add.
Cook Telemetry: While a cook is active, EMBER records timestamped grill temperature, target temperature, and probe temperatures from your smoker so you can view live and historical charts.
Notification Log: A record of notifications EMBER has sent you (type, title, body, send time, acknowledgement time) so you can review alert history and so we can throttle duplicate alerts.
Analytics
In-App Events: EMBER logs a small set of product-analytics events tied to your account (event type, optional properties, timestamp) to understand feature usage and improve reliability. These events do not include the content of your recipes or the readings from your smoker beyond what is necessary to describe the event.
Device Permissions
Local Network (iOS): Required to discover and communicate with your Traeger or RecTeq smoker over Wi-Fi using mDNS/Bonjour and WebSocket. EMBER does not scan the network for any other purpose.
Face ID / Fingerprint (Biometrics): Optional. Used only on your device to unlock your EMBER session. Biometric data never leaves your device and is not sent to us.
Notifications: Optional. Used to deliver gate alerts, auto-advance, cook complete, low pellet, disconnect, and reconnect notifications.
How We Use Your Information
Authenticate you and keep you signed in across devices.
Pair and communicate with your smoker over your local Wi-Fi network.
Run recipes, advance cook stages, and pause at user-action gates.
Display live and historical temperature charts for your cooks.
Deliver push notifications for cook events and hardware alerts, subject to your quiet hours and rate-limit settings.
Persist your preferences (units, theme, disconnect timeout) across devices.
Diagnose issues, improve EMBER, and prioritize new features based on aggregate analytics.
Where Your Data Is Stored
Cloud Backend: Account profile, devices, your recipes, cook sessions, telemetry, notification log, and analytics events are stored in EMBER's Supabase (PostgreSQL) backend. Row-level security policies restrict each row to the owning user.
On Your Device: Authentication tokens are stored in the platform secure store (Keychain on iOS, EncryptedSharedPreferences on Android). The cook engine also persists its current state locally so cooks can recover after an app restart or crash.
On Your Smoker: Control commands sent to your grill are delivered directly from EMBER over your local Wi-Fi network (or, when applicable, via Supabase Realtime as a relay).
Data Sharing and Disclosure
Service Providers
Supabase — hosts the backend database, authentication, and realtime services.
Apple Push Notification service (APNs) and Firebase Cloud Messaging (FCM) — deliver push notifications to your device on behalf of Expo.
Google, Apple, and Facebook — used only when you choose them as your sign-in provider.
These providers process data on our behalf to operate EMBER. We do not sell your personal information, and we do not share it with third parties for their own advertising or marketing.
Public Recipes
If you explicitly mark a recipe you created as public, its title, description, tags, and body become readable to other EMBER users. Recipes are private by default.
Legal Requirements
We may disclose information if required by law, regulation, valid legal process, or to protect the rights, property, or safety of users or the public.
Data Security
Transport security: connections to EMBER's backend and to push services use TLS.
Authentication tokens are stored in the platform secure store on your device.
Row-level security policies in the database restrict access so that one user cannot read another user's profile, devices, cooks, telemetry, notifications, or analytics.
EMBER enforces a hard temperature safety ceiling at the adapter layer regardless of recipe contents.
No system is perfectly secure; please use a strong account at your chosen identity provider and keep your device updated.
Data Retention and Deletion
Profile, devices, recipes, cook sessions, telemetry, notification log, and analytics are retained while your account is active.
You can delete individual devices, recipes, and cook sessions from within the app.
To delete your EMBER account and the data associated with it, email [email protected] from the address associated with your sign-in provider. We will delete your account data within 30 days, except where retention is required by law.
Children's Privacy
EMBER is not intended for children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from children. If you believe a child has provided information to EMBER, please contact us so we can remove it.
International Users
EMBER's backend is operated in the United States. If you use EMBER from outside the United States, you understand that your information will be transferred to and processed in the United States.
Your Rights
Access, correct, or delete data you have created in the app (devices, recipes, cooks, profile fields).
Revoke notification, biometric, or local-network permissions at any time in your device settings.
Request deletion of your account and associated data by contacting us.
Depending on where you live, you may have additional rights under laws such as the GDPR or CCPA, including the right to request a copy of your data or to object to certain processing. To exercise these rights, contact us at the address below.
Safety Disclaimer
EMBER controls live cooking hardware. Although EMBER enforces a temperature ceiling and other safeguards, you are responsible for safe operation of your grill, including supervising cooks, monitoring food safety, and following the manufacturer's instructions. EMBER is provided "as is" without warranty of any kind.
Changes to This Privacy Policy
We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. Updates will be posted here with a new "Last Updated" date. Material changes will also be communicated in-app where appropriate.
Contact Us
If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy or about EMBER, please contact us: