Privacy Policy

At Spoteli, we value your trust and are committed to protecting your personal information and privacy. This Privacy Policy details the types of information we collect, how we use it, and the security measures we take.

1. Information We Collect

To provide a personalized culinary experience, we collect:

• Account Information: Your display name, username, email address, password, and profile preferences (e.g. bio, preset or custom avatar).
• Usage & Cooking Preferences: Recipes you save to your favorites, recipes you like, and recipes you create/publish.
• Cookies & Session Tokens: We use secure JSON Web Tokens (JWT) stored in HTTP-Only cookies (`spoteli_jwt`) to keep you logged in across browser sessions.

2. How We Use Your Information

Your information is used solely to:

• Operate, maintain, and improve the Spoteli recipe feed and web services.
• Enable you to publish custom recipes and manage your public author profile.
• Manage authentication, protect your account from unauthorized access, and prevent spam.
• Provide relevant recipe recommendations and category counts.

3. Data Sharing and Third Parties

We do not sell, rent, or trade your personal data to advertising companies or third parties. Your email address remains private and is never displayed publicly. Your display name, username, bio, custom avatar, and published recipe spots are shared publicly on your profile.

4. Data Security

We secure your personal data using industry-standard measures:

• Passwords are secured using robust `bcrypt` hashing before storage in the database.
• JSON Web Tokens (JWT) are signed cryptographically to prevent spoofing.
• Sessions are delivered via HTTP-Only, secure cookie attributes to mitigate Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) risks.

5. Cookies Policy

Spoteli uses cookies to maintain user session status. These are first-party functional cookies required for core platform navigation. You can disable cookies in your browser settings, but please note that logging in and saving favorite recipes will not work without them.

6. Your Rights

You have the right to edit your display name, username, bio, and avatar at any time by visiting [Profile Settings](settings.php). If you wish to delete your account or retrieve all saved and created recipe data, please contact our support team.

7. Contact Information

If you have any questions or feedback regarding our privacy practices, please contact us at support@spoteli.com.