Hotpot Club
Legal

Privacy Policy

Last updated: June 23, 2026 · Effective: June 11, 2026

Hotpot Club (“Hotpot Club,” “we,” “us,” or “our”) operates the Hotpot Club mobile application and this website (together, the “Service”). This Privacy Policy explains what personal information we collect, why we collect it, how we use and share it, and the rights you have over it. By using the Service, you agree to the practices described here.

We have written this policy to be plain. If anything is unclear, write to us at privacy@joinhotpot.com and we will explain.

1. Who this policy applies to

This policy applies to anyone who uses Hotpot Club, including people who create an account, people whose phone numbers are used to verify identity, and people who appear in another user's posts (for example, because someone tagged them as having cooked with or for them).

2. Information we collect

2.1 Information you provide directly

2.2 Content you create on the Service

2.3 Social graph data

2.4 Device and technical data

2.5 Crash reporting and analytics providers

We use both providers solely to operate and improve the Service. We do not sell the data they receive, we do not use it for advertising, and we do not combine it with data from third parties.

2.6 Information we do not collect

3. How we use your information

We use your information to:

4. How we share your information

4.1 With other users of the Service

Hotpot Club is a social product, so some information is visible to other users by design:

4.2 With service providers (sub-processors)

We use a small number of independent companies that process data on our behalf, only to run the Service:

We require each of these providers to use your information only to perform the service we have contracted them for, and to protect it appropriately. We do not sell your personal information to anyone, and we do not share it with advertisers.

4.3 For legal and safety reasons

We may disclose information when we believe in good faith that disclosure is necessary to comply with a legal obligation, respond to a valid government request, enforce our Terms of Use, protect the rights, property, or safety of Hotpot Club, our users, or the public, or detect, prevent, or address fraud, security, or technical issues. Where permitted, we will attempt to notify the user whose information is requested.

4.4 In a business transfer

If Hotpot Club is involved in a merger, acquisition, financing, or sale of assets, your information may be transferred as part of that transaction. We will give notice through the Service before your information becomes subject to a different privacy policy.

5. How long we keep your information

We keep your account information and content for as long as your account is active. When you delete your account, we delete your account record and the content associated with it as described in Section 7. We may retain a minimal amount of information for longer where we are required to by law, to resolve disputes, to enforce our agreements, or in backups that are deleted on a rolling schedule.

6. Your choices and controls

7. Deleting your account

You can permanently delete your Hotpot Club account at any time from inside the app: go to Profile → Settings → Delete Account. When you delete your account, we delete your account record and the personal information attached to it, including your dish posts, comments, reactions, saves, follows, blocks, and uploaded photos. One category of information is not erased by account deletion: if another user tagged you in one of their posts as having cooked with them or for them, the display name you used at the time of that tag remains visible as plain text within that other user's post. After your account is deleted that name is no longer linked to your account — it is not tappable, is not connected to your phone number or any other identifier, and cannot be used to find you on the Service — but the name itself is retained so the other user's record of who shared that meal stays intact. You can stop your name from appearing this way by removing the tag yourself (from the post or from your notifications) before you delete your account, and you may ask us to remove a specific retained tag at any time by writing to privacy@joinhotpot.com. Server backups containing your information are deleted on a rolling schedule, typically within 30 days. After deletion is complete the action cannot be reversed.

If you cannot reach the in-app delete option for any reason, email privacy@joinhotpot.com from the phone number or email associated with your account and we will process the deletion within 30 days.

8. Your rights

8.1 If you are in the European Economic Area, United Kingdom, or Switzerland

You have the right under applicable data-protection law (including the GDPR and the UK GDPR) to: access the personal information we hold about you; correct it if it is inaccurate; have it deleted (subject to the limited retention of participant tags described in Section 7); restrict or object to certain processing; receive a copy of it in a portable format; and withdraw consent where processing is based on consent. The lawful bases on which we process your information are the performance of our contract with you (operating your account and the Service), our legitimate interests (running the Service securely, preventing abuse, improving the product), your consent where required (for example, push notifications), and compliance with legal obligations. You also have the right to lodge a complaint with your local supervisory authority.

8.2 If you are a California resident

Under the California Consumer Privacy Act (as amended by the CPRA), you have the right to know what personal information we collect, to access and receive a copy of it, to request deletion, and to correct inaccurate information. You also have the right to opt out of the sale or sharing of personal information, and to limit the use of sensitive personal information. We do not sell or share personal information in the sense those terms are defined in the CCPA, and we do not knowingly process the personal information of minors under 16 for sale or sharing.

8.3 Exercising your rights

The fastest way to exercise most rights is from inside the app: view your profile to access your information, edit your profile to correct it, and use Delete Account to delete it. To make any other request, email privacy@joinhotpot.com from the phone number or email tied to your account so we can verify your identity. We will respond within the period required by applicable law (typically 30 days). You may also authorize an agent to make a request on your behalf. We will not discriminate against you for exercising any of these rights.

9. International transfers

Hotpot Club operates in the United States. The infrastructure we use to provide the Service (notably Supabase on AWS) is also located in the United States. If you use the Service from outside the United States, your information will be transferred to and processed in the United States and possibly other countries whose data-protection laws may differ from those in your jurisdiction. Where required, we rely on appropriate safeguards such as the European Commission's Standard Contractual Clauses.

10. Children

Hotpot Club is not directed to children under the age of 13, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If you live in the European Economic Area or the United Kingdom, you must be at least 16 (or the age of digital consent in your country) to use the Service. If we learn that we have collected information from a child under the applicable minimum age, we will delete it. If you believe a child has provided us information, please contact privacy@joinhotpot.com.

11. Security

We use reasonable technical and organizational measures designed to protect your information — including encryption in transit, encrypted storage at rest, scoped access controls inside our database, and access logging. No method of transmission or storage is perfectly secure, and we cannot guarantee absolute security. If we ever become aware of a breach affecting your personal information, we will notify you and the relevant authorities as required by applicable law.

12. Third-party links

The Service may include links to third-party websites or content (for example, when a user sets a dish's source to an external recipe URL, or when you open the original source of a discover recipe). We are not responsible for the privacy practices of those third parties; their policies govern their handling of your information.

13. Changes to this policy

We may update this policy from time to time. If we make material changes, we will notify you in the app or by other reasonable means before the changes take effect, and we will update the “Last updated” date at the top of this page. Your continued use of the Service after a change indicates that you accept the updated policy.

14. Contact us

For privacy questions, requests, or complaints, write to privacy@joinhotpot.com. We read every message and respond promptly. If you prefer postal mail, contact us by email first to request a mailing address.