Privacy Policy
Last updated: 30 September 2026
Forkout helps you find restaurants that genuinely match your taste, budget and dietary needs. To do that well, we handle some personal information — including your location. This policy explains exactly what we collect, why, who we share it with, and the control you have over it.
The short version
- We use your location only to find restaurants near you — you can turn it off any time in your device settings.
- Our analytics never see your precise coordinates — only broad areas.
- We never sell your data and never share it for advertising.
- Your data lives in the UK/EU, protected by encryption and strict access controls.
- You can browse without an account. You only need one to save places, rate them or join Circles.
- What you post in Circles is shared only as widely as you choose.
- If you let Forkout check your contacts, your contacts are never stored.
- You can delete your account and all its data from inside the app at any time.
Contents
1. Who we are
Forkout (“Forkout”, “we”, “us”, “our”) is a restaurant-discovery service operated from London, United Kingdom, consisting of the Forkout mobile app and the website at forkout.co.uk. For the purposes of the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018, Forkout is the data controller for the personal data described in this policy.
If you have any questions about this policy or your data, contact us at privacy@forkout.co.uk.
2. What we collect
We only collect what we need to run the service. That falls into the following categories.
| Data | What it includes | Where it comes from |
|---|---|---|
| Account & profile | Your email address, display name, username and (if provided by your sign-in provider) profile picture. | You, when you sign up with Apple or Google. |
| Browsing as a guest | If you browse without an account, a random guest ID so our servers can answer your searches. It is not linked to your name, email or device contacts, and your searches are not saved to a history. | Created automatically when you choose to browse without an account. |
| Phone number | An optional mobile number, used only so friends who have your number saved can find you. It is never shown on your profile. | You, if you choose to add it. |
| Dietary preferences | Preferences you set, such as halal, vegetarian, vegan or allergy-related filters. | You, in the app. |
| Home address | An optional saved home location so you can search “near home” in one tap. This is whatever address you pick, which may include a street address or postcode, together with its coordinates. | You, if you choose to save it. |
| Precise location (GPS) | Your device’s location at the time you search, used to find nearby restaurants. | Your device, only with your permission. |
| Search history & favourites | The searches you run (including the location and filters of each search) and the restaurants you favourite. | You, as you use the app. |
| Reviews, photos & lists | The ratings, comments and photos you post about restaurants, and the lists you make. | You, when you post them. |
| Circles activity | The people you follow and who follow you, your reactions to friends’ posts, and places you mark as “want to try”. | You, as you use Circles. |
| Contact matching | If you allow access to your contacts, coded versions of the phone numbers and email addresses in them, used once to check who is already on Forkout. Names never leave your phone, and your contacts are never stored. | Your device, only with your permission. |
| Safety & moderation | People you block, reports you make about content, and any appeal you send us. | You, when you use these tools. |
| Notifications | A device token so we can send the notifications you have switched on, and a record of what we sent. | Your device, only with your permission. |
| Visit follow-ups | When you tap for directions or to book a restaurant, a note of that place so we can ask how it went. | You, as you use the app. |
| Usage & device data | App interactions, feature usage, approximate area, device/OS type, and diagnostic/crash logs — used to keep the app working and improve it. | Collected automatically. |
| Waitlist | Your email address, if you join the waitlist on our website. | You, on forkout.co.uk. |
We do not collect payment card details, and we do not knowingly collect special-category data beyond the dietary preferences you choose to give us (which may, for some people, imply religious or health information — we use it solely to filter your restaurant results).
Who can see what you post
- Reviews are seen by the people in your circle, or only your close circle, or only you, depending on the setting you choose when you post.
- Lists can be private, shared with your circle, or public.
- Photos you add to a review are stored at an unlisted web link so the people who can see that review can load them. Anyone given that exact link could open it, so only add photos you are happy to share.
- Your email address and phone number are never shown to other people.
Your contacts
Checking your contacts is optional and only happens if you allow it. Your phone turns each number and email address into a code before anything is sent. We compare those codes with the people already on Forkout, show you any matches, and keep nothing. Names never leave your phone. If you invite someone, the message goes from your own messaging app, and we do not see it.
Keeping Forkout safe
If you report something, we review it within 24 hours. We may remove content that breaks our Terms and suspend the account that posted it. Blocking someone hides their posts from you straight away.
3. How we use your location
Location is central to Forkout, so we want to be precise about it:
- Precise GPS is used at the moment you search to find restaurants near you. We ask for the operating-system permission first, and you can withdraw it at any time in your device settings — the app still works, you’ll just search by typing a location instead.
- To show you results, your search location is shared with our restaurant-data provider to find nearby venues — without your name or account attached.
- The searches you run are saved to your search history (which includes each search’s location) so you can re-run them. You can clear your search history at any time in the app, and deleting your account removes it entirely.
- Our product analytics never receive your precise coordinates. Location is only ever recorded there at a broad, area level (for example, a neighbourhood or city), never as raw latitude/longitude.
4. Why we use your data & our legal basis
Under UK GDPR we must have a lawful basis for each use of your personal data. Ours are:
| Purpose | Lawful basis |
|---|---|
| Creating and running your account; showing you restaurant results and saved favourites; providing the core service. | Performance of a contract with you. |
| Running Circles: showing your reviews, photos and lists to the people you choose. | Performance of a contract with you. |
| Checking your contacts, using your phone number to help friends find you, and sending notifications. | Your consent, which you can withdraw at any time in your device settings or in the app. |
| Reviewing reports, removing harmful content and suspending accounts that break our Terms. | Our legitimate interests in keeping Forkout safe for everyone. |
| Using your device’s precise location to search nearby. | Your consent (the OS location permission), which you can withdraw at any time. |
| Analytics, diagnostics and crash reporting to keep the app stable and improve it. | Our legitimate interests in running and improving a reliable service, balanced against your privacy (we minimise and de-identify this data). |
| Personalising your recommendations (e.g. your “daily pick”) from your tastes, searches and favourites. | Our legitimate interests, or your consent where required. |
| Sending you the waitlist email you asked for. | Your consent. |
| Meeting legal obligations and responding to lawful requests. | Legal obligation. |
5. Who we share it with
We do not sell your personal data, and we never share it for third-party advertising. We share it only with the service providers that help us run Forkout, and only as far as needed to provide the service. They fall into these categories:
| Category of recipient | Why we share with them |
|---|---|
| Hosting & infrastructure | Securely stores your account, profile and app data and runs our backend. Hosted in the EU/UK. |
| Analytics & diagnostics | Helps us understand how the app is used and fix crashes, using de-identified, area-level data. |
| Restaurant data & mapping | Provides the restaurant listings, details and photos you search for, based on your search terms and location. |
| Recommendation & verification | Helps verify restaurant details (for example, whether a venue is halal) and generate your recommendations. We do not share your name, email or account identifiers for this. |
| Sign-in providers | If you choose to sign in with Apple or Google, they handle your authentication. |
| Notification delivery | Delivers the notifications you have switched on, through Apple’s and Google’s push services. They receive your device token and the message, not your account details. |
We may also disclose data if required by law, to protect our rights or users’ safety, or in connection with a business transfer (e.g. a merger or acquisition), in which case we’ll notify you.
Want to know exactly which providers we use? Email privacy@forkout.co.uk and we’ll tell you.
6. International transfers
We keep your personal data in the UK and European Economic Area (EEA) wherever we can. Some of our service providers may process limited data outside the UK/EEA, including in the United States. Where that happens, we rely on appropriate safeguards recognised under UK GDPR — such as UK International Data Transfer Agreements, EU Standard Contractual Clauses, or adequacy decisions — to ensure your data stays protected.
7. How long we keep it
- Account & profile data: kept while your account is active, and deleted when you delete your account.
- Search history & favourites: kept until you clear them or delete your account.
- Reviews, photos, lists and Circles activity: kept until you delete them or delete your account.
- Contacts: never kept. The codes are compared and discarded.
- Reports: kept while we need them to keep Forkout safe. If an account is deleted, reports about it stay but are no longer linked to it.
- Guest browsing: the guest ID holds no personal details, and your searches as a guest are not saved.
- Analytics & diagnostics: retained in de-identified form for a limited period to understand trends, then deleted or aggregated.
- Waitlist email: kept until launch or until you ask us to remove it.
We may retain limited information for longer where the law requires it, or to resolve disputes and enforce our agreements.
8. Your rights
Under UK GDPR you have the right to:
- Access the personal data we hold about you.
- Rectify data that is inaccurate or incomplete.
- Erase your data (“right to be forgotten”).
- Restrict or object to certain processing, including profiling for recommendations.
- Portability — receive your data in a portable format.
- Withdraw consent at any time (for example, by turning off location, or unsubscribing).
To exercise any of these, email privacy@forkout.co.uk. We’ll respond within one month. You also have the right to complain to the UK’s data protection regulator, the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) — though we’d appreciate the chance to help first.
9. Deleting your account
Prefer us to do it? Email privacy@forkout.co.uk from your account email and we’ll delete your data for you.
10. How we protect it
We take security seriously. Your data is encrypted in transit (HTTPS/TLS), your login session is protected on your device, and access to your information is tightly restricted so that only you, and the people you choose to share with in Circles, can reach it. No system is perfectly secure, but we work hard to protect your data and will notify you and the ICO of any breach where the law requires.
11. Children
Forkout is not directed to children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect personal data from them. If you believe a child has provided us with personal data, contact us and we will delete it.
12. Changes to this policy
We may update this policy as Forkout evolves. When we make material changes, we’ll update the “Last updated” date above and, where appropriate, notify you in the app or by email. Please check back from time to time.
13. Contact us
Questions, requests or concerns about your privacy? We’re here:
Forkout
London, United Kingdom
privacy@forkout.co.uk