Pulse

AVIN Pulse

Privacy policy

Covers the AVIN Pulse app for iOS and Android, this website (avinpulse.co.za and www.avinpulse.com) and the AVIN online shop. Effective 9 September 2026. Read alongside our terms of use, which cover posting and using the app.

In short

  • You can use the app, the thermometer and your cook history without an account. That data stays on your phone.
  • If you sign in, your cook history syncs to our servers and you can post recipes, photos and comments that other people see.
  • We never sell your information and we never use it for advertising.
  • Anonymous usage statistics and crash reports are on by default and can be switched off in Settings.
  • You can delete your account and everything synced with it from inside the app, at any time.

Who we are

AVIN Pty Ltd makes wood-fired ovens in Cape Town, South Africa, and publishes the AVIN Pulse app. AVIN Pty Ltd is the responsible party for your personal information under the Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA), and the controller under the GDPR if you are in the European Union. Reach us at info@avinsa.co.za or on WhatsApp, 082 605 1314.

What the app keeps on your phone

The app records every cook automatically: the temperatures from your AVIN Pulse thermometer, the targets and ranges you set, the notes, ratings and photos you add, and your custom presets. It also caches recipes and community posts so they open offline. All of that lives in a database on your phone. Without an account we never see it, and removing the app removes it from that phone. If your phone backs up to iCloud or your Google account, this data is included in that backup like the rest of your apps, under Apple or Google's own protection for it, and can come back on a restore; turn that off in your phone's backup settings if you would rather it did not.

The app does not collect your location. On Android 11 and older the operating system requires a location permission before any app can scan for Bluetooth devices; the app asks for it only for that reason and never reads your position.

What we store when you sign in

Signing in is optional. It exists so that your cooks follow you between phones and so that you can take part in the community. You can sign in with:

  • an email address, using a one-time link or a password;
  • Sign in with Apple or Google, where offered, which share your name and email address with us the first time;
  • a quick join, which asks for nothing but the display name you type. We cannot recover a quick-join account if you lose the phone, because there is no email address on it.

Once you are signed in, including by quick join, our servers hold:

  • your profile: display name, handle, profile photo, a short bio and the gear you list;
  • a record that you accepted this policy, which version, and when;
  • your cook history: the same cooks as on your phone, without the photos, which stay on the phone today;
  • the recipes, posts, comments, likes and favourites you create, with any photos you attach to them;
  • your block list, the reports you file, and whether you have accepted the community guidelines;
  • the technical minimum to run the account: your email address, when you last signed in and a session token.

What other people can see

Recipes, posts, comments and the photos on them are public: anyone using the app, and anyone visiting the gallery on this site, can see them, together with your display name and profile photo. Your cook history is private to you unless you choose to share a cook. Your profile is public by default; switch it to private in the app and other members will no longer see your display name, bio or gear, only AVIN staff can. Your profile photo is served from a public address: switching to private stops it appearing next to your name on the app and this site, but anyone who already has that address can still open the photo directly.

Community content is moderated. Posts and comments pass a word filter before they are saved. Any member can report or block another member; AVIN staff can hide or remove content and suspend accounts, and each of those actions is logged.

Usage statistics and crash reports

To find out which features are used and to fix crashes, the app can send anonymous usage events (for example that a cook started or an alert fired) to PostHog, and crash reports to Sentry. These never carry your name, email address, cook data or photos, and PostHog is configured never to build a profile of you; it only sees a random identifier for the installation. This is on by default and you can switch it off at any time in Settings, under Analytics. The switch takes effect immediately.

Device permissions the app asks for

  • Bluetooth, to connect to your AVIN Pulse thermometer.
  • Notifications, to tell you when a probe reaches its target or the AVIN leaves its range, also while the phone is locked.
  • Camera and photo library, only when you add a photo to a cook, a recipe or a post.

Each one is asked for the first time it is needed, and the app works without it, minus that feature.

This website and the online shop

The public pages of this site set no cookies for a visitor with no session, and run no analytics or advertising scripts. Fonts are served from our own host. When you contact us through the email or WhatsApp links, that conversation happens in your own email or WhatsApp app under its provider's terms. AVIN staff hold an authentication cookie once they sign in to the admin area, and it may be refreshed on any page of the site, public ones included, for as long as that sign-in stays valid.

If you order from the AVIN online shop we ask for your name, email address, delivery address and any delivery notes, and we use them to fulfil and account for the order. Payment is handled by our payment provider on its own pages; your card details never reach our servers. We keep order records for as long as South African tax and accounting law requires.

Who processes data on our behalf

  • Supabase hosts our database, sign-in and photo storage in the European Union (Ireland).
  • Vercel hosts this website.
  • PostHog (usage statistics) and Sentry (crash reports), only when the switch in Settings is on. Their services may process that data in the European Union or the United States.
  • Apple and Google, when you use their sign-in, and their app stores, which handle your download and any purchase under their own privacy policies.

We share personal information with no one else, except where the law requires it or to protect the safety of our members.

How long we keep it

  • Data on your phone: until you delete it in the app or remove the app.
  • Your account, profile, cook history and community content: until you delete them or delete your account.
  • Reports and moderation records: for as long as they are needed to keep the community safe. When an account is deleted they are kept without the identity of the person they referred to.
  • Shop orders: for the period tax and accounting law requires.
  • Usage statistics and crash reports: anonymous, kept by PostHog and Sentry under their retention settings.

Deleting your account

In the app, open Settings, then Account, then Delete account. This removes your account, your profile, your synced cook history, your recipes, posts, comments, likes, favourites, blocks and photos from our servers straight away. It does not touch the data on your phone; remove the app for that. You can also email us and we will do it for you.

Your rights

You can ask us what personal information we hold about you, have it corrected or deleted, object to how we use it, and withdraw consent for the usage statistics with the switch in Settings. Write to info@avinsa.co.za. If you are not satisfied with our answer you can complain to the Information Regulator of South Africa, or to your own data protection authority if you are in the European Union.

Children

The app and this site are made for people who cook on an AVIN, not for children. We do not knowingly collect personal information from anyone under 18 without a parent or guardian's consent. If you believe a child has given us information, tell us and we will delete it.

Changes to this policy

When the app gains a feature that changes how your information is handled, this page changes with it and the date at the top moves. Significant changes are also announced in the app.

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