Buyvix
Privacy
Short and plain. Buyvix is a small independent app. Last updated 28 October 2026.
What Buyvix stores
- The owner's email address, only to send the activation code and to let the owner sign in again on a new phone.
- Names, colours and language that you and your family choose in the app.
- Your lists and items, including who took or ticked an item, so everyone in the household sees the same list.
- A sign-in key for each phone (stored scrambled on the server), the phone model name, and when the phone last connected.
- Feedback you send from this website: your message and, only if you add them, your name and email.
What Buyvix does not do
- No ads, no trackers, no analytics, no selling of your data. The only thing ever shown to other people is a price you choose to share (see "Prices, deals and scanning" below).
- No passwords: you sign in with an emailed code or an invite code.
- Only people you invite into your household can see your lists.
Prices, deals and scanning (optional features)
- Scanning a barcode: the camera scanner is Google's, built into your phone, and runs on the phone. To find the product name, the number is looked up in the shared Buyvix product list and in Open Food Facts, Open Beauty Facts and Open Products Facts (free, public product databases). Buyvix does not keep a list of what you scanned except the prices you save.
- The shared product list: when a product name is found for a barcode, or you type one for a barcode nobody knew, the barcode number and the product name are added to the Buyvix product list, so every user gets the name next time. Only the number and the name are shown to others, never who gave them.
- Unknown barcodes: when no name is found, the app sends the barcode number (and the name you typed, if any) to the Buyvix team so we can add it. This is on by default; untick the box in the scan window to not send it.
- Receipt name fixes: stores print short names like “AURO CRSTI RSMRY”. When you correct one, the store, the short printed name and your correction are kept so the next receipt from that store, yours or another shopper's, gets the proper name. Nothing else from the receipt is kept for this.
- Reading a receipt, shelf tag or flyer picture: the picture you pick is read on your phone and is never uploaded or saved (unless you choose to send it to the team, below). Only the lines you keep are used.
- Sending a receipt photo to the Buyvix team (optional, only if you ask for it): if the scanner cannot read a receipt, you can tick a box and send us the photo. Before you send, the app asks you to cover your card number, your points / loyalty card number and your name. Only the Buyvix owner can open the photo; it is used to type the prices into your family's price history, where they are marked “Added by the Buyvix team”. The photo is deleted as soon as the prices are added, and in any case within 30 days. Only if you also tick the optional “you may keep this photo to improve receipt scanning” box is it kept longer, for at most 180 days. You can send at most 3 receipts a day. The prices from these receipts are private to your household and are never shared with people nearby.
- Shared prices (on by default, you can turn it off in Settings or per scan): when you save a price, the app sends the short area code (the first 3 characters of a Canadian postal code, or a US ZIP), the store, the product and the price. People near you can see it for 90 days, then it is deleted. Your name, household, list and exact location are never shown to others.
- "Use my location" (optional): only if you tap it, Android asks you to allow location (you choose precise or approximate, and "only this time" if you like). The phone then finds the nearest area code by itself, using the public list of area centres it downloads from Buyvix. Your location is never sent to Buyvix or anyone else, and it is not saved; only the short area code you confirm is kept. Buyvix never uses your location in the background.
- Your household's area code: the short area code (for example M5V, or a 5-digit ZIP) is kept with your household so every family phone uses the same one. Only your family can see or change it, and you can change it at any time.
- Your family's price history and spending (the prices and receipts you saved) are private to your household and kept for about a year.
- Deals near you (being tested): only the short area code is sent, to find the grocery stores near it. Flyers open on the store's own website; Buyvix does not read or copy them.
- Learning your habits (what you usually buy, your shopping route, your meal plan): the route stays on your phone; your buying history and meal plan are stored with your household only.
Notifications (optional)
- If you allow notifications, Buyvix keeps your phone's notification address (made by Google's Firebase Cloud Messaging), your phone's time-zone offset (so a reminder comes at 8 pm your time) and the reminder you chose. It is deleted when you sign out.
- A notification only carries a short code and the few words it needs, for example who finished the shopping, the list name or an item name. Your phone writes the message itself, in your language. Google delivers it; Buyvix does not use Google for analytics or ads.
- You can turn notifications off at any time in Settings > Notifications or in your phone's settings.
Where it is kept
On Cloudflare's servers (the Buyvix website, server and database all run there). Activation emails are sent through Resend. The app also keeps a copy of your lists on your phone so it works without signal. Items you delete wait in “Recently deleted” on your phone only (for 12 hours, at most 30 items) so you can bring them back.
Your control
- The owner can remove any family member in the app (Household → Remove). Removed phones are signed out.
- Delete your account in the app: Settings > Delete my account. The owner deletes the whole household; a family member deletes only their own account. More on the delete your account page.
- Without the app: to have your household and email deleted, email hello@mwphosting.com (or use the feedback form) with the email address of the owner, and it will be deleted.