Effective date: July 20, 2026
What's in the Bin? ("the app", "we") helps a household organize what's stored in their bins and shelves. This policy explains what the app collects, why, and what control you have over it.
Information we collect
To sync your household across your devices, the app requires a free account, created with an email address and password, or by signing in with Google (in which case we receive the email address and name associated with your Google account). We use Firebase Authentication to manage accounts and never see or store your password. Beyond your account, a household is created with a household name, a PIN, and a security question/answer (used only to recover a forgotten PIN — the answer is stored as a one-way hash, never in plain text). Everyone who knows the household name and PIN can join and see the same shared inventory: shelves, bins, items, and quantities that you type in. Item names are whatever you choose to enter — avoid typing sensitive personal information into item descriptions, since anyone with the household code can see them.
You can also attach photos to a bin to record what's inside it. These photos are taken with your camera or chosen from your device's gallery, stored with your household, and visible to anyone who can access that household. Only add photos you're comfortable sharing with everyone in your household, and avoid capturing sensitive documents or personal information you don't want others to see.
How we use it
Your email address is used only to authenticate you, sync your household across your devices, and identify the household's owner for account-management features like deletion. Household data (shelves, bins, items, and any photos you add) is used only to run the inventory feature: syncing in real time between everyone in your household, and verifying a forgotten PIN. We do not use any of this for advertising and do not sell it.
To save you typing, the app can automatically identify what's in a bin from its photo. When you add a photo, it is sent to Google's Gemini AI (through Vertex AI on Google Cloud), which returns the names of the items it recognizes; those names are added to the bin as items that you can edit or delete. Photos processed this way are not used to train Google's AI models, and identification only runs on photos you choose to add.
Where it's stored
Data is stored in Google Firebase — text data (shelves, bins, items, accounts) in Cloud Firestore and Firebase Authentication, and bin photos in Cloud Storage for Firebase — encrypted in transit. Anyone who has your household name and PIN can access that household's shared data, including its photos — there is no separate per-person access to household inventory. The one-time unlock purchase to create a household is processed by Google Play Billing; we never see or store your payment card details.
Data retention and deletion
A household's data — including its photos — is kept for as long as the household exists in the app. You can delete an individual bin photo at any time from the bin it's attached to. The household's owner (generally the first account to create or join it) can permanently delete the household and all of its inventory data, photos included, at any time from within the app: tap the household name on the Home screen → Delete this household. If you're not the owner, or prefer email, see our deletion instructions, which also cover deleting your account itself.
Children
What's in the Bin? is a general household organization tool and is not directed at children under 13. We do not knowingly collect information from children, and do not target the app at children.
Changes
If this policy changes, the updated version will be posted at this address with a new effective date.
Contact
Questions about your data: benny.pach99@gmail.com