MelonSense privacy policy
Last updated: 18 September 2026 · Developer: MelonSense · Contact: wanleidev@gmail.com
MelonSense estimates how sweet a watermelon is from a photo, and optionally from a recording of you knocking it. This policy explains what the app collects, why, and how to get rid of it.
What we collect
- Watermelon photos. The photo you take of the melon’s blossom end. It is uploaded so the sweetness model can measure the scar.
- Knock recordings, when you choose to make one. A few seconds of audio of you knocking the melon, uploaded so the model can analyse the sound. This is optional for a scan — a photo alone is enough — though it is still required when you rate a melon you bought, to show the melon is in front of you. The microphone is only used while you are on the recording screen and have started a recording.
- Account details. Your email address, and your name if you provide one, from Google sign-in or email sign-up.
- App activity. Your scans, the sweetness estimates produced for them, and the taste ratings you submit afterwards.
- Gifts. If you buy MelonSense Pro as a gift: the gift codes you bought and whether each has been used. If you redeem a gift: which account redeemed it, kept on our servers only, so that a refunded gift can be reversed. The buyer never sees who redeemed their code.
- A hashed device identifier. A one-way hash of an operating-system device id, used to stop the same device repeatedly claiming the new-account sign-up bonus, and to enforce the one-free-scan-per-day limit per device rather than only per account. We cannot reverse it to identify a device or a person.
What we do with it
- To produce your sweetness estimate and show you your scan history.
- To improve the sweetness model. Your taste ratings are what teach it, so the photo, the knock and the rating you give are used together as training data.
- To run free scans, Frenzy tokens, referrals, gifts and subscriptions, and to prevent abuse of them.
- To answer support requests. Your email address is stored with your account record so we can identify the account behind a scan when you contact us about it. We do not send marketing email.
We do not sell your data, we do not share it with third parties for their own purposes, and we do not use it for advertising. MelonSense contains no ads and no advertising SDKs.
Who processes it
Photos and knock recordings are sent to our own analysis server, which is the only place they are analysed. The check that a photo actually shows the blossom end of a watermelon now runs on that same server; photos are no longer sent to Google Cloud Vision. Accounts, files and scan records are stored in Google Firebase (Authentication, Firestore, Cloud Storage, Cloud Functions). These providers process the data on our behalf and under our instructions; they are not permitted to use it for their own purposes.
Who operates MelonSense, and where your data is processed
MelonSense is operated by an independent developer based in Quebec, Canada, who is the person responsible for the protection of personal information handled by the app and can be reached at wanleidev@gmail.com.
The app’s servers and stored data are hosted on Google Cloud and Firebase in the United States. This means your information is processed outside Canada and Quebec, and, if you use the app from the European Economic Area or the United Kingdom, outside those areas too — transfers Google Cloud covers with standard contractual clauses.
How it is protected and how long it is kept
All data is encrypted in transit. Scans, photos, recordings and account details are kept until you delete them or delete your account, after which they are removed except as described below.
What we keep after you delete your account
Two things outlive an account deletion, and we want to be plain about both.
- Melons you rated — the photo, the knock recording, the measurements taken from them, and the rating you gave. These are what teach the sweetness model, and they are kept anonymously: stored under a new random identifier with your account reference, your name, your email and the original file locations all removed, and with the date reduced to the month. Photographs are stripped of embedded metadata such as location before they are stored. What remains describes a watermelon, not a person, and cannot be traced back to you. You are told this on the rating screen, before you rate.
- A one-way hash of a device identifier, retained for fraud prevention only — it stops one device claiming the new-account sign-up bonus repeatedly, and keeps the daily free scan to one per device rather than resettable by making a new account. It is not reversible and the account reference on it is erased.
Everything else — your account, your email, your scan history, and the photos and recordings of melons you never rated — is deleted.
Your rights
Wherever you are, you can:
- Delete your account and data at any time, from inside the app or by emailing us — see deleting your account.
- Request a copy of your data, or ask us to correct it, by emailing wanleidev@gmail.com.
- Withdraw camera or microphone permission in your device settings. The app needs the camera to take a scan. The microphone is optional — without it you can still scan using a photo alone, and only the knock-based part of the reading is unavailable.
If you are in the European Economic Area or the UK, you also have the right to object to or restrict processing, the right to data portability, and the right to lodge a complaint with your local data protection authority. We process your data to provide the app you asked for (performance of a contract), to improve the sweetness model and prevent abuse of free scans and bonuses (legitimate interests), and on the basis of your consent where the app asks for it — for example when you choose to rate a melon and contribute it as research data. You can withdraw that consent by not rating melons; ratings already given cannot be withdrawn once anonymised, because we can no longer tell which are yours.
If you are in Canada, you have the right to access the personal information we hold about you and to ask us to correct it, and to withdraw your consent to uses that rely on it. If you are in Quebec, you also have the right to be informed before your information is used to make a decision based solely on automated processing, and the right to data portability. You may complain to the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada or, in Quebec, to the Commission d’accès à l’information.
If you are in California, you have the right to know what personal information we collect and why, the right to delete it, the right to correct it, and the right not to be discriminated against for exercising those rights. We do not sell your personal information, and we do not share it for cross-context behavioural advertising — there is nothing to opt out of, because it does not happen.
Children
MelonSense is not directed at children. We do not knowingly collect data from anyone under 13, or under 16 in the European Economic Area and the UK where a higher age applies. If you believe a child has created an account, email us and we will delete it.
Changes
If this policy changes materially we will update the date above and, where the change affects how your data is used, notify you in the app.