Privacy Policy

Version 2.6 · Last updated October 15, 2026 · Archived. Current version

This document describes what OrderInsider actually collects and holds, on the website and in the app. OrderInsider is operated by OrderInsider LLC, a North Carolina limited liability company, which is responsible for the information described here. It has not been reviewed by an attorney and is not legal advice.

Without an account

You can use OrderInsider without an account, and we do not ask for your name, email, or phone number to do so. Your phone or browser is given a random device identifier. When you pick a dish, we store the pick with that identifier, the time, your IP address and browser or app details. We keep those details to stop one person casting many picks and to investigate manipulation; they are never shown to anyone. We also record which restaurant pages a device opened and what was shown on its For You page, so recommendations improve over time.

Searches and taps. When anyone searches, we record the words searched, how many results came back, which result was opened, and whether it was on the website or the app, but not the device identifier or IP address of whoever searched. When anyone opens a restaurant’s directions, website, phone number or similar, we add one to an anonymous count for that restaurant. These are counts, not records of who did what, and they are what restaurants see in their dashboards and OrderInsights reports.

The Charlotte feed. Picks made in the last week appear on a public feed in the app, grouped by restaurant and by day, never by time of day. They show the dishes and the restaurant, and no name, photo or other detail about who picked them unless that person chose to show their first name.

Comments. If you comment on a pick, we store the comment, any display name you type, and the same device, IP and browser details. Comments and names you choose to add are public on that restaurant’s page, and the restaurant can reply.

Dish photos. If you add a photo to a pick, your phone resizes it and removes its location and other metadata before sending it. An automated AI check reviews the photo before it is posted; photos that don’t pass are not stored. Posted photos are public on that restaurant’s page and on the Charlotte feed, with the same name rules as your picks. You can remove your photo at any time, and other guests can report one.

Check numbers. If you enter the number from your check, we look it up in the restaurant’s point of sale system to show what your table ordered. We keep a record that a lookup happened and whether it matched, not the number or the order.

With an account

An account is optional. It needs only your email address, which we use to send your sign in code, plus any emails you choose to get (see Notifications and email below). Signing in links your devices, so your picks follow you to a new phone. You can add a first and last name and a photo. Your last name and photo are shown only to people you have added as friends, never on restaurant pages and never to restaurants. Your first name can also appear on the public Charlotte feed, but only if you switch that on in your profile, and you can switch it off at any time.

Friends you add through an invite link can see your name, photo and your picks. Plans you make store the restaurant, time, note and who was invited and how they answered, visible to the people in that plan.

My Table. You can start a table (a group with a name and an emoji or picture) or join one through its invite link. We store the table, who is at it, who invited whom, and when they joined. Anyone with the link can join, up to 50 people. Everyone at a table sees each other’s first and last name, photo, and the picks and notes they made in the last 30 days, and can add each other as friends from there. A table’s picture is stored in public file storage under a random name. The invite page shows the table’s name, picture, how many people are at it, the first name of the person who shared it, and a few of their photos. You can leave a table at any time, and the person who started it can remove people.

Your table. When you choose friends to eat with, we compare everyone’s picks to suggest places that suit the whole table. Each person at the table sees how well each place fits each of you, and the dishes each of you has picked there. Only friends and people you share a table with can be added, and nothing about the comparison is stored afterwards.

Insiders

Insiders are guests we have invited to make their picks public; nobody becomes one without agreeing to it. An Insider’s profile shows their handle, first and last name, photo, short bio, follower count, a list of ten places they chose, and their picks and comments from the last twelve months, to anyone. Everyone else’s picks stay as described above.

You can follow an Insider without an account. We store the follow with your device identifier and record when an Insider’s link or profile is opened, followed, or used to open a restaurant, so we can count real followers. Insiders see their follower count, not who their followers are. We do not pay Insiders and cannot see any arrangement an Insider has with a restaurant; see Section 9 of the Terms.

Notifications and email

In the app, notifications are off until you turn them on. If you do, we store your phone’s notification address with its device identifier, and which kinds you want. We send: a Sunday recap at 5 PM (your week’s picks, or a short reminder on a week without any, which stops after two in a row); dinner plans (an invite, a friend’s answer, a plan called off, a reminder on the day, and the next morning a question about what you ordered, unless you’ve already added it); friends (when someone uses your invite link); and bites (when a bite of yours that was held for review goes up, and when it reaches 3 and then 10 saves, never for views). We send at most two a day, apart from plan invites and cancellations. The recap has its own switch in the app and plans and friends share another, and you can turn all of them off in your phone’s settings. We keep a record of each one sent and whether it was opened, to get the timing right.

The notifications list. Each of these is also kept in the app’s notifications list (the bell on Social), whether or not notifications are switched on, so nothing is missed. We store what it said, who it was for, and when you read it. Entries are deleted after 30 days.

By email, the Sunday recap is sent only if you ask for it, and a plan invite is emailed when a friend invites you. Every email has a one click unsubscribe link, and both can be switched off from your account. If you have the app, it tells us so (it sends its device identifier when it opens), and we send these as notifications there instead, never both.

Blocking

You can block anyone whose comments, photos or picks you see. We store who blocked whom so their posts stay hidden from you on every device you use, and remove any friend connection between you. They are not told. You can unblock from your profile.

Bites (short videos)

If you post a bite, we store the video and its sound, the dishes you tagged, your caption, who you chose to show it to (Charlotte, Friends, Groups), when you posted it, and the device and network details it was sent from. Bites are streamed through Mux, which also writes an automatic transcript of the sound; it isn’t shown to anyone and is used only to check what’s said. Before a bite goes up, a few still frames, the caption, the dish names and, once it’s ready, the transcript are checked by an AI model (Anthropic’s Claude) for content that breaks the rules; a bite it isn’t sure about is held for a person to look at. Your first name shows on a bite on the same terms as on the feed.

What we count. When someone watches a bite we record, against their device and not their name: a view (after two seconds, once per device), whether they watched to the end, whether they saved it, shared it, or tapped through to the restaurant or a dish. The poster sees their own view count and everyone sees how many people saved a bite. Restaurants see totals for their own bites and dishes, never who posted or who watched. Saving a bite also adds its restaurant to your Saved list. Which bites you saved is shown only to you.

How long bites stay. A bite shows while a dish it’s tagged to is on the restaurant’s menu, for up to 12 months; after that only you can see it, for 90 days, and then it’s deleted. A bite you delete, or one we take down, is taken off at once and its files are deleted after 30 days. Bites we are legally required to report are kept for as long as the law requires (currently one year) and then deleted.

Location and photos in the app

If you allow it, the app uses your location to show how far away each restaurant is. That happens on your phone: your location is not sent to us or stored. The app uses your camera or photo library only when you add a dish photo, post a bite, or choose a profile picture, and only what you choose is uploaded. The microphone is used only while you record a bite.

Review data

We hold a copy of restaurant reviews that were published publicly on the internet, including the reviewer’s public display name, star rating, review text, and date. We use it privately, to understand which dishes guests talk about and to prepare reports for restaurants. It is not shown on OrderInsider. We do not sell it, build profiles of reviewers, or try to identify or contact them.

If you wrote a review and would rather it not be held here, email hello@theorderinsider.com with enough detail to find it and we will delete our copy. You do not need an account and you do not need to explain why.

Restaurants

For restaurants we hold: the listing itself (name, address, menu, and related details); consent records (the name, email, and role of the person who chose a listing option, the date, the version of the terms they accepted, and the IP address and browser the acceptance came from, kept as evidence the agreement happened); claim requests(the name, role and contact phone of someone claiming a page, how they chose to have it confirmed, and any note they add, used only to confirm they work there); the email of anyone who signs in to manage a restaurant; reports a restaurant’s managers send us about guest content; and, for subscribers, billing details handled by Stripe. We never see or store full card numbers.

Service providers

We share information only with the providers that run OrderInsider: Supabase (database, sign in and file storage), Vercel (hosting), Stripe (payments), Resend (email), Expo (delivering app notifications through Apple and Google), Mux (storing, streaming and captioning bites), Toast (check lookups at restaurants that use it), Outscraper (the vendor we obtain public review data from), Anthropic and Voyage AI (models we use to describe and compare menu items, to analyse review text, and, for Anthropic, to check dish photos and bites before they go up, which means that material is sent to them for processing). We do not sell personal information, we do not share it for advertising, and the app contains no advertising or third party tracking. We may publish or share aggregate statistics, such as which dishes or cuisines Charlotte is picking on which days, but only as totals that cannot identify any person.

Retention and deleting your account

You can delete your account at any time from the account screen in the app, or by emailing us. Deleting it removes your email, name, photo, friends, plans, notifications list and any Insider profile, and takes you out of every table you are at (a table you started passes to the person who has been there longest, and closes if you were the last one), and removes your name from your comments. It also deletes your dish photos and your bites (a bite that is being reviewed or that we are required to keep for a report is kept until that is finished). Your picks stay on the boards as anonymous counts that are no longer linked to anyone, and your comments stay without a name, so a restaurant’s numbers do not change when somebody leaves. The device, IP and browser details stored with picks are kept for integrity purposes.

Listings are kept while a restaurant is listed and for a reasonable period after. Consent records are kept indefinitely, including records of restaurants that asked to be removed, because deleting a removal record would risk that restaurant being listed again by mistake.

Your choices

Anyone may ask what we hold about them, ask for it to be corrected, or ask for it to be deleted, by emailing hello@theorderinsider.com. That includes diners, review authors, and restaurant staff. Depending on where you live you may have additional rights under state privacy law; we apply the same process to everyone who asks. Restaurants can have a listing removed at any time under Section 5 of the Terms.

Security & children

We use reputable providers and reasonable safeguards, though no system is perfectly secure. OrderInsider is a general audience restaurant service and is not directed to children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect their information.

Changes & contact

We may update this policy; the version and date above will change. Earlier versions are archived: version 2.5 and version 1. Questions or requests? Email hello@theorderinsider.com or call 703-939-0996.