Privacy Policy
This Privacy Policy explains how The Chilli Index (“we”, “us”, “our”) collects, uses, and protects your personal information when you visit thechilliindex.com (the “Site”) and use our services — including creating a Sprowt account and grow tracker, using our AI features, subscribing to Sprowt Premium, and signing up to our newsletter or ebook waitlist.
The Chilli Index is operated by Digitopia Design Ltd, a company registered in England and Wales (company number 12037302), with its registered office at 124 City Road, London, EC1V 2NX, United Kingdom. We are registered with the UK Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) under reference ZC160761. We are the “controller” of your personal data for the purposes of UK data protection law (the UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018).
Information we collect
We collect only the information we need to run the Site and the services you ask for:
- Email address — when you join our newsletter or the Seed to Spice ebook waitlist, or contact us by email.
- Account information — if you sign in (for example, site administrators), we process the email address used for passwordless “magic link” sign-in.
- Usage and device data — collected automatically through analytics and our hosting provider, such as pages visited, referring site, approximate location (from IP address), browser, and device type.
- Account content — if you create a Sprowt account, the grow logs, notes, and photos you choose to add, so we can provide the tracker and its AI features.
- Location for weather alerts — only if you opt in, the town or coordinates you provide (stored rounded to about 1 km), used solely to fetch a local forecast for frost and heat warnings. You can remove it at any time.
- Event submissions — if you submit a chilli event, the event details you provide and, optionally, your email address, which we use only to check a detail with you and never publish.
We do not collect special-category data. If you subscribe to Sprowt Premium, your payment is handled entirely on Stripe’s hosted checkout — we never see or store your full card details, and we receive only your subscription status and billing dates back from Stripe. (The Seed to Spice ebook is currently a waitlist; any future ebook checkout will likewise be handled by a third-party provider with its own privacy policy.)
How we use your information
We use your personal data to:
- Send you our newsletter or waitlist updates, where you have asked us to.
- Operate, secure, and improve the Site and its content.
- Respond to your enquiries and provide support.
- Meet our legal and regulatory obligations.
Legal bases for processing
Under the UK GDPR, we rely on the following legal bases:
- Consent — for sending you marketing emails (newsletter and waitlist) and for setting non-essential cookies such as analytics. You can withdraw consent at any time.
- Legitimate interests — for keeping the Site secure and working well, balanced against your rights.
- Legal obligation — where we must process data to comply with the law.
Your photos and grow logs
When you use the AI plant doctor or chilli identifier, your photo is sent to our AI provider (Anthropic) to generate a result, and is not retained by them for training. We store the derived result (for example, the issue or variety identified), but we do not keep the photo for these features beyond producing your answer.
Photos you add to your grow logs are stored so you can see them in your diary. They remain private to your account unless you choose to make your profile public.
Two optional, separate consents — both off by default and changeable any time in your account settings:
- Help improve diagnoses — lets us use your photos to improve the accuracy of our AI features.
- Feature my photos publicly — lets us feature your photos in guides and marketing, without your personal details.
We will not use your photos for either purpose unless you have turned on the matching consent, and withdrawing a consent stops that use going forward.
Public profiles, reviews and lists
Your Sprowt account and grow tracker are private by default. Some things only become visible to others if you choose to make them public:
- Public profile — if you claim a username and switch your profile to public, your page at /u/your-username shows your display name, any bio and location you add, the chillies you have logged, and summary statistics.
- Reviews — a review you publish appears on the relevant variety page next to your username and rating once approved. Reviews are public even if your profile is private, so please don’t include anything in a review or bio you would not want shown publicly.
- Public lists — any list you mark as public is visible to anyone with its link.
Photos are checked before they can appear publicly. You can make your profile private again, or edit or delete your content, at any time.
Affiliate links
Some pages contain affiliate links to third-party retailers (for example, seed suppliers and equipment). If you follow these links, the third-party site is responsible for its own data collection and privacy practices, which are governed by its own privacy policy. We earn a commission from qualifying purchases, at no extra cost to you.
International transfers
Some of our service providers are based outside the UK (for example, in the United States). Where personal data is transferred internationally, we rely on appropriate safeguards such as the UK International Data Transfer Agreement or equivalent approved mechanisms.
Data retention
We keep your personal data only for as long as we need it for the purposes set out in this policy. We keep newsletter and waitlist data until you unsubscribe or ask us to delete it. Analytics data is retained in line with our providers’ standard retention periods.
Your rights
Under UK data protection law you have the right to:
- Access the personal data we hold about you.
- Ask us to correct inaccurate or incomplete data.
- Ask us to delete your data, or restrict or object to its processing.
- Withdraw consent at any time (for example, by using the unsubscribe link in any email).
- Request a copy of your data in a portable format.
To exercise any of these rights, contact us at hello@thechilliindex.com. You also have the right to complain to the UK Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) at ico.org.uk.
Children
The Site is not directed at children, and we do not knowingly collect personal data from anyone under the age of 16. If you believe a child has provided us with personal data, please contact us and we will delete it.
Changes to this policy
We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. When we do, we will revise the “last updated” date at the top of this page. Significant changes may be highlighted on the Site.
Contact us
If you have any questions about this policy or how we handle your data, contact us at hello@thechilliindex.com.
Digitopia Design Ltd · Registered in England and Wales (company no. 12037302) · ICO reference ZC160761 · 124 City Road, London, EC1V 2NX