WIC Companion Privacy Notice

This notice explains how WIC Companion collects, uses, and protects information, and supplements the Auto Secure Login Master Privacy Policy. Both apply; where this notice provides additional protection or detail specific to WIC Companion, it controls for WIC Companion.

Why this app treats data carefully

WIC participation is sensitive, income-linked information. WIC Companion is built around minimizing what it collects and never turning participant data into a product.

Information we collect

• Account: email address and a password (stored as a salted hash, never in plain text).
• State selection: which state WIC agency you belong to, used only to select the correct approved-product list.
• Benefit categories and saved lists: the food categories you're shopping for and any lists you save, so you can reuse a previous trip.
• Store selection: the retailer and store you choose for a trip, used to query that retailer's stock/aisle data for the categories you selected.

We do not collect or store eWIC card numbers, payment information, or your actual benefit balance beyond what you choose to enter as a category total.

What we never do

• We do not sell or rent participant data to any third party.
• We do not share identity-linked benefit, shopping-list, or account data with any state agency, retailer, or advertiser.
• We do not run ad-tracking or third-party analytics SDKs in the app.

Optional, off-by-default data sharing

WIC Companion offers a setting, unchecked by default, to share anonymized, aggregated usage patterns (for example, which categories or items are frequently unavailable) with your state WIC agency, to help them understand stocking gaps. This setting:

• is off unless you affirmatively turn it on, and can be turned off again at any time;
• never transmits your identity, account, or raw shopping-list records — only aggregated counts;
• has no other recipient; it is not sold or shared with retailers, advertisers, or any other third party.

Retailer data

When you select a store for a trip, the category list (not your identity) is used to query that retailer's public product/location APIs for stock and aisle information. See each retailer's own privacy policy for how they handle API requests.

Retention and security

Saved lists and benefit categories are retained until you delete them or close your account. Passwords are stored as salted hashes, never in plain text; the app is served over HTTPS and uses secure session cookies. No system can guarantee absolute security.

Your choices

• Turn the anonymized-data-sharing setting on or off at any time in your account settings.
• Delete individual saved lists or items whenever you like.
• Request deletion of your account and its data at any time through the app or the contact form.

Changes and contact

We may update this notice and will post a new effective date. Questions may be sent through the contact form or to the support address shown in the app.