Privacy policy

Effective 26 September 2026

This policy covers the Chicago Restaurants: Ranked app for iPhone and iPad (shown on your home screen as “Chi Ranked”) and this website. Both are published by Nicholas Soderstrom, a sole proprietor in Illinois, USA (“we”, “us”).

What the app collects

Nothing. The app has no account or sign-in, no analytics or crash-reporting service, no advertising, and no third-party tracking code. We do not receive, store, sell or share any information about you. The restaurant data is built into the app, so browsing, searching and filtering happen on your device.

Location

Location is optional. If you allow it (“While Using the App”), the app uses your location on your device to show you on the map and to sort places by distance. It is never sent to us or to anyone else, and it is not stored after you close the app. You can say no and use everything else, or change your choice at any time in Settings › Privacy & Security › Location Services › Chi Ranked.

Saved places

Places you save are stored only on your device. They are removed when you unsave them or delete the app. Like other app data, they can be part of your own iCloud or computer backup if you use one; that backup is handled by Apple under your settings.

Apple services you choose to use

The map is provided by Apple Maps, which loads map tiles from Apple. Tapping Directions opens the address in Apple Maps, tapping a website opens it in your browser, and Share uses the iOS share sheet. Links to the City of Chicago’s inspection records and to our GitHub pages open in your browser. Those services are covered by Apple’s privacy policy or the website’s own policy, not by us. If you have chosen to share analytics with app developers in your device settings, Apple may give us anonymous crash reports and usage statistics under Apple’s privacy policy; the app itself sends nothing.

The data in the app

The app shows public information about businesses, not about you: City of Chicago food inspection and business license records, Cook County Assessor property values, Michelin Guide and James Beard Foundation honors, published sales figures and opening years that we verified by hand, and Overture Maps places data. The app shows business names only, never a licensee’s personal name. If you think something shown about a business is wrong, see the support page.

This website

This site uses no cookies, no analytics and no third-party scripts or fonts. It is hosted on GitHub Pages; GitHub may log basic technical information such as IP addresses to run and secure its service, as described in the GitHub General Privacy Statement.

Contacting us

Email work-with-nick@gmail.com. We use what you send only to answer you and fix the app, and we don’t share it. If you choose to open a public issue on GitHub instead, it is visible to anyone and handled by GitHub under its own privacy statement, so leave out personal information.

Children

The app is a general-audience reference app. It collects no information from anyone, including children under 13.

Your rights

Because we hold no personal information about you, there is nothing for us to access, correct, export or delete. Deleting the app removes everything it stored on your device.

Changes

If this policy changes, the new version will be posted here with a new effective date. If the app ever starts collecting data, this page and the App Store privacy details will say so before it happens.

Related: Terms of use · Help & support