Frequently Asked Questions

Short, plain-language answers to the things people ask most. For the formal details, see our Privacy Policy, Terms of Service, and Community Guidelines.

What is Trays?

Trays is a recipe-sharing community for home cooks. You post recipes — a photo, the ingredients, the steps, and the tools you used — and they appear in the feeds of the cooks who follow you, newest first. You can like, comment, follow other cooks, and save recipes to your tray to cook later. There is no algorithm deciding what you see; you see the cooks you chose to follow.

Who is it for?

Home cooks — anyone who likes making food and wants to share what they cook or discover what other people are actually making. You do not need to be a professional or a food blogger. Trays is rated 13+.

Is it free?

Yes. Posting recipes, following cooks, reading your feed, searching, and saving to your tray are all free, and recipes are never put behind a paywall. There is one optional subscription, Trays Plus, which adds kitchen tools on top of the free app — see What is Trays Plus? below. You never have to subscribe to use Trays.

Do you have ads?

Trays may show clearly labeled sponsored placements. In the app, they can appear in your feed, in Find, and on the screen you see when you finish cooking a recipe — never inside a recipe’s ingredients or steps, never in your tray, and never in a way that reorders your feed. You still see the cooks you follow, newest first. On the website, sponsored placements may appear on public recipe pages, as described in our Privacy Policy.

We do not use advertising cookies or ad tracking, and there is no App Tracking Transparency prompt. Trays Plus removes sponsored placements from the app.

What is Trays Plus?

Trays Plus is an optional subscription that bundles the kitchen tools we build around the free app:

• Custom collections — organize your saved recipes onto your own shelves.
• Weekly meal planner — plan a week of meals from recipes you have saved.
• Automatic grocery list — a plain checklist built from the week you planned. It is a checklist, not a store: nothing is for sale in it.
• No ads, anywhere — sponsored placements are removed throughout the app.

Trays Plus never gates recipes. Every recipe on Trays is free to read, cook, save, and share whether or not you subscribe.

What does Trays Plus cost?

In the United States, Trays Plus is $3.99 per month or $29.99 per year. Both plans start with a 7-day free trial, and you are not charged if you cancel before the trial ends. Trays Plus is sold through the App Store, so the exact price in your local currency is shown before you confirm the purchase — that displayed price is what you pay. Subscriptions renew automatically until you cancel.

How do I restore a purchase?

If you reinstall Trays or sign in on a new device, open Settings, choose Trays Plus, and tap Restore purchases. Your subscription belongs to the Apple ID that bought it, so restoring works on any device signed in to that Apple ID.

How do I cancel Trays Plus?

Cancel through Apple, not inside Trays: open the iOS Settings app, tap your name, then Subscriptions, then Trays Plus, then Cancel Subscription. Cancelling during the free trial means you are not charged.

When a subscription ends, nothing you made is deleted. Your collections and planned weeks stay readable, and you can still tick off and remove items — the Plus tools simply stop accepting new additions until you subscribe again. Refund requests are handled by Apple, as described in our Terms of Service.

Do you track me?

No. We do not run third-party analytics, we do not collect advertising identifiers, and we do not track you across other apps or websites — so there is no App Tracking Transparency prompt. We collect only what is needed to run the service (your account info, the content you post, and basic server logs). The full breakdown is in our Privacy Policy.

How do I report a problem?

If a post or a cook breaks our Community Guidelines, use the report option on the post, or block the user to stop seeing their content and hide yours from them. For anything else — a bug, a safety concern, or a question — email us at support@trays.app and we will look into it.

How do I delete my account?

Open Settings and choose Delete account. This permanently removes your account and your content. Deletion is honored within 30 days, and backups are purged within 90 days, as described in our Privacy Policy. If you have trouble, email support@trays.app.

Deleting your account does not cancel a Trays Plus subscription — cancel that through Apple as described above, or it will keep renewing.

Where does my data live?

Your account data, posts, and comments are stored in a Postgres database hosted by Fly.io in Toronto, Canada. Recipe photos are stored with Tigris Data. We do not sell your personal information. Note that posts, recipes, comments, and profiles are public by default and can be viewed on the web — see Privacy Policy §7 for exactly what is public versus private.

How do I contact support?

Email us at support@trays.app. We read every message.