Privacy Policy

Last updated: 10/21/26

Costco Watchlist helps you keep track of the Costco items you care about and lets you know when they go on sale. This page explains what information the app uses and why.

Costco Watchlist is an independent app. It isn't affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Costco Wholesale Corporation.

What we collect

• An anonymous ID. You don't create an account or sign in. The app gives your device a random ID that isn't tied to your name, email, or phone number.
• Your watchlist. The products, brands, and categories you choose to watch, including anything you type in yourself.
• Your notification token. If you allow notifications, we store a token that lets us send alerts to your device, along with your notification preference.
• Your subscription status. If you subscribe, Apple handles the payment. We use a service called RevenueCat to check whether your subscription is active. It receives your anonymous ID and your purchase status from Apple. We never see your card details or your Apple ID.
• The date you first opened the app. The app is free to use for 30 days. We store the date you first opened it, along with your anonymous ID, so we can tell when the free period ends. A copy is also kept in your phone's secure storage, so deleting and reinstalling the app doesn't restart the free period.
• Basic technical info. The services we use may automatically receive things like your device type, iOS version, and IP address when the app connects to them.

In the app itself, we don't collect your name, email address, phone number, contacts, photos, or location. (If you sign up for email updates on our website, we do collect your email address for that specific purpose — see "Email signup on our website" below.)

How we use it

We use this information to remember your watchlist, send you alerts when something on it goes on sale, check that your subscription is active, work out when your free period ends, and keep the app running smoothly and securely.

Who helps us run the app

We rely on a few services to make the app work. They only handle your information to provide those services to us:

• Google Firebase (our database, anonymous sign-in, server functions, file storage, and hosting)
• Apple Push Notification service and Expo (delivering notifications)
• RevenueCat (checking subscription status)
• Apple (App Store payments and subscriptions)

We don't sell your information. We don't share it with advertisers or data brokers, and we don't use it to track you across other companies' apps or websites.

Anonymous usage events

We log a small number of anonymous events about how the app is used, tied only to the random anonymous ID described above — never your name, email, location, or any advertising ID. These events are:

• first_open — you opened the app for the first time.
• item_added — you added something to your watchlist.
• items_3_plus — your watchlist reached 3 items.
• alert_sent — we sent you a sale alert.
• alert_opened — you opened a notification we sent.
• paywall_shown — you saw the subscription screen.
• subscription_purchased — you subscribed, including which plan (monthly or annual).

Each event records its name, a timestamp, and a small count or value where relevant. We also keep a server-recorded timestamp of the very first time an alert was ever sent to you.

We use these only to understand how the app is used and to improve it. We don't share them for advertising or tracking, and we don't sell them. We currently intend to keep them for 13 months and then delete them automatically, though that automatic deletion isn't turned on yet. Since there are no accounts, you can ask us to delete your events by contacting us at the address below.

Email signup on our website

Our website (outside the app) lets you sign up for an email when the app launches. If you sign up, we collect:

• Your email address.
• The date and time you signed up.
• Which page you signed up from.
• The consent text you were shown and agreed to at the time you signed up.
• Your IP address, which we use briefly to prevent spam and abuse of the signup form.

Signup data is stored with Google Firebase.

We use this only to let you know when the app launches and to keep the signup form from being abused. We keep it until we've finished notifying people that the app has launched, or until you ask us to delete it, whichever comes first. To ask us to delete your email, contact us at the address below.

Keeping and deleting your data

Your watchlist stays until you remove things from it, which you can do anytime on the Watching screen. Deleting the app doesn't automatically delete what's stored on our servers. If you want your data (including a website email signup) deleted, email us at the address below.

Kids

Costco Watchlist isn't meant for children under 13, and we don't knowingly collect information from them.

Changes

If we change this policy, we'll post the new version on this page and update the date at the top.