The patrol has backup.

What does the app look for?

Visible food or debris in your smile—not just pepper. It is an entertainment app, not a promise that your teeth are food-free. Small fragments, shadows, tooth features and lighting can fool the patrol. A mirror is still your best second opinion.

The result looks wrong

“No obvious food spotted” can miss food. Highlighted areas can be false alarms: they are clues to check, not proof, a complete inventory or confirmed food identities. “The patrol isn’t sure” is not an all-clear. We do not claim an accuracy percentage.

Use bright, even light, keep your whole face in view and show your teeth. “Take a fresh photo” returns to the camera instead of re-scoring the same image.

The camera is unavailable

In iPhone Settings, find Pepper Patrol (under Apps on newer iOS versions) and enable Camera access. If camera access is restricted on your device, check Screen Time or your device administrator. Pepper Patrol needs a working front camera.

The app cannot see my smile

Keep your whole face in view so the app can crop your mouth locally, then show your teeth in good light. Changing angle or lighting may change the result; that does not prove either scan was correct.

The patrol cannot report back

Scans require an internet connection and explicit permission to send your mouth crop to Visionz and Cloudflare. Earlier Jev builds need the current Cloudflare-enabled build and fresh upload permission. A slow start on our free hosting plan can take over a minute. A service error means no result was produced, not that your teeth are clear. Check your connection and try a fresh scan; there is no offline detection fallback.

What happens to my photos?

After you agree, the app sends only an upright mouth crop to Visionz and Cloudflare’s hosted Qwen model for analysis. The full selfie stays on your device. The app and Visionz’s scan service do not save scan photos. Cloudflare says it does not train or improve models or services with inputs and outputs without explicit consent, and Visionz does not opt in; this is not a zero-retention promise. Sharing sends only a photo-free result card. Revoke upload permission in the app’s Privacy screen. Read the full privacy policy, also available offline from the app’s Privacy button.