Privacy Policy

1. Who We Are

Pawfile is a pet community platform that lets users create pet profiles, share diary entries and memories, track and share pet walks, discover pet-friendly places and pet-care professionals, browse and adopt pets, and connect with other pet owners worldwide. For privacy-related inquiries, use the in-app feedback form or visit our Support page.

2. What Data We Collect

2.1 Account Information

When you sign up via Apple or Google, we receive from those services:

• Your name and email address (Apple only shares these on first sign-in; Google provides them on every sign-in)
• A unique account identifier (an internal ID used to link your account to your sign-in provider)
• Your profile picture (if provided by the OAuth provider)

2.2 Profile Data

Information you voluntarily provide in your profile:

• Display name, bio, title, and work location
• Profile photo and cover photo
• Social media links (Instagram, X, Facebook, YouTube, Threads, TikTok, website)
• Country code (detected from your IP address or device locale at registration)

2.3 Pet Data

Information you add about your pets:

• Pet name, species, gender, birthday, and photos
• Medical records: vaccinations, medications, conditions, health logs, and weight history
• Diary entries and memories
• Microchip ID (if provided)
• Appointments, care reminders, and care notes (such as allergies)
• Adoption listing status (Available, On Trial, or Adopted)
• Pet moments count (cumulative petting interactions received from other users)
• Last activity timestamp (used to rank your pet in the Discover feed; updated when you post a diary entry)

2.4 User-Generated Content

• Profile and pet profile text, photos, and videos
• Pet-friendly places, tags, and reviews you add to the Maps feature
• Walk routes you choose to share publicly
• Adoption inquiry messages
• Direct messages you send and receive
• Comments you leave on pet profiles, and petting interactions (pet moments) you send to other users' pets
• Paws of approval endorsements you give to other users (shown publicly on their profile)
• Professional profile details you choose to publish (role, bio, contact details, and workplace location)
• Feedback you submit through the app

2.5 Location & Walk Data

Pawfile may request access to your device location to centre the map and show nearby pet-friendly places. If you use the walk-tracking feature and grant location permission, we record your device's GPS position for the duration of an active walk — including in the background, where you have granted background location permission — and store the recorded route with your walk history. While a walk is active and broadcasting is on, other users may see your approximate position as a live walker pin; the position shown to others is deliberately imprecise, and you can disable broadcasting at any time during a walk (stealth mode). Completed routes are private by default — you choose per walk whether to share a route publicly. A coarse area label (such as a neighbourhood name) is derived from a walk's starting point for your walk history.

Location is never collected outside map use or an active walk. Place searches on the Maps feature are processed by Google Maps Platform (see Section 6). If you enable calendar sync for appointments, events are written to your device's calendar and stay on your device.

2.6 Device Notification Data

If you enable push notifications, we store a device push token so we can deliver alerts related to your account activity (for example follows, care team actions, comments, profile updates, adoption-related updates, and messages).

2.7 Device & Usage Data

To personalise your experience (such as setting default region), we collect your device's IP address to determine a coarse location (e.g., country). The Apple App Store may also automatically collect basic technical diagnostics such as device type, operating system version, and crash reports, subject to your device's privacy settings. We may review aggregated, anonymised diagnostic data provided by Apple or Google to improve app stability.

We also use PostHog, a privacy-focused analytics platform, to collect pseudonymous usage data — such as which screens are viewed and which features are used. Analytics events are linked to an opaque account identifier only; your name and email address are never sent to PostHog. This helps us understand app traffic and improve the experience.

3. How We Use Your Data

We use the information we collect to:

• Create and manage your account
• Display your profile and pet profiles to other users (subject to your privacy settings)
• Enable core interactions: follows, blocks, care teams, comments, and messaging
• Show nearby pet-friendly places and surface pet-care professionals to nearby users (professional profiles are discoverable by role and country)
• Record and display your walks, and show live walker pins while you broadcast
• Facilitate pet adoption connections
• Rank pets in the Discover feed based on recent diary activity
• Personalise the app in your preferred language
• Send push notifications regarding your account activity
• Improve the app through feedback and error analysis
• Enforce our Terms & Conditions and prevent abuse

4. Your Privacy Controls

You have granular control over your data visibility in Settings → Privacy:

• Make your pet profiles visible only to followers
• Hide your follower count or the follow button from your public profile
• Enable or disable incoming direct messages
• Disable incoming caretaker invitations so other users cannot send you connection requests for their pet profiles
• Walks: toggle live broadcasting off mid-walk (stealth mode) and choose per walk whether the route is public or private

Medical records are always private — only the pet owner, connected co-owners, and the pet's connected veterinarian can view them. Appointments are visible to the owner and co-owners only. These rules are enforced on our servers, not just in the app interface.

Diary entries are visible to anyone who can view the pet's profile, consistent with the pet's privacy settings.

Discover feed appearance — if your pet profile is set to private, it will not appear in the public Discover feed.

5. Data Sharing

We do not sell your personal data. We share data only in the following limited circumstances:

• With other users: Public profile info, pet profiles, shared walk routes, places, and reviews are visible per your privacy settings.
• With service providers: We use third-party services (listed in Section 6) solely to operate the app.
• For legal compliance: If required by applicable law, court order, or to protect the safety of users or the public.

6. Third-Party Services

Pawfile relies on the following third-party services, each with their own privacy policies:

• Clerk — Authentication and session management (clerk.com/privacy)
• Convex — Secure backend database hosting (convex.dev/privacy)
• Cloudflare R2 — Cloud storage for photos and videos (cloudflare.com/privacypolicy)
• Google Maps & Places API — Place search and map data (map tiles are provided by Apple Maps on iOS and Google Maps on Android) (policies.google.com/privacy)
• Apple Sign In / Google Sign In — OAuth authentication
• Expo Push Services — Delivery of device notifications
• PostHog — Anonymous usage analytics (posthog.com/privacy)

7. Data Retention

We retain your data for as long as your account is active. When you delete your account from Settings → Delete Account:

• All personal data, pet profiles, direct messages, walk history (including GPS tracks), saved places, endorsements, and associated media are permanently deleted, except where limited retention is required by law.
• Deletion is irreversible and typically completed within 30 days across all systems.

We may retain anonymised, aggregated data (with no personally identifiable information) for analytical purposes indefinitely.

Media files (photos and videos) you upload are stored via Cloudflare R2. While we take reasonable measures to maintain data integrity, we cannot guarantee against data loss caused by failures of third-party infrastructure. We recommend keeping personal backups of any media that is important to you.

8. Your Rights

Depending on your location, you may have the following rights regarding your personal data:

• Access: Request a copy of the data we hold about you.
• Correction: Update inaccurate data directly within the app or by contacting us.
• Deletion: Delete your account and data via Settings, or request deletion by contacting us.
• Portability: Request an export of your data in a machine-readable format.
• Objection: Object to certain types of data processing.

To exercise any of these rights, use the in-app feedback form or contact us through our Support page. We will respond within 30 days.

9. Children's Privacy

Pawfile is rated for users aged 9 and above on the Apple App Store. Users under 18 should use the app with a parent or guardian's permission.

While Pawfile is suitable for all ages, we genuinely believe that children and teenagers benefit most from real-world interactions with people and animals. We encourage younger users to prioritise physical experiences — spending time with their pets, playing outdoors, and building face-to-face connections — and to embrace digital tools more gradually as they grow. A healthy balance supports better long-term wellbeing.

We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13 without verifiable parental consent. If you believe a child has provided us with personal data, please contact us immediately and we will delete it promptly.

10. Data Security

We take reasonable technical and organisational measures to protect your data against unauthorised access, alteration, disclosure, or destruction. However, no method of transmission over the internet or electronic storage is 100% secure. We cannot guarantee absolute security.

All data is transmitted over encrypted connections (HTTPS/TLS). Authentication is handled by Clerk, which is SOC 2 Type II compliant.

11. International Data Transfers

Pawfile is a global product and your data may be processed and stored in servers located outside your country of residence. By using the app, you consent to the transfer of your data to countries that may have different data protection laws than your own.

12. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. We will notify you of material changes through the app. Your continued use of Pawfile after any update constitutes your acceptance of the revised policy. The “Last Updated” date at the top of this page indicates when the policy was last revised.

13. Contact Us

If you have questions, concerns, or requests regarding this Privacy Policy or our data practices, use the in-app feedback form or visit our Support page.