Privacy policy

Last updated: June 2026

1. Information we collect

When you use PetCool, we may collect:

• Account information: email address, display name, and profile photo.
• Pet information: pet name, species, breed, date of birth, gender, photos, and the stats, levels, and bio you build in the app.
• Pet health records (coming soon — applies when the feature launches): if you choose to record them, vaccinations, vet visits, weight history, and medications. These describe your pet, but we will treat them with the same care as sensitive personal data. We collect none of this today.
• Content you create: photos, videos, captions, comments, and cheers.
• Location data: your precise location (GPS) when you use territory marking and the map — only with your permission, only while you use those features. We never collect background location.
• Usage data: how you interact with the app — features used, challenges completed, coins and medals earned, articles read.
• Device and diagnostic data: device type, operating system, app version, crash reports, and push-notification tokens.
• Purchase information (when our store launches): what you bought and when. Payments are processed by Apple — we never see or store your card number.

2. How we use your information

• Provide and improve the PetCool experience.
• Display your pet profiles, posts, and achievements to other users.
• Track your progress in challenges, quizzes, hunts, and learning modules.
• Show nearby parks, territories, and leaderboards on the map.
• Power reminders tied to health records you add (e.g. vaccination dates).
• Send notifications about cheers, comments, medals, and territory updates (if enabled).
• Diagnose crashes and understand which features matter, so we build better ones.
• Prevent abuse and enforce our community guidelines and Terms of Service — content you post may be reviewed by automated systems and our team for this purpose.

Where laws like the GDPR apply, our legal bases are: performing our contract with you (the core service), our legitimate interests (analytics, crash reporting, abuse prevention), and your consent (location, notifications, and future health records) — which you can withdraw at any time.

We do not sell your personal information, and we do not share it with advertisers.

3. What other people can see

• Inside the app: your pet profiles, posts, and achievements are visible to other PetCool users. You can block users, hide posts, and report content that breaks the community guidelines.
• Pet health records will never be public. When the feature launches, they will not be shown to other users and will never appear on public pages.
• QR collar-tag pages: if you print a PetCool collar tag, anyone who scans it sees a public page (petcool.app/pet/…) with your pet’s name, photo, species, breed, gender, age, bio, level, and medal count — plus your display name and profile photo. It never shows your email, phone number, or location. A finder contacts you through a relay form; we pass the message to you without exposing your contact details.
• Co-owners: if you invite a co-owner to a pet, they can see and edit that pet’s profile and activity.

4. Service providers we rely on

We share data with the providers that run PetCool, bound by data-processing agreements:

• Supabase — database, authentication, and media storage, protected by row-level security so users can only access what’s theirs.
• Mapbox — renders the map; receives the coordinates needed to show the map around you.
• PostHog — product analytics (which features get used).
• Sentry — crash and error reporting.
• Apple & Expo — push-notification delivery and (in the future) payment processing.
• Vercel — hosts this website and its anonymous page-view analytics.

We may also disclose information to law enforcement if required by law or to protect someone’s safety, and — if PetCool is ever part of a merger, acquisition, or asset sale — to the parties involved, under this policy’s protections. If a future store ships physical goods, order and shipping details will be shared with fulfillment partners — we’ll update this policy before that launches.

5. Coins and purchases

• Coins earned in PetCool are a virtual reward. They have no monetary value, cannot be redeemed for cash, and cannot be transferred between accounts.
• We may modify, expire, or discontinue coins, rewards, and store items as the product evolves.
• When purchases launch, they will be processed by Apple through the App Store, under Apple’s payment terms and refund rules. We receive confirmation of your purchase, never your payment credentials.
• Deleting your account forfeits any remaining coin balance.

6. Data storage & security

Your data is stored encrypted in transit and at rest, on infrastructure located in the United States. Where the law requires safeguards for international transfers, we rely on measures such as Standard Contractual Clauses in our providers’ data-processing agreements. We retain your data while your account is active; diagnostic and analytics data is kept only for limited periods. When you delete your account, your data is removed promptly, residual copies in routine backups are purged as those backups rotate, and we may retain limited records where required by law or needed to prevent abuse (for example, moderation and ban records).

7. Your rights

• Access & portability: view your information in the app, or email us for a copy of your data.
• Correction: update your profile and pet information anytime.
• Deletion: delete your account in Settings. This permanently removes your data, pets, posts, coins, and progress.
• Withdraw consent: disable location access or notifications anytime in your device settings — the rest of the app keeps working.
• Object or complain: contact us about any processing you disagree with; depending on where you live (e.g. the EU/EEA, UK, California, or Mexico) you may also have statutory rights to object, restrict processing, or complain to your local data-protection authority.
• Mexico (LFPDPPP): you may exercise your ARCO rights — Access, Rectification, Cancellation, and Opposition — and revoke consent at any time by emailing us at the address below.
• California: you have the rights to know, delete, and correct, and we will never discriminate against you for exercising them. We do not sell or share personal information as defined by the CCPA/CPRA.

To exercise any of these rights, use the in-app tools or email us — we respond to verified requests within the timelines your local law sets.

8. Children’s privacy

PetCool is not intended for children under 13 (or the higher minimum age your local law sets). We do not knowingly collect information from children. If you believe a child has provided us data, contact us and we will delete it promptly.

9. Changes to this policy

We may update this policy as PetCool grows — for example, when health records or the store launch. We’ll notify you of significant changes through the app, and the date at the top always reflects the current version.

10. Contact us

Questions about this policy or your data: support@petcool.org