Privacy Policy
Last updated: October 6, 2026
This policy explains how PawFriend ("we", "us") handles personal data when you use the PawFriend app (iOS and Android, package com.pawfrnd.app) and the website pawfrnd.com. PawFriend is the data controller. For anything about your data, write to hello@pawfrnd.com.
What we collect, and why
- Account: email address and password, or your Google account if you choose "Continue with Google"; username, display name, bio, profile photo, and the country you pick at signup. Why: to run your account. Legal basis: performance of our contract with you (GDPR Art. 6(1)(b)).
- Pet profiles: name, species, breed, weight, photos, food and notes; for breeding listings, pedigree and health-test details. These describe your animal, not you.
- Walker profile: optional height and weight, used only to estimate calories and steps on your walks, and readable only by you. Legal basis: contract (Art. 6(1)(b)); you can leave both empty.
- Location:
- while the app is open, to show nearby places and to check you really are at a park when you check in;
- while you record a walk, including in the background with the screen off; the route of each walk is saved to your walk history;
- if you open the radar, your precise position is shared live with your PawFriends (subject to your visibility setting and blocks), refreshed about every 20 seconds and removed when you close the radar.
- Content you create: posts, stories (photos, videos and their audio), comments, reviews, place suggestions and photos, lost-pet and hazard reports, and messages to other users. Legal basis: contract (Art. 6(1)(b)).
- Rewards and orders: your Bones balance and its history, and pickup orders you place with partner shops. Legal basis: contract.
- Purchases: if you buy something in the app, Apple or Google processes the payment; we receive the purchase status through RevenueCat, never your card details. Legal basis: contract. We also record when you open the offer to unlock a country, where you opened it from and what you chose there, to understand how many people consider Premium. These records stay in our own database and are deleted with your account. Legal basis: our legitimate interest in improving the app (Art. 6(1)(f)).
- Notifications: a push token for your device and your app language. Legal basis: consent, given through the system notification permission.
- Business applications: on this website, businesses can apply to join: name, type, city and email. Legal basis: steps taken at your request before a contract (Art. 6(1)(b)).
- Security: we keep the records needed to prevent abuse, such as rate limits on reports and rewards. Legal basis: our legitimate interest in keeping the service safe and fair (Art. 6(1)(f)).
We do not use advertising networks or third-party analytics or tracking tools, we do not sell your data, and we do not make decisions about you based solely on automated processing.
Who can see it
- Other users see what you publish: your profile, pets, posts, stories, reviews and reports. Direct and group messages are visible only to the people in that conversation. Your check-ins and live position follow your visibility setting (everyone / PawFriends only / nobody).
- Partner shops see the pickup orders you place with them.
- Service providers who process data on our behalf:
- Supabase: database, accounts and file storage (servers in the EU, Ireland);
- Expo (650 Industries): delivery of push notifications;
- RevenueCat: management of in-app purchases;
- Apple and Google: app distribution, payments, and sign-in with Google if you use it;
- Vercel: hosting of this website.
Transfers outside the EU
Expo, RevenueCat, Apple, Google and Vercel are based in the United States, so some data, such as your push token, purchase status, or the IP address of your request, may be processed there. These transfers rely on the EU-US Data Privacy Framework where the provider is certified, or on the European Commission's Standard Contractual Clauses.
How long we keep it
- Your account and everything tied to it, until you delete your account.
- Posts and pets you delete in the app are removed straight away. Walks and reviews can't yet be deleted one by one in the app: they are kept until you delete your account, or you can ask us to delete specific ones at any time.
- Live radar position: removed when you close the radar, and ignored after 90 seconds without an update.
- Lost-pet and hazard reports are shown on the map for 7 days.
- Business applications: until they are reviewed and for as long as the business stays a partner.
Deleting your account
In the app, go to Settings → Delete my account. This permanently deletes your profile, pets, posts, reviews, messages, walks and check-ins right away. Places you suggested stay on the map, without your name attached. Backups of our database are overwritten on a rolling basis.
Your rights
Under the GDPR you can ask to access, correct, delete or export your data, to restrict or object to how we process it, and to withdraw any consent you have given, without affecting what happened before. Write to hello@pawfrnd.com and we will reply within one month. You also have the right to lodge a complaint with a data protection authority, in Italy, the Garante per la protezione dei dati personali (garanteprivacy.it), or the one where you live.
Age
You must be at least 13 to use PawFriend, or older where your country requires it: 14 in Italy and Spain, 15 in France, 16 in Germany. We do not knowingly collect data from anyone younger.
This website
pawfrnd.com sets no cookies. It saves only your language choice in your browser's local storage, so you are not redirected again. Fonts are served from our own server.
Changes
If we change this policy in a way that matters, we will update the date at the top and tell you in the app.