Privacy Policy

DarPaws (“we”, “the app”) helps pet owners keep track of their pets’ health, find a pet sitter nearby and post lost or adoptable pets. This page explains what data the app collects, why, and how you can delete it.

Data we collect

• Account: your name, email address and password (stored only as a secure hash). If you sign in with Google, we receive your name, email address and profile picture.
• Your pets: name, type, breed, age, photo, special needs, vaccinations and vet visits.
• Bookings and reviews: requests you send or receive (dates, services, messages) and the ratings and reviews you leave.
• Sitter profile (only if you become a sitter): display name, photo, bio, services, rates, city and the location you set, which other users see on the map. Your phone number is shared with an owner only after you accept their booking.
• Community posts (lost or adoptable pets): photos, description, city, place and the post’s location. Your phone number is shown only if you choose to show it. Replies to a post (a message and an optional phone number) go to the person who posted it.
• Location: used to show sitters and posts near you. We keep your last known location only to alert you when a pet goes missing nearby. You can deny location access in your phone’s settings.
• Reports and blocks: the reason and details of a report, so we can review it, and the list of people you block.
• Notification token: a Firebase Cloud Messaging device token, so we can send booking, reminder and lost-pet notifications.

We do not use advertising, analytics or tracking tools, and we do not sell your data.

How we use it

Only to run the app: to sign you in, show your pets and reminders, connect owners with sitters, handle bookings, reviews and posts, moderate content, and send you notifications, which you can turn off in the app or in your phone’s settings.

Who we share it with

• Other DarPaws users: when you book or are booked, each side sees the other’s name and the booking details. Sitter profiles, reviews and community posts are visible to all users. A post or sitter profile can also be opened on our website by anyone who has its link (for example when you share it); these pages are kept out of search engines.
• Service providers that run the app for us: Render (server, Frankfurt, Germany), Neon (database, Frankfurt), Cloudinary (photo storage), Google (Google Sign-In) and Firebase Cloud Messaging (notifications). Map tiles are loaded from OpenStreetMap, which sees your IP address when they load. If you contact someone on WhatsApp, WhatsApp’s policy applies.

Moderation

To keep the community safe, we may hide a review or a post and suspend an account that breaks the rules, for example after a report.

Security

All traffic between the app and our server is encrypted (HTTPS). Passwords are hashed and never stored in plain text.

Keeping and deleting your data

We keep your data while your account exists. You can delete your account at any time in the app (Profile → Delete account) or on the Delete my account page. Deleting your account permanently removes your profile, pets, health records, bookings, reviews, sitter profile, posts, reports, blocks and notification tokens.

Children

DarPaws is not directed at children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect their data.

Changes

If we change this policy, we will update the date at the top of this page.

Contact

Questions or requests: darpaws2026@gmail.com