Privacy Policy

Information we collect

• Account information (email, username, profile details).
• Content you create (posts, comments, messages, reports, uploads).
• Device information (platform, device metadata, push notification token).
• Approximate location (only if you enable location permissions).
• Precise location of a walker while a walk is in progress, collected also when the app is in the background or the screen is off, and shared with the pet's owner until the walk ends.
• Usage analytics, only if you turn it on in Settings. It is off by default and you can turn it off again at any time.
• Crash and diagnostic reports, to keep the app reliable.

How we use information

• Provide and operate the Service (authentication, feeds, chat, notifications).
• Maintain safety and integrity (abuse prevention, blocking, reporting).
• Keep invitations honest: a one-way hash of your push token is compared with the accounts that used the same device before, so one device cannot claim several introductions. The hash is kept after an account is erased, without any link to you.
• Improve the Service (bug fixing, performance, analytics).
• Communicate with you (password reset, important service updates).

Legal bases

• Providing the Service (your account, pets, records, chat, bookings and applications): performing our contract with you.
• Usage analytics, optional location and push notifications: your consent, which you can withdraw in Settings or in your device settings.
• Safety, abuse prevention, making invitations work and keeping the Service secure: our legitimate interests.
• Records we must keep (for example for accounting, or in answer to a lawful request): legal obligation.

People who do not have an account

• Public-page enquiries: the name, email or phone, pet details, message and IP address you submit are kept for up to 90 days so the business can reply. The IP address is removed once the request is handled, or after 14 days.
• Referral and invitation links: when you open one we store the referral code and a keyed hash of your IP address for up to 7 days, so the app can offer the code after you install it. Our legitimate interest is making invitations work.
• City waitlist: if you ask to be told when a provider arrives in a city, we keep the city and, if you share it, your position until you leave the list. Entries are removed 90 days after we notify you, or after 12 months if nobody has arrived. You can leave the list in the app at any time.
• Business invitations: the email or phone an owner enters for a business they want to invite is removed 90 days after the invitation is resolved, and after 24 months at the latest.
• Place names: when the app needs the name of your city it sends your approximate position to OpenStreetMap's Nominatim service, which receives it like any website you visit.
• You can ask for a copy of this data, or for it to be deleted, at any time using the contact address below.

Businesses and shelters you contact

When you send a request, an application or a message to a clinic, groomer, walker, shelter or other business on Pawz, that business receives what you send (for example your name, contact details, your pet's details and your message) and handles it for its own purposes. For an adoption application, the shelter's team sees your application and the details you add to it.

Business profiles are public

If you list a business on Pawz (a clinic, groomer, dog walker or shelter), its profile becomes a public web page on pawz-app.com once we approve it, and search engines such as Google can show it in their results. This includes a dog walker who works alone under their own name. The page shows the business name, description, city, services and prices, opening hours, photos, rating and reviews, and the animals a shelter publishes for adoption. It never shows a phone number or an email address, and a dog walker's page shows only an approximate area, not an address. To take a profile off the web, write to us at the contact address below; search engines drop the page the next time they visit it.

Sharing

We may share information with service providers that help us run the Service (hosting, storage, email, analytics). Some of these providers process data outside the European Economic Area; where they do, we rely on the safeguards EU law provides, such as standard contractual clauses. We may also share information if required to comply with law or protect users and the Service.

Data retention

We retain data as needed to provide the Service. The route of a walk (the locations recorded while it was in progress) is deleted 90 days after the walk ends; we keep only its distance and duration. You can delete your account in the app, under Settings. If you can't use the app, email [email protected] from the address on your account and we will delete the account and its data within 30 days. Some records may be retained where required by law or for legitimate security purposes.

Your choices

• Update your profile information in the app.
• Disable notifications or location access via device settings.
• Delete your account from the app Settings, or by email to [email protected].

Your rights

• Access, correct or delete your data.
• Ask us to restrict how we use it, or object to it.
• Receive your data in a portable format.
• Withdraw your consent at any time.
• Complain to a data protection authority: in Romania, ANSPDCP (www.dataprotection.ro), or the authority in your country.
• To use these rights, write to us at the contact address below.

Contact

If you have questions about this Privacy Policy, contact us at: [email protected]