Privacy Policy

1. Overview & Commitment to Privacy

PawPing ("we," "our," or "us") is dedicated to safeguarding the privacy and security of pet parents and their dogs. This Privacy Policy explains how PawPing collects, uses, discloses, and protects your information when you use our iOS mobile application (the "App").

PawPing is designed in strict compliance with Apple’s App Store Review Guidelines (specifically Guidelines 5.1.1 Data Collection and Storage and 5.1.2 Data Use and Sharing), Apple's App Tracking Transparency (ATT) framework, and international data protection regulations including GDPR and CCPA.

2. Information We Collect

We collect only the minimum necessary information required to deliver a seamless, personalized pet care experience:

A. Information You Provide Directly

• Account Information: Name, email address, and secure authentication tokens when you sign up using Apple ID, Google, or email. Passwords are never stored in plaintext.
• Pet Profile Information: Dog's name, breed, age/birthdate, current weight, target weight, gender, neutered/spayed status, and pet profile photos.
• Health & Medical Records: Vaccination dates and types, deworming and tick/flea treatment schedules, medication courses, prescribed dosages, administration logs, and veterinary clinic contact details.
• Meal & Nutrition Logs: Daily meal records (Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner), ingredient logs, dietary goal selections (Maintain, Lose, or Gain weight), and calculated Resting Energy Requirement (RER) targets.
• Memories & Photos: Photos you choose to upload to the Pet Memories gallery, walk route cards, and vaccination certificate attachments.

B. Information Collected During App Usage

• Location & Activity Data: Precise GPS coordinates recorded only while you are actively tracking a walk to compute distance, walk route maps, pace, duration, and estimated calories burned. We also use coarse location data when you interact with the "Find Nearby Services" map to locate veterinary clinics, parks, groomers, and pet stores.
• Device & Diagnostic Information: iOS operating system version, device model, app version, language preference, crash logs, and anonymized performance diagnostics to ensure app stability.

3. On-Device Processing & Machine Learning

PawPing leverages native Apple on-device frameworks to minimize cloud data exposure and protect your privacy:

• OCR Vaccine Scanner: Optical Character Recognition (OCR) for reading vaccine vial labels and medical documents is executed locally on your iPhone using Apple’s native Vision framework. Camera frames scanned during OCR are processed in real-time on your device and are never transmitted to external AI servers.
• Pet Subject Lifting & Photo Segmentation: Pet avatar background removal and subject isolation are computed entirely on-device using iOS CoreImage and Vision machine learning models.

4. iOS Device Permissions & How They Are Used

PawPing requests specific iOS system permissions only when necessary for relevant features. You can modify or revoke these permissions at any time in your iPhone Settings → Privacy & Security:

• Location Services (While Using App): Required to track GPS routes during active dog walks and display nearby pet services on Apple Maps. PawPing does not track your background location when you are not actively recording a walk.
• Camera: Required to take live photos of your pet, capture walk memory cards, and scan vaccine vial labels with on-device OCR.
• Photo Library (Read/Add): Required to select existing photos for pet avatars, memory albums, or medical certificate records, and to save generated health reports or walk cards to your Photos.
• Notifications: Required to deliver local and remote alerts for upcoming vaccine booster dates, medication administration times, daily meal reminders, and walk streak goals.

5. How We Use Your Information

We use collected data strictly for app functionality and customer service purposes:

• To maintain and personalize your account and dog profiles.
• To compute science-based nutritional guidelines and Resting Energy Requirements (RER).
• To generate interactive GPS walk logs, weekly activity charts, and health history timelines.
• To schedule timely push and local reminders for essential medical care and feeding routines.
• To generate exportable PDF health reports that you can share with your veterinarian.
• To detect, troubleshoot, and resolve technical bugs and performance crashes.
• To respond promptly to your customer support inquiries.

6. No Tracking & No Sale of Personal Data

In accordance with Apple Guideline 5.1.2:

• Zero Data Selling: We do NOT sell, rent, lease, or monetize your personal information, pet details, location logs, or medical data to any third parties, advertising brokers, or data aggregators.
• Zero Cross-App Tracking: PawPing does NOT track you across third-party apps or websites for targeted advertising, and does not access the Apple Identifier for Advertisers (IDFA).
• No Third-Party Advertising: PawPing is free of third-party banner ads and behavioral advertising trackers.

7. Third-Party Service Providers & Data Protection

In compliance with Apple Guideline 5.1.1(i)(4), all third-party service providers utilized by PawPing are bound by strict data protection agreements and are prohibited from using your data for any independent purpose:

• Supabase Inc. (Backend & Cloud Infrastructure): Provides encrypted PostgreSQL database storage, secure authentication, and encrypted file hosting. Data is protected with industry-standard encryption at rest (AES-256) and in transit (TLS 1.3 / HTTPS), reinforced by Row-Level Security (RLS) policies ensuring only authenticated users can access their own data.
• Apple Inc. (Apple ID & MapKit): Facilitates native Sign in with Apple (with support for Apple's private relay email feature) and Apple MapKit for rendering map tiles and geographic points of interest.
• Google LLC (Google Sign-In): Facilitates optional OAuth authentication tokens if you choose to sign in with Google.

8. Data Retention & In-App Account Deletion

In accordance with Apple App Store Guideline 5.1.1(v), PawPing provides a seamless, direct method to delete your account and all associated personal data:

• In-App Self-Service Deletion: You can initiate complete account deletion at any time directly within the app by navigating to:
  Profile Tab → Account Settings → Delete Account.
• Immediate Data Purge: When you confirm account deletion, your user credentials, pet profiles, vaccination records, medication logs, walk GPS tracks, meal logs, and all uploaded photos stored in cloud storage are permanently purged from our primary database servers.
• Email Request: You may also request account deletion by emailing our support team at pawpingsupport@gmail.com. Email requests are verified and processed within 7 business days.

9. Data Security Measures

We implement multi-layered technical, administrative, and physical safeguards to protect your information:

• End-to-end encrypted communications over HTTPS/TLS.
• Strict database Row-Level Security (RLS) policies isolating user records.
• Secure authentication using modern token-based authorization.
• Continuous security monitoring and automated vulnerability scans.

10. Your Privacy Rights

Regardless of your geographic location, PawPing provides you with full control over your data:

• Right to Access: View all pet and account information directly inside the app.
• Right to Rectification: Edit, correct, or update pet details, health logs, and profile info at any time.
• Right to Data Portability: Export complete vaccination and medical history as formatted PDF reports.
• Right to Erasure: Delete specific records, logs, or your entire account with all associated data.
• Right to Withdraw Consent: Disable permissions (Location, Camera, Photos, Notifications) in your iOS Settings at any time.

11. Children’s Privacy (COPPA Compliance)

PawPing is not intended for use by children under the age of 13 (or under 16 in certain jurisdictions). We do not knowingly collect or solicit personal information from children. If we become aware that personal data from a child has been collected, we will immediately delete such information from our records.

12. Veterinary Guidance & Medical Disclaimer

PawPing provides pet health tracking, vaccination scheduling, and Resting Energy Requirement (RER) dietary calculations for informational and guidance purposes only. The App does not provide veterinary diagnoses, clinical treatment plans, or emergency veterinary care. Always consult a licensed veterinarian for medical evaluation, emergency assistance, and professional pet health decisions.

13. Changes to This Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy periodically to reflect new features, regulatory requirements, or Apple policy updates. Any changes will be posted on this page with an updated "Last updated" date. For material changes, we may notify you via in-app notification or email.

14. Contact Us

If you have any questions, concerns, or privacy requests regarding this Privacy Policy, please contact our privacy and support team:

• Email: pawpingsupport@gmail.com
• Support Center: support
• App: PawPing for iOS