Privacy Policy

1. Who We Are

PawCast is a pet community application operated by PawCast ("we", "our", "us"). Our service allows pet owners to connect, log interactions between pets, and participate in community challenges.

For any privacy-related queries, please contact us at: hello@pawcast.polsia.app

2. Data We Collect

Account Information

• Email address (used for passwordless magic-link authentication)
• Display name (optional, chosen by you)
• Profile photo (optional, uploaded by you)

Pet Profile Information

• Pet name, breed, and personality tags
• Pet photo (optional, uploaded by you)
• Interaction history and PawPoints balance

Location Information

• Approximate location when you use Sniff Mode or log interactions (used to detect nearby pets)
• We do not store your precise GPS coordinates; location data is used in real time and discarded
• General walk area metadata may be retained to power leaderboards and missions

Usage Data

• Pages visited, features used, and time spent in the app
• Device type, browser version, and operating system
• IP address (used for security and fraud prevention)
• Interaction logs (Friendly / Curious / Barked reactions)

Communications

• Magic-link authentication emails
• Transactional notifications (mission completions, referral rewards)
• Optional marketing emails (only if you opt in)

3. How We Use Your Data

We use the information we collect for the following purposes:

• To provide the service — authentication, pet profiles, Sniff Mode, interaction logging, and PawPoints
• To personalise your experience — showing nearby pets and relevant missions
• To improve PawCast — analysing usage patterns to fix bugs and develop new features
• To communicate with you — sending magic links, important notices, and (with your consent) product updates
• To maintain safety and security — detecting abuse, fraud, and violations of our Terms of Service
• To operate leaderboards and referral programmes — attributing PawPoints accurately

We do not sell your personal data to third parties. We do not use your data for automated decision-making that produces legal or similarly significant effects without human review.

4. Cookies and Similar Technologies

PawCast uses a small number of cookies and browser storage mechanisms to operate the service:

Essential Cookies

• Session token — keeps you logged in after clicking your magic link
• CSRF token — protects against cross-site request forgery attacks

Functional Storage

• Preferences — stores display preferences such as your chosen theme (held in localStorage)

Analytics Cookies

• We may use privacy-respecting analytics (no cross-site tracking) to understand aggregate usage patterns
• Analytics data is anonymised and cannot be used to identify you individually

We do not use advertising or tracking cookies. You can clear cookies at any time via your browser settings, though this will log you out of the service.

5. Third-Party Services

We work with a small number of trusted third-party providers to operate PawCast:

• Transactional email provider — used to deliver magic-link emails. Your email address is shared only for the purpose of delivery.
• Cloud hosting and database — our servers and database are hosted on secure cloud infrastructure. Data is stored within secure data centres.
• Media storage — pet and profile photos are stored on secure cloud object storage.

All third-party providers are bound by data processing agreements and are prohibited from using your data for their own purposes.

6. Data Retention

We retain your personal data for as long as your account is active. You may delete your account at any time (see Your Rights below), at which point we will delete your personal data within 30 days, except where we are required to retain it for legal or fraud-prevention purposes.

Anonymised, aggregated data (e.g. total interactions on a given day) may be retained indefinitely as it cannot identify you.

7. Your Rights

Depending on your location, you may have some or all of the following rights regarding your personal data:

• Right of access — request a copy of the data we hold about you
• Right to rectification — ask us to correct inaccurate data
• Right to erasure — ask us to delete your account and associated data
• Right to restriction — ask us to limit how we process your data
• Right to data portability — request your data in a machine-readable format
• Right to object — object to processing based on legitimate interests
• Right to withdraw consent — withdraw marketing consent at any time

To exercise any of these rights, please email us at hello@pawcast.polsia.app. We will respond within 30 days.

8. Children’s Privacy

PawCast is not directed at children under the age of 13. We do not knowingly collect personal data from children under 13. If you believe we have inadvertently collected such data, please contact us immediately and we will delete it promptly.

9. Security

We take reasonable technical and organisational measures to protect your personal data against unauthorised access, loss, or disclosure. These measures include encrypted data transmission (HTTPS), encrypted token storage, and access controls on our systems.

No method of transmission over the internet is completely secure. If you believe your account has been compromised, please contact us immediately.

10. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. When we make material changes, we will notify you by email or via an in-app notice. The "Last updated" date at the top of this page indicates when the policy was last revised. Continued use of PawCast after changes are posted constitutes acceptance of the updated policy.

11. Contact Us

If you have any questions, concerns, or requests regarding this Privacy Policy or our data practices, please get in touch: