Privacy policy

Last updated: 7 November 2026

Pupkeeper is a dog and puppy care app made by Peerware Ltd, United Kingdom ("we", "us"). This policy explains what happens to your information when you use the Pupkeeper app. If you have a question, email admin@peerware.site.

The short version

• What you keep in Pupkeeper about your dog stays on your phone unless you turn on family sharing or ask Pupkeeper a question. There's no account and no sign-in.
• A few optional features send data so they can work: family sharing, Ask Pupkeeper, the photo and label checks, vets and places near me, the walk check, searching for a place, and the street-dog map. Each one is explained below, with exactly what it sends.
• On Android you can back up to your own Google Drive. That backup goes to your Google account, and Peerware never receives it.
• What you add to the street-dog map is shown to other users nearby.
• Usage analytics help us improve the app. They're pseudonymous: tied to a random ID the analytics software makes on your phone, never to your name. You can turn them off in Settings → About and privacy (in older versions, Settings → Privacy).
• The free version shows small banner ads from Google AdMob on some screens, never in an emergency. Premium removes them.
• Purchases are processed by Apple or Google. We never see your card details.

Data that stays on your phone

Pupkeeper keeps these on your phone:

• your dog profiles and photos of your dog
• health records and reminders
• your name and phone number, if you type them for the lost-dog tag or the Pupkeeper Pass
• your Ask Pupkeeper conversation (the last 30 messages)
• your settings

The care plan (which vaccines, treatments, check-ups and weigh-ins are usually due) is worked out on your phone from your dog's age and records. There's no account and no sign-in, and Peerware doesn't receive this data unless you turn on family sharing or ask Pupkeeper a question (both below). You can back it up to a file that you control or, on Android, to your own Google Drive (below), and you can delete everything in Settings.

Family sharing (optional)

Family sharing lets the people who look after the same dogs see the same profiles, records, meals, walks and reminders on their own phones. It's off until you start a family or join one with an invite code.

• While you're in a family, your dogs (including a dog's profile photo), their health records, meals and walks are stored on Pupkeeper's server (Google Cloud Firestore, in the USA) so every member's phone can sync them. Photos you add to records, your lost-dog tag details and message, your sitter care sheet's notes and your dogs' microchip numbers stay on your phone.
• We also store the display name each member types (for example "Mum"), shown to the family next to what they log, and a one-way hash of each member's private key.
• Only members of the family can read its data. Invite codes work for 7 days and a family can have up to 8 members.
• Meals and walks are deleted from the server after 60 days, and removed items after 40 days.
• Leaving the family deletes your membership; the last member to leave deletes the family. The person who started the family can stop sharing for everyone, which deletes it at once. A family nobody has opened for 12 months is deleted automatically. Each phone keeps its own copy of the dogs.

Google Drive backup (Android, optional)

On Android you can turn on "Back up to Google Drive every day" in Settings → Backup & restore. It's off until you turn it on, and Google asks for your OK the first time.

• The backup holds the same as a backup file: your dogs, records, logs, photos and settings. It goes straight from your phone to a hidden app folder in your own Google Drive (Drive's app data folder). It isn't shown among your files, and only Pupkeeper can open it.
• Pupkeeper asks Google only for permission to use that hidden folder (the drive.appdata permission). It can't see or change anything else in your Drive.
• Peerware never receives the backup or a copy of it. Google stores it in your Google account, under Google's privacy policy. Its details include the date, your dogs' names and how many records it holds, so the app can show what's in it before you restore.
• The app keeps the latest backup and the one before it, and deletes older ones. The email address of the Google account you connect is shown in the app and stays on your phone. The access Google gives the app is kept in memory only, never stored.
• To stop, turn off "Back up to Google Drive every day" (the backup stays in your Drive), or tap "Disconnect Google Drive" to remove Pupkeeper's access. To delete the backup, open Google Drive on the web, go to Settings → Manage apps, find Pupkeeper, and choose Options → Delete hidden app data. You can also remove Pupkeeper's access in your Google Account's security settings, under your connections to third-party apps.

Lost-dog tag, sitter care sheet and Pupkeeper Pass

Pupkeeper never stores what's on a lost-dog tag, a sitter care sheet or a Pupkeeper Pass. The details live in the link you share (the part after the #, which browsers don't send to any server), and Pupkeeper's server doesn't store them. Anyone who scans the tag or the pass, or opens the link, can see what you put on it, so only include what you're happy to share. Your name, phone number and your dog's microchip number go on a pass only if you turn them on.

Photo and label checks (optional)

The photo check names an item from a photo, and the label check works the same way. Both are optional, and the app asks for your consent first.

• The photo you take or choose is sent over HTTPS to Pupkeeper's server, which runs on Google Cloud Functions in the USA.
• It is analyzed by Google's Gemini model on Google Cloud Vertex AI to name the item.
• No name, account or location is sent with the photo.
• We don't store the photo. Google processes it under Google Cloud's terms, as our service provider.
• To apply fair-use limits, the server keeps counts against a one-way hash of a random install ID, which can't be traced back to you. Daily counters are deleted after 7 days, and the photo-check counter 90 days after your last check.
• For each check, the server keeps one technical log entry without the image: the category of the result and timing.
• If you tap Report on a result, the AI's answer text (not the photo) is stored so we can review it, and deleted after 180 days.

Ask Pupkeeper (optional)

Ask Pupkeeper answers questions about your dog. It's optional, and the app asks for your consent first (the same consent as the photo checks).

• Your question, the last few messages of the conversation and short extracts from Pupkeeper's guide are sent over HTTPS to Pupkeeper's server.
• So the answer is about your dog, the app also sends the profile and records of the dog (or dogs) the question is about, including notes you wrote: name, age and birthday, breed, sex, whether they're neutered, weight and recent weigh-ins, health conditions and allergies, food and its calories, meal times and your food notes, vaccines, flea, tick, worm and heartworm treatments, current medicines, recent vet visits and incidents with your notes about them, your notes on house rules and quirks, what's due next, the household details you gave in Make it fit (your home, children, other pets, whether it's your first dog and the hours your dog is alone), your country and your units, and any dose the app worked out from amounts in your question. The names of your other dogs are sent so the answer can tell them apart.
• It never sends your name, phone number, location, your dogs' microchip numbers or photos of your dog, and no account details (there's no account). A photo goes only if you attach one to your question.
• If you attach a photo to a question, it's resized on your phone and sent with the question, handled exactly like a photo check's: not stored, and processed by Google as our service provider. A question with a photo counts as a photo check for the free limits.
• If you use the microphone, your phone's own speech recognition (Apple's on iPhone, Google's on Android) turns your words into text in the question box. Pupkeeper never receives or keeps the audio; only the text you send. The app asks for microphone permission the first time you tap the mic.
• The server asks Google's Gemini model on Google Cloud Vertex AI for the answer. We don't store your questions or the answers. Google processes them under Google Cloud's terms, as our service provider.
• Fair-use limits are counted against the same one-way hash of a random install ID, and those daily counters are deleted after 7 days; monthly counters are deleted after 40 days. For each question, the server keeps one technical log entry without the question or the answer: the kind of answer and timing.
• For photo checks and questions, free use also has a daily limit per internet connection, counted against a one-way hash of your IP address that changes every day and is deleted after 2 days. If you have Premium, the app sends its RevenueCat app user ID so the server can confirm it with RevenueCat.
• The conversation is kept on your phone. You can clear it at any time with the bin icon on the Ask Pupkeeper screen.

Places near me and the walk check

When you use these features, the app rounds your phone's location to about 1 km before sending it to Pupkeeper's server, and works out exact distances on your phone.

• Vets (including the emergency search), dog parks, pet services, animal shelters and dog-friendly places: the server looks them up with Google Maps Platform's Places API, sending only the rounded location and the kind of place. If that isn't available, it uses OpenStreetMap (through the Overpass API) instead. The street-dog map is looked up with the same rounded location.
• The walk check: the server gets the forecast for the rounded location from MET Norway.
• If you switch to the map view, the map is loaded straight from Google Maps. Like any online map, Google receives the area being shown and your device's IP address, under Google's privacy policy.

OpenStreetMap and weather results are cached under the rounded location for up to 30 days, so the next person nearby gets them faster. That cache holds only the rounded coordinates and public place and weather data, nothing about you. Results from Google aren't stored.

If you search for a place by name, your phone sends that text to OpenStreetMap's Nominatim service.

Street-dog map (optional)

The street-dog map is an optional community feature. When you add a street dog or log a feeding, the following are stored on Pupkeeper's server (Google Cloud Firestore, in the USA) and shown to other users nearby:

• the spot where you add the dog, stored rounded to about 10 meters; other users see it rounded to about 110 meters
• the nickname and description you type
• a photo of the dog, if you add one
• a one-way hash of a random install ID, used for fair-use limits, to stop duplicate reports, and to count "Not seen lately" votes (an entry is hidden when two phones say so); it isn't shown to other users

When you log a feeding, the app also sends your phone's position, rounded to about 110 meters, so the server can check you're near the dog (within 1.5 km). That position is used for the check only and isn't stored.

Photos and text are checked automatically by Google's Gemini model before they're published, and users can report entries. Please don't include people in your photos.

An entry, its photo and its feeding log are deleted automatically 180 days after the last feeding or status update. Entries hidden after reports are deleted after 30 days, and reports after 180 days. To remove an entry you added, tap Report on it: an entry reported by the person who added it is hidden straight away.

Analytics

Pupkeeper uses Google Analytics for Firebase to collect usage events: which screens and features are used, what you type in the guide's search (the first 60 characters), the app version, the device type and your approximate country. The events are tied to a random app-instance ID that the analytics software creates on your phone, not to your name or an account (there's none), so they are pseudonymous rather than anonymous. We use them to improve the app.

Analytics doesn't collect your advertising ID, and analytics data isn't used for advertising. In the EU and EEA, the app asks before turning analytics on. You can turn them off at any time in Settings → About and privacy (in older versions, Settings → Privacy).

Analytics on this website

On this website (pupkeeper.app, also reachable at pupkeeper.web.app) we use Google Analytics to count visits and see which pages help dog owners: the pages you open, the link that brought you here, your approximate location (city or country, from your IP address), and your device and browser type. It doesn't use advertising features, and the lost-dog tag, sitter care-sheet and Pupkeeper Pass pages don't use it at all.

In the UK, the EU, the EEA and Switzerland it only runs if you tap Allow on the banner, and only then does it set its cookies (_ga and _ga_701VQFC0FF, kept for up to 2 years). You can change your choice with "Analytics choice" at the bottom of every page, or block it with Google's opt-out add-on.

Ads in the free version

The free version of Pupkeeper shows banner ads from Google AdMob on calm screens, such as Home and the guide's lists. Ads never appear on the Emergency tab, on danger results, on first-aid steps or on photo and label check results. Pupkeeper Premium removes all ads.

• To show and measure ads, Google's ads software collects your device's advertising ID, an approximate location from your IP address, and how you interact with ads. Google uses this under its own policy: How Google uses information from sites or apps that use its services.
• In the EU, the UK and Switzerland, the app asks for your consent before ads use your data, and you can change your choice any time in Settings → About and privacy → Ad privacy choices (in older versions, Settings → Privacy → Ad privacy choices).
• On iPhone, the app asks whether ads may track you (Apple's App Tracking Transparency). If you say no, your iPhone's advertising ID isn't shared.
• Pupkeeper never gives Google, or anyone else, your dog's details, records or anything you type.

Google keeps analytics data for up to 14 months.

The press page shows our video in YouTube's privacy-enhanced player (youtube-nocookie.com). The player itself loads from YouTube, but YouTube sets no cookies and records no views until you press play. After that, Google's privacy policy covers what YouTube collects.

Purchases

Pupkeeper Premium is optional: a subscription or a one-time purchase. Payment is processed by Apple or Google. RevenueCat, a company in the USA, receives your purchase receipts and a random app user ID so it can manage your access to Premium. Peerware never sees your card details.

Notifications

Reminders, meal times, the evening streak saver and walk alerts are scheduled on your phone. There's no push server.

Children

Pupkeeper is not directed to children under 13, and we don't knowingly collect children's data.

Server logs

Like most online services, Google Cloud records each request to Pupkeeper's server, including the time and your IP address, in server logs. They're used for security and fixing problems, and deleted after 30 days.

How long data is kept

• Data on your phone: until you delete it.
• Google Drive backup (Android, if you turn it on): in your own Google Drive until you delete it; the app keeps the latest backup and the one before it.
• Photos from the photo and label checks, and photos attached to Ask Pupkeeper questions: not stored.
• Ask Pupkeeper questions and answers: not stored on our server. The conversation stays on your phone until you clear it.
• Family sharing: while the family exists; meals and walks 60 days, removed items 40 days; a family unused for 12 months is deleted.
• Hashed IP addresses for fair-use limits: 2 days.
• OpenStreetMap place and weather cache (rounded locations only): up to 30 days. Google place results: not stored.
• Fair-use counters: 7 days, or 90 days after your last photo check for the photo-check counter.
• Report texts: 180 days.
• Street-dog map entries: 180 days after the last feeding or status update, or 30 days once hidden.
• Server logs: 30 days.
• Analytics: up to 14 months.
• Ads data: kept by Google under its own policies.

Deletion is automatic and usually happens within a day or two of these dates.

Who else is involved

• Google Cloud (Cloud Functions, Firestore and Vertex AI, USA): runs Pupkeeper's server, family sharing, the photo and label checks, Ask Pupkeeper and the street-dog map.
• Google Drive (Android, only if you turn on Drive backup): keeps your backup in your own Google account. Peerware doesn't receive it.
• Google Maps Platform (the Places API and the Maps JavaScript API): places near you and the map view.
• Google Analytics for Firebase: pseudonymous usage analytics.
• Google Analytics: visits to pupkeeper.app and pupkeeper.web.app (with your consent in the UK, the EU, the EEA and Switzerland).
• Google AdMob: ads in the free version.
• RevenueCat (USA): manages access to Premium.
• Apple and Google: process purchases.
• OpenStreetMap (the Overpass API and Nominatim) and MET Norway: places and weather.

Some of our service providers are in the USA. Transfers to them are made with standard safeguards.

Why we can use your data

• Photo and label checks and Ask Pupkeeper: your consent, which the app asks for before the first use. You can withdraw it in Settings → About and privacy (in older versions, Settings → Privacy).
• Places, the walk check, the street-dog map and family sharing: to provide the features you choose to use.
• Google Drive backup: you choose it, and it goes to your own Google account; Peerware doesn't receive it.
• Fair-use counters, reports and server logs: our legitimate interest in keeping Pupkeeper working, safe and affordable.
• Analytics: our legitimate interest in improving Pupkeeper, and your consent where the law requires it. You can turn analytics off at any time.
• Ads: our legitimate interest in keeping Pupkeeper free, and your consent where the law requires it (the EU, the UK and Switzerland, and Apple's tracking prompt on iPhone).
• Purchases: to provide what you bought.

Your rights and deleting your data

Under the UK GDPR and the EU GDPR, you have the right to access your personal data, to ask us to delete it, and to object to how we use it. To use these rights, email admin@peerware.site. You can also complain to the UK Information Commissioner's Office (ico.org.uk) or the data protection authority where you live.

How to delete your data:

• On your phone (your dogs, records, food log and settings): open Settings in the app, then About and privacy, and tap Delete everything on this phone (in older versions it is on Settings itself), or uninstall the app.
• Google Drive backup: in Google Drive on the web, Settings → Manage apps → Pupkeeper → Options → Delete hidden app data.
• A street-dog entry you added: tap Report on it. An entry reported by the person who added it is hidden straight away and deleted after 30 days.
• Family sharing: Settings, Family sharing, Leave the family (or, if you started it, Stop sharing for everyone, which deletes the family's data from our server). Deleting everything on your phone also takes you out of the family.
• Anything else on our server: email admin@peerware.site and we'll delete whatever we can link to you within 30 days. Most of it can't be linked to you (it's kept against a one-way hash of a random install ID) and is deleted automatically on the schedule above.

Contact

Peerware Ltd, United Kingdom
Email: admin@peerware.site