PRIVACY POLICY

This Privacy Policy describes how Instapaw (“we,” “our,” or “us”) collects, uses, processes, and protects personal information when you use the Instapaw mobile applications, theinstapaw.com, public verification pages, QR or shared links, and related services (together, the “Services”).

Instapaw is a community-driven social platform designed to support animal rescue efforts, including posting rescue updates, adoption listings, and missing animal alerts.

By accessing or using Instapaw, you agree to the practices described in this Privacy Policy.

• Users who create accounts
• Users who continue as guests or view limited public content
• Users who post animal rescue, adoption, or missing animal content
• Users who create or join Stray Network feeding areas or local animal-care circles
• Users who volunteer as feeders, responders, transporters, NGOs, or local animal-care coordinators
• Users who upload media (images/audio)
• Users who communicate via in-app chat
• Users who enable location-based features
• Visitors who open the website, public achievement pages, QR codes, or shared social links
• Social platforms and preview crawlers that request public-link metadata

We collect only the information necessary to provide, improve, and secure the App.

2.1 Information You Provide Directly

• Name
• Email address
• Date of birth
• Gender, account role, biography, and account preferences, where provided
• Profile photo (if voluntarily provided)
• Phone number (if voluntarily provided)
• Rescue posts and updates
• Adoption listings
• Missing animal alerts
• Stray Network feeding areas, feeding points, and feeding logs
• Community animal records, including animal condition, notes, and care status
• Vaccination, sterilization, deworming, or other animal-care status that you submit
• Responder, NGO, foster, transporter, or service-area information that you submit
• Professional or organisation verification documents, review status, and related information, if you request verification
• Uploaded images
• Uploaded audio files
• Chat messages
• Any other information you voluntarily submit

When posting rescue, adoption or missing animal content, you may provide:

• Animal details
• Location
• Audio recording explaining the situation

2.2 Location Information

With your permission, we may collect:

• Precise GPS location
• Approximate location

Location data is used to:

• Display nearby rescue cases
• Find nearby feeding areas and local animal-care activity
• Help match emergency animal alerts with nearby responders or service areas
• Tag adoption or missing animal posts
• Improve coordination within the community

2.3 Media Files

If you upload photos or audio:

• Files are stored using Firebase services.
• Media is associated with your account and posts.
• Post media, profile photos, feeding proof photos, feeding-point photos, and community-animal photos may be accessible to people who possess their direct link.

2.4 Chat Communications

If you use in-app messaging:

• Messages and related metadata, including timestamps and participant identifiers, are stored using Firebase services.
• Chat data is used to provide communication, safety, reporting, moderation, and legal-compliance functions.
• We do not analyze private chat content for advertising purposes.

2.5 Automatically Collected Information

• Device model and operating system
• App version
• IP address
• Usage patterns
• Crash diagnostics
• Opaque user or device identifiers, screen views, feature interactions, account role, and performance information

We use:

• Firebase Analytics
• Firebase Crashlytics

2.6 Stray Network and Local Animal-Care Data

If you use Stray Network or related local-care features, we may collect and store:

• Feeding-area names, types, approximate or precise locations, and area membership
• Feeding points, risk markers, cleanliness or condition updates, and feeding logs
• Community animal profiles, animal notes, last-seen or last-fed details, and care needs
• Vaccination, sterilization, deworming, health status, proof photos, and related care records
• Emergency alerts, responder service areas, NGO service areas, and volunteer role information

2.7 Moderation and Account Enforcement Records

To protect the community, we may store records related to reports, warnings, suspensions, bans, account deletion actions, enforcement status, expiry dates, dismissal status, and related administrative review metadata.

2.8 Guest and Public Access

Guest users may view limited public content without creating an account. Guest access is read-only and may show reduced or approximate information, especially for exact map details, contact options, reporting, joining rescues, commenting, following, and other interactive features.

2.9 SOS and Responder Information

An SOS may include the animal and situation description, precise and approximate location, landmark or directions, display name, callback number or optional alternate number, a short note, and an optional voice message. Selected nearby responders who have opted in may see information required to assess and coordinate the request, together with acceptance, en-route, estimated-arrival, arrived, closed, or expired status.

2.10 Monthly Feeding Achievements and Public Links

After a completed month, an eligible signed-in user may choose to create a feeding achievement. The backend calculates the month, qualified feeding days, streak, completed slots and tier from trusted app records. If the user consents to publishing, the public page may show a frozen display name, profile photo, month, statistics, tier, issue date, lightweight preview and random public identifier.

• The full-resolution poster remains private and is downloaded only through authenticated access.
• The public link can be revoked, but downloaded or reposted copies and third-party preview caches may remain outside our control.
• Public achievement pages are excluded from search indexing by default, although anyone with an active link may open it.

2.11 Website Information

Our website may receive ordinary request information such as IP address, browser type, requested page, timestamp and security diagnostics. As of this policy’s “Last Updated” date, the website does not use advertising cookies, behavioral tracking, browser local storage, or website analytics. If that changes, this policy and any required consent controls will be updated before use.

Depending on the context, we process personal information based on:

• Your consent, including device permissions and optional public-achievement publication
• Your request to create an account or use a Service
• Platform security, fraud prevention, moderation, and protection of users, animals, and the public
• Compliance with applicable law and lawful authority requests

You may withdraw consent for optional processing, but withdrawal does not invalidate earlier lawful processing. Some features cannot operate without the information they require.

• Create and manage user accounts
• Enable rescue, adoption, and missing animal postings
• Operate Stray Network, feeding-area, community animal-care, and emergency-alert coordination features
• Connect local animal-care activity with relevant feeders, responders, NGOs, transporters, fosters, or coordinators
• Facilitate communication between users
• Provide location-based discovery of animals in need
• Limit or approximate sensitive location details to protect feeder, responder, and animal safety
• Maintain and improve App performance
• Prevent fraud, abuse, or harmful activity
• Review reports and administer warnings, restrictions, suspensions, bans, or account deletion actions
• Respond to user inquiries
• Comply with legal obligations
• Create a private poster and optional public achievement record after explicit user action
• Serve privacy-bounded social metadata and determine whether a public achievement is active or revoked

We use Google and Firebase services for infrastructure, authentication, storage, notifications, maps, diagnostics, security, and hosting.

These services include:

• Cloud Firestore (database storage)
• Cloud Storage (media storage)
• Authentication services
• Analytics
• Crash reporting
• Cloud Functions, Cloud Run, Hosting, Cloud Messaging, App Check, and Google Maps or location services

Apple may also process information when you use Sign in with Apple, Apple Push Notification service, iOS location or mapping features, device services, or App Store distribution. Google and Apple process information under their applicable service terms and privacy documentation.

We retain personal information:

• For as long as your account remains active
• As necessary to provide services
• As required by law

Some rescue, Stray Network, feeding-area, community animal-care, emergency-alert, and moderation records may be retained after account deletion where needed to protect animal welfare, preserve community safety, prevent abuse, comply with legal obligations, or maintain the integrity of ongoing local-care records.

Achievement jobs, rate-limit records, failed temporary artifacts, public projections and generated objects use separate lifecycle rules. Revocation disables the public record but cannot recall copies already downloaded or held by another platform. Account deletion cleanup removes or anonymises achievement information according to the implemented deletion workflow and any lawful retention requirement.

• Registration information and removed-content evidence may be retained for at least 180 days where intermediary law requires it, or longer when required by a court or lawful authority.
• The current system does not impose a universal automatic deletion period on posts, chats, feeding records, animal-care records, service areas, SOS metadata, reports, or moderation records.
• SOS voice audio is intended to be deleted when the alert closes or expires. Other SOS records may remain for coordination, safety, audit, or legal purposes.
• Public achievements remain available until revoked or removed, but revocation cannot retrieve downloaded or reposted copies.
• Security and processing logs are retained for operational and legally required periods.

Account Deletion

Users may delete their account directly within Instapaw. For detailed instructions, see our Delete Account page.

Upon account deletion:

• Your Firebase Authentication account is deleted after successful reauthentication, so that sign-in identity can no longer be used to access the account.
• The app attempts to disable notification delivery and clear the current rescue-location record before deleting authentication. These cleanup steps are best effort and may fail independently.
• Deleting authentication does not itself prove that every profile field, post, media object, chat message, shared care record, moderation record or backup has been deleted. Some content may remain visible to other participants or be retained for safety, legal or shared-record purposes.

Full Data Deletion Request

Users may request review and deletion of additional account-linked data by contacting:

For more information on implemented deletion steps, retained shared records and how to submit a request, visit our Delete Account page. Request handling requires identity verification and is subject to applicable law, safety, evidence-preservation obligations, and the rights of other users.

Subject to applicable law, you may request access to, correction of, or erasure of personal data associated with you; withdraw consent for optional processing; revoke device permissions; change notification or SOS settings; revoke a public achievement link; report content; block users; and request grievance review.

A request may be limited where identity cannot be verified, it would affect another person’s rights or a shared animal-care record, or retention is required for safety, fraud prevention, evidence, legal claims, or compliance with law.

We use technical and organisational safeguards appropriate to the Services, including:

• Encrypted data transmission (HTTPS)
• Firebase security rules
• Authentication-based access controls
• Cloud-provider security, monitoring, and application integrity controls

Because Instapaw is a community-based platform:

• Users are responsible for the content they post.
• Users should avoid sharing sensitive personal information publicly.
• Contact details included in adoption or missing animal posts are shared at the user’s discretion.

The App may request the following permissions:

• Camera – To capture rescue or adoption photos.
• Microphone – To record audio updates related to rescue efforts.
• Storage / Media Access – To upload images or audio.
• Location – To tag rescue or missing animal posts and display nearby activity.
• Notifications – To send chat alerts, rescue updates, and community notifications.

Instapaw accounts and interactive features are intended for people who are at least 18 years old. We do not currently provide a verified parental-consent process. People under 18 must not create an account, use Stray Network or SOS, act as a responder, or submit personal information through an interactive feature.

Google, Apple, and their subprocessors may store or process information in India and other countries where they operate. We use these providers to operate the Services and will comply with applicable restrictions on international transfers.

We may update this policy to reflect changes in the Services, law, providers, security practices, or data use. We will update the “Last Updated” date above and provide additional notice or seek fresh consent where required.

If you have questions about this Privacy Policy or wish to exercise your data rights:

Please include “Privacy Request” or “Grievance” in the subject line and provide enough information to identify the account, content, or concern. We aim to acknowledge grievances within 24 hours and resolve ordinary grievances within seven days. Qualifying urgent content will be handled within the shorter period required by applicable law.