Privacy policy

Last updated: 12 October 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 to share it with your family. There's no account and no sign-in.
• A few optional features send limited data so they can work: the photo and label checks, Ask Pupkeeper, vets and places near me, the walk check, searching for a place, and the street-dog map. Each one is explained below.
• What you add to the street-dog map is shown to other users nearby.
• Anonymous usage analytics help us improve the app. You can turn them off in 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
• 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 (below). You can back it up to a file that you control, 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 and your lost-dog tag details 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.

Lost-dog tag and sitter care sheet

Pupkeeper never stores what's on a lost-dog tag or a sitter care sheet. The details live in the link you share, and Pupkeeper's server doesn't store them. Anyone who scans the tag or opens the care-sheet link can see what you put on it, so only include what you're happy to share.

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: name, age, breed, sex, whether they're neutered, weight and recent weigh-ins, food and its calories, meal times, allergies, vaccines, flea, tick, worm and heartworm treatments, current medicines, recent vet visits and incidents, what's due next, 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, photos, microchip numbers or account details (there's no account).
• 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, dog parks, pet services 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. Shelters, groomers and the street-dog map use the same rounded lookup with OpenStreetMap.
• 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, rounded to about 10 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 and to stop duplicate reports; it isn't shown to other users

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 anonymous 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. 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 → Privacy.

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 → 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.

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.
• Photos from the photo and label checks: 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, the photo and label checks, Ask Pupkeeper and the street-dog map.
• Google Maps Platform (the Places API and the Maps JavaScript API): places near you and the map view.
• Google Analytics for Firebase: anonymous usage analytics.
• 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 → Privacy.
• Places, the walk check, the street-dog map and family sharing: to provide the features you choose to use.
• 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 and tap Delete everything on this phone, or uninstall the app.
• 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