Privacy policy: Pawfold
Last updated 11 October 2026
Pawfold: Pet Sitter & Walker ("the app") is published by Brightfold ("we"). This policy explains what data the app handles, why, and the choices you have. Questions: pawfold@brightfoldapps.com.
Your business data lives on your phone
Everything you enter (your clients and their phone numbers, emails and addresses, their pets and care cards, visits, report ticks and notes, prices, payments and tips, your business details and logo) is stored in the app's database on your phone. It leaves your phone only when you choose to:
- turn on the cloud backup by signing in with Google (see below);
- send a visit report, an invoice, a receipt or a payment reminder, through the app you pick (your messaging app, email…);
- export a backup file, to the place you pick;
- let Android back up your apps to your own Google account (Android's standard backup, which you control in your phone's settings).
For your clients' details, you are the one who decides what to record and why; please only record what you need to look after their pets. The app never asks for door codes, alarm codes or where keys are kept.
Photos
The app uses the camera only when you tap Take photo on a visit or a pet's page, and the system photo picker when you tap Add from gallery; it cannot see your other photos. Photos are resized and kept in the app's own folder on your phone. They are never uploaded to us, are not in the cloud backup or in Android's app backup, and leave your phone only in a report you send. Please photograph the pet, not the client's home or people.
The cloud backup (optional)
Signing in is never required: Pawfold works the same without it. If you sign in with your Google account, the app keeps a copy of your business data, the same content as an exported backup file except photos, in Google Firebase (Cloud Firestore), so that you get everything back on a new phone. The copy is updated automatically after changes (at most every 15 minutes, and when you leave the app) and when you tap Back up now.
- Only your account can read or change it: our security rules refuse every other account. It is encrypted in transit and stored encrypted by Google.
- We use it for one thing: restoring your data. We do not read, analyse or share it, and we do not access it except to delete it at your request.
- Signing in also stores your Google account's email address and name with Firebase Authentication, to identify your account.
- Signing out saves your latest changes to the backup, then removes the data from that phone. Deleting your account (More → Delete account) deletes the backup and the account.
What we do collect, and why
| Data | Why | Where it is stored |
|---|---|---|
| An anonymous id, created automatically the first time you open the app, with no name or email | To link a Pro purchase to your device | Google Firebase (Authentication) |
| Only if you sign in: your Google account's email address and name | To identify your account for the cloud backup | Google Firebase (Authentication) |
| Only if you sign in: the cloud backup of your business data (clients' names, contact details and addresses, pets and care cards, visits, notes, prices, payments, your business details), never photos | To give it back to you on a new phone | Google Firebase (Cloud Firestore), readable by your account only |
| Purchase history: your subscription | To give you Pro and restore it | RevenueCat, and Google Play or the App Store |
| Crash reports: device model, operating system version, what went wrong, and the anonymous id above | To fix bugs, and to match a crash to a message you send us | Sentry, for 30 days. No name, email address or IP address is stored, and the app removes your business data (names, notes, addresses, amounts) before a report is sent |
There are no ads and no usage analytics. We do not collect contacts, location or the microphone. Reminders are scheduled on your phone. We never sell data.
Service providers
- Google Firebase: Google Privacy Policy
- RevenueCat: RevenueCat Privacy Policy
- Sentry: Sentry Privacy Policy
Some of these providers process data in the United States, under the European Commission's standard contractual clauses or the EU–US Data Privacy Framework.
How long we keep it
- Your business data and photos: on your phone, until you delete them or uninstall the app.
- The cloud backup and your account (if you signed in): until you delete your account in the app or ask us to. Each new backup replaces the previous one.
- The anonymous id: until you delete your data in the app. Ids inactive for 13 months are deleted.
- Crash reports: 30 days.
- Purchase records: kept by Google, Apple and RevenueCat as the law requires for financial records.
Your rights
You can access, correct, export or delete your data. In the app, More → Export a backup gives you all of it as a file, and More → Delete all data erases the app's database, photos, your settings, your account and, if you signed in, the cloud backup. More → Delete account deletes the account and its cloud backup and keeps the data on your phone. To have your purchase record removed from RevenueCat, or for anything else, email us. If you are in the EU or UK, you can also complain to your data protection authority. You are the controller of your clients' data; tell your clients that you keep visit records and photos.
Age
The app is meant for adults (18 and over) who run a pet-care business. It is not directed at children.
Changes
If we change this policy, we will update the date above, and tell you in the app if the change is significant.