Privacy Policy

1. Who this policy covers

This Privacy Policy explains how PawCatch, published by Yusuf Afyon, handles information when you photograph pets, create collectible cards, sign in, sync progress, use friends or trading, add map pins, enable notifications, contact support, or make an in-app purchase.

“PawCatch,” “we,” and “the service” in this policy refer to the PawCatch app and the publisher-operated cloud features. Apple and the service providers named below handle some information under their own terms and privacy notices.

2. Information kept on your device

Core guest play and much of signed-in play use local app storage. Depending on the features you use, the device may hold:

• your collection, progress, coins, rewards, cosmetics, streaks, and settings;
• generated transparent pet cutouts and temporary camera files;
• an on-device visual fingerprint used to compare catches and reduce duplicates;
• queued cloud changes and temporary downloaded copies of permitted cutouts;
• StoreKit product and transaction identifiers used to deliver a purchase once and reconcile unfinished transactions;
• notification and analytics preferences; and
• a Supabase authentication session when you sign in.

Data that remains only on the device is not collected by the publisher merely because the app stores or processes it there. Apple and iOS may separately process device, permission, purchase, notification, map, and diagnostic information.

3. Camera, catches, and private photos

PawCatch asks for camera permission so it can find and photograph a cat or dog. Live camera frames, pet detection, cutout creation, classification, visual comparison, and integrity signals are processed on the device.

PawCatch's current cloud sync path does not upload the raw full camera frame. If you are signed in, PawCatch may resize and upload the generated transparent PNG cutout together with catch metadata to a private Supabase Storage bucket.

Uploaded photo catches use moderation states. A photo must be approved before it is made available through supported friend-facing photo views and transfer flows. Pending or rejected photos are withheld from those views. Authorized moderators may inspect a pending or reported cutout through a short-lived access link and record a decision. Rejected or unreferenced files may be queued for deletion.

Accepted friends can view approved cutouts only through the app's supported friend features. A completed trade or gift transfers the catch record and associated cutout to the recipient and clears the prior custom nickname.

4. Living Sticker studio

Bringing a pet to life is the only feature that sends one of your photographs off your device for processing by a third party, and it never happens automatically. It runs only when you are signed in and only when you start it for a specific pet.

When you start a generation, the transparent cutout of that pet — not the original camera photo, and no other catch — is uploaded to private PawCatch storage on Supabase and passed to Replicate, Inc., which runs the Seedance 1.5 Pro video model published by ByteDance. Replicate receives the cutout image and a fixed text prompt describing the movement; it does not receive your name, e-mail, Apple account, location, friends, or any other catch. No audio is generated or sent.

The returned clip is processed by PawCatch, cut out frame by frame, and stored as your Living Sticker in the same private storage as your other catches. Working files created along the way — the uploaded source, the raw clip, and intermediate frames — are deleted once the finished sticker exists. A generation that fails or is abandoned leaves nothing behind but the job record.

Replicate and ByteDance process the image under their own terms. PawCatch does not authorise the use of your photographs to train their models, and requests that they are not retained beyond what delivering the result requires. If you would rather no photograph of yours leaves the device, simply do not start a generation: every other part of PawCatch, including ordinary catches and stickers, works without it.

5. Sign in with Apple and Supabase cloud data

You can use core gameplay as a guest. Cloud and social features use Sign in with Apple and Supabase. Apple may provide your email address or an Apple private relay address. Supabase assigns a user identifier and keeps the authentication information needed to maintain the session.

When you use signed-in features, PawCatch may store:

• account ID, email or relay email, and authentication metadata;
• username, friend code, avatar choice, and account settings;
• catches, species/card identifiers, rarity, custom names, timestamps, integrity status, and private cutout paths;
• progress, XP events, rewards, and leaderboard values;
• friend requests, accepted friendships, and block relationships;
• trade and gift offers, frozen offer terms, results, and timestamps;
• reports and moderation status;
• approximate map pins when you opt in; and
• push preferences, tokens, delivery records, rate limits, and security records needed to operate and protect the service.

6. Approximate map pins

PawCatch does not request background location. After your first catch, the app may ask whether you want automatic map pins. The iOS foreground location prompt follows only after you choose automatic pins or manually choose to pin a catch.

If you enable automatic pins, PawCatch may check foreground location for the current and future catches while you use the app, until you turn the setting off. Before any coordinate is queued or uploaded, the app deterministically snaps it to an area of approximately 50 metres. The precise source coordinate is not deliberately stored in PawCatch's cloud.

Your approximate pins and accepted friends' permitted pins can appear on the PawCatch map. Apple, iOS, and the map provider may separately process location or network information to provide system location and map services.

7. Friends, leaderboards, trades, reports, and blocks

Accepted friends may see the profile, card metadata, approved cutouts, custom pet names, and approximate pins exposed by supported friend features. Global leaderboard views may show public gameplay information such as username, avatar, XP, and rank.

PawCatch lets signed-in players report another user or a catch photo and block another player. Reports create a private moderation record for review. A block limits supported social interactions and shared views and may not be reversible in the app. Moderation may approve or reject photos, resolve reports, restrict social visibility, or suspend accounts where necessary to protect players and enforce the Terms.

Do not put sensitive personal information in a username, custom pet name, friend code message, or report.

8. Optional PostHog product analytics

Product analytics is off by default, is not available in guest mode, and starts only after a signed-in player enables Help improve PawCatch in Settings.

If enabled, typed events may include:

• a pseudonymous Supabase account UUID;
• screen names and selected feature actions;
• catch result, rarity, lure, reward, streak, coin, and integrity categories;
• store, map, leaderboard, friend, trade, and gift interactions; and
• an in-app purchase product identifier and grant type.

PawCatch disables automatic touch capture, automatic screen capture, broad app lifecycle capture, feature flags, and IP-based GeoIP enrichment in its PostHog configuration. PawCatch does not intentionally send catch photos, raw location, your name, your email, or StoreKit transaction identifiers as analytics event fields.

Analytics is pseudonymous rather than anonymous because the account UUID can associate events with the same PawCatch account. You can turn analytics off without losing gameplay features.

9. Notifications

Notifications are optional. If enabled, PawCatch may schedule a local reward or streak reminder on your device. For a signed-in account, PawCatch may also store an Apple Push Notification service token for friend, trade, gift, and leaderboard-related notices.

Turning notifications off records the preference and asks the server to detach or disable the account-linked token when reachable. An interrupted request can be retried when the signed-in app becomes active. You can also control PawCatch notifications in iOS Settings.

10. StoreKit purchases

Apple handles payment credentials, billing, tax where applicable, refunds, and App Store purchase history. PawCatch does not receive your full payment-card information.

PawCatch processes StoreKit product and transaction identifiers on the device to show products, grant coin packs, prevent duplicate grants, reconcile unfinished transactions, and restore the non-consumable PawCatch Supporter entitlement. Consumable coin packs are not restorable. If optional analytics is enabled, the product identifier and grant type may be sent to PostHog; the StoreKit transaction identifier is not.

11. Providers and disclosures

Apple

Sign in with Apple, StoreKit, APNs, permissions, maps, and iOS platform services.

Supabase

Authentication, database, private object storage, and server functions.

Replicate & ByteDance

Video generation for Living Stickers only: the pet cutout you chose and a fixed prompt, sent when you start a generation.

PostHog

Optional, consent-based product analytics for signed-in players.

Email providers

Information you choose to include when contacting support.

These providers may receive IP address, request headers, device or service identifiers, and basic network metadata needed to deliver and secure their services. They process information under their own terms and privacy commitments.

PawCatch does not sell personal information, share it with data brokers, or use it for third-party advertising or cross-app tracking. Information may be disclosed when reasonably necessary to operate providers, investigate abuse, protect users or the service, comply with law, or complete a business transfer subject to appropriate safeguards.

12. Why information is used

Depending on the law where you live, PawCatch uses information to provide features you request and perform the service agreement; on your consent for optional analytics, location, and notifications; for legitimate interests in security, fraud prevention, support, moderation, and service reliability; and to meet legal obligations.

13. Retention, account deletion, and your choices

Step-by-step instructions, including how to request deletion without the app installed, are on the Delete account page.

Local app data remains until you remove it with an app control, delete the account, remove the app, or iOS clears temporary storage. Cloud data generally remains while the account is active and as needed to operate the features you use, keep the service secure, and resolve open support or moderation issues.

A signed-in player can choose Delete Account from the in-app Legal & Privacy screen. The app asks for fresh Apple authentication and requests deletion of the Supabase account, profile, private cutouts, catches, social graph, trades, reports, notification records, and progress linked to that account. It also requests deletion of account-linked PostHog data when applicable and attempts to revoke the Sign in with Apple authorization.

If automatic Apple revocation is unavailable, the app may direct you to remove PawCatch from Sign in with Apple in Apple Account settings. Completed trades or gifts are not reversed, and Apple separately retains App Store purchase history under Apple's policies. Backup, security, fraud-prevention, or legal records may take additional time to rotate or may be retained where required by law. They are not used for a new unrelated purpose.

Guest deletion removes PawCatch's local collection, cutouts, camera cache, progress, queues, preferences, and guest-scoped purchase journal from the device; there is no guest cloud account to delete.

You can also:

• keep optional analytics off or disable it later;
• decline or disable location and notifications;
• turn automatic map pins off in Settings;
• rename or remove content through available app controls;
• report or block another player; and
• contact the publisher about access, correction, deletion, privacy, or safety.

14. Children

PawCatch is a general-audience app and is not directed specifically to children or offered as a Kids Category app. If you are not old enough to consent to these practices or agree to the Terms where you live, use cloud and social features only with permission and involvement from a parent or legal guardian.

15. Security

PawCatch uses account authentication, access controls, private storage, short-lived photo links, account-scoped local state, server-owned social and trading operations, moderation controls, and rate limits to reduce risk. No storage or transmission method is completely secure.

16. Changes to this policy

This policy may be updated when features, providers, safety practices, or legal requirements change. The updated page will show a new “Last updated” date. Additional notice or consent will be used where required.

17. Contact

Publisher and data contact: Yusuf Afyon

Email: [email protected]

Support: https://pawcatch.app/support/