Privacy policy

1. Data controller

The data controller is Gabriele Ruiz.

For any privacy request you can write to gabrieleruiz.dev@gmail.com.

2. Data we collect

• Account data: email address or identifier provided by Apple or Google, display name, bio, city, profile photo, preferred language.
• Your pets' data: name, species, sex, breed (or mixed / not specified), date of birth, color, weight, description, temperament, health tests and photos.
• Private pet data: microchip number, registry and registration number. They are never shown to other users; the registration number is shared only if you decide to send it in a chat.
• Litters (Breeder plan only): parents, date of birth or expected date, number of puppies or kittens, description and photos. They are visible to other users in the showcase together with your profile's name, city and bio.
• Approximate location: your location is rounded on your device (about 1 km) before being sent. Your exact location never leaves your phone; other users only see your city and the distance in km.
• Pedigree documents you choose to upload (see section 3).
• In-app activity: likes, matches, inquiries about litters, messages, reports and blocks.
• Subscription: active plan (Premium or Breeder) and expiry. Payment data is handled exclusively by Apple or Google: we never receive it.
• Technical data: push notification token, device model, operating system, app version, error logs and, only with your consent, advertising identifiers.

3. Pedigrees: automated check

Pedigree documents are stored in private storage that only you can access. The document is read by an artificial intelligence system (Claude, by Anthropic) that extracts its main data and compares it with the pet's profile. No human operator reviews your documents.

The result only determines whether the "Document checked" badge appears on the pet's profile: other users only see the badge and the registry name, never the document. The automated check has no legal effects on you; if you disagree with the result you can upload a new document or contact us.

Pedigree files are automatically deleted within 30 days of upload.

4. Photo moderation

Photos of pets and litters are automatically analysed by an artificial intelligence system (Claude, by Anthropic) to check that they show a dog or a cat and contain no inappropriate content. Your profile photo is analysed in the same way to rule out inappropriate content. Approved photos are visible to other app users.

5. Purposes and legal bases

• Providing the service (account, profiles, search, matches, chat, service notifications): performance of a contract (Art. 6(1)(b) GDPR).
• The pedigree check you request: performance of a contract (Art. 6(1)(b)).
• Moderation, safety, fraud and abuse prevention, handling reports: legitimate interest (Art. 6(1)(f)).
• Push notifications: your consent, given through the operating system permission and revocable at any time.
• Personalised advertising in the free version: your consent (Art. 6(1)(a)), manageable in Profile > Privacy choices.
• Legal obligations and requests from authorities: legal obligation (Art. 6(1)(c)).

6. Providers and transfers

To provide the service we rely on providers that process data on our behalf as data processors:

• Supabase: database, authentication and document storage (servers in the European Union, Frankfurt).
• Cloudflare (R2): photo storage and delivery.
• Anthropic: automated pedigree reading and photo moderation.
• Google: advertising (AdMob), Sign in with Google, notification delivery on Android.
• Apple: Sign in with Apple, notification delivery on iOS, purchase handling.
• RevenueCat: subscription status management.
• Expo: push notification delivery service.
• Google (Gmail): delivery to our inbox of support requests and of reports about litters.

Some providers may process data outside the European Economic Area. In those cases transfers rely on adequacy decisions (e.g. the EU-US Data Privacy Framework) or on standard contractual clauses approved by the European Commission.

7. Retention

• Account, pet, litter, match and message data: as long as your account is active. When you delete your account we erase it, except where the law requires us to keep it.
• Pedigree documents: at most 30 days from upload.
• Reports and safety-related data: 24 months.
• Technical logs: 90 days.

8. Advertising and consent

The free version of Heritail shows ads through Google AdMob. In the EU, EEA, UK and Switzerland we ask for your consent through Google's form compliant with the IAB Europe Transparency & Consent Framework; on iPhone the system may also ask for tracking permission (App Tracking Transparency).

If you don't consent, you may see non-personalised ads. You can change your choices at any time in Profile > Privacy choices. Premium users see no ads and the advertising SDK is not started.

9. Your rights

You have the right to access your data, rectify it, erase it, restrict its processing, receive it in a portable format and object to processing based on legitimate interest. You can withdraw any consent at any time, without affecting the lawfulness of prior processing.

You can delete your account directly in the app (Profile > Delete account). For other requests write to gabrieleruiz.dev@gmail.com. You also have the right to lodge a complaint with the Italian Data Protection Authority (www.garanteprivacy.it) or the authority in your country.

10. Minors

Heritail is only for adults (18 years or older). We do not knowingly collect data from minors: if you believe a minor has created an account, contact us and we will delete it.

11. Security

We protect data with encrypted connections, access rules that limit each user to their own private data and private storage for documents. No system is 100% secure: in the event of a data breach we will inform you where required by law.

12. Changes

We may update this policy. For significant changes we will notify you in the app before they take effect.