Privacy Policy

Overview

MyPetDex ("we," "us," or "our") is committed to protecting your privacy. This policy describes how we collect, use, and protect your personal information when you use the MyPetDex platform, including our web app, mobile app, and any related services.

Information We Collect

We collect information you provide when creating an account, including your name, email address, city, state, and pet information (such as breed, age, weight, vaccines, and reminders). We also collect usage data to improve the app experience. If you grant permission, we may access your device camera and photo library solely to let you upload pet profile photos. We collect push notification tokens to send you reminders you have requested.

If you use a paid plan, subscription payments are processed securely by Stripe. We do not store your full card number — Stripe retains payment details in accordance with their own privacy policy and PCI-DSS compliance standards. We retain a record of your subscription plan and billing status.

If you use location-based features (such as finding local pet services or animal shelters), we collect your approximate location (city or region level). We do not collect or store your precise GPS coordinates. We do not collect government IDs.

AI Assistant & AI-Generated Content

MyPetDex offers an AI-powered assistant to help you with pet care questions. When you use this feature, your queries and your pet's profile data (such as breed, age, and health notes) are sent to Anthropic (the provider of the Claude AI model) to generate a response. Anthropic processes this data in accordance with their privacy policy.

AI responses are generated automatically and are for informational purposes only. They are not a substitute for professional veterinary advice. We do not use your AI queries to train AI models. You can stop using AI features at any time, and you may request deletion of your AI interaction history by contacting us.

Nutrition & Recipe Data Sources

Pet recipes in MyPetDex are sourced from a pre-formulated database built on publicly published veterinary nutrition standards — they are not generated by AI. Claude AI is used only to present and explain the selected recipe template.

Our nutrition data sources: AAFCO 2023 Nutrient Profiles — the official US standard for pet food nutrition; USDA FoodData Central (public domain) — nutritional breakdown for whole food ingredients; WSAVA Global Nutrition Guidelines — calorie targets using the RER formula (70 × weight in kg^0.75) with life-stage multipliers. USDA As-Fed values are converted to Dry Matter basis to align with AAFCO 2023 targets.

Toxicity Safeguards

MyPetDex maintains a hard-coded blocklist of ingredients toxic to dogs and cats per ASPCA and AVMA guidelines. These include grapes, raisins, onions, garlic, chocolate, xylitol, macadamia nuts, avocado, alcohol, and caffeine. These ingredients are permanently excluded from all recipe suggestions and cannot be selected by users.

User-Generated Content & Moderation

Service providers and animal shelters on MyPetDex may post business profiles and pet listings ("user-generated content" or UGC). This content is visible to other users of the platform. We reserve the right to review, moderate, or remove any content that violates our community standards or Terms of Service.

If you submit a report about a listing or profile, we collect the reason for the report and your user ID to investigate and take appropriate action. Report data is used solely for moderation purposes and is not shared publicly.

How We Use Your Information

We use your data solely to provide our services — including displaying your pet profiles, sending reminders and notifications you have requested, showing local service providers and animal shelters near you, processing subscription payments, and powering AI-assisted features. We also use it to communicate important updates about your account and to investigate reported content.

Data Sharing

We do not sell your personal data. We share data only with the following essential service providers, solely to operate the platform:

• Firebase / Google Cloud — data storage, authentication, and infrastructure
• SendGrid — transactional email and reminders
• Stripe — payment and subscription processing
• Anthropic — AI response generation (AI Assistant feature only)
• RescueGroups.org — third-party adoption listings (read-only, no personal data shared)

We will never share your data with advertisers or marketing companies.

Your Rights & Account Deletion

You may request access to, correction of, or deletion of your personal data at any time by contacting us at help@mypetdex.app. You can also delete your account directly from Settings → Delete My Account in the app. When you delete your account, all associated data — including your profile, pet records, saved recipes, reviews, and AI history — is permanently removed within 30 days.

If you have an active subscription, deleting your account does not automatically cancel your subscription. Please cancel your subscription through your App Store or Google Play account settings before deleting your account to avoid future charges.

If you are located in the European Economic Area (EEA) or the United Kingdom, you have additional rights under GDPR, including the right to data portability and the right to lodge a complaint with your local data protection authority.

Data Security

MyPetDex encrypts all data in transit using TLS/HTTPS and at rest using AES-256 encryption via Firebase. Access to your personal information and pet records is authenticated and restricted solely to your account. We enforce strict Firestore Security Rules to prevent unauthorized access. We recommend using a strong, unique password and enabling any available account security features.

Data Retention

We retain your personal data for as long as your account is active or as needed to provide services. Push notification tokens are removed when you sign out or delete your account. Following an account deletion request, all personal data is permanently removed within 30 days, except where we are required to retain it for legal or compliance purposes.

Cookies

We use essential cookies only to maintain your login session and app functionality. We do not use tracking or advertising cookies.

Children's Privacy

MyPetDex is intended for users aged 13 and over. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If you believe we have inadvertently collected such information, please contact us immediately at help@mypetdex.app and we will promptly delete it.

Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. We will notify you of significant changes via email or in-app notification. The effective date at the top of this page reflects when the policy was last updated. Continued use of MyPetDex after changes constitutes acceptance of the updated policy.

📬 Contact

For privacy questions, data access requests, or deletion requests, contact us at help@mypetdex.app. We aim to respond within 5 business days.