Privacy Policy

Last updated: September 13, 2026

PawCheck ("the app") is made by Voltaix Group LLC, a Florida limited liability company ("we", "us"). This policy explains what the PawCheck iPhone app and this website collect, why, who else handles it, and how to delete it.

The short version

• We collect what the app needs to work: your account, your pets' profiles and your scan history.
• We keep a list of the products you scan so we can alert you if one is recalled. You can turn alerts off anytime.
• Label photos are sent to Google's Gemini AI to read the label. Our servers don't keep them.
• We use PostHog to see how the app is used. Once you sign in, those events are linked to your account.
• We use Meta's SDK to measure our ads. Declining Apple's tracking prompt stops your advertising identifier (IDFA) being collected, but app events are still sent to Meta with an anonymous Meta ID.
• We do not sell personal data.
• You can delete your account in the app at any time: Settings › Delete account.

1. Information we collect

Account information

You sign in with Apple, Google, or an email address and password. We receive your name and email address from the method you choose — if you use Sign in with Apple's "Hide My Email", we receive Apple's relay address instead. Passwords are handled by Google Firebase Authentication and are never stored in our database. With your account we store your name, email address, sign-in method, account ID, whether your email is verified, your subscription status, your app version, and when you last signed in and synced.

Pet profiles

For each pet — dog, cat or small pet — the name, species, breed, age, weight, allergies, health conditions, goals, shopping preferences, notes, and a photo if you add one. This is what personalizes scores and guidance. Pet profiles, including pet photos, sync to your account so they're there on a new phone.

Scan history

The products you scan (brand, product name, ingredients and other label details), their scores, the date, and whether you favorited them or added them to your shelf. Scan history syncs to your account. We also keep simple activity counts (such as total scans and the last product scanned) and your in-app preferences (such as dark mode and recall-alert settings).

Recall alerts and notifications

So we can tell you if a product you've scanned is later recalled, our server keeps a watch list linked to your account of the products you scan — brand, product name, recipe or variant, and category. We regularly collect public recall notices from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) and compare them with watched products, using Google's Gemini AI to check that a notice really covers that exact product. Only product details and the public notice text are sent to Gemini — never your name, email or pets. If there's a match, we save the alert to your account so it appears in the app's Recall Center, and, if you've allowed notifications, send a push notification.

To send notifications we store your device's push token (from Apple Push Notification service, delivered through Google Firebase Cloud Messaging), whether notifications are allowed, your app version, and which alerts were sent to you, so you never get the same alert twice and we can send a correction if an alert turns out to be wrong. You can turn recall alerts off in Settings › Recall alerts, or turn off notifications for PawCheck in iOS Settings.

Label photos

When you scan, the photo is resized on your phone and sent securely to our scanning service, which passes it to Google's Gemini API to read the label. Our servers use it for that scan only and do not store it. A small thumbnail stays on your phone in your scan history; it is not uploaded to your account.

Creator codes

If a creator gave you a code and you enter it, our server checks the code, and we store it (and when you entered it) on your account and on your RevenueCat subscription record. That is how we credit the creator. Creators only see counts and commission amounts — customers appear as "Customer 1", "Customer 2" — never your name, email or anything else about you.

Usage analytics (PostHog)

We use PostHog (US cloud) to understand how the app is used. The app sends events such as onboarding steps completed, pets added (species only), sign-in method, paywall views, purchases started, completed, cancelled or failed, scans completed (the score, whether a recall was found, and how many pets were scored), rating prompts and account deletion, along with the app version. Before you sign in, events carry a random ID created on your phone. Once you sign in, they are linked to your PawCheck account ID, so they are tied to your account rather than anonymous. We don't send your name, email, pet names or photos to PostHog. Like any internet service, PostHog receives your IP address when events are sent.

Advertising measurement (Meta)

The app includes Meta's (Facebook's) SDK so we can tell whether our ads on Facebook and Instagram lead to installs and subscriptions. The SDK automatically logs some app events, such as installs, app opens and in-app purchases, and the app also logs when you start a free trial or subscribe, with the plan's price and currency. These events are sent to Meta with a Meta anonymous ID (a random ID the SDK creates for this install) and device information such as device model, iOS version, language, time zone and IP address. Meta handles this information under its own Privacy Policy.

After the launch screen, iOS asks whether PawCheck may track you:

• If you tap Allow, the Meta SDK may also collect your device's advertising identifier (IDFA), and it is added to your RevenueCat subscription record.
• If you tap Ask App Not to Track, the IDFA is not collected and Meta is told advertiser tracking is off. App events are still sent to Meta with the Meta anonymous ID, so we can still measure our ads — they just aren't linked to your IDFA.
• You can change your choice at any time in iOS Settings › Privacy & Security › Tracking, or in Settings › PawCheck.

Apple's SKAdNetwork may also report ad-driven installs to Meta without identifying you.

Subscriptions (Apple and RevenueCat)

Subscriptions are bought through your Apple ID and Apple processes the payment — we never see your card or payment details. We use RevenueCat to validate purchases and manage your subscription. RevenueCat receives your PawCheck account ID; your purchase and subscription history from Apple (plan, price, trial and renewal status); your email address, name and sign-in method; any creator code you entered; the Meta anonymous ID; and device identifiers — your IP address and Apple's identifier for vendor (IDFV), plus the IDFA only if you allowed tracking. RevenueCat sends subscription events to our servers so your access stays correct and creators are credited accurately.

Support emails

If you email us, we keep the conversation and your email address so we can help.

This website

pawcheck.co has no analytics or advertising trackers. Pages load fonts from Google Fonts, which receives your IP address, and the site remembers your light/dark choice in your browser. Opening a creator's invite link (pawcheck.co/r/…) sends that code to our server to check it.

2. Creator Program applicants

If you apply to the PawCheck Creator Program, we collect the name you'd like shown, your email address, the platform you post on, your profile link or handle, your follower range, the code you'd like, your browser's time zone (used to check the program's US-only eligibility), and a record of which versions of our terms you accepted, with the date and your browser's user-agent. Your display name is shown to people who open your invite link. If you're accepted, we keep records of the customers credited to your code (without their identities) and of your commissions. If we pay you, we collect what's needed to do that — such as your PayPal address and, where the law requires, tax details such as your legal name, address and a Form W-9 — and we share payment details with PayPal.

3. How we use information

• To run the app: sign-in, sync, scanning, scoring, recall checks, recall alerts and alternative suggestions.
• To provide subscriptions and free trials, and to credit and pay creators.
• To understand and improve the app (PostHog).
• To measure our advertising (Meta).
• To answer support requests, prevent abuse — for example, limiting how many AI requests an account can make each day — and meet legal, tax and accounting obligations.

We do not use your photos for advertising, and we do not show your pets' information to other users.

4. Who handles your data

• Google Firebase and Google Cloud (United States) — sign-in (including Google Sign-In), your synced data, and our scanning service.
• Google Gemini API — reads label photos. Separately, a product's brand and name are sent to Gemini with Google Search to look for recall notices about that product and to suggest alternatives; for alternatives we also send the product category and your pet's species and allergens. Your account details and pet names are not sent. We use Gemini on a paid, billing-enabled Google project; under Google's terms for paid use, Google does not use this content to improve its products, though it may keep it for a limited time to detect abuse.
• Google Firebase Cloud Messaging — delivers recall-alert push notifications (it receives your device's push token and the notification text).
• Apple — App Store purchases, Sign in with Apple, the tracking prompt, and push notification delivery.
• RevenueCat — subscription management.
• PostHog — app analytics.
• Meta — ad measurement.
• PayPal — creator payouts only.
• Google Workspace — our email.

We do not sell personal data. We share app events and identifiers with Meta for ad measurement, as described above. We may also disclose information when the law requires it, to protect someone's safety or our rights, or to a buyer of the PawCheck business, who would remain bound by this policy.

5. Where your data lives

Our database and servers are Google Cloud services in the United States; our other providers may process data in the US and elsewhere. If you use PawCheck from outside the US, your information is transferred to the US. Data is encrypted in transit (TLS), and our database only lets a signed-in user read or write their own records.

6. How long we keep it

• Account, pet profiles and scan history: until you delete them or your account.
• Label photos: not kept by our servers. The thumbnail on your phone goes when you delete the scan, your account or the app.
• Recall watch list, alerts and push tokens: while your account exists. They're deleted when you delete your account, and a weekly clean-up removes any left behind by deleted accounts. Push tokens are also removed when you sign out or when Apple reports them as no longer valid.
• AI usage limits: we may keep a short-term count of AI requests per account per day to prevent abuse. Results we cache for a product contain product information only — nothing about you.
• Analytics (PostHog) and ad measurement (Meta): kept by those services under their retention settings. We'll request deletion when you ask.
• Purchase and creator-commission records: as long as needed for accounting, tax, refunds and disputes, which can be after an account is deleted.
• Creator applications and acceptance records: for as long as you're in the program, and afterwards as long as needed as a legal record.
• Server logs: a limited time, for troubleshooting.

7. Your choices, and deleting your account

• Edit or delete pet profiles and scans in the app at any time.
• Delete your account in the app: Settings › Delete account. This deletes your account, pet profiles, scan history, recall watch list, recall alerts, push tokens and synced data from our database, removes your sign-in, and clears PawCheck's data on your phone. For security you may be asked to sign in again first.
• Deleting your account does not cancel an App Store subscription. Cancel it in iOS Settings › [your name] › Subscriptions.
• Records held by RevenueCat, PostHog and Meta are not removed automatically. Email team@pawcheck.co from the address on your account and we'll delete them or ask those providers to.
• Change your tracking choice at any time in iOS Settings › Privacy & Security › Tracking.
• Turn recall alerts off in the app (Settings › Recall alerts), or turn off PawCheck notifications in iOS Settings › Notifications.
• You can ask us for a copy of your information, or to correct or delete it, by emailing us. Depending on where you live you may have further rights; we'll honor them, and we won't treat you differently for using them.

8. Children

PawCheck is not directed to children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If you believe a child has given us information, email us and we'll delete it. The Creator Program is only open to adults 18 and over.

9. Changes

If this policy changes, we'll post the new version here with a new "Last updated" date, and for significant changes we'll take reasonable steps to let you know.

10. Contact

Voltaix Group LLC, a Florida limited liability company
Questions or deletion requests: team@pawcheck.co