Last updated: March 15, 2026

Overview

Don'tEatMyDog is a community-driven wildlife safety app that helps you stay informed about animal sightings and hazards near you. We take your privacy seriously and collect only the minimum data necessary to provide the service.

Data We Collect

• Location data — Your approximate location is used to show nearby reports and send relevant push notifications. Location is only accessed while the app is in use.
• Wildlife reports — When you submit a report, we store the animal name, type, description, optional photo, and the coordinates of the sighting.
• Push notification tokens — If you enable notifications, we store your device's push token along with your approximate location to send relevant alerts.
• Newsletter email — If you subscribe to the newsletter, we store your email address.
• Device identifier — A random device ID is generated locally and sent with reports to prevent abuse. This is not linked to your identity.
• Crash reports — If the app crashes, anonymous error information may be sent to help us fix bugs.

How We Use Your Data

• Display wildlife sightings and hazards on the map
• Send push notifications about nearby sightings and report expirations
• Moderate content and prevent abuse
• Improve the app by analyzing crash reports

Push Notifications

You can control notifications through the app's notification settings. Two types of alerts are available:

• Nearby alerts — Notifications when wildlife, pets, or hazards are reported within approximately 3 km of your location.
• Expiry alerts — Notifications when your submitted reports are removed from the map.

You can enable or disable each type independently. You can also revoke notification permissions entirely through your device settings.

Data Retention

Wildlife reports are removed from the public map when they expire. Standalone reports expire after 1 year. When multiple reports of the same animal are submitted at the same location, they form a group — that group stays on the map until 1 year after the most recent report in the group was submitted. This keeps the map current and limits how long your data is publicly visible.

After a report is removed from the map, the underlying sighting data and any attached photos may be retained on our servers for up to 2 years for safety analysis, abuse review, and service improvement purposes, after which they are permanently deleted.

The default map view shows sightings from the past 7 days. You can adjust this range using the Filters option in the app.

Photos

Photos attached to reports are stored on our servers. They are removed from public view when the report expires, but may be retained for up to 2 years for the purposes described above before being permanently deleted.

Data Sharing

We do not sell, rent, or share your personal data with third parties. Data is only used to provide the Don'tEatMyDog service. Push notifications are delivered through Apple Push Notification Service (APNs) via Expo's push notification infrastructure.

Your Rights

• You can stop receiving push notifications at any time by disabling them in the app or your device settings.
• You can unsubscribe from the newsletter using the form below.
• Reports you submit are removed from the public map when they expire — within 1 year for standalone reports, or 1 year after the last related sighting at the same location for grouped reports. Underlying data may be retained for up to 2 years before permanent deletion.

Children's Privacy

Don'tEatMyDog is not directed at children under 13. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children.

Contact

If you have questions about this privacy policy or your data, contact us through the app's contact form or email admin@donteatmydog.com.

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