Privacy Policy

This policy explains what Fur Baby Social collects, why, and the choices and rights you have. It covers the Fur Baby Social website and the Fur Baby Social iOS and Android apps. The data controller is Xanadu App Development LLC, 4370 Chicago Dr SW 118, Grandville, MI 49418, United States — reachable at support@furbaby.social. We aim to collect only what the service needs, and this policy describes what the service actually does rather than reserving rights to do more.

What we collect

Account information — your email address, display name, and, if you sign in with Google or Apple, the basic profile that provider shares with us.

Your date of birth, collected once when you join. We use it to confirm you meet our minimum age of 13 and to apply the extra protections that cover members aged 13 to 17. We store the date itself, not a copy of any identity document, and we never display it to other members.

Your ZIP code, which we turn into an approximate city and state to show local content. We do not collect precise or device location, and we never display your raw ZIP to other members.

Your pet profiles — name, type, breed, age, photo, and any optional details or health notes you add.

Content you create — photos, videos, captions, comments, contest entries, votes, event RSVPs, and, where messaging is enabled, your direct messages.

Basic activity signals— for example which recommendation cards you see and tap — used to understand what is useful and to report to partners in aggregate, and, where the measurement tools described under "Advertising and measurement" are on, the events listed there.

How we use it

To run the core features (feed, profiles, contests, events), to personalize product recommendations to your pet, to keep the community safe through moderation, and to improve the service.

Automated safety checks.Photos, videos, captions, comments, profile and pet photos, and message requests from people you haven't accepted are checked automatically for content that breaks our Community Rules (for example nudity, hate symbols, or harassment). New photo and video posts appear once that check passes — usually within seconds. Anything the check isn't sure about goes to a person on our team, and anything it removes can be reviewed and restored. Conversations you have accepted are not scanned.

Notifications. If you allow notifications, we use your activity on Fur Baby Social — likes, comments, the people and pages you follow, this month's contest, events near you and new photos of your pet types — to send the occasional reminder when you've missed something; turning off Announcements in Settings → Notifications stops them.

Sharing

We do not sell your personal information.We do not share it with advertisers to profile you or target ads; the one exception some state laws count as "sharing" is the Google ad-conversion measurement described under "Advertising and measurement", which you can opt out of with Global Privacy Control (see "Your privacy rights"). We use a small set of service providers to operate Fur Baby Social: Supabase (database, authentication, and file storage), Cloudflare Stream(video hosting and playback), Sightengine (the automated safety checks described above — it receives only the photo, video frames, or text being checked, never your account details), Vercel (website hosting), Google(Tag Manager, Analytics and Ads conversion measurement — see "Advertising and measurement" below — and Firebase, which delivers the apps' push notifications), and Stripe (payment processing, used only when a business buys a promotion — Stripe collects card details directly and we never see them). If you sign in with Google or Apple, that provider handles your login. Affiliate links route through a tracking partner so a retailer can credit the referral; this is standard click tracking and does not transfer your identity. We may also disclose information where the law requires it, or to protect the safety of a person or the service.

Advertising and measurement

We run ads for Fur Baby Social on other services, and we measure which of them bring people here. The website loads Google Tag Manager, which can run Google Analytics and Google Ads conversion measurement, and the apps can use Google Analytics for Firebase. These tools receive events such as "signed up", "finished setting up a profile", "added a pet", "posted" or "entered a contest", the kinds of pages or screens you visit (not names, captions or search terms), and technical details such as your device type, your approximate location from your IP address, and an identifier for your browser or your installation of the app. We never send them your name, email address, member ID, pet names, photos, messages or anything you write. We do not use these tools to build advertising profiles or to show you targeted ads, we do not use an advertising identifier, and sponsored posts and recommendation cards are still served by us, from our own database, and labeled where they appear.

The only cookies we set ourselves are the ones that keep you signed in. Google's measurement tools may set their own cookies on the website. If your browser sends a Global Privacy Control or Do Not Track signal, the website does not load those tools at all — nothing to click, nothing to configure.

Public content

Posts, pet profiles, comments, and contest entries are public within the service by design. Don't post anything you wouldn't want others to see.

Direct messages

Direct messages are private to their participants — our team doesn't read them, and once you accept a conversation it is never scanned. A message request from someone you haven't accepted is checked automatically first; one that clearly breaks the rules is declined for you, and one the check isn't sure about may be shown to our review team. When a member reports a message, the reported message is shared with our review team and a snapshot is kept with the report as evidence. Messages are stored until you delete them; deleting a message erases its text for everyone, and deleting your account erases your conversations (including the other side's copy). The full policy is in our Community Rules.

How long we keep information

Account, pet, and content data: until you delete the item or your account — deletion is immediate and permanent, as described at furbaby.social/delete. Messages: until deleted by you or by moderation. Moderation records and report evidence: for as long as the report record is retained, so safety decisions stay reviewable — and material connected to a child-safety report is kept as long as the law requires (see our Child Safety Standards). Activity signals: the link to your account is severed when you delete it, leaving only de-identified counts. Residual copies of deleted data may persist in encrypted backups for a limited period before being purged on schedule, and we may retain information where the law requires it.

Security

Data is encrypted in transit (TLS) and at rest with our hosting providers. Access to production data is limited to the small number of people who operate the service, private content is protected by database-level access rules enforced on every request, and payment card details go directly to Stripe — we never see or store them. No online service can promise perfect security; if we learn of a breach affecting your personal information, we will notify you and the relevant authorities as the law requires.

Where your data is processed

We are based in the United States and our service providers process data there. If you use Fur Baby Socialfrom outside the U.S., your information is transferred to the U.S. Where transfers from the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom, or Switzerland require safeguards, we rely on our providers' participation in the EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework or on standard contractual clauses.

Your choices

You can edit your profile and pets, delete your posts, comments, and messages, and archive pets at any time. You can delete your account yourself from Settings, or from furbaby.social/delete — which also works if you have already uninstalled the app. Deletion takes effect immediately and permanently. For a copy of your data, email support@furbaby.social.

Your privacy rights — United States

Depending on your state (including California, Colorado, Connecticut, Texas, Virginia, and others with comprehensive privacy laws), you may have the rights to know and access the personal information we hold about you, correct it, delete it, and receive a portable copy. Most of these are built into the product: your profile and pets are editable in place, and deletion is self-serve. For anything else, email support@furbaby.social — we verify requests against the email on the account, respond within 45 days (extendable once where the law allows, with notice), and never discriminate against you for exercising a right. An authorized agent may submit a request on your behalf with proof of authorization.

We do not sell personal information.Measuring ad conversions through Google can count as "sharing" under some state laws; you can opt out by turning on Global Privacy Control in your browser, which we honor automatically. There is nothing else to opt out of, and the same is true for profiling with significant effects. We do not use sensitive personal information beyond what the service visibly needs (your date of birth, used for the age gate). If we deny a rights request, you may appealby replying to our response; we answer appeals within the period your state's law sets, and if we deny the appeal you may contact your state attorney general.

Your privacy rights — EEA, UK, and Switzerland

Where the GDPR or UK GDPR applies, our legal bases are: performance of a contract (running the service you signed up for — account, content, messaging), legitimate interests (keeping the community safe, preventing abuse, measuring what is useful, in ways you would reasonably expect), consent where we ask for it, and legal obligation (age screening, responding to lawful requests, child-safety reporting). You have the rights of access, rectification, erasure, restriction, portability, and objection, and the right to withdraw consent without affecting prior processing — exercise any of them in the product or by email, as above. You also have the right to complain to your data protection authority, though we would appreciate the chance to resolve concerns first.

Children

Fur Baby Social is not directed to children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect their information. We ask for a date of birth when you join and refuse accounts to anyone under 13; if we learn that an account belongs to someone under 13 we terminate it and delete the data. Members aged 13 to 17 get additional protections, including restricted messaging. We do not run ad measurement for members under 18: the website and the apps do not run the measurement tools for a signed-in member under 18. Our published Child Safety Standards explain how we prohibit, detect, and report child sexual abuse and exploitation. If you believe a child under 13 has given us information, email support@furbaby.social and we will delete it.

Changes

We may update this policy as the service evolves. The date above always reflects the current version, and for material changes we will give notice in the product or by email before they take effect.

Contact

Questions about privacy? Email support@furbaby.social. See also our Terms of Service, Community Rules, Child Safety Standards, and Licenses & Attributions.