The controller of your personal data is Dawid Kwiatkowski, sole proprietor (Dawid Kwiatkowski, 6572973652, 52329701500000, UL. WOJSKA POLSKIEGO 106B/3, PL-25-201, KIELCE, Poland).
Contact for all data protection matters (also the single point of contact under Art. 12 of the Digital Services Act):
We process personal data in accordance with the GDPR (Regulation (EU) 2016/679).
2. Data we collect
At registration: e-mail address, password (stored only as a bcrypt hash), date and version of accepted Terms.
With Google / Apple / Facebook sign-in: the e-mail address shared by the provider.
Guest mode: an anonymous technical account (no e-mail). Guest accounts inactive for 90 days are deleted automatically.
While using the app:
report content: pet photos, description, species, traits, report location (GPS coordinates — stored and published rounded to approx. 110 m),
contact phone number — if you provide it, it is visible to app users (see section 5),
sightings (location, photo, optional phone for found-confirmations),
comments and chat messages,
points, badges and leaderboard position (the leaderboard shows your chosen display name, by default a pseudonym such as "User #A3F2" — never your e-mail),
abuse reports (flags) and user blocks.
Collected automatically:
device push token,
crash reports (Sentry: device model, OS version, error trace — no IP address, we disabled its collection),
advertising identifier — only with your consent given in the consent form (Google UMP), and only if you use the optional ad shown in exchange for highlighting your report. On iOS we do not ask for tracking permission (ATT) and have no access to the system advertising identifier.
We do not collect: first/last name, home address, profile photo, or special-category data (Art. 9 GDPR). Photos are stripped of EXIF metadata (including camera GPS) during compression. Photos containing people are automatically rejected.
3. Purposes and legal bases
Account, reports, map, chat, sightings, gamification — Art. 6(1)(b) GDPR (performance of the Terms).
Public display of the phone number you provide — Art. 6(1)(b); providing it is voluntary and its public visibility is disclosed in the form.
Push notifications (nearby reports, messages) — Art. 6(1)(b) and (f); they require the OS-level permission, which you can revoke in device settings.
Automated photo verification (Google Vision) and content moderation — Art. 6(1)(f) (safety and content quality). You may contest an automated rejection — a human will review it (contact us).
Ads (Google AdMob) — Art. 6(1)(a) (consent via the UMP form). Ads do not accompany ordinary use of the App: they appear only where you start one yourself in exchange for highlighting your report. The consent form is shown at that moment, not on first launch. You may refuse — highlighting still works. You can change/withdraw consent in the App settings or via Google ad privacy settings.
Crash diagnostics (Sentry) — Art. 6(1)(f).
Handling GDPR requests, defence of claims — Art. 6(1)(c) and (f).
4. Recipients and transfers outside the EEA
We use the following processors (each under a data processing agreement):
Supabase Inc. — database, authentication, photo storage. Servers: EU (Ireland, eu-west-1).
Google Ireland Ltd. / Google LLC — Google Vision API (photo verification) and Google AdMob (ads). Transfers to the US rely on the EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework (DPF).
Expo (650 Industries, Inc., USA) — push notification infrastructure (device token). Transfers based on DPF / SCCs.
Functional Software, Inc. (Sentry, USA) — crash reports, stored in the EU region; transfers supported by DPF.
Data may be disclosed to competent authorities only where required by law.
5. Data visible publicly in the app
By publishing a report or sighting you share with app users (including guests): pet photos and description, the report location (rounded to approx. 110 m), the pet's name and reward info (if provided), your phone number — if provided (revealed after tapping "Show number"), and your comments/sightings.
⚠️ For lost-pet reports, consider choosing a location other than your exact home address.
Not public: your e-mail, password, chat messages (visible only to participants), push token.
5.1. NFC tag and pet profile card
A pet profile (name, species, breed, photo, notes, microchip number) is private — only you can see it. That changes only when you activate a tag, which you do deliberately in the app ("Add tag"):
the app then issues a random, unguessable token and publishes a public card at `helpaw.pl/tag/<token>`;
the card shows only: name, species, breed, photo, notes and whether the pet is reported missing;
the card never shows the microchip number, your e-mail or your phone number — contact runs through a report in the app;
the token works like a key: whoever knows it (because they are holding the tag) can see the card. The address cannot be guessed or derived from another tag.
Activation is your consent to this publication — until you activate it, no tag shares anything. We record the moment of activation (date and account) so that consent can be evidenced.
When someone scans the tag: we notify you that the card has been opened. The finder may optionally share their approximate area — we ask them explicitly in the browser and never derive it silently from an IP address. Shared coordinates are rounded to about 1 km (the neighbourhood is enough) and kept for 30 days, then deleted automatically. We store no contact details of the finder.
Withdrawing consent: you can deactivate the tag at any time in the app — the card immediately stops showing any data, even though the physical tag still exists. Use this if the tag goes missing with your pet or ends up in the wrong hands. Activating again issues a new token and permanently invalidates the previous one.
6. Retention
Account and content — for as long as you use the app.
Account deletion (Settings → "Delete account") — immediate and irreversible; database backups rotate within up to 30 days.
Guest accounts — deleted after 90 days of inactivity (if no active reports).
Reports — expire after 90 days (renewable); phone numbers are removed from reports expired for more than 90 days.
Access / copy / portability: Settings → "Download my data" (JSON file), or e-mail us.
Rectification: edit your reports in the app; other data — e-mail us.
Erasure: Settings → "Delete account" or e-mail.
Restriction, objection: e-mail us. Withdrawing consent: see sections 3 and 5.
We respond within 30 days at the latest.
Complaint: the Polish supervisory authority (UODO, ul. Stawki 2, 00-193 Warsaw, uodo.gov.pl) or your local EU authority.
8. Security
TLS everywhere, bcrypt password hashing, row-level security in the database, server keys in an encrypted vault, regular backups, and a 72-hour breach notification procedure.
9. Device storage and identifiers
The mobile app uses no cookies. Local device storage holds: the session token, preferences (language, theme), offline cache, and the onboarding flag. The advertising identifier is processed only as described in section 3 - on iOS we do not request it at all. We use no behavioural analytics.
10. Age
The app is intended for users aged 16 or older; registration requires an age declaration. If we learn we process data of a younger person, we will delete the account and data without delay.
11. Changes
We will announce changes in the app and by e-mail at least 14 days in advance. The current version is always available in the app (Settings → Privacy Policy).