Privacy Policy

01

What data we collect

• Account: name, username, email address and password (the password is stored exclusively as a cryptographic hash — nobody, including us, can read it). If you enter it, also the phone number the tracker uses as its Admin/SOS number — it is sent to your trackers and shared with nobody else.
• Tracker data: GPS positions of the tracker (with speed, heading and altitude, if the tracker reports it), battery level, connection status and the tracker ID number (printed on it). If you enter it, also the number of the SIM card in the tracker, for SMS setup. These are the positions of the dog, not of a person.
• Tracker signals: when the tracker reports them, we store barking (IK122T Pro and IK122M Pro only, and only while bark detection is on), being switched off with the button (IK122T Pro and IK122M Pro) and the button being held while the power-off lock is on — each with the time and the tracker’s last known position at that moment. Barking is what produces the “Barking”, “Barking in place” and “Chase” labels on the map, the “Barking in place” notification, the time in chase in the statistics and the chase and barking stretches on the dog’s track. We also remember whether bark detection and the power-off lock are on, because the tracker does not report that itself.
• Daily statistics: once a day, the server works out each of your trackers' totals for that day from its positions and saves them: distance run (without stretches where the dog was driven by car, recognised from the tracker’s speed and positions), time on the move, number of positions, top speed over a short stretch, and the times of the first and last position, plus — for a tracker that reports barking — time in chase (in total, the number of chases and the longest one) and time spent barking in place. The totals are tied to your account, not to the tracker: if the tracker gets a new owner, they never see them.
• Dog profile: the name and, if you want, breed, date of birth, notes, map colour and a photo. When a photo is uploaded we strip its hidden metadata (such as the GPS location where it was taken and the phone model). If a tracker connection request expires (the tracker does not report in time), we keep the dog name you entered on that request, so that “Try again” can offer you the same name; the dog created for that request is then deleted.
• Hunts: the hunt name, who is in it, invitations and the dogs you bring into it. When a hunt ends, the server works out and saves statistics for each dog for the time it was in the hunt: distance run (here, too, without driving by car), time on the move and top speed over a short stretch, plus — for a tracker that reports barking — time in chase and time spent barking in place. While the hunt is on, the same numbers are worked out live and are not saved.
• Place markers: places you mark on the map yourself (for example a stand, a crossing, a feeder) — the name, type, coordinates and the time the marker was created. Markers are private: only you see them, on your own devices, and they are not shared with hunt members by themselves — they only go to someone else when you send them yourself (see the next item). When you add a marker with “Add where I stand”, its coordinates are your position at that moment.
• Sending markers to another user: you can send markers yourself to another DogTracker user — to the members of your active hunt, to someone who was in the same hunt as you at the same time, or to a user whose exact username or email you enter. For each shipment we store who sent it, to whom, when, its state (waiting, saved, declined), when the recipient responded and a copy of the name, type and coordinates of the markers sent (50 at most). The recipient gets a notification with your name, the number of markers and the names of up to three of them, and sees your name and username in the app. They can save the copy to their own markers or decline it; you are not told which they chose. A saved copy is their marker, and the rules for place markers apply to it.
• Blocking and reporting: when you block someone, we store whom you blocked and when. The blocked person is not notified and can no longer send you markers or hunt invitations. When you report a marker shipment or a hunt invitation, we store who reported it, whom, the reason, your note, the time and a copy of the reported content (marker names or the hunt name, without coordinates). The report is also emailed to our support, who review it within 24 hours; the reported person is not told who reported them.
• Sharing from your phone: you can also share markers by message (Viber, WhatsApp, SMS…) or as a GPX file, and your own position or a dog’s position by message. Your phone, not our server, hands the message or file to the app you choose. The message contains a title (such as the marker’s or the dog’s name), the coordinates and a Google Maps link. For each marker, the GPX file contains its title, coordinates, type and the time the marker was created, plus the time of the export. You can also open a marker or a dog’s position in a maps app: your phone hands it the coordinates and the title — on Android to the maps app you choose or your phone’s default one, on iPhone always to Apple Maps. If no maps app accepts the place, a Google Maps link opens with the coordinates only. Neither the message, nor the file, nor the maps app gets a tracker number.
• Hunter position during a hunt — only if you explicitly turn it on: sharing your own position with other hunt members is off until you enable it with the switch, and you can turn it off at any time. We keep only the last point sent, not a track, and delete it no later than 24 hours after the hunt ends.
• Approximate location (country): when you claim a tracker, we work out the country from your phone's IP address to set the subscription region and price. This is done by a database on our own server, without sending the IP address to anyone; we keep only the country code.
• Search when inviting to a hunt: what you type (username or email) is sent to the server to find the account and is not saved in the database. The app builds the list of recently invited people from your hunt invitations. The same applies to the username or email you enter when sending markers.
• Usage statistics: for each day we record which features of the app you used and how many times (e.g. dog history and how many days back, statistics, LIVE, commands, hunts and place markers). We store only the feature name and the count, with your account and the day — no content, positions or tracker number.
• Technical data: signed-in sessions (app and device label, IP address, time), the push notification token, a record of failed sign-ins (the email or username typed and the IP address), server logs (IP address, time and the request address, including a search term you typed) and app error reports (without name or email — they serve to fix bugs).

02

What we use it for

• Showing your dogs' positions on the map, LIVE tracking, movement history and statistics — with a label when the dog is barking or chasing, the “Barking in place” notification and the “Someone is holding the tracker button” notification (when the power-off lock is switched on in DogTracker and someone holds the power button; at most one every 10 minutes per tracker; it can be turned off in Settings → Notifications). Only the dog’s owner receives either notification.
• Group hunts: hunt members see your name, the dogs you brought into the hunt (name, photo, tracker number, position, a label when the dog is barking or chasing, their track since the dog joined the hunt and their statistics from that hunt — live while the hunt is on) and — only while your sharing is on — your position. After the hunt ends, everyone who was a member of that hunt, including those who left it early, can see each dog’s track from the hunt on the map and in a replay, together with the times of chasing, barking, barking in place and driving by car. A dog’s track is shown only for the time the dog was shared in that hunt (from when both the dog and its owner were in the hunt until the hunt ended or the owner left, and at most the last 24 hours of that time), only for 60 days after the hunt, and only while the dog’s owner still has the same tracker — if they release or transfer it or delete their account, only the numbers remain. They do not see your email address. Your username is seen by someone who was in the same hunt as you at the same time, when they send markers, and by the hunt owner who invites you (see the next item).
• Inviting to a hunt: other users can only find you by typing your exact, full username or your exact, full email address; they cannot find you by your name or by part of your username. The same applies when someone you have not been in a hunt with sends you markers. When a hunt owner invites you, the server sends the invitation details — your name and username, when you were invited and the state of the invitation (waiting, accepted, declined or expired) with the time you responded — only to the hunt owner, even if you decline and never join the hunt, until the invitation is deleted, 7 days after it was sent. The app shows the invitation to the owner while it is waiting for your answer. Other hunt members, current or former, do not see your invitation; if you accept it, they see you as a hunt member (see the previous item).
• Account security: sign-in, email address confirmation, password reset by email, viewing and revoking active sessions, protection against password guessing.
• Showing your place markers on the map, on every device you are signed in on. No other user sees your markers, except copies you send yourself.
• Push notifications related to your trackers and hunts, and a notification when someone sends you markers.
• The subscription region and price for a tracker (from the country determined when it is claimed).
• Fixing faults and protecting the service against abuse.
• Developing and planning the app: usage statistics show us which features are used and how much. They are not shown to other users.
• Support: the service administrators have access to account, tracker and position data and use it only to run the service and help users. Your place markers, including those you send or receive, are not shown in the administration panel; like the rest of the data, they are stored in a database the service operator has technical access to.

We do not sell or rent your app data, and we do not use it for advertising. We share it only with the service providers listed in section 05, and only to run the service. Measuring visits to this website, only with your consent, is described in section 06.

03

Location in the background

• The app can send your position while the screen is locked or you are using another app — but only during a hunt and only if you turn it on yourself. It serves one purpose: so the other members of that hunt can see you on the map.
• On Android a permanent notification stays visible while it runs. On iPhone a blue indicator stays in the status bar; if you close the app by swiping it away, sharing stops.
• It stops when you use the same switch, leave the hunt, sign out, or when the hunt ends. It also stops by itself 12 hours after you turn it on, or when none of the dogs in the hunt has reported for more than 30 minutes. When neither sharing nor My trail recording is on, the app does not track your location in the background.
• Your position is visible only to members of that hunt. When you turn the switch off, it disappears from their map immediately; if your phone simply stops sending (no signal, flat battery), the last known position stays visible to them for up to 60 minutes. The server keeps only the last point and deletes it no later than 24 hours after the hunt ends.
• My trail: if you start recording your own trail, the app also records your position in the background — only on your phone, until you stop it, and for 12 hours at most. On Android a permanent notification shows that your trail is being recorded. We do not send this trail to our server and hunt members do not see it; it leaves your phone only if you export and share it yourself (GPX or KML) or if it is included in Android’s backup to your Google account. You can delete it day by day in History, and it is deleted when you delete your account; signing out stops recording, but the trail stays on your phone.
• Dog positions come from the tracker over the mobile network and do not depend on this switch.

04

How long we keep data

• Account data and dog profiles: for as long as the account exists.
• The dog name on an expired tracker connection request: until the expired request is deleted — 90 days after the request was made. You see it in Trackers for 7 days after it expired, unless you dismiss it. It is deleted immediately when you delete your account.
• Place markers: until you delete them yourself, and at most for as long as the account exists. They are not deleted automatically.
• Sent and received markers: the copy of the markers in a shipment is deleted as soon as the recipient responds (saves or declines); the shipment itself (who, to whom, when, state, when the recipient responded, number of markers), like a shipment nobody responded to, is deleted 30 days after sending. A shipment is also deleted immediately when the sender’s or the recipient’s account is deleted — deleting your account removes all your shipments, both sent and received. A saved copy is the recipient’s marker (see above).
• Tracker movement history: positions older than 60 days are deleted automatically. Deletion runs in monthly blocks, so an individual position is gone no later than 92 days after it was recorded.
• Tracker signals (barking, switching off with the button, holding the button with the lock on): 60 days. The time in chase and time barking in place worked out from them are kept as long as the statistics they belong to.
• Daily tracker statistics: for as long as the account exists. They are kept even after the positions they were calculated from have been deleted, and are deleted together with the account.
• App usage statistics: 13 months; deleting the account deletes them immediately.
• Blocks: until you unblock the person (Settings → Blocked users); they are deleted immediately when your account or theirs is deleted. Reports: 12 months from the report, even if an account is deleted — they are used to review reports and prevent abuse.
• Hunter position from a hunt: only the last point, no later than 24 h after the hunt ends (a hunt ends by itself 24 h after it starts).
• Finished hunts — who took part, the dogs, each dog's last known position at the end of the hunt and the dogs' statistics from the hunt: 6 months. The dogs’ tracks in the replay of a finished hunt: 60 days after the hunt; after that, only the numbers remain in the replay. Hunt invitations: 7 days.
• Sign-in sessions (IP address, device label): while the session is active — it expires 60 days after it was last used — plus 7 days. Push token: until you sign out, and at most 90 days after the phone last checked in. Password reset code (stored only as a hash): 30 days.
• Commands sent to a tracker: 7 days; commands that act on the dog itself (such as vibration): 180 days. Technical tracker records (connections, events, LIVE sessions): 7 to 15 days.
• Security log (failed sign-ins with the email or username typed and the IP address; tracker claim attempts; password changes; changes to account details made by support, with the name, email, contact and support notes; account deletions — the deleted account’s name, username and email, when it was deleted and who deleted it: you in the app or an administrator): 12 months, even after the account no longer exists, for security and support.
• Server logs: no longer than 30 days, for security and troubleshooting. Nightly backups of the database and photos: no longer than 16 days.
• Data about visits to this website (only with your consent): see section 06.
• Deleting your account (in the app: Profile → Settings → Delete account) permanently removes your personal data from the account (only the records listed above remain, until their retention period ends) and unlinks your trackers from the account. What is deleted immediately, and what is kept and for how long: Delete your account.

05

Where data is processed

Our servers are located in the European Union (Hetzner, Germany). The app talks to the server over an encrypted connection (HTTPS/WSS); the tracker sends positions over the mobile network using the manufacturer's protocol, which does not support encryption. For some functions we rely on established service providers:

• Resend (EU) — sending emails: address confirmation, the password reset code, a notice when someone tries to sign up with your address.
• Google Firebase — delivering push notifications; the notification text (such as a dog's name, a hunt name, a sender’s name or the names of received markers) passes through Google's servers.
• Sentry (EU) — error reports. From the app (store versions only): a description of the error, phone model, system and app version and a random installation ID, without name, email or notification content. From the server: a description of the error and of the request that caused it.
• Backblaze B2 — encrypted nightly backups of the database and photos, kept away from the server.
• ImprovMX — receiving emails sent to support@dogtracker.app.
• Google Maps Platform (Google) — the map in the app. While the map is open, your device downloads it directly from Google, which sees your device's IP address and the coordinates of the area being shown (usually the area around your dogs). Google's maps SDK also automatically sends Google technical data: device model and operating system, SDK version, error reports from within the SDK, a pseudonymous SDK identifier (used to count active users) and map usage data (panning, zooming). Google processes this data independently, to provide and improve its services, including on servers outside your country, under the Google Privacy Policy. We do not send Google your account data; dog names, photos and positions are drawn onto the map on your device. Older versions of the app (1.0.1, builds 1–3) used Esri and OpenStreetMap map imagery, which see the device's IP address and the part of the map being loaded.
• Google Analytics (Google) and the Meta pixel (Meta) — measuring visits to this website, and only if you accept it. Meta is jointly responsible with us for collecting and sending that data. What is collected, who receives it and how to withdraw consent: section 06.

06

Cookies and tracking

• What the site uses: Google Analytics 4 and the Meta pixel — but only once you click “Accept” in the bar at the bottom of the page. Until you do, none of it loads and nothing is sent to Google or Meta: images, styles and the script come from our own server. Choosing “Essential only” means the same — neither of them loads. The Facebook and Instagram links in the footer are plain links and load nothing by themselves.
• Why: to see which ads and posts bring visitors to the site and how many of them click through to get the app or email us. Meta also uses the pixel data for its own purposes — to deliver, measure and target ads, including showing ads to people who have visited this website. We and Meta are jointly responsible for collecting and sending data from this website; Meta alone is responsible for what it does with that data afterwards, under its own policies. The legal basis is your consent.
• What is collected: the pages you view, how long you stay and how far you scroll, and where your visit came from (for example, which ad or post); clicks on the app download button, on the support email address and on links that lead away from this website (for example, Facebook, Instagram, Google Play); your device, operating system and browser type, screen size and language; your device's IP address — Google uses it to work out an approximate location (country, city) and does not store it, while Meta receives it with every event; identifiers in cookies: _ga and _ga_… (Google), _fbp and _fbc (Meta). If you are signed in to Facebook or Instagram in the same browser, Meta can also read its own cookies and link the visit to that account.
• Who receives it: Google (Google Ireland Limited; Google LLC, USA) and Meta (Meta Platforms Ireland Limited; Meta Platforms, Inc., USA). Transfers to the US rely on the EU–US Data Privacy Framework, in which both US companies participate. Processing on their side is governed by their own policies: the Google Privacy Policy and the Meta Privacy Policy.
• How long the cookies last: _ga and _ga_… up to 2 years, _fbp and _fbc 90 days.
• How long visit data is kept: Google keeps data about individual visits for up to 14 months (a setting in our Google Analytics account), and Meta under its own policies.
• Withdrawing consent is as easy as giving it: click Cookie settings in the footer of any page and choose “Essential only”. The site then deletes the Google and Meta cookies it set and sends nothing further. Withdrawing does not affect what was sent before.
• Your choice is remembered in your browser's local storage (localStorage) under the key dt_consent. It is not a cookie and is not sent anywhere.
• The app has no ads and no analytics tools of its own; on your phone it stores only what is needed to sign in, plus your settings, locally on the device. Google's maps SDK (see section 05) keeps a temporary copy of loaded map areas on the phone and sends Google its own technical and map usage data.
• The admin panel uses a single sign-in cookie, and only for administrators — not for visitors to this site.

07

Your rights

• Access and correction of your data — directly in the app (Settings).
• Account deletion — directly in the app, no permission needed, or by email request (how to delete your account).
• Withdrawing consent to the measurement of website visits — at any time, through “Cookie settings” in the footer (section 06).
• For any questions, complaints or data requests: support@dogtracker.app.
• If you believe something is wrong with your data, tell us first — you can also contact the Personal Data Protection Agency of Bosnia and Herzegovina. If you live in the EU, you can also complain to the data protection authority in your country — in Croatia, the Personal Data Protection Agency (AZOP).

08

Changes to this policy

If this policy changes significantly, we will notify users through the app and website visitors here, with a new “last updated” date. The date of the last change is always shown at the top of this page.