Privacy Policy

1. Introduction

BarkPark ("we", "our", or "us") is committed to protecting your privacy. This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, disclose, and safeguard your information when you use barkpark.social, in a browser or added to your Home Screen, or the BarkPark app for iPhone (together, the "Service"). Please read this policy carefully. By using BarkPark, you consent to the practices described in this Privacy Policy.

2. Information We Collect

Information You Provide

• Account Information: Email address, name, password when you register, your year of birth (to confirm you are 18 or over), and when you accepted the Terms of Service and this policy
• Dog Profiles: Dog names, breeds, ages, photos, and health information
• User Content: Posts, comments, photos, and reviews you share
• Medical Vault Data: Vaccination records, medications, vet appointments
• Payment Information: None. BarkPark is free and nothing is for sale. If paid plans start, Stripe will take payments and we will not see your card number

Information Collected Automatically

• Location Data: With your permission, we use your device's location to show nearby parks and to confirm you're at a park when you check in. The position you check in from is not stored. The feed's Nearby sends it to us rounded to about 1 km, to find posts from parks near you, and doesn't store it. Trails sends it to us to find trails near you; it isn't stored, and the services we ask see it only rounded to about 1 km
• Home Park: If you make a park your dog's home park, we store which park it is. Only you can see it. We use it for walk weather when your device doesn't share its location, for the morning walk alert, and for the feed's Nearby. Remove it from the park's page at any time
• Approximate Location: Without asking, we estimate your city from your IP address (our host, Vercel, does this) so the site can show parks near you. It is not stored
• Device Information: Device type, operating system, unique device identifiers
• Notifications on Your iPhone: If you allow notifications in the iPhone app, Apple gives the app a token that addresses your phone, and we store it with your phone's model name (for example “iPhone 16”). We use it only to send the alerts you've allowed. Signing out of the app stops them, and so does turning BarkPark's notifications off in your iPhone's Settings
• Camera and Photos on Your iPhone: The app opens your camera or photo library only when you choose to take or pick a photo or video, and uploads only the ones you choose. Photos are resized, and the location stored inside a photo is removed, before upload
• Face ID and Touch ID: The iPhone app can use them to unlock your Medical Vault. The check happens on your phone; we never receive any biometric data
• Usage Data: How you interact with the app, features used, time spent
• Analytics: Vercel Analytics and Speed Insights measure how pages are used and how fast they load, only if you allow analytics in the cookie banner. You can change that choice anytime in Cookie preferences

3. How We Use Your Information

• Provide, maintain, and improve the Service
• Create and manage your account and dog profiles
• Enable social features like follows, likes, and comments
• Show you nearby dog parks and enable check-ins
• Send you notifications about activity, park alerts, and updates
• Respond to customer support inquiries
• Detect and prevent fraud, abuse, and security issues
• Analyze usage to improve our features

4. Legal Basis for Processing (GDPR)

Under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), we rely on the following legal bases for processing your personal data:

• Account Information (name, email, password): Contractual necessity — required to create and maintain your account and provide the Service
• Health & Medical Vault Data (vaccination records, medications, vet records): Explicit consent — you choose to provide this sensitive data and can withdraw consent at any time
• Location Data: Consent — your device's location is used only with your explicit device permission, which you can revoke at any time
• Approximate Location from your IP address: Legitimate interest — to show parks near you; it is not stored
• Analytics & Usage Data: Consent — used to understand app performance and improve the Service, with your permission
• Marketing Communications: Consent — sent only when you opt in, and you can unsubscribe at any time

Where processing is based on consent, you have the right to withdraw that consent at any time: turn off location in your device settings, delete Medical Vault records in the app, turn analytics off in Cookie preferences, or email us at barkparkhelp@gmail.com for anything else. Withdrawal of consent does not affect the lawfulness of processing carried out before the withdrawal.

5. Medical Vault Data

Your Medical Vault data (vaccinations, medications, conditions, vet visits and vital signs) is treated with the highest level of care. This data is:

• Encrypted on your device before it is stored, with a key derived from your vault password that we never receive. Names, dosages, diagnoses, vets, clinics, costs and your notes are kept only as ciphertext we cannot read. Dates and vital-sign numbers are stored readable so the app can sort them, chart trends and show reminders.
• The same vault on the website and the iPhone app. We store what lets either open it (a random salt, a value that checks your password without revealing it, and your recovery phrase's encrypted backup), never your password or the key itself. If you unlock with Face ID, the iPhone app keeps the key in your phone's Keychain, behind Face ID, and it never leaves the phone.
• Only accessible to you. Medical Vault records cannot currently be shared with anyone else.
• Never sold to third parties
• Never used for advertising purposes
• Deletable at any time by you

Scanning a vet document is the one exception. To read the document, its photo is sent to Anthropic, our AI provider, and the details it finds pass through our servers before your device encrypts them. We delete the photo when the scan finishes. Records you type in yourself have their sensitive details encrypted before they leave your device.

6. Information Sharing

We do not sell your personal information. We may share information in the following circumstances:

• Public Content: Posts, photos, and dog profiles you make public are visible to other users
• Park Check-ins: When you check in, other signed-in members see your dog's name and photo at that park until you check out. Anyone can see how many dogs are checked in at a park. Your past check-ins are visible only to you
• Service Providers: We use trusted third parties to operate our service (listed in section 11). Some receive a location: weather services get your position rounded to about 1 km, and when you look for trails, OpenStreetMap receives the places you search for and an area around your position rounded to about 1 km
• Legal Requirements: When required by law or to protect rights and safety
• Business Transfers: In connection with a merger, acquisition, or sale of assets

7. Your Privacy Rights

You have the right to:

• Access and export: Settings → Export Data gives you everything we hold that is tied to you or your dogs: your profile, dogs, posts, stories, comments, likes, follows, the messages in your conversations, check-ins, reviews, walks, health logs, notifications, playdates, Academy progress and Medical Vault records, with links to your photos and other files. Medical Vault details are decrypted on your device when your vault is unlocked, and otherwise come out encrypted. Passwords, keys and tokens are left out
• Correction: Update your profile and dogs in the app, or ask us to correct anything else
• Deletion: Settings → Delete Account deletes your account and its data right away. You can also email us from the address on your account, and we will delete it within 30 days
• Opt-out: Turn off location in your device settings, push notifications in Settings (on an iPhone, in its Settings → Notifications → BarkPark), or analytics in Cookie preferences

To exercise these rights, email us at barkparkhelp@gmail.com.

8. Data Security

We implement industry-standard security measures to protect your data, including:

• Encryption in transit (HTTPS/TLS)
• Secure authentication with Supabase Auth
• Row-level security policies in our database
• Regular security audits and updates

However, no method of transmission over the internet is 100% secure. We cannot guarantee absolute security.

9. Children's Privacy

BarkPark is for adults aged 18 and over. We do not knowingly collect personal information from anyone under 18. If the year of birth you give when you first sign in makes you under 18, we delete the account and its data right away. If you believe we have collected such information, please contact us immediately at barkparkhelp@gmail.com and we will delete it.

10. Data Retention

We retain your data for as long as your account is active. When you delete your account, your personal data is deleted right away (or within 30 days of a request by email), except where required by law to retain it longer. Reports you made about other people's posts are kept for moderation, without your name. Copies can remain in our database backups until those backups are replaced.

11. Third-Party Services

Our Service may contain links to third-party websites or services. We are not responsible for their privacy practices. We recommend reviewing their privacy policies.

Key service providers we use:

• Supabase: Database and authentication
• Vercel: Hosting, analytics (if you allow it), and the approximate location from your IP address
• Anthropic: AI features: reading vet documents you scan into the Medical Vault, food labels you scan, the photos you send for a body condition score, and frames from the Academy lesson videos you send for review
• Apple: TestFlight, which delivers the iPhone app to testers, and the Apple Push Notification service, which delivers the app's notifications to your phone
• Expo: Passes the iPhone app's notifications to Apple. It receives your phone's notification token and each notification's title and text
• US National Weather Service and OpenWeather: Weather for your position, rounded to about 1 km
• OpenStreetMap (Nominatim): Place searches when you look for trails; your browser sends these directly, so they see your IP address
• OpenStreetMap (Overpass): The area to search when you look for trails, around your position rounded to about 1 km; our server sends it, so they don't see your IP address
• Stripe: Payments, only if paid plans start (none today)

12. California Privacy Rights (CCPA)

California residents have additional rights under the California Consumer Privacy Act. You have the right to know what personal information we collect, request deletion, and opt-out of the sale of personal information. We do not sell personal information.

13. International Data Transfers

BarkPark is operated from the United States. If you are located outside the US, please be aware that your personal data is transferred to, stored, and processed in the United States, where our servers and service providers are located.

We transfer data internationally through the following service providers:

• Supabase: Database hosting and authentication (United States)
• Vercel: Application hosting, edge functions, and analytics (United States)
• Anthropic: AI-powered features and content analysis (United States)
• Apple and Expo: Delivering the iPhone app and its notifications (United States)

For users in the European Economic Area (EEA), United Kingdom, or Switzerland, these transfers are protected by Standard Contractual Clauses (SCCs) approved by the European Commission, which ensure that your personal data receives an adequate level of protection regardless of where it is processed.

You may request a copy of the applicable Standard Contractual Clauses by contacting us at barkparkhelp@gmail.com.

14. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. We will show a notice in the app for significant changes and update the date at the top of this page. Your continued use of the Service after changes constitutes acceptance of the updated policy.

15. Contact Us

If you have questions about this Privacy Policy or our privacy practices, please contact us at:

Email: barkparkhelp@gmail.com