Privacy Policy

PawCommunity is a mobile platform and initiative operated by HUMANOVA — Centre for Applied Human Innovation, a non-profit association registered in the Canton of Geneva, Switzerland (art. 60–79 Swiss Civil Code).

We are the data controller for all personal data collected through pawcommunity.org and the PawCommunity mobile app.

Contact: hello@pawcommunity.org

Swiss data protection authority: Federal Data Protection and Information Commissioner (FDPIC) — www.edoeb.admin.ch

When you create an account

• Email address and name — to create your account and communicate with you.
• Profile photo (optional) — to personalise your profile.

When you report a stray animal

• Location (GPS) — to pin the animal on the map and alert nearby volunteers. We ask for your permission before accessing location. We do not track your location in the background.
• Photos of the animal — to help identify and track the animal. We automatically strip EXIF metadata from uploaded photos.
• Description and notes — the text you write about the animal's condition.

When you donate

• Payment data is processed by Stripe — we never see or store your card number. Stripe is PCI-DSS certified.
• We keep a record of the donation amount and date for our legal accounting obligations (10 years, Swiss CO).

When you browse the app or website

• Usage data and logs — pages visited, features used, crash reports. Used to improve the app and fix bugs.
• Device information — device type, OS version, app version. Used for technical support.

Newsletter (opt-in only)

• Your email address if you explicitly subscribe. You can unsubscribe at any time with one click.

We do not sell your data. We share data only with the following service providers who help us operate PawCommunity:

All providers are bound by data processing agreements (DPAs) and may not use your data for any purpose other than providing their services to us.

We may disclose data if required by Swiss law or a court order.

Some features in PawCommunity use artificial intelligence (via Anthropic's API) to help volunteers — for example, to assess the urgency of a report or suggest next steps.

• We send only the minimum necessary data to the AI (animal description, photo — never your name, email, or precise GPS).
• Anthropic processes data under a zero data retention agreement — data is not stored after processing and not used to train AI models.
• No automated decisions with legal or significant effects are made about you without human review.

Under Swiss law (nLPD, in force since 1 September 2023), you have the right to:

• Access — request a copy of all data we hold about you.
• Rectification — ask us to correct inaccurate data.
• Erasure — request deletion of your account and data (within 30 days).
• Portability — receive your data in a machine-readable format.
• Object — opt out of marketing communications at any time.
• Complaint — lodge a complaint with the FDPIC: www.edoeb.admin.ch

To exercise any of these rights, email us at hello@pawcommunity.org. We will respond within 30 days.

• All data is encrypted in transit (TLS 1.3) and at rest.
• Access to the database is restricted to authorised team members only.
• We remove EXIF metadata from all uploaded photos.
• We follow privacy by design — we collect only what is strictly necessary.
• In the event of a data breach, we will notify affected users and the FDPIC within 72 hours as required by nLPD.

This policy may be updated periodically. We will notify you of significant changes by email or in-app notification.