Privacy Policy

1) PetCheck's role and scope

PetCheck organizes what a pet owner observes. It does not diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent disease and does not replace a veterinarian. This policy applies to the PetCheck website and the related features described below.

2) Information we process

• Pet and observation information: pet name or identifier, species, life stage, food and transition details, owner-entered context, visible-signal results, decision records, recheck notes, timestamps, and exported report data.
• Photos: a photo you select for a stool-subject or visible-signal check. The browser may resize or compress the image before it is transmitted for processing. If you choose to save a legacy local log, a compressed preview may remain in that browser.
• Google identity: a Google ID token used for server-side verification, Google's stable account identifier (the sub claim), verified email, and—when supplied by Google—a hosted domain indicator. We do not request access to Gmail, Drive, Calendar, contacts, or other Google product content.
• Email identity and delivery: an email address used for an optional one-time Magic Link, Customer Memory recovery, and consent-based recheck messages.
• PetCheck Plus and billing: checkout email and limited Polar identifiers and status data, such as customer, checkout, product, plan, subscription, renewal, cancellation, and entitlement status. PetCheck does not receive or store your full payment-card number or security code.
• Device, session, and operational data: signed browser claims, session cookies, local storage identifiers, request time, route or referral slug, approximate image size and format, browser user-agent, and limited security or rate-limit data such as hashed network identifiers.
• Analytics: anonymized page and device statistics through Vercel Web Analytics and allowlisted PetCheck event names stored locally in the browser. PetCheck event properties are sanitized to reduce collection of personal or sensitive text.

3) Why we use information

• Provide photo-quality, stool-subject, visible-signal, decision, logging, export, and follow-through features.
• Maintain local records and, when you connect it, encrypted cross-device Customer Memory.
• Authenticate Google or verified-email identities and safely associate them with one PetCheck principal.
• Open checkout, confirm Plus access, restore paid access, and provide subscription management.
• Send requested Magic Links or consent-based recheck messages.
• Protect the service, prevent abuse, investigate failures, and improve reliability and usability.
• Comply with legal obligations and enforce our Terms of Service.

4) Sign in with Google

Google connection is optional and is not required before checkout. PetCheck verifies the Google ID token on our server and uses Google's immutable sub value—not the visible email string—as the provider identifier. A verified email may help connect an existing Customer Memory profile only when our conflict rules permit it. Matching email text, Gmail dots, or plus-addresses alone are not sufficient to merge two customers.

We use Google account data only for authentication, account connection, provider provenance, and safe cross-device recovery. We do not sell Google user data or use it for advertising.

5) Photos and AI processing

A selected image may be sent through PetCheck's server to OpenAI's API so the service can check image quality, determine whether a stool subject is visible, and describe visible appearance signals. PetCheck configures these Responses API requests not to retain response application state. OpenAI may still retain limited content or metadata for abuse monitoring under its own API data controls and legal obligations.

PetCheck's encrypted Customer Memory snapshot is structured data only and rejects stool-photo image bytes. Local browser history is separate: a compressed preview can remain locally when you explicitly save a legacy observation record. Do not upload people, documents, addresses, or other sensitive content.

6) Customer Memory

PetCheck works locally by default. Local records are stored in your browser. When you connect Customer Memory with Google or a verified-email link, PetCheck can upload a limited structured snapshot containing pet profiles, decision records, Food Fit selections, transition plans and outcomes, and stable record IDs. Photo image bytes are not included in that cloud snapshot.

Customer Memory profiles and snapshots are encrypted with authenticated encryption before managed storage. This is server-side encryption, not end-to-end encryption: PetCheck must be able to decrypt the data to sync, merge, restore, export, or delete it for you.

7) Service providers and disclosures

We do not sell personal information. We disclose limited information when needed to:

• Vercel: host PetCheck and provide anonymized, cookie-free Web Analytics.
• OpenAI: process selected images and produce non-diagnostic visible observations.
• Google: provide optional Sign in with Google and verify account identity.
• Polar: act as checkout and billing provider and merchant of record for PetCheck Plus.
• Resend: deliver requested Magic Links and consent-based service emails.
• Managed storage providers: store encrypted Customer Memory, identity, and billing records.
• Authorities or advisers: when required by law or reasonably necessary to protect users, PetCheck, or others.

8) Cookies, local storage, and retention

• Local browser records remain until you delete them, clear site data, or the browser removes them.
• A one-time email link expires after approximately 15 minutes.
• Customer Memory and connected-identity sessions normally last up to approximately 30 days.
• A signed purchase-recovery claim may remain for up to approximately 400 days so completed Plus access can be restored in that browser.
• Encrypted Customer Memory remains until you delete the cloud copy or retention is otherwise required for security, operations, disputes, or law.
• Identity and billing records may be retained while an account, purchase, or subscription remains active and afterward as reasonably needed for recovery, fraud prevention, accounting, disputes, and legal compliance.
• Our providers retain transaction, security, email, and API data under their own terms and legal obligations.

9) Your choices and deletion

• You can use the core local observation tools without connecting Google or a verified email.
• You can disconnect a browser from Customer Memory. Disconnecting removes that browser session but does not delete the cloud copy.
• You can permanently delete the encrypted Customer Memory cloud copy from the Memory page. Local browser records remain until you delete or clear them separately.
• You can clear local records and signed browser claims through PetCheck controls or your browser's site-data settings.
• You can cancel and manage Plus through the Polar Customer Portal linked from PetCheck.
• You may request access, correction, or deletion of account, identity, or billing-associated PetCheck data by contacting support@getpetcheck.com. Some transaction or security records may need to be retained.

10) Security

We use measures such as encrypted server storage, signed and HttpOnly cookies, server-side Google token verification, scoped access rules, rate limits, and conflict-safe identity linking. No transmission or storage method is completely secure, and PetCheck cannot guarantee absolute security.

11) International processing

PetCheck is available across regions. Information may be processed in countries where PetCheck or its service providers operate. Privacy protections and government-access rules can differ from those in your location.

12) Children

PetCheck is not directed to children who cannot legally consent to online services in their location. Do not submit a child's personal information or images of people.

13) Changes to this policy

We may update this policy as PetCheck changes. We will post the revised date here and provide additional notice when required by applicable law.

14) Contact

Privacy and data requests: support@getpetcheck.com. Please do not email passwords, Google tokens, full card details, veterinary records containing human identifiers, or stool photos.