Privacy notice

Who we are

ColchesterPets, meaning the app, this website and the pre-launch waiting list, is run by Solve with Software Ltd (company number 08200237), a company registered in England and Wales at 340 The Crescent, Colchester, Essex, CO4 9AD. In this notice, “we” means that company. We decide how your details are used, so we are the data controller.

If ColchesterPets grows, we plan to move it into a Community Interest Company (CIC). If we do, we will update this notice and let you know before that company takes over your details.

The app: what you give us

Your account is your first name, your email address and your password. The password is stored in protected form and no one at ColchesterPets can read it. We also keep a record of the moment you confirmed you are 18 or over at signup.

We check your postcode when you sign up to keep membership local to the Colchester area. Your full postcode and address stay private to you and the people running ColchesterPets. Other members only ever see your village name, and the hide-my-village setting lets you hide even that.

You can also add a short bio and a profile photo, and your pets with their names, photos and details.

The app: what you share

Posts, photos, captions, comments, paws and follows are the point of ColchesterPets, and other members can see them. Photos are stripped of hidden location data (EXIF) on your phone before they are uploaded.

While your account is public, each of your posts also has a web address that anyone can open without signing in or having the app — that is what the share button sends. Turning on “Ask people to request” closes those pages again, and turning it off opens them for everything you have already posted, not only what you post next. You can see exactly who can see what, and change it, in the app under Settings.

Lost and found alerts include where a pet was last seen. Sighting reports include a location and sometimes a photo. Messages between members about an alert stay inside the app, so your email address is never shown to other members.

If you enter a Pawparazzi competition we keep the entry photo and a record that you confirmed you are 18 or over and accepted the competition terms.

To keep the community safe we also keep records of blocks, reports and any moderation decisions. Moderation records are only visible to organisers.

The app: from your device

If you allow notifications, we hold a push token for your device so lost-pet alerts and competition news can reach you, together with your notification preferences.

If you become a supporter, Apple or Google take the payment and RevenueCat tells us your subscription status. We never see your card details.

The app contains no advertising and no analytics trackers.

Why we use it and our lawful bases

Most of what we do is simply running the service you joined: your account, the feed, alerts, messages, notifications and subscriptions. In legal terms that is performance of a contract.

Some of it is keeping the community safe and local: the postcode check, blocks, reports and moderation. In legal terms that is our legitimate interest, and yours.

The waiting list runs on your consent, described below. You control push notifications at any time in your device settings and the app’s notification preferences. We do not sell your details or share them for anyone else’s marketing.

Where it is kept and who handles it

Your account and everything you share are stored with Supabase on servers in London, United Kingdom. Photos are stored and delivered by Cloudflare using short-lived signed links, so a photo file cannot be hotlinked from another site or turned into a permanent public address of its own. The page a share link opens is a separate thing, described above.

A few specialist providers help us run things, each acting only on our instructions. Google (Firebase Cloud Messaging) delivers push notifications. RevenueCat manages supporter subscriptions. Ideal Postcodes answers the signup postcode lookup. Mapbox draws the lost and found maps, which means map requests include your device’s IP address. Resend sends the waiting-list emails.

Some of these providers are based in the United States. Those transfers are protected by the UK’s approved safeguards, the International Data Transfer Agreement and UK Addendum.

How long we keep it

Your account and everything attached to it stays for as long as you keep the account. Deleting your account in the app’s Settings removes your account, your pets, your posts and your photos. The waiting list is kept as described in its own section below.

Your choices in the app

In the app’s Settings you can hide your village, tune or turn off notifications, block members, sign out, and delete your account entirely. The side menu’s Help screen tells you how to reach us.

The waiting list

The form collects your email address and your first name, plus a record that you ticked the consent box and when. We use them to let you know when ColchesterPets launches, and occasionally before then with launch news. Nothing else.

The lawful basis is your consent. Every email includes an unsubscribe link, and withdrawing consent does not affect anything done while it was in place. We keep the list until ColchesterPets has launched and we have invited you, or until you ask to be removed, whichever comes first. If we decide not to launch, we delete the whole list.

Cookies and tracking

This site does not use cookies, analytics, or tracking of any kind. The app contains none either.

Under 18?

ColchesterPets is for adults. You must be 18 or over to hold an account or join the waiting list. If you are under 18, a parent or guardian is very welcome to join and share your pet’s adventures themselves — the account stays theirs.

Your rights

You may ask us to show you, correct, or delete your details at any time. Email [email protected] and we will act on it. Deleting your account yourself in the app’s Settings is always available too.

You also have other rights under UK data protection law, including the right to object to how we use your details and the right to restrict that use. If you are unhappy with how we have handled your information, you may complain to the UK’s Information Commissioner’s Office (ico.org.uk).