Privacy Policy
Animal Care Handbook
This policy explains how this application handles information and how to contact us about privacy.
Information we process
Animal Care Handbook stores pet names, species, breed, birth dates, selected pet photos, care tasks, completion dates, medical notes, weight, document photos and optional reminder dates locally on your iPhone. Language and reminder preferences, saved article identifiers and cached care articles are also stored locally. There are no user accounts. A random installation authorization secret and a separate encryption key are stored in the device Keychain. When you choose Back up now, profiles, tasks, medical records, their photos, the selected pet and favorites are encrypted on your device and sent to our backend. The backend stores the encrypted snapshot, a SHA-256 hash identifying the installation secret and an update timestamp. The encryption key is not sent. Requests for articles, backup operations and public web pages necessarily disclose connection information, such as IP address, request time and technical request metadata, to the hosting infrastructure. Backup requests carry the installation authorization secret in an HTTPS Authorization header so the service can authorize the request; the separate encryption key is never sent. Public requests pass through Cloudflare to the Railway backend.
How we use information
Local data provides your pet journal, multiple-pet switching, care history, article favorites and offline access. iOS uses the reminder content and schedule to deliver local notifications. Optional server storage provides backup and restoration to the same device while the original Keychain keys remain available. Public article endpoints update the offline care library. Technical request processing supports hosting, availability and security. We do not use this data for advertising, analytics, marketing or outbound email.
Service providers and sharing
Cloudflare provides public HTTPS termination and reverse proxy services for the API and policy website, forwarding requests to our Railway HTTPS origin. It processes connection and request information and the traffic it proxies, including authorization headers and already encrypted backup payloads. The separate backup encryption key stays on the device. The backend and its persistent storage are hosted by Railway, which processes network requests and infrastructure information to operate the service. Apple system services provide the photo picker, Keychain and local notifications on your device. No advertising, analytics, social-login or messaging SDK is included. Our application does not log authorization headers, pet content or encrypted request bodies. Cloudflare and Railway may maintain infrastructure and access logs under their own operational policies; we do not assert retention periods for those provider records. We do not sell personal information.
Data retention
The local journal remains until you delete its entries, delete all data in Settings or remove the application, subject to iOS storage and backup behavior. Current care tasks retain completion dates for the latest 30 days when completion is changed; deleting a task removes its displayed history. Cached articles remain available offline until replaced or removed with application storage. The server keeps one latest encrypted snapshot per installation until you replace it or request deletion. Installation keys may survive app removal in Keychain, but this is not guaranteed. We do not promise recovery after the keys are lost. Cloudflare and Railway infrastructure logs and any provider storage snapshots follow provider practices; their exact retention has not been established for this service.
Deleting your information
Use Delete all data in Settings to delete the current server backup and then the local pet journal, records, tasks and favorites. This operation requires a connection; if the server request fails, local data is kept so you can retry. Individual pet, task or record deletion changes the local journal; use Back up now to replace an older server snapshot. Deleting the active server record does not guarantee immediate physical erasure from SQLite pages, storage media or any infrastructure snapshots. Provider copies, if any, are subject to provider lifecycle and access controls. The application does not configure a separate backup archive. If installation keys are lost, the encrypted record cannot be located through an account or decrypted for recovery.
Permissions and your choices
Photos are selected through the iOS system photo picker. The app receives only the images you choose and compresses them for the journal; it does not request unrestricted photo-library or camera access. Remove an attached photo in its form to stop using it locally, then update the backup if needed. Local notifications are optional and requested only when you enable reminders. You can disable reminders in the app or withdraw notification permission in iOS Settings. Already delivered notifications can be cleared in Notification Center. The app requests no location, contacts, microphone or tracking permission.
Your privacy rights
You can review and edit your entries in the app, choose whether to make a server backup and request deletion using Settings. For privacy questions or requests concerning access, correction, deletion or other applicable data rights, contact stellancalderby@icloud.com. This address is a public privacy contact; the app has no account, email registration or message-sending system. We may need enough non-secret information to understand a request, but you should never send your installation secret or encryption key. Because the backend stores only encrypted content and has no account directory, we cannot identify or decrypt a lost installation through an email address.
Security
HTTPS protects transport to the public Cloudflare endpoint and from that proxy to the Railway HTTPS origin. The app encrypts snapshots using AES-GCM with a separate random 256-bit key and authenticates each backup request using a random installation-scoped secret. Keys are stored with a device-only Keychain accessibility class; local journal files use iOS file protection. The backend authorizes access by the cryptographic hash of the provided secret, validates uploads and limits request sizes and timeouts. No shared client credential or public backup listing exists. These measures reduce risk but do not make any device, hosting service or network absolutely secure. Keep your device protected; loss of the keys makes restoration impossible.
Children’s privacy
Animal Care Handbook is intended for people managing the everyday care of cats and dogs, not as a service directed to children. It does not ask for a child’s identity or an age profile. A child should use the app with a responsible adult. The care articles are general educational information and do not replace veterinary assessment or emergency care.
Changes to this policy
We may update this policy when the application or its processing changes. The effective date on this public page identifies the current version. Material changes will be reflected in the app or on this page as appropriate. Review the policy before using a changed backup feature.