Privacy Policy

Effective date: June 29, 2026

Catch is a cat-tracking app that lets you log the cats you encounter, track where you spotted them, identify breeds, and share your sightings with friends. We take your privacy seriously and want to be upfront about what data the app collects and how it is handled.

Data We Collect

Catch collects the following types of data, all initiated by you:

• Location data — When you grant permission, Catch uses your device's location to tag where you encountered a cat. Location is accessed only while the app is in use ("When In Use"), never in the background.
• Photos — Photos you select from your library are uploaded to our servers for display within the app. Catch does not access your full photo library; only the images you explicitly choose are used.
• Cat encounter data — Names, notes, breed classifications, and encounter details you enter into the app.
• Account information — When you sign in with Apple, Google, or email, Catch stores the credentials needed to identify your account. Passwords are managed by our authentication provider (Supabase) and are never stored directly by Catch.
• Social data — Follow relationships, likes, and comments you create when interacting with other users' encounters.

How Data Is Stored

• Cloud storage — Your cats, encounters, photos, and social data (follows, likes, comments) are stored on servers hosted by Supabase, which runs on Amazon Web Services (AWS) infrastructure. Data is stored in the United States.
• Authentication — Sign-in is handled by Supabase Auth. If you use Sign in with Apple or Google, Catch receives only the identity token needed to verify your account. If you use email sign-in, your password is hashed and managed by Supabase — Catch never has access to your plaintext password.
• Photo storage — Photos you upload are stored in Supabase Storage (backed by AWS S3). Images are resized before upload to reduce storage and bandwidth usage.

Advertising

Catch is supported by ads served through Google AdMob, a third-party ad network operated by Google. Ads help keep Catch free for everyone. Catch Premium subscribers see no ads.

To deliver ads, Google and its ad partners may collect:

• A device advertising identifier (IDFA on iOS), if you grant App Tracking Transparency permission.
• Your IP address and approximate location derived from it.
• Device and operating system information.
• Information about your interactions with ads (impressions, clicks, time spent).

This data is used by Google for ad personalization, frequency capping, fraud prevention, and measurement. Google's processing of this data is governed by their Privacy Policy and how Google uses information from sites or apps that use their services.

On first launch after onboarding, iOS will prompt you for App Tracking Transparency permission. If you decline, Google still serves ads but cannot personalize them — you will see more generic ads instead. You can change this choice at any time in iOS Settings → Privacy & Security → Tracking.

Users in the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom, and Switzerland are presented with an additional consent form on first launch as required by the General Data Protection Regulation. You can revisit and change your consent choices at any time from Settings → manage ad preferences within the app. California residents have equivalent rights under the CCPA / CPRA and the same setting is shown.

Data We Do Not Collect

• Catch does not use third-party analytics SDKs beyond the ad-network data collection described in Advertising above.
• Catch does not sell or rent your personal data.
• Catch does not collect data in the background.

On-Device Processing

Breed classification is performed entirely on your device using Apple's Vision framework. No photos are sent to external servers for analysis.

Account Deletion

You can delete your account and all associated data at any time from the Settings screen within the app. This removes your profile, cats, encounters, photos, and social data from our servers and signs you out.

Children's Privacy

Catch is not directed at children under 13. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If you believe a child has provided us with personal data, please contact us so we can take appropriate action.

Changes to This Policy

We may update this privacy policy from time to time. Any changes will be reflected on this page with an updated effective date.

Contact

If you have questions about this privacy policy or how your data is handled, please reach out at catchcatsapp@gmail.com.