CanMyDogGo home

Privacy policy

Your outing plans stay yours.

CanMyDogGo is built for browsing. Location is optional, saved places stay on your device, and the current public app does not include ads or third-party analytics.

Last updated:

Location is your choice

We ask only after you choose “Use my current location.” Typed area search remains available.

Saves stay local

The current app and website keep saved places on your device, not in an online profile.

No ad tracking

We do not sell personal information or track you across other companies’ apps and websites.

01

Scope and current service

This policy explains how CanMyDogGo (“we,” “us,” or “our”) handles information through the CanMyDogGo iOS app, website, and the API that powers them.

You do not need an account to search, view, save, or submit a missing place. Missing-place submissions are structured and publish immediately with a provisional community label. Verified accounts are required for detailed policy reports and business-domain policy confirmations. Public profiles, advertising, and save synchronization are not part of this release.

02

Information we handle

Searches and optional precise location

When you type a city, neighborhood, address, ZIP code, place name, or category, that search is sent to our API so we can return suggestions and results. When needed, our server may send a location-search query and an optional nearby-area bias to MapTiler to resolve an area or address.

If you select “Use my current location” and grant foreground location permission, the app or browser reads your coordinates and sends them to our API to rank nearby places. We do not request background location or continuously track your movements. Precise coordinates are request-scoped, are not added to a user profile, and our application logging rules prohibit storing them in logs or analytics.

On the website, your last selected general search area, such as a city or neighborhood, is stored in your browser so Explore can return to it. Precise current-location coordinates and street-address selections are not stored this way.

Structured community contributions

For an anonymous missing-place submission or one-tap check, the website stores a random installation identifier in your browser. Our server converts it to a pseudonymous contributor key for rate limits and independent-consensus checks. We store the structured place or policy fields you submit. A new place’s name, category, address, map position, and optional first-party website become public listing data.

We send a submitted street address to MapTiler to verify and normalize its location. Connection IP data is used transiently for abuse throttling and may also be processed in ordinary hosting security logs. Version one does not accept free-text notes or photos for anonymous place submissions.

A business policy confirmation checks that the authenticated, verified email domain matches the place’s official website. The public evidence and audit record store a one-way domain key, not the email address.

Saved places and device storage

On iOS, a saved place summary and the time you saved it are stored in the app’s local storage. On the website, saved place identifiers are stored in your browser’s local storage. These saves are not synchronized to our servers in this release.

Support messages

If you email us, we receive your email address and whatever you choose to include, such as a place name, device details, or a screenshot. Please do not send passwords, precise location history, health information, or other sensitive personal information.

Technical and service data

Like most online services, our hosting and security providers process connection data needed to deliver and protect the service, such as IP address, browser or device information, timestamps, and requested routes.

Our application logs may include a one-way request ID, coarse route, response status, latency, place or job identifiers, and error class. Our logging rules prohibit authentication tokens, email addresses, precise coordinates, original filenames, free-text request bodies, and image contents.

03

How we use information

  • Return location suggestions, place results, and directions.
  • Show and maintain your saved places on the device where you saved them.
  • Operate, secure, troubleshoot, and improve service reliability.
  • Respond to support requests and investigate place-data corrections.
  • Publish structured community places, calculate independent existence and policy consensus, prevent abuse, and quarantine disputed records.
  • Comply with law and protect the safety, rights, and integrity of the service and its users.

04

Service providers and sharing

We use service providers only to run and protect CanMyDogGo. Google Cloud and Firebase host the website and API and provide security infrastructure. OpenFreeMap provides the website's default map styles and tiles, and Apple Maps provides maps inside the iOS app. MapTiler may provide location suggestions and, when an optional browser key is configured, website map resources. These providers process data under their own terms and privacy commitments.

The website requests map resources directly from OpenFreeMap, whose public service uses Cloudflare to deliver them. OpenFreeMap and Cloudflare can therefore receive ordinary connection data such as your IP address, browser information, referring site, and the map area requested. If the optional MapTiler browser provider is configured, equivalent map-resource requests go directly to MapTiler instead. Location autocomplete requests are relayed through our server when MapTiler location search is configured. The iOS app requests embedded map content from Apple Maps.

Place pages can link to venue websites, official policy sources, and mapping or directions services. Choosing one of those links leaves CanMyDogGo, and the destination’s privacy policy applies.

We may disclose information if reasonably necessary to comply with law, respond to valid legal process, prevent fraud or abuse, protect people or the service, or complete a business reorganization subject to appropriate safeguards.

No ads, sale, or cross-app tracking

We do not run ads, use third-party advertising SDKs, sell personal information, or use personal information to track you across other companies’ apps or websites. Security and anti-abuse services may process device and network signals to protect the service; we do not use those signals for advertising.

05

Retention and your choices

Precise location is used to complete the nearby-place request and is not retained in an account or precise-location history. Local saves remain on your device until you remove them, clear site or app data, or uninstall the app. Because they are not synced, we cannot recover them from our servers.

We keep support correspondence and limited operational records only for as long as reasonably needed to respond, maintain security and reliability, resolve disputes, and meet legal obligations. Retention can vary by record and by the settings of our cloud providers; we do not promise one fixed period for every operational log.

Uncorroborated community places are marked for recheck after 90 days, leave browse, map, and search-engine pages after 180 days, and leave exact-name search after another 90 days. Abuse reports, contributor keys, and audit records may be retained longer to prevent repeat abuse and preserve place and policy provenance. A business-confirmed policy expires after 180 days.

Your controls

  • Decline or turn off location permission and search by area instead.
  • Remove individual saved places, clear website data, or uninstall the app to remove local saves.
  • Choose what to include in a support email and avoid sending sensitive information.
  • Contact us to request access to or deletion of information we can reasonably identify, subject to applicable law and required exceptions.

06

Security, children, and policy changes

Security

We use HTTPS, restricted service access, scoped credentials, request validation, and limited logging to help protect the service. No system is completely secure, so please contact us if you believe you found a security or privacy issue.

Children

CanMyDogGo is a general-audience service and is not directed to children under 13. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If you believe a child has provided personal information to us, contact us so we can review and remove it where appropriate.

Changes to this policy

We may update this policy as the product or law changes. We will post the revised policy here, update the date above, and provide additional notice in the app or website when a change is material.

07

Contact us

Questions or privacy requests can be sent to hello@canmydoggo.com. Tell us what you need and how we can respond; please do not include sensitive information.

For product troubleshooting and place-data questions, visit our support page.