Privacy Policy

Effective Date: February 17, 2025

Welcome to Wooft! This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, disclose, and safeguard your information when you use our mobile application. Wooft is operated in the United Kingdom and complies with UK data protection laws, including the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018.

1. Data Controller

Wooft is the data controller responsible for your personal data. If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy or our data practices, please contact us using the details provided at the end of this policy.

2. Information We Collect

We collect information that you provide directly to us when using Wooft:

• Account Information: Email address, name, age, and profile photo
• Dog Profile Information: Your dog's name, breed, age, size, energy level, temperament, and photos
• Location Data: Your general area (town/city) to show nearby dog owners (only when you grant permission). We do not collect or store precise GPS coordinates.
• Communications: Messages you send to other users through the app
• Walk Data: Scheduled walks, walk duration, walks completed, and reviews
• Device Information: Device type and push notification tokens for delivering notifications

3. Legal Basis for Processing (UK GDPR)

We process your personal data under the following legal bases:

• Contract: Processing necessary to provide you with Wooft's services (account management, matching, messaging, walk scheduling)
• Consent: For optional features such as push notifications and location services. You can withdraw consent at any time through your device settings.
• Legitimate Interests: To improve our services, ensure platform safety, and prevent fraud

4. How We Use Your Information

We use the information we collect to:

• Create and manage your account
• Connect you with other dog owners in your area
• Enable messaging between matched users
• Schedule and coordinate dog walks
• Send push notifications about matches, messages, and walks
• Improve and optimise our app
• Ensure safety and security of our users
• Generate anonymised, aggregated insights about app usage (see Section 5)

5. Information Sharing

We share your information in the following circumstances:

• With Other Users: Your profile information (name, age, bio, general location, photos, dog profiles) is visible to other Wooft users
• Service Providers: We use Firebase (Google) for authentication, database, storage, and analytics. Google processes data in accordance with their privacy policy and appropriate safeguards.
• Legal Requirements: We may disclose information if required by law, court order, or to protect rights and safety

We do not sell your personal information to third parties.

6. International Data Transfers

Your data is stored using Firebase, a Google Cloud service. Some data may be processed outside the UK. Where this occurs, we ensure appropriate safeguards are in place, including Standard Contractual Clauses approved by the UK Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), to protect your data.

7. Data Storage and Security

We implement appropriate technical and organisational security measures to protect your information, including:

• Encrypted data transmission (HTTPS/TLS)
• Secure authentication
• Access controls and authentication rules
• Regular security reviews

8. Your Rights (UK GDPR)

Under UK data protection law, you have the following rights:

• Right of Access: Request a copy of the personal data we hold about you
• Right to Rectification: Request correction of inaccurate or incomplete data
• Right to Erasure: Request deletion of your personal data ("right to be forgotten")
• Right to Restrict Processing: Request that we limit how we use your data
• Right to Data Portability: Request a copy of your data in a machine-readable format
• Right to Object: Object to processing based on legitimate interests
• Right to Withdraw Consent: Withdraw consent at any time for consent-based processing

To exercise any of these rights, please contact us at the email address below. We will respond to your request within one month.

9. Data Retention

We retain your personal data for as long as your account is active or as needed to provide you services. If you delete your account, we will delete your personal data within 30 days, except where we are required to retain it for legal or regulatory purposes.

Anonymised, aggregated data (which cannot identify you) may be retained indefinitely for analytical purposes.

10. Children's Privacy

Wooft is not intended for users under 18 years of age. We do not knowingly collect information from children under 18. If we learn we have collected information from a child under 18, we will delete that information promptly.

11. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. We will notify you of any material changes by posting the new Privacy Policy in the app and updating the "Effective Date" above. For significant changes, we will provide notice through the app or via email.

12. Complaints

If you are unhappy with how we have handled your personal data, you have the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), the UK's supervisory authority for data protection:

• Website: ico.org.uk
• Phone: 0303 123 1113

We would appreciate the opportunity to address your concerns before you contact the ICO, so please reach out to us first.