Privacy Policy

1. Who we are and what this policy covers

August – Join the Pack ("August," "we," "us," or "our") provides the August mobile application, related services, support channels, and administrative features.

This Privacy Policy covers human accounts, dog and household profiles, Posts and Photos, Messages, Playdates and Meet Now activities, Local Events, location-enabled features, compatibility and recommendations, safety tools, customer support, and service administration.

2. Eligibility and human accounts

August is intended only for adults age 18 or older. Each human must create and use their own account. A dog may be shared with authorized humans, but one person may not accept legal terms or make privacy choices for another adult.

3. Information we collect

Account and identity information

• Email address; authentication and email-verification records; first and last name; phone number; date of birth; city; optional human profile photo; account role; household relationships; and account status.
• We do not receive your plain-text password. Authentication credentials are processed by our authentication provider.
• Account creation, legal acceptance, sign-in session, device, build-version, security, support, and account-lifecycle records.

Dog, household, and compatibility information

• Dog name, photos, breed, age or birthdate, sex, size, weight, Welcome Home Day, biography, traits, play styles, energy, comfort information, behavior, Special Notes, memorial status, Favorites, and authorized-human relationships.
• Friendships and requests; compatibility inputs, percentages, and explanations; shared Favorite venues or services; Playdates, Meet Now activity, attendance, invitations, RSVPs, recurrence, venue information, and interaction history.
• Compatibility and recommendations are based on information supplied by users and households. They are informational and are not guarantees of behavior, health, safety, or successful interaction.

Content, communications, and safety information

• Posts, captions, photos, comments, likes, tags, profile Posts, activity discussions, Messages, message requests, conversation participants, notifications, reports, blocks, moderation results, event suggestions, and related timestamps and metadata.
• Dog-scoped conversations may be visible to every currently authorized human for the participating dogs. Message records identify the speaking human and the dog context.
• Support requests, feedback, beta-test reports, screenshots or recordings you submit, and other information you voluntarily provide.

Location, Places, and device information

• Foreground device location when you grant permission. We use it while August is open to calculate distance and show nearby dogs, Playdates, Meet Now activity, and Local Events.
• A dog-scoped approximate General Area that an authorized human deliberately confirms. August does not publish a human's exact or live phone location on dog profiles.
• Public venue names, addresses, place identifiers, and coordinates that users attach to Playdates, Events, Posts, comments, or Favorites.
• Place-search text and approximate search bias may be processed through Google Places to return venue suggestions and addresses.
• Device type, operating system, app/build version, push-notification token and delivery status, permission status, crash information supplied by Apple or TestFlight, and basic reliability and security logs.

4. How we collect information

• Directly from you when you create an account, build or edit a profile, communicate, post content, create or respond to an activity, contact support, or make a privacy or account request.
• From other authorized humans who help manage a shared dog or household.
• Automatically from the app, device, and service providers when necessary for authentication, security, notifications, reliability, and the features you choose to use.
• From other users through friendships, invitations, Messages, tags, reports, blocks, and shared activity.

5. How we use information

• Create, verify, secure, restore, close, and delete accounts; confirm adult eligibility; and maintain households and shared-dog permissions.
• Provide profiles, discovery, Nearby results, recommendations, compatibility, Posts, Photos, Messages, Playdates, Meet Now, Local Events, Maps links, Favorites, notifications, and support.
• Rank and explain dog compatibility using profile and Favorite information supplied by users and households.
• Filter objectionable content; process reports and blocks; investigate suspected abuse, fraud, safety concerns, or rule violations; enforce our agreements; and protect users, dogs, August, and the public.
• Measure service growth, reliability, feature performance, and aggregated venue or activity trends through access-controlled administration. We do not use this to claim that a person or dog physically visited a venue.
• Send account, service, safety, legal, support, notification, and beta or update communications.
• Comply with law, protect legal rights, respond to emergencies, and establish, exercise, or defend claims.

6. What other users can see

Depending on the feature and its visibility setting, signed-in users may see dog profiles, dog photos, owner first names and profile photos, Posts, comments, likes, tags, compatibility information, Friend relationships, Playdates, Local Event responses, and deliberately shared public venues.

Human email addresses, phone numbers, dates of birth, authentication information, exact or live device location, reports, block lists, and administrative records are not displayed on public dog profiles. Shared-dog humans may see household activity and conversations associated with that dog. Public, Friends-only, and Private activities follow their stated audience rules.

7. How information is disclosed

We may disclose information only as reasonably necessary:

• To other August users according to the applicable profile, friendship, household, Message, Post, Playdate, Event, or visibility rules.
• To authorized humans who share a dog and need access to that dog's profile, activity, and conversations.
• To vendors that help us operate August, including Supabase for authentication, database, storage, and server functions; Expo for app infrastructure and push delivery; Apple for iOS distribution, device services, Maps links, and TestFlight diagnostics; Google Places for venue search and place details; Google or Firebase for Android-related platform services; and the configured email provider for account and service email.
• To professional advisers, insurers, law enforcement, regulators, emergency responders, or affected parties when reasonably necessary to comply with law, respond to emergencies, investigate harm, enforce agreements, or protect rights and safety.
• In connection with financing, a merger, acquisition, reorganization, sale, or transfer of August, subject to appropriate safeguards and any legally required notice.
• At your direction or with your consent.

August does not sell personal information for money. August does not currently use personal information for cross-context behavioral advertising or tracking across other companies' apps or websites. If those practices change, we will update this policy and provide any required choices before beginning them.

8. Location, Places, and Maps

Location permission is optional and foreground-only. If you decline it, you can still use many core features, but distance-based Nearby, Meet Now, Playdate, and Local Event results may be limited. Device settings control location permission.

A dog's confirmed General Area is different from a phone's live location and from a public venue intentionally attached to a Playdate or Event. Place searches are sent securely through August to Google Places. Selecting a venue may save Google's place identifier, formatted address, and coordinates with the dog Favorite or activity. Opening a location may send the selected venue to the mapping app you choose, which processes it under its own privacy policy.

9. Notifications and device permissions

If you allow notifications, August stores a push token and delivery information so it can send Messages, requests, activity updates, reminders, safety notices, and service updates. You may change notification permissions in device settings and August's notification settings. Turning off notifications does not prevent essential account, safety, or legal email when permitted by law.

10. Your choices and controls

• Edit available human and dog profile information within August.
• Control device permissions such as location, photos, and notifications through iOS or Android settings.
• Block dogs and manage blocked dogs in Settings.
• Report Posts, comments, dog profiles, or other supported content. Reports are private from the reported user and are reviewed by authorized August administrators.
• Close your account temporarily and restore it later, or initiate permanent deletion through Settings → Account Management.
• Contact us to request access, correction, deletion, or information about personal data, subject to identity verification and applicable law.

11. Retention, closing, and deletion

We retain account and service information while your account is active and as needed to provide August. A closed account is deactivated but retained so it can be restored; closing is not deletion.

When you initiate permanent deletion, August removes or de-identifies the account and associated personal data that we are not legally required or reasonably permitted to retain. Shared-dog responsibility may need to be transferred or resolved first. Deleting one human does not automatically delete a dog still managed by another authorized human.

Shared Messages, activity history, reports, safety records, transaction or acceptance records, and content involving other participants may be retained or de-identified when necessary to preserve other users' records, prevent fraud, address safety, resolve disputes, enforce agreements, or comply with law. User-generated content associated with the deleting account will be deleted or de-identified unless retention is legally required. Residual copies may remain temporarily in protected backups until overwritten under normal backup cycles and are not used for ordinary product activity.

Different records may therefore be retained for different periods based on account status, shared-history obligations, safety and fraud needs, legal requirements, dispute periods, and backup cycles. We periodically review whether retained information is still needed.

12. Security

We use administrative, technical, and organizational safeguards designed to protect information, including authenticated access, row-level authorization, protected server functions, restricted administrative roles, encrypted transmission, access-controlled storage, and audit records where appropriate. No system is completely secure, and we cannot guarantee absolute security.

13. Children

August is not directed to children and does not knowingly permit anyone under 18 to create a human account. If you believe a minor has provided personal information, contact us so we can investigate and take appropriate action.

14. U.S. state privacy rights

Depending on where you live and whether applicable legal thresholds are met, you may have rights to request access to, correction of, or deletion of personal information; obtain information about our handling of personal information; or appeal certain decisions. Submit a request to customer.service.august@gmail.com. We may verify your identity and may retain information permitted by law.

15. International use

August is initially intended for use in the United States. If August is offered in additional countries or regions, we will add any required cross-border transfer and region-specific disclosures before making the service available there.

16. Changes to this policy

We may update this Privacy Policy as August changes. We will post the updated policy, revise the "Last updated" date, provide any notice required by law, and request renewed acceptance when a change materially affects processing covered by a prior acceptance.

17. Contact us

Privacy questions, support requests, and privacy-rights requests may be sent to customer.service.august@gmail.com.