Privacy Notice
Smart Animal helps you keep a health record for a dog living with Cushing's disease. That record is sensitive to you, and we treat it that way. This notice explains what we collect, why, where it lives and what you can do about it.
Who we are
The data controller is Smart Animal Technologies Ltd, a company registered in England and Wales (company number 17299073), registered office Flat G4 Delta House, St. Andrews Street, Northampton, NN1 2HA.
For anything in this notice, contact privacy@smart-animal.com.
What we collect
Your account. Name, email address and a password (stored only as a cryptographic hash, never as the password itself).
Your dog's record. The profile and health information you enter: breed, age, weight, diagnosis details, daily symptom answers, blood results, medications and doses, weekly summaries, photos and any veterinary documents you upload.
Technical basics. A push notification token if you enable reminders, and standard technical logs (such as IP address and requests made) kept briefly for security and troubleshooting.
Messages you send us. If you email support, we keep the correspondence.
We do not collect your location, your contacts, or advertising identifiers, and we do not sell personal data to anyone.
Why we process it
- To run the service (contract): storing your dog's record, showing trends, generating vet reports, sending reminders you asked for.
- To keep you and your dog safe (contract and legitimate interests): the app's alerts when a day's symptoms form a dangerous pattern, and security measures protecting the service.
- Research, only if you opt in (consent): sharing your dog's anonymised health history with veterinary researchers. This is a separate choice in the app, it is off by default, and you can withdraw it at any time in Settings.
- Legal obligations: where the law requires us to keep or disclose specific information.
Where your data lives
Your data is stored in the United Kingdom and the European Union. We use established cloud infrastructure providers to host the service, deliver email, and send push notifications (through Expo's notification service and then Apple and Google on their platforms). These providers process data for us under contracts that meet UK and EU data protection requirements.
Photos and documents are stored privately. They are only ever served through short-lived, signed links tied to your account.
Research sharing, in plain words
If you opt in, researchers receive your dog's health history identified only by a random code: symptom logs, blood values, medication and weight over time. They do not receive your name, your email, or anything that identifies you. Photos are only included if you separately and explicitly agree to that.
If you opt out later, the link between your dog and future sharing is removed. Data that has already been shared in anonymised form cannot always be recalled, and this is explained before you opt in.
How long we keep things
Your data is kept while your account is active. When you delete your account, your personal details (name, email, password hash) are deleted, along with your photos and documents. Your dog's health records are anonymised and may be retained for research and service improvement; they are no longer linked to you. Where you had opted in to research sharing, data already shared in anonymised form cannot always be recalled. Backups holding deleted data expire on a rolling schedule measured in days, not months.
Your rights
- Access your data, and take it with you: Settings, My data, gives you a full export.
- Correct anything that is wrong, directly in the app.
- Delete your account and personal data: see Delete your account.
- Withdraw research consent at any time, in Settings.
- Object to or restrict processing, where the law provides for it.
- Complain to the Information Commissioner's Office (ico.org.uk) if you think we have handled your data badly. We would rather you told us first, but that is your right.
Children
Smart Animal accounts are for adults. You must be at least 18 to create an account, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from children.
Changes to this notice
If we change this notice in a way that matters, we will tell you in the app before the change applies to you.
Contact
Privacy questions: privacy@smart-animal.com
Everything else: support@smart-animal.com