Privacy Policy

Snoutbook ("we," "our," or "us") is committed to protecting your privacy. This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, disclose, and safeguard your information when you use the Snoutbook mobile applications for iPhone and Apple Watch (the "App"). For a plain-language overview of our approach, see Privacy at Snoutbook; where the two differ, this policy controls.

1. Information We Collect

Account information

• Name and email address
• Password (never stored in plain text; authentication is handled by AWS Cognito using industry-standard cryptography)
• Profile details and preferences you choose to add (such as phone number, address, or a profile photo)

Pet health data

Information you choose to enter about your pets, including:

• Pet profiles — name, species, breed, age, weight, photos
• Health records — conditions, symptoms, medications, vaccinations, vitals, adverse reactions
• Documents you upload — veterinary records, lab results, x-rays, receipts, insurance paperwork
• Appointments, reminders, journal entries, expenses, and insurance details
• Emergency contacts you add

Automatically collected information

• Device type, operating system version, and app version (for compatibility and support)
• Device timezone and language preference (so reminders fire at the right local time and AI output matches your language)
• Basic service logs (API request metadata) used for security, debugging, and reliability — not for advertising

2. How We Use Your Information

• Provide, maintain, and improve the App
• Store, sync, and display your pet health records across your devices and with people you invite
• Send reminders and notifications you have opted into
• Generate AI-powered insights and reports when you have enabled AI features (see Section 3)
• Screen uploaded files for safety (see Section 4)
• Respond to your inquiries and support requests
• Protect the security and integrity of the service

We do not sell your personal information, and we do not use your data for third-party advertising.

3. AI-Powered Features

Snoutbook offers optional AI features (chat assistance, background health insights, document analysis, and AI-drafted records). All AI features require your explicit in-app consent before any of your data is processed by AI, and the App's core features work without them.

• What is sent: when you use an AI feature, the relevant portions of your pet's health data (and, for document analysis, the document content) are transmitted to our AI service provider, Anthropic, for processing by its Claude models.
• How it travels: encrypted in transit using TLS 1.2 or higher.
• Data minimization: we send the minimum data necessary to generate the requested insight.
• No model training: your data is processed to generate responses and is not used to train AI models.
• Your control: you can decline or disable AI features at any time in Settings; disabling stops further AI processing.

AI output is informational only and is not veterinary advice. See our Terms of Service for the full disclaimer.

4. Uploaded Files & Content Screening

To protect your privacy and keep the service safe, every file you upload is automatically processed before it is stored in your library:

• Metadata removal: embedded metadata — including GPS location, device identifiers, and capture details — is stripped from uploaded files.
• Standardization: files are converted to standard formats (images to JPEG, documents to PDF) and the original file is replaced by the cleaned version.
• Automated safety screening: each upload is checked by an automated AI review for content that violates our Acceptable Use Policy. Files that fail the check are not posted and their storage is not counted against your quota; you are shown the reason in the App. Legitimate pet-medical imagery is expected and permitted.

5. Data Sharing

We share your information only in these circumstances:

• With people you invite: family members and pet sitters you explicitly invite can access the pets and records you choose to share, at the permission level you set. Access is enforced server-side and can be revoked at any time.
• Service providers: infrastructure providers that operate the service under confidentiality obligations — Amazon Web Services (hosting, storage, authentication, push delivery) and Anthropic (AI processing, only when you use AI features).
• Legal requirements: when required by law, regulation, or valid legal process.

We do not sell personal information and have not done so.

6. Data Security

• In transit: all communication between the App and our servers uses TLS 1.2 or higher.
• At rest: database records and uploaded documents are encrypted at rest (AES-256) on AWS infrastructure.
• On device: records cached on your phone for offline access are encrypted on-device; signing out removes them.
• Access control: every server request is authenticated and authorized against the specific data it may touch, following least-privilege principles.

No method of electronic transmission or storage is 100% secure, but we design for defense in depth and review our security posture regularly.

7. Push Notifications

If you enable notifications, we store your device's push token (via Apple Push Notification service through Amazon SNS) to deliver reminders, sync signals, and the notification types you opt into. Notification preferences are granular and can be changed in the App at any time; unused device tokens expire automatically.

8. Data Retention & Deletion

• Your data is retained while your account is active.
• You control how long offline copies are cached on your device.
• Deleting a record, document, or pet removes it from our systems.
• Deleting your account removes your data — profile, pets, records, documents, photos, shared access, and push tokens — from our production systems. Export your data first if you want a copy.

9. Your Rights

Depending on your jurisdiction, you may have the right to:

• Access the personal data we hold about you
• Request correction of inaccurate data
• Request deletion of your data (available directly in the App)
• Export your data in a portable format (CSV or JSON — available directly in the App)
• Withdraw consent for AI processing at any time

To exercise any right that isn't available in-App, contact privacy@snoutbookapp.com.

10. Children's Privacy

The App is not intended for use by children under the age of 13, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If you believe a child has provided us personal information, contact us and we will delete it.

11. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. We will notify you of material changes by updating the "Last updated" date and, where appropriate, providing additional notice within the App.

12. Contact Us

Questions about this Privacy Policy or our data practices:

Email: privacy@snoutbookapp.com