Privacy Policy
Paws (“the app”) is an app for writing down anxious thoughts and working through them in short exercises. It is published by Alan Matviienko (“we”, “us”). This policy says what the app collects, why, who else sees it, and how to have it deleted.
Paws is not a medical service and not therapy. If you are in danger, call your local emergency number or one of the lines under Crisis help in the app.
What we collect
What you write. The thoughts you put down and your answers in the exercises, with the date. It is stored with your account so that your records are there on any phone you sign in on.
Your account. When you sign in with Apple or Google we receive an account identifier and, if the provider shares it, your email address. With Sign in with Apple you can choose to hide your email.
Your subscription. Whether you have an active subscription, from the App Store or Google Play through our payment partner RevenueCat. We never see your card details.
How the app is used. Which screens and exercises are opened and completed, and crash reports, through Firebase Analytics and Crashlytics. These contain no text you have written.
Reports and messages. If you flag a line the cat said, we store that line, the exercise and the reason you chose. If you write to us from More → Write to us, we store your message with the app version, platform and language.
Advertising. On the free plan the app shows banner ads from Google AdMob on two screens, never inside an exercise. The ads are non-personalised: we do not ask to track you and do not build an advertising profile. AdMob may still use your device’s advertising identifier for frequency capping and fraud prevention, as described in Google’s policies.
The AI, and your choice about it
The cat’s questions can be written by an AI model, Claude, made by Anthropic. Only if you agree — the app asks after sign-in, and you can change your answer at any time in More → AI questions:
- the text you write in an exercise is sent to Anthropic, together with the thought it is about and the app’s language, to write the next question;
- what you write is also checked for signs of risk of self-harm, so the app can stop the exercise and show you where to get help.
Your name, email and account identifier are not sent to Anthropic. Under Anthropic’s commercial terms your text is not used to train its models, and Anthropic keeps it only for a limited period under its data retention policy. Our own server does not keep the text it passes on beyond what is stored in your records.
If you do not agree, the cat asks its own fixed questions, nothing you write is sent to an AI, and the check for signs of risk runs on your phone.
Why we use it
- To provide the app: store your records, run the exercises, sign you in, manage your subscription (legal basis: performing our contract with you).
- To keep you safe: the crisis check described above (legal basis: your consent, and our legitimate interest in the safety of people using the app).
- To fix and improve the app: crash reports and usage statistics (legitimate interest).
- To show ads on the free plan (legitimate interest; non-personalised).
We do not sell your data, and we do not use what you write for advertising.
Who processes it for us
- Google Firebase (Google LLC / Google Ireland Ltd): accounts, database, server functions, analytics, crash reports. Your records are stored in the United States; our server functions run in the European Union (Belgium).
- Anthropic PBC: the AI model, only with your consent.
- RevenueCat, Inc.: subscriptions.
- Google AdMob: ads on the free plan.
- Apple and Google: sign-in, and the stores for payments.
Some of these companies are in the United States. Where your data leaves the EU or UK, the transfer relies on the European Commission’s standard contractual clauses or an adequacy decision.
How long we keep it
Your records, reports and messages stay until you delete them or your account. Deleting a record in the app removes it. Deleting your account removes your account and everything stored under it. Analytics and crash data are kept for up to 14 months.
Your rights
You can see and export your records (More → Export records), delete them one by one, delete your account (More → Delete account), and withdraw consent to the AI at any time (More → AI questions). Depending on where you live, you can also ask us for access, correction, restriction or portability, or object to processing: write to alanlisaht@gmail.com. You can also complain to your data protection authority.
To have your account deleted without the app, see Delete your account.
Children
Paws is not meant for children under 16. We do not knowingly collect data from them.
Changes
If this policy changes in a way that matters, we will say so in the app before it takes effect.
Contact
Alan Matviienko — alanlisaht@gmail.com