The fine print

Privacy Policy

How Dr. Meow handles your data: what we collect, what we don't, and what you can ask us to do with it. Written plainly, with as little legalese as we could get away with.

Effective: May 16, 2026  ·  Last updated: July 2, 2026  ·  Version: 1.3

TL;DR What you actually need to know

  • Your scan history lives on your device, not our servers.
  • Photos are discarded after analysis. Only a small thumbnail is kept locally on your device.
  • We don't sell your data. Ever.
  • You can delete your account and all server-side data instantly from Settings → Delete Account in the app.
  • Dr. Meow is not a vet. For medical concerns, please see a real one.

01 Who we are

Dr. Meow ("we", "us", "our") is a mobile app that gives cat owners an AI-assisted read on their cat's mood and wellness from a single photo. This Privacy Policy describes how we collect, use, and share information when you use the Dr. Meow app or visit our website.

If you have any questions about this policy or your data, you can always reach us via our contact form.

02 Information we collect

We try to keep this list short. Here's everything Dr. Meow collects:

Account information

  • Email address, used to sign you in and to send account-related emails.

Cat & scan data

  • Cat profiles you create, including name, breed, date of birth, and weight. Stored on your device.
  • Scan results, including wellness score, mood, body condition score, coat quality, eye clarity, flags, and vet advice for each scan. Stored on your device.
  • A small thumbnail image (~300 px) from each scan, saved locally on your device. The original full-resolution photo is discarded immediately after analysis. It is never stored on our servers.

Usage analytics

  • Anonymous usage events, such as sign up, scan completed, and upgrade screen viewed, collected through Firebase Analytics. These events are not linked to your account or email address, and we never collect or use advertising identifiers for ad personalization.

What we don't collect

We do not run crash-reporting tools, and we do not link analytics events to your identity or use them for advertising. We also do not collect your location, contacts, microphone audio, browsing history, advertising identifiers, or anything you don't intentionally provide through the app.

03 How we use your information

We use the information we collect to:

  • Run the scan and produce a wellness score and mood read for your cat.
  • Save your cat's scan history to a local journal on your device.
  • Show trends over time and notify you when something drifts.
  • Reply when you contact support, send feedback, or report a bug.
  • Understand how the app is used in aggregate, through anonymous analytics events, so we can improve it.
  • Improve the app over time.
  • Process subscription payments through the Google Play billing system.

We will not use your data to train third-party advertising models or sell it to data brokers. Full stop.

04 Your cat's photos

Photos are the heart of the app, so they get their own section.

How a scan works

When you tap "Scan," the photo is resized to 1280 px on your device and sent over an encrypted connection to our backend, along with your cat's breed and date of birth if you've added them to their profile, so the analysis can account for life stage. Our backend forwards the photo to Google's Gemini API, which performs the AI analysis (coat quality, body condition, eye clarity, mood) and returns a structured result. The photo is not stored on our servers. It is used only to produce that result and is discarded immediately after the analysis completes.

Verifying the right cat was scanned

If the cat you're scanning has a saved profile photo, that photo is also resized on your device and sent alongside the scan so our backend can check that you scanned the right cat. You'll be prompted if a mismatch is detected. Like the scan photo, the profile photo is used only for that one check and is not stored on our servers.

Storage & access

Scan results and thumbnails are stored locally on your device in an on-device database. Your scan history is not uploaded to our servers. An optional cloud backup (Settings → Cloud Backup) lets you back up your local database to your own personal cloud account: Google Drive on Android, using the restricted drive.appdata scope, or iCloud on iOS, using a private app-specific container. This is opt-in and only visible to Dr. Meow.

What we don't do

We do not use your cat photos to train AI models, sell them, share them publicly, or hand them to anyone outside the strict service providers listed below. Photos belong to you.

Deleting photos

You can delete any individual scan from your journal at any time. This removes the result and thumbnail from your device immediately. Uninstalling the app clears all local scan data and thumbnails. To delete your server-side account data, use Settings → Delete Account in the app. Deletion is immediate and permanent.

05 Sharing & third parties

We use the following service providers to make the app work. Your saved scan history stays on your device and is never uploaded to them. Each provider receives only the specific data described below.

  • Supabase handles sign-in and stores your email address, Pro subscription status, weekly scan counts, and the per-account cat list used for free-tier limits. Scan history and photos are not uploaded to Supabase.
  • Google (Gemini): our backend sends each scan photo, along with your cat's breed and date of birth if provided, to Google's Gemini API to read your cat's coat, body condition, eye clarity, and mood and return a structured result. If your cat has a saved profile photo, that photo is sent too, to verify the correct cat was scanned. Nothing sent to Gemini is stored by Dr. Meow.
  • Anthropic (Claude AI): for Pro users, Claude reviews recent scan data (text summaries and scores, never photos) to generate wellness trend insights.
  • Voyage AI: our backend turns short text summaries of scans into embeddings that ground each scan's advice in our vet knowledge base and, for Pro users, power AI journal search. Only text summaries are sent, never photos.
  • Firebase Analytics (Google): anonymous usage events, such as sign ups, completed scans, and upgrade screen views, so we can understand how the app is used in aggregate. These events are not linked to your account or email address, and we never collect or use advertising identifiers for ad personalization.
  • RevenueCat manages Pro subscription purchases, verification, and renewal events via Google Play (Android) and the App Store (iOS).
  • Google Play Billing (Android) processes subscription payments. We never see your card details.
  • Apple App Store / StoreKit (iOS) processes subscription payments. We never see your card details.
  • Google Drive (Android): if you opt in to cloud backup, your local database is backed up to your personal Google Drive using the restricted drive.appdata scope. This data is only accessible to Dr. Meow and is not visible to Google's general Drive interface.
  • Apple iCloud (iOS): if you opt in to cloud backup, your local database is backed up to your personal iCloud account using a private app-specific container. This data is only accessible to Dr. Meow and is not visible in your general iCloud Drive interface.
  • Email delivery, to send account-related emails such as sign-in links and password resets.

We will also disclose information when required by law, to protect rights or safety, or in connection with a business transfer (in which case we'll notify you first).

06 Your rights

You have the right to:

  • Delete your account using Settings → Delete Account in the app. Deletion is immediate and removes all server-side data (email, subscription status, scan counts, and cat registrations) permanently. Local scan data on your device is cleared by uninstalling the app.
  • Access or correct your server-side account data using our contact form. We aim to respond within 30 days.
  • Disconnect cloud backup at any time from Settings → Cloud Backup → Disconnect. On Android this disconnects Google Drive; on iOS, iCloud.
  • Export a PDF vet visit summary of your cat's recent scans, available to Pro subscribers.
  • Turn off wellness notifications from Settings → Notifications.

07 How long we keep things

Most of your data lives on your device and is under your direct control. Here's how long the server-side data we do hold is retained.

  • Local scan data & thumbnails: stored on your device until you delete individual scans or uninstall the app. Not held on our servers.
  • Full-resolution scan photos: never stored on our servers. Discarded immediately after the AI analysis completes.
  • Server-side account data (email, subscription status, scan counts, and cat registrations): retained for as long as your account exists.
  • Anonymous usage analytics: retained for up to 2 months by our analytics provider, Firebase.
  • Deleted accounts: server-side account data is fully and immediately erased when you use Settings → Delete Account in the app. This action is permanent and cannot be undone.

08 Security

We use industry-standard practices to keep your data safe: TLS encryption in transit, encryption at rest, scoped credentials, and regular reviews. No system is perfectly secure, so if you suspect something has gone wrong, please contact us right away.

09 Age & Eligibility

Dr. Meow does not set its own minimum age, and we do not ask for your age or date of birth. (The date of birth in a cat profile is your cat's, not yours.) We collect no additional personal information based on a user's age, and the only account data we store is your email address, scan counts, and Pro subscription status, the same for every user. Where the law requires age checks for minors, we rely on the app stores, Google Play on Android and the App Store on iOS, rather than collecting age information ourselves. The anonymous usage analytics described in Section 05 are collected the same way for every user regardless of age, and are never linked to your identity or used for advertising.

Age signals on Android

To comply with laws such as the Texas App Store Accountability Act (SB 2420), the Android app asks Google Play for an age signal when it starts. Google Play returns only a status, for example that the account belongs to an adult, or to a supervised child account whose access has been approved, is pending, or is denied. We use that status on your device to decide whether to open the app. We never send it to our servers and never store it off your device.

If a supervised account is pending or has been denied parental approval, the app stays locked until that is resolved through Google Play. This check runs in the Android app only and relies entirely on Google Play, so we never receive your actual age or birthdate.

Age ratings on iOS

The iOS app does not request an age signal the way the Android app does. There is no equivalent check built into the app. Instead, Apple's App Store age rating and any parental controls you set on your device, such as Screen Time content restrictions, determine who can download and open the app. As on Android, we never receive your actual age or birthdate.

10 Changes to this policy

We'll update this policy from time to time. When we make material changes, we'll notify you through the app or by email before they take effect. The "Last updated" date at the top will always tell you when the current version was published.

11 Contact us

The fastest way to reach us is through our contact form. We read every message and usually reply within 1–2 days.

Thanks for trusting Dr. Meow with your cat. We don't take it lightly.