What we collect and what we refuse to do with it.
WHISKER FRISKERS, L.L.C. · New Orleans, Louisiana
Effective August 30, 2026 · Last updated August 30, 2026
- We do not sell your personal information. Not now, not later.
- We do not use your data, photos, or messages to train AI models, and we do not let anyone else do so.
- Sighting locations are deliberately fuzzed before anyone sees them, so colonies cannot be found and harmed.
- You must be 13 or older. The app is not directed to children under 13.
- You can delete your account and data yourself: Profile → Settings → Delete Account.
- Questions: topher@whiskerfriskers.com.
1. What we collect
| Data | Why | Seen by others | Kept |
|---|---|---|---|
| Email address | Account, sign-in, essential notices, replies to you | No | Until deletion |
| Display name & profile | Identifies you to other caretakers | Yes | Until deletion |
| Photos | Sightings, posts, messages; EXIF location stripped | Yes, where you post them | Until deletion |
| Sighting reports | The map, colony history, TNR follow-up | Yes, fuzzed | De-identified after deletion |
| Approximate location | Places a sighting, shows nearby activity. Optional | Only as a fuzzed area | With the sighting |
| Chat messages | Coordination between caretakers; safety filtering | By your recipients | Until deletion |
| Device & crash data | Fixing bugs and keeping the app working | No | Up to 12 months |
| Reports & moderation records | Enforcing bans, recognizing repeat abuse | No, reports are private | Up to 3 years |
Nothing in this table is sold, and none of it is used to train AI models. Details on each item below.
Email address
Used to create and secure your account, send you sign-in links and essential service notices, and reply when you contact us.
Display name and profile details
The name other users see, plus anything optional you choose to add such as your neighborhood, how you fit into cat work, and a profile photo. Anything on your profile is visible to other users, so please do not put your home address or phone number there.
Photos you upload
Cat photos and any images attached to sightings, posts, or messages. Location metadata (EXIF) is stripped from uploaded photos on our side. We access your camera or photo library only when you choose to add a photo.
Sighting reports
What you log about a cat: description, condition, whether it appears ear-tipped, colony notes, TNR status, timestamps, and any care or follow-up you record.
Approximate location
With your permission, coarse device location to place a sighting on the map and show you nearby activity. Location access is optional — you can pin a sighting manually instead, and you can turn location off in iOS Settings at any time. We do not track your location in the background.
Chat messages
Direct messages and coordination threads between users. Messages are not end-to-end encrypted: they pass through automated safety filtering, and we can access them when we investigate a report or are legally required to. Please treat them as private-but-moderated, not secret.
Device and crash data
Device model, iOS version, app version, a generated app install identifier, coarse diagnostics, and crash logs. Used to fix bugs and keep the app working. We do not use advertising identifiers and there is no advertising in the app.
Reports and moderation records
If you report someone or are reported, we keep the report, the content in question, and what we decided, so that repeat behavior can be recognized and bans can be enforced.
2. iOS permissions we ask for
Every permission below is optional, is requested only at the moment the feature needs it, and can be changed at any time in iOS Settings → Privacy & Security (or Settings → Whisker Friskers). The app keeps working without them — you just lose that one convenience.
Location — While Using the App
Used to place a sighting near where you are and to show you nearby activity. We request coarse location only, we never request Always-On or background location, and we do not track you between sessions. Decline it and you can still drop a pin manually.
Camera
Used only when you tap to take a photo of a cat for a sighting, post, or message. Nothing is captured in the background, and nothing is uploaded until you confirm the post.
Photo library
Used only to attach a photo you pick. We ask for limited, per-photo access rather than your whole library, and we never read your library on our own. Location metadata is stripped from anything you upload.
Notifications
Used for replies to your posts, messages from other caretakers, TNR coordination updates, and moderation outcomes on something you reported. No marketing pushes. Turn them off and nothing else changes.
What we never ask for
Contacts, microphone, calendar, health data, HomeKit, Bluetooth, background location, and App Tracking Transparency permission. There is no advertising and no tracking across other companies’ apps or websites, so there is nothing to ask you to allow.
3. How we use it
- To run the app: your account, the sighting map, TNR coordination, messaging, and the badge and card layer.
- To keep the community safe: automated filtering of content before it posts, human review of reports, blocking, suspensions, and bans.
- To support you: answering your emails and troubleshooting problems.
- To fix and improve the app: crash reports and aggregate usage counts.
- To communicate essentials: security notices and material changes to these terms. No selling, no ad targeting.
- To comply with law and to protect people and animals from harm, including responding to valid legal process.
Where GDPR applies, our legal bases are: performance of a contract (running your account), legitimate interests (safety, moderation, fixing bugs, preventing abuse), consent (device location, optional emails), and legal obligation.
4. Why sighting locations are fuzzed
Community cats get hurt by people who go looking for them. So sighting locations in Whisker Friskers are deliberately imprecise. Before a sighting is shown to anyone, its coordinates are offset and snapped to a general area rather than a point, and we do not display exact addresses, feeding stations, trap placements, or shelter locations. Caretakers see enough to recognize their own block; a stranger cannot use the map to walk up to a colony.
Posting an exact colony, feeding, or trap location — in a caption, a photo, or a message — violates our community guidelines and will be removed. If you believe a colony has been exposed, email us and we will take the content down.
6. What we never do
We do not sell your personal information, and we do not share it for cross-context behavioral advertising or any other form of ad targeting. We do not use your content, photos, sightings, or messages to train artificial intelligence or machine learning models, and we do not license or provide them to anyone else for that purpose. There is no advertising in Whisker Friskers, and no advertising identifiers are collected.
Whisker Friskers also does not collect, hold, process, or forward money. There is no in-app donation, tipping, fundraising, or payment feature, so we never receive or store payment card or bank information. Donation links open an organization’s own website in your browser, and anything you do there is governed by that organization’s own policies.
7. Age requirement
You must be at least 13 years old to create an account. Whisker Friskers is not directed to children under 13, we do not knowingly collect personal information from anyone under 13, and we do not knowingly serve them. If we learn that a user is under 13, we delete the account and its data. If you are a parent or guardian who believes a child under 13 has given us information, email topher@whiskerfriskers.com and we will remove it promptly.
8. How long we keep things
- Account, profile, posts, photos, messages, badges and cards: kept while your account is active, and deleted within 30 days of account deletion.
- Sighting records: may be retained in fuzzed, de-identified form (no display name, no account link) so caretakers keep the colony history for their area.
- Reports, moderation decisions, and ban records: kept for up to 3 years so bans can be enforced and repeat abuse recognized, even after an account is deleted.
- Crash and diagnostic logs: up to 12 months.
- Support emails: up to 24 months.
- Anything we are legally required to keep longer is kept only for as long as that requirement lasts.
9. Deleting your account and data
In the app: Profile → Settings → Delete Account, then confirm. That deletes your account and personal data as described above, within 30 days, including from backups on their normal rotation. You can also email topher@whiskerfriskers.com from your account address and we will do it for you. Step-by-step instructions are on the support page.
10. Your rights
California residents (CCPA / CPRA)
You have the right to know what personal information we collect, use, and disclose; to request a copy of it; to request correction; to request deletion; and to limit the use of sensitive personal information. We do not sell personal information and we do not share it for cross-context behavioral advertising, so there is nothing to opt out of — but you may still submit a request and we will confirm this in writing. We will not discriminate against you for exercising any of these rights. To make a request, email topher@whiskerfriskers.com with “California privacy request” in the subject line. You may use an authorized agent; we may need to verify that you control the account email.
EU, EEA, and UK residents (GDPR)
You have the right of access, rectification, erasure, restriction of processing, data portability, and objection to processing based on legitimate interests, and the right to withdraw consent at any time (for example by turning off location access). Where your data is transferred to the United States, we rely on appropriate safeguards such as the European Commission’s standard contractual clauses. You may lodge a complaint with your local supervisory authority. WHISKER FRISKERS, L.L.C. is the data controller; contact us at topher@whiskerfriskers.com.
Everyone else
Wherever you live, you can ask us for a copy of your data, ask us to correct it, or ask us to delete it. Email us and we will answer within 30 days.
11. Security and international transfer
Data is encrypted in transit and at rest, access is limited to the people who need it to operate and moderate the service, and administrative access is logged. No system is perfect: if a breach affects your personal information, we will notify you and the appropriate authorities as required by law. Whisker Friskers is operated from the United States, and using it means your information is processed there.
12. Changes to this policy
If we change this policy we will update the “Last updated” date at the top, and for material changes we will notify you in the app or by email before they take effect. The named-provider list flagged above will be filled in before public launch.
13. Contact us
WHISKER FRISKERS, L.L.C., New Orleans, Louisiana, USA.
Email: topher@whiskerfriskers.com — a person reads it, and privacy requests are answered within 30 days.