Buddy · 2026-07-21

Privacy Policy

Buddy helps you keep your pets’ vaccination and medical records in one place, share them with the people who care for your animals, and get reminded before something is due. To do that we hold some information about you and your pets. This policy explains, in plain language, what we collect, why, who can see it, and the control you have over it.

The short version: your records are yours. We do not sell your data, we do not run advertising networks, and we only share information with the people and services genuinely needed to run Buddy. You can read, export, correct, and delete your data at any time.

1. Who we are

Buddy is operated by Sonder Africa. When this policy says "we" or "us", we mean the team that builds and runs Buddy. If you have any question about your privacy, you can reach us at privacy@buddypets.app.

Buddy is built for South Africa, so we treat the Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA) as the law that governs how we handle your information.

2. What we collect

We collect only what we need to run the service you asked for.

Account details: your name, email address, and the password or passkey you use to sign in. If you choose Sign in with Apple, we receive the identifier Apple gives us and the email you agree to share (which may be a private relay address).
Your profile: an optional display photo, and an optional phone number that is only used for the emergency contact feature so a household member can reach you if your pet is lost.
Your pets: names, species, breed, dates, sex, microchip details, photos, and any notes you add.
Medical records: vaccinations, procedures, care, weights, conditions, allergies, medications, and any documents or scans you upload (such as a vet certificate).
Messages: the chat you exchange with household members and supporters, including any attachments you send.
Devices: if you turn on notifications, a push token for your device so we can send them, along with your app version and language.
Payments: if you subscribe to Buddy+, a record that you subscribed and the reference the app store or payment provider gives us. We never see or store your card details.
Technical data: your IP address, device type, and basic usage needed to keep the service secure, working, and reliable.

3. How we use it

To provide Buddy: store your records, show them to you and the people you share them with, and keep your household organised.
To write Buddy Daily: if you have Buddy+, we compose a short, friendly daily note about your pets from the records already in your account. Where your device can, it writes this privately on the device. When it cannot, we use a trusted provider to write it (see "The services we rely on").
To remind you: send due-date reminders and, if you allow it, push notifications.
For safety: power the lost-pet feature, including a public "found me" page that you choose to create for a missing pet.
To support you: answer your questions and fix problems.
To keep Buddy secure and reliable: prevent abuse, protect accounts, and keep the service running.
To meet our legal obligations under POPIA and other applicable law.

We do not use your pets’ records or your messages to train advertising profiles, and we do not sell any of it.

4. Who can see your information

You, and the household members you invite, who share access to your pets and records.
Supporters you invite (such as a vet, groomer, sitter, or walker), limited to the pets and the actions you grant them.
Anyone you deliberately share with: a collar-tag share link, or the public "found me" page you create for a lost pet, which shows only the details you choose to put on it.
Our team, only when needed to run or support the service. Every time a staff member views your personal data through our admin tools, that view is logged with who looked, when, and why.

Nobody else has access to your records. We do not share them with advertisers or data brokers.

5. How we protect it

Your data is encrypted while it travels to and from Buddy, and encrypted where it is stored.
Access is scoped: people only see the pets and records you have shared with them, at the level you set.
When you export a pet as a sealed Buddy file, it is encrypted so it can only be opened by importing it back into Buddy.
Backups are encrypted and stored separately so your records can be recovered if something goes wrong.
Staff access to personal data is restricted and audited.

No online service can promise perfect security, but we take reasonable and appropriate steps to protect your information, as POPIA requires.

6. The services we rely on

We use a small set of trusted providers to run Buddy. They process data only on our instructions and only for the purpose named.

Cloudflare hosts our application, database, and file storage, and provides bot protection.
Amazon Web Services sends our transactional emails and holds our encrypted backups (in the Cape Town region).
For Buddy Daily, when your daily note cannot be written privately on your device, we send that day’s pet and household facts to Amazon Web Services (its Bedrock AI service, hosted in Ireland) to write the note. This information leaves South Africa only for this purpose. It is used only to write that note, it is not used to train any AI model, and it is not kept once the note is written.
Apple and Google process Buddy+ subscription payments in their app stores, and deliver push notifications to your device.
We measure basic, first-party usage to keep Buddy working well. We do not use third-party advertising or cross-site tracking networks.

7. How long we keep it

We keep your information for as long as your account is open and you need it. When you delete your account or a household, we hold it for a short grace period of about 30 days (in case you change your mind), then permanently delete it.

Some records are kept longer where the law or sound record-keeping requires it, for example encrypted backups of medical information. Push tokens are removed as soon as you sign out or turn off notifications.

8. Your rights

Under POPIA you can, at any time:

See the information we hold about you.
Correct anything that is wrong (you can edit most of it directly in the app).
Export your data, as a readable file you can keep.
Delete your account and your records.
Change your mind about optional messages, by updating your notification preferences.

Most of these are one tap away in the app. If you would like help, or want to make a formal request, email us at privacy@buddypets.app. You also have the right to complain to the Information Regulator of South Africa.

9. Cookies

On the web, we use a small number of cookies that are needed to keep you signed in and remember basic preferences. We do not use third-party tracking or advertising cookies.

10. Children

Buddy is intended for adults. It is not designed for children under 16, and we do not knowingly collect their personal information. If you believe a child has given us information, contact us and we will remove it.

11. Changes to this policy

We may update this policy as Buddy grows. When we make a material change, we update the version shown at the top and, for anything significant, ask you to read and accept the new version the next time you use Buddy.

12. Contact us

Questions, requests, or concerns about your privacy are always welcome. We will appoint and register an Information Officer as required under POPIA, and will name them here.

privacy@buddypets.app