Privacy Policy

PetfinderPro exists to bring lost pets home, and it is built to do that with as little of your personal information as possible. This page explains, in plain English, what we collect, why, where it goes, how long we keep it, and the choices you have. It covers everything the app does today: posters and Facebook posts, pet pages, the sightings map, sighting alerts, the “email me my links” option and adding the app to your phone.

Last updated: 2 September 2026

Who we are

PetfinderPro (petfinderpro.net) is run by Lisa Monks in Cairns, Queensland, Australia. For anything to do with your personal information, email lisa@lisamonks.com or support@petfinderpro.net.

What we collect, and why

PetfinderPro only collects what each feature needs to work. Here is each feature in turn.

Making a poster or Facebook post

The poster and Facebook post are built entirely in your own web browser. Nothing you type is sent to us until you choose to create your pet's page (below). Your contact numbers are used only to print on the poster and to write the post; they never leave your device, and they are not part of the page you create.

Creating your pet's page

When you create a page, we store on our servers:

• About your pet: name, type, breed, sex, age, colour, collar description, distinguishing features, microchip status, and temperament notes.
• Where and when: the location your pet went missing from, where it was last seen, the suburb or town, and the dates and times you entered. The last-seen location is turned into a map point so the page can open on the right area.
• Photo: the photo you upload. Before it is sent, your browser resizes and re-saves it, which strips the hidden information cameras add to photos (such as the place it was taken).
• Optional extras: a QR code link and a sponsor name, if you add them.
• Page settings: whether the page is marked missing or reunited, whether the map is public, and when the page was created.
• Your owner key: the secret part of your private owner link. We store it so we can check that it is you when you manage the page. It is a long random code, not tied to your name, email or phone number.

What we do not store: your phone numbers, your name (unless you put it in a free-text field), or any email address.

Sightings reported by helpers

Anyone with the link to a pet's page can report a sighting. For each sighting we store:

• The map location of the sighting, the time it was seen, and the time it was reported.
• A short note, if the helper writes one.
• The helper's first name, if they choose to give it.
• A contact number, if the helper chooses to leave one. That number is shown only to the pet's owner, on their private owner link. It never appears on the public page, even if the owner makes the map public.

If you report a sighting and later want it removed, the pet's owner can delete it from their page, or you can email us.

“Email me my links”

When you create a page you can ask us to email you your public link and your private owner link, so a lost link does not lock you out. The address you type is used to send that one email (and any resend you ask for) and is not saved in our database. The email is sent from support@petfinderpro.net through Google Workspace, and like any sent email a copy of it, including your address and your links, sits in our support mailbox at Google. We will delete that copy on request.

Sighting alerts on your phone

If you turn on sighting alerts, your phone or browser gives us a delivery address for notifications (a long web address issued by Apple, Google or Mozilla, plus two encryption keys). We store those against your pet's page so we can send a notification when a new sighting comes in. The notification itself (your pet's name, a snippet of the sighting note, and your owner link) is encrypted end to end, so the company that delivers it cannot read it. Turning alerts off from your page removes the delivery address from our records straight away; if you turn them off in your phone's settings instead, it is removed the next time an alert is attempted.

Adding PetfinderPro to your phone

Adding the app to your home screen happens entirely on your phone. Nothing is sent to us. The icon simply opens the page you added it from (your owner view if you added it from your private link), so treat a phone that has it like you would treat your owner link.

Keeping the service safe

To stop scripts flooding the service (creating junk pages, spamming a pet's map, or sending unwanted emails), we count requests per source for short windows. The source is your internet address in a scrambled, one-way form that changes every day; the raw address is not written to our database, and these counters are discarded within minutes to hours. Our hosting provider also keeps ordinary server logs (including internet addresses) for a short period, as every website host does.

Understanding how the service is used

We keep simple counters of what people do: posters generated, pages created, sightings reported, and so on. Each entry records the action, the type of pet, and the pet's name. There is no cookie, no identifier for you, and no advertising or analytics service involved.

What's public and what's private

Because there are no accounts, access is controlled by links:

• Your pet's page is public to anyone with the link: whoever you share it with, or who scans your poster's QR code, can see your pet's photo, description and last-seen area and can report a sighting. It isn't password protected, so share it as widely as you are comfortable with, and remember that anything you write in the free-text fields will be public.
• Your contact numbers never appear on it. They are only on the poster you download.
• The sightings map is private to you by default: when your page is created the map is locked, so only you, using your private owner link, can see where your pet has been spotted. Helpers can add sightings but cannot see anyone else's. The page shows how many sightings there are, but not where. You can make the map public at any time, and lock it again.
• Your owner link is your key: anyone who has it can manage your page and see the private map and any helper contact numbers. Keep it private. For your protection we don't keep it anywhere we can look it up, so if you lose it we can't recover it for you, which is why the app offers to email it to you when the page is created.
• We keep pet pages out of search engines. Pages are shared by their owners directly and are marked so that search engines don't list them.

Who can see your information

• The public: the public details on a pet's page, and the map only if the owner has made it public.
• The owner: everything on the page, the full sightings map and timeline, and any contact numbers helpers leave.
• Us: Lisa, as the operator, can see which pages exist (pet name, type, page link, when created), usage counts, and, when needed for support or to remove something on request, the underlying records. We do not read pages for any other reason and we never use them for marketing.
• Service providers: the companies listed in the next section, only to the extent needed to run the service.

We do not sell, rent or trade personal information, and we do not use it for advertising.

Where your information goes

PetfinderPro is small and deliberately simple. These are the only outside services involved:

• Neon (database), Sydney, Australia: stores pet pages, sightings and alert subscriptions. Data is encrypted in transit and at rest, and Neon keeps a short rolling history (hours) so the database can be restored after an accident.
• Vercel (hosting), United States and worldwide network: runs the website and its code. Requests are handled by Vercel's network and its servers, which may be outside Australia, and Vercel keeps short-term server logs.
• Google Maps (maps and locations): draws the map and turns the street and suburb you type into a map point. The locations you type or tap are sent from your browser to Google to do this, and Google's privacy policy applies to that. Google may set its own cookies when the map loads.
• Google Workspace (email): sends the “email me my links” message from support@petfinderpro.net and holds our support mailbox.
• Apple, Google and Mozilla (phone alerts): deliver sighting notifications to phones and browsers. They see that a notification was sent, not what it says.
• Facebook: only if you choose to post there. You copy the text and post it yourself; we have no connection to your Facebook account.

The site's own fonts, code and images are served by us, so simply viewing a page does not involve any other company. QR codes are generated on your own device.

How long we keep things

• Pet pages, sightings and alert subscriptions: kept while the page exists. We remove a page, a sighting or a subscription on request (see your choices below), and we clear test data from time to time. Deleted records can linger briefly in the database's short-term restore history (hours, not weeks).
• Abuse-prevention counters: minutes to a few hours.
• Usage counters: kept as anonymous statistics.
• Server logs at our hosting provider: about a day.
• “Email me my links” copies in our support mailbox: like ordinary sent mail, until deleted; immediately on request.
• Emails you send us: as long as needed to deal with your request.

Your browser's own storage

To make the service easier to use, PetfinderPro keeps a little information in your own web browser. It stays on your device and is never sent to us:

• The pet pages you've created on this device, including your owner links, so "My Pet's Page" can take you straight back to them.
• An unfinished poster kept as a draft so you don't lose your work if you navigate away (never your contact numbers).
• Small preferences, such as remembering that you've seen the example page or dismissed the add-to-phone tip.

On a shared or borrowed device, use “Start over on this device” (in the menu and the footer) when you are done. It clears all of the above and turns off alerts on that device. It does not delete your pet's page.

How we protect it

• Every connection to PetfinderPro is encrypted (HTTPS), and browsers are told to always use it.
• Owner access relies on a long random key that would take longer than the age of the universe to guess. Access checks happen on our servers, not just in the page, so a private map or a helper's number is never sent to anyone but the owner.
• Contact numbers are stripped before anything is saved, so they cannot leak from our database.
• Every field is checked and limited on the server, and the service counts requests to stop floods and spam.
• The administration screen is password protected, with attempts limited and logged.
• Our providers (Vercel, Neon and Google) run independently audited, industry-standard security programmes. Secrets such as database credentials are held only on the hosting platform, never in the app's code.
• The service is reviewed for security and this policy is updated whenever the app changes what it does with information.

Your choices and rights

You are in control of your pet's page:

• Correct or update details: open the poster tool from the device you created the page on and edit; your live page updates with it.
• Hide or show the map: lock or unlock the sightings map from your owner link at any time.
• Remove a sighting: delete any sighting from your owner view.
• Mark your pet reunited: this closes the page to new sightings.
• Turn alerts off: from your page, or in your phone's notification settings.
• Remove your page completely: email us with your public link and we will delete the page, its sightings and its alert subscriptions.

PetfinderPro is operated from Australia and handles personal information in line with the Australian Privacy Principles in the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth). Wherever you live, including under laws such as the EU and UK GDPR, you can ask us to:

• Access the personal information we hold about you, and get a copy of it.
• Correct anything that is inaccurate or out of date.
• Delete it, including a page you created or a sighting you reported.
• Restrict or object to how it is used.

Email lisa@lisamonks.com. We will respond within 30 days, and usually much sooner. If you are not happy with our response, you can complain to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (oaic.gov.au).

Children

PetfinderPro is meant to be used by adults. If you are under 16, please ask a parent or carer to create the page with you. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children; if you believe a child has given us information, email us and we will remove it.

If something goes wrong

If we ever discover a data breach that is likely to cause you serious harm, we will tell you promptly and, where the law requires it, notify the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner under the Notifiable Data Breaches scheme. Because we store so little (no accounts, no contact numbers, no email addresses), the harm from any breach is kept as low as we can make it.

Changes to this policy

We update this page whenever the app changes what it does with information, and the date at the top changes with it. Continuing to use PetfinderPro after a change means you accept the updated policy.

Contact us

Questions, requests or concerns about your personal information: email lisa@lisamonks.com or support@petfinderpro.net. Security researchers can find our reporting details at /.well-known/security.txt.