Privacy Policy
Last updated 23 October 2026
The short version. Barknity helps dog owners near each other meet up. To do that, we keep what you put on your profile, your general area and the messages you send. Your exact position is never shown to anyone unless you choose to share it with one match, and that sharing ends after two hours at most. The app is free and is funded by advertising. We do not sell your data. You can download a copy of your data or delete your account at any time.
1. Who we are
Barknity is run by Mohammed Zekri, based in Spain ("Barknity", "we", "us"). Under the EU and UK General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), we are the data controller for the personal data described in this policy.
For any question about this policy or your data, contact barknity@gmail.com.
2. Who can use Barknity
Barknity is for adults only. You must be 18 or over to create an account. We ask for your date of birth at sign-up and do not accept anyone under 18. If we learn that an account belongs to someone under 18, we delete it.
3. The data we collect
Data you give us
| Data | Why we need it |
|---|---|
| Email address and password | To create and secure your account, confirm it is yours, and let you reset your password. Your password is never stored in a readable form |
| Name, as you choose to display it | So other members know who they are talking to |
| Date of birth | To make sure you are 18 or over and to show your age. Other members see your age, never your date of birth |
| Gender, and who you would like to see | To show you the people you are interested in |
| Photos of you and your dog | Your profile |
| Your dog's details: name, breed, size, weight, age, neutering and vaccination status, and a description | Your dog's profile |
| A description of yourself and, if you choose, your height, job, education and hobbies | Your profile. These extra details are optional |
| Your town or city | Shown on your profile |
| Messages you send, in one-to-one chats and walk chats | To deliver them |
| Walks you organise or join | To show them to the right people |
| Reports and blocks | To keep members safe and to act on reports |
Location
- Your general area is used to show you people and walks nearby. Other members never see your coordinates, only an approximate distance such as "3 km away".
- Live location sharing is always your choice. You can share your position with a match you choose, for up to two hours, and each share is seen only by that one person. You can stop it whenever you like, and it stops by itself within a few minutes if you close the app. It is never on by default and never visible to anyone else.
- Walks have a meeting point chosen by the organiser. Anyone who can see the walk can see that point.
Data collected automatically
- Device and technical data: device type, operating system, app version, and a notification token so we can send you notifications.
- Usage data: how you use the app, such as swipes, matches, the date you were last active, and which ads or promotions you have been shown. We also record the country you are in, based on the town or location you give us.
- Error and performance data: crash reports and technical logs that help us find and fix problems. These do not include your messages.
- Security checks: when you sign up, an automated check confirms you are a person and not a program. It may use technical information about your device and connection.
What we do not collect
We do not ask for your sexual orientation, religion, political views, health or ethnic origin. We never give advertisers your profile, photos, messages or precise location. Ads may be personalised using your device's advertising identifier, as explained in section 5, which also explains how to say no.
4. How we use your data, and our legal basis
| Purpose | Legal basis |
|---|---|
| Running your account, showing you people and walks nearby, delivering messages | Performance of our contract with you |
| Sharing your live location with a match | Your consent, which you can withdraw at any moment by stopping the share |
| Keeping members safe: the age check, moderation, reports and blocks | Our legitimate interests and those of our members, and legal obligations |
| Service emails, such as account confirmation and password resets | Performance of our contract with you |
| Personalised ads | Your consent |
| Non-personalised ads, promotions from local businesses, and preventing ad fraud | Our legitimate interest in keeping Barknity free to use |
| Fixing errors, protecting the service from abuse, and understanding how many people use Barknity in each country | Our legitimate interest in running a reliable and secure service |
| Responding to lawful requests and meeting legal obligations | Legal obligation |
We only email you about your account. We do not send marketing emails.
5. Advertising
Barknity is free and is funded by two kinds of advertising.
- Google ads. While you swipe, the app may show a full-screen ad. When you reach your swipe limit, you can choose to watch a short video for extra swipes. These ads are provided by Google AdMob. To show and measure them and to prevent fraud, Google collects your device's advertising ID, your IP address (which indicates your approximate location), your interactions with ads, and technical data about the app. When you watch a video for extra swipes, we give Google a random account number, never your name or email, so that Google can confirm the video was watched.
- Promotions from local businesses. We sometimes show a promotion when you open the app, for example from a vet, groomer or pet shop. We choose which promotion to show based only on your country or area. We keep a record of which promotions you have seen so you do not see the same one repeatedly. Businesses do not receive any information about you.
Tracking on iPhone. On an iPhone, the app shows Apple's question "Allow Barknity to track your activity across other companies' apps and websites?" before your device's advertising identifier can be used. If you allow it, Google may use that identifier to personalise and measure ads across apps and websites that belong to other companies. If you do not allow it, the identifier is not shared, and you may still see ads that are not based on it. You can change your answer at any time in your iPhone's Settings → Privacy & Security → Tracking.
Your choices. In the European Economic Area, the UK and Switzerland, the app asks for your consent before your data is used for personalised ads. If you decline, you may still see ads, but they will not be personalised. You can change your choice at any time in Profile → Settings → Ad privacy choices. You can also reset or delete your advertising ID in your phone's settings. To learn how Google uses data from apps that show its ads, see policies.google.com/technologies/partner-sites.
6. Who we share your data with
We do not sell your data. We share it only in these cases:
| Recipient | Why |
|---|---|
| Other members | What you put on your profile is visible to other members: your photos, name, age, town, description, your dog's details and any optional details you add. They see an approximate distance, never your address or coordinates. Messages are seen by the people you send them to |
| Service providers | Trusted companies that help us run Barknity, such as providers of hosting, data storage, email delivery, notifications, error monitoring and security. They process your data only on our instructions, under a data processing agreement, and may not use it for their own purposes |
| To display maps on Android phones, and to show ads as described in section 5. For ads, Google acts as an independent controller under its own privacy policy | |
| Apple | To display maps on iPhones (Apple Maps) |
| Authorities | When required by law, for example to respond to a valid court order, or where necessary to protect someone's safety, including reports of child abuse |
| A new owner | If Barknity is sold or transferred, your data may be transferred as part of that. We will tell you before it happens, and this policy will continue to protect your data |
7. Where your data is stored
Your account, profile, photos and messages are stored on servers in the European Union. Some of our service providers, and Google, may process limited data outside the EU. When that happens, we rely on safeguards recognised under GDPR, such as the European Commission's standard contractual clauses or an adequacy decision.
8. How long we keep your data
- While your account is open, we keep your profile and messages so the app works.
- Live location shares are deleted when they end, after two hours at most.
- Error reports and technical logs are kept for up to 90 days.
- When you delete your account, your profile, photos, dogs, swipes and location data are deleted immediately. The content of messages you sent is erased, but the other person keeps a record that a conversation took place. Copies may remain in encrypted backups for up to 30 days before they are overwritten.
- Reports and blocks are kept after an account is deleted, because they protect the person who made them.
- Data collected by Google for ads is kept according to Google's own policies.
9. Your rights
Under GDPR, you have the right to access your data, correct it, delete it, receive it in a portable format, restrict how we use it, and object to how we use it. Where we rely on your consent, you can withdraw it at any time.
- Get a copy of your data: Profile → Settings → Download my data. We email you a file with everything we hold about you.
- Delete your account: Profile → Settings → Delete my account, or use our web page if you no longer have the app.
- Anything else: email barknity@gmail.com. We reply within one month.
We do not make decisions about you based solely on automated processing that have legal or similarly significant effects.
If you are not satisfied with how we handle your data, you can complain to your local data protection authority. In Spain, this is the Agencia Española de Protección de Datos.
10. Do you have to give us your data?
To create an account, we need your email address, a password, your name, date of birth and gender, basic details about your dog, and at least one photo. Without these, we cannot provide the service. Everything else is optional.
11. Security
We use industry-standard technical and organisational measures to protect your data, including encryption in transit and strict limits on who can access personal data. No service can be completely secure. If a breach affects your data, we will inform you and the relevant authority as the law requires.
12. Changes to this policy
We may update this policy from time to time. If we make a significant change, we will update the date at the top and let you know in the app before it takes effect.