Privacy Policy

This is the full version of Kin’s privacy policy. For the short read, see the privacy summary. Where this policy is simpler than the engineering behind it, the stricter practice always wins.

1. Our approach

Privacy is built into how Kin works, not bolted on as a setting. We default to keeping data on your device, to collecting nothing we don’t need, and — when a consent decision is unclear — to the narrower reading. The protections below hold even if you never open Settings.

2. Where your data lives

Most of your dog’s information — medical records, medications, the photos you choose, behavior notes, walk routes, and the signals that power reminders — is stored on your device, protected by the operating system’s encryption. When information needs to reach your other devices or the family you share with, it syncs through iCloud with end-to-end encryption: the keys are held by you via iCloud Keychain, and neither Apple nor Kin can read it. Health records carry an additional layer of encryption so only family members you’ve granted health access can read them.

3. What we collect — and what we don’t

We don’t use third-party analytics SDKs, and we never include personal information in logs. We don’t auto-scan your photo library — you choose every photo. The limited data we do handle:

• Account: Sign in with Apple identifies you; we don’t collect your email, phone number, or a password (see §4).
• Anonymous product analytics (off by default): if you opt in, aggregate counts of how often core features are used — never linked to your identity, never used to track you across apps or websites.
• Affiliate referrals: if you tap an affiliate link in Find, we may receive anonymous attribution data — never your personal information or your dog’s data.
• This website: if you join the beta, the email you give us, used only to contact you about the beta (see §11).

4. Signing in

Kin uses Sign in with Apple exclusively. There are no passwords. We don’t collect your real email address or phone number for your account; we may receive Apple’s private relay email solely for essential notifications.

5. Sharing and roles

A dog can be shared with scoped roles — co-owner, caregiver, sitter, walker, vet — and each role sees only what its access allows. Revoking access takes effect immediately and cryptographically; a removed member cannot read anything shared after their removal. We never share your Apple ID with anyone.

6. Cloud reasoning (premium, opt-in)

Most of Kin’s intelligence runs on your device. For a few advanced premium features, you can opt in — one category at a time — to send a minimal, relevant summary to our cloud reasoning provider (Anthropic) to produce a result. These requests use zero-retention (your data isn’t stored by the provider), exclude raw medical records, photos, audio, and precise location unless you’ve specifically consented to that category, and stay off unless you turn them on.

7. Connected devices and services

When you pair a device (such as a camera or collar) or use Find My, the data flow is named at the moment you connect. Pairing credentials are stored securely on your device, connected-device data stays on-device wherever possible, and third parties receive only an opaque identifier — never your Apple ID.

8. Children

Kin is family software. Child accounts use Apple Family Sharing; they see no commercial surfaces, cannot start cloud reasoning or device pairing, and we never share any third-party data about a child account, including affiliate referrals. Our default behaviors are designed to keep us out of COPPA-triggering data flows entirely.

9. Your rights and choices

• Export your data anytime, encrypted with a password you choose.
• Delete your account in one tap — a short grace period, then permanent.
• Access and correct your data directly in the app.
• Revoke any sharing or consent as easily as you granted it.

We honor GDPR and CCPA/CPRA rights regardless of where you live, including access, erasure, rectification, portability, and objection. We do not “sell” personal information; affiliate revenue is referral revenue with no personal data flowing back to us.

10. Data retention

Every data class has a defined retention policy; nothing defaults to indefinite retention. When you delete your account, your data is purged within the windows described in the app, and backups are removed shortly after.

11. This website

kin.dog is a static marketing site. If you join the closed beta, we store the email you provide only to contact you about the beta, and you can ask us to remove it at any time. We use privacy-friendly, cookieless analytics — no cross-site tracking and no advertising cookies.

12. Changes

If we change this policy, we’ll update the date above. For material changes that affect your data, we’ll ask for any new consent rather than changing things silently.

13. Contact

Questions about privacy? Email privacy@kin.dog.