Privacy Policy 🔒

Last updated: March 31, 2026

What We Collect

LottaPaws is designed with your privacy in mind. For the core app experience, we collect virtually nothing:

• No personal information - We don't ask for your name, email, or any account details to use the app.
• No analytics or tracking - We don't use any analytics services. We have no idea how you use the app.
• No advertising - No ads means no ad tracking.

If you choose to use the optional Public Collection & Wishlist Pages feature, we collect a small amount of additional information. See that section below for details.

Your Collection Data

All your collection data (which critters you own, your wishlist, photos you take, purchase details) is stored locally on your device. We don't have access to it. We can't see it. It's yours.

When you use the backup feature, the backup file is created on your device and shared using iOS's native share sheet. We never see or store your backups.

Public Collection & Wishlist Pages

LottaPaws offers an optional feature that lets you publish a public page to share your collection or wishlist with other collectors. Your collection is published at collection.lottapaws.app and your wishlist at wishlist.lottapaws.app.

What we collect when you opt in:

• Username - A display name you choose. This is publicly visible in your page URL and on your page.
• Display name - An optional name shown on your public page.
• PIN - A short code you create to manage your public page. We store this as an encrypted hash and cannot read it.
• Collection/wishlist data - When you publish, a snapshot of your collection and/or wishlist is sent to our server. This includes critter names, variant names, family names, and optionally the date you added each item.

What is publicly visible on your page:

• Your username and display name
• Critter names, variant names, and family names in your published collection and/or wishlist
• Critter images (sourced from our catalog, not your personal photos)
• Collection statistics (total collected, complete families, etc.)
• Date added, only if you enable this in your settings

What is never shown on your public page:

• Purchase prices or amounts paid
• Purchase locations
• Item condition or personal notes
• Your personal photos
• Any information that could identify you beyond your chosen username

Open Graph preview images: When you publish your page, we generate a preview image (used when your link is shared on social media, messaging apps, etc.). This image includes your username, collection stats, and thumbnail images of some of your critters. These images are cached on our servers and regenerated when you republish.

Search engine visibility: Public pages may be indexed by search engines such as Google. If you unpublish your page, we request removal from search engines, but we cannot guarantee how quickly third-party search engines will update their results.

You are in control:

• You choose whether to publish your collection, wishlist, or both
• You choose whether to show the date items were added
• You can unpublish your page at any time, which immediately removes public access
• You can delete your public profile entirely, which permanently removes your username, all published data, and all cached images from our servers

Contributor Portal

LottaPaws allows community members to contribute catalog data (e.g., submitting missing critters or sets). If you sign up as a contributor, we collect:

• Email address - Used for authentication and notifications. Your email is encrypted at rest using AES-256 encryption and cannot be read directly from the database.
• Name and display name - For identification within the contributor portal.
• Password - Stored as an irreversible hash using industry-standard algorithms. We cannot read your password.
• Submission activity - Counts of submissions you've made, approved, or rejected.

Contributor accounts can be deleted upon request by emailing us.

Barcode Scanning

When you scan a barcode in the app, we record:

• Barcode value - The barcode you scanned.
• Match result - Whether the barcode matched an existing set in our catalog.
• Platform - Whether you're using iOS or Android, detected from your device's request headers.

To prevent duplicate scans, we store a one-way hash of your IP address alongside the scan. This hash cannot be reversed to recover your actual IP address. Your IP address is never stored.

Barcode scan data is used to improve catalog coverage (identifying missing sets) and is not tied to any user account or identity.

Missing Item Reports

When you search for something that isn't in the catalog and submit a report, we collect:

• Search query - The term you searched for.
• Item details - The name, type (critter or set), and any additional details you provide.
• Platform - Whether you're using iOS or Android.

We aggregate these reports to prioritize which items to add to the catalog. No personal information, IP address, or device identifier is collected with these reports.

What Our Server Sees

The app connects to our API to browse the critter catalog. When this happens, our server receives:

• Your IP address - this is how the internet works. It appears in temporary server logs but is not stored in our database.
• Basic request info - which critters or families you're browsing. We don't tie this to any identity.

If you use the public pages feature, our server also stores the data described in the section above for as long as your public profile exists.

We keep minimal server logs for debugging purposes only. These are automatically deleted after 30 days.

Issue Reports

When you submit a report about incorrect data (e.g., wrong image, misspelled name), we collect:

• The identifier (UUID) of the item you're reporting (critter, variant, or set)
• The type of item being reported
• The issue type you selected
• The description you provide
• Your IP address (stored with the report to help identify spam and abuse)
• Timestamp of submission

Unlike other features, issue reports do store your IP address. This is the only place in LottaPaws where a raw IP is saved to our database. We use it to review reports and detect abuse. Reports and their associated IP addresses are deleted within 90 days of resolution.

Anonymous Popularity Data

When you add or remove an item from your collection or wishlist, LottaPaws sends a small anonymous signal to our server. This helps us understand which critters and variants are most popular across the collector community.

What we record:

• Which critter and variant were added or removed
• Whether it was a collection or wishlist action
• Your country (derived from your IP address by Cloudflare. We never store your IP)
• The app version

What we don't record:

• No user identity or device identifier
• No IP address
• No timestamp patterns that could identify you
• No way to connect events to a specific person or device

This data is purely aggregate. We can see "this variant was added 50 times this month, mostly in Japan" but we have no idea who added it. There is no way to opt out of this individually, as there is nothing individual to opt out of.

Third-Party Services

LottaPaws uses these external services:

• Cloudflare - For DNS, security, and content delivery (including public pages and cached images). They have their own privacy policy.
• Apple App Store - For app distribution.
• Ko-fi - For tip jar purchases. If you choose to support us, Ko-fi handles that transaction. See their privacy policy.

Data Security

All API communication uses HTTPS encryption. Your local data is stored in your device's sandboxed app storage, which only you can access.

If you use the public pages feature, your PIN is stored using industry-standard one-way encryption (bcrypt) and cannot be read by us or anyone else. Published collection data is stored on our servers and served over HTTPS.

Children's Privacy

LottaPaws is safe for collectors of all ages. The core app does not collect any personal information, so children can catalog their critters without any privacy concerns.

The public pages feature allows users to publish collection information to the internet under a chosen username. We recommend that parents and guardians supervise children under 13 who wish to use this feature, as published pages are publicly accessible.

Your Rights

Delete local data: Uninstall the app to remove all local data. Any backup files you've exported are under your control.

Delete issue reports: If you've submitted reports and want them deleted, email us with the approximate date and we'll remove them.

Unpublish your public page: You can unpublish your collection and/or wishlist at any time from within the app. This immediately removes public access to your page.

Delete your public profile: You can permanently delete your public profile from within the app. This removes your username, all published collection and wishlist data, and all cached preview images from our servers. This action is irreversible.

Changes to This Policy

If we ever change this policy, we'll update this page and the "last updated" date. But honestly, our philosophy is simple: collect nothing, track nothing and when you choose to share, you stay in control.