Privacy Policy

01

Who we are

Lapka is operated by Anatoliy Dolinskiy (“Lapka”, “we”, “us”), who is responsible for the personal information described in this policy. This policy covers the Lapka mobile app, lapka.online, and support communications.

For privacy questions or requests, contact lapka.admin@gmail.com.

02

Information we collect

• Account information: your account identifier, email address, username where provided, sign-in method, language and time zone. Our authentication provider, Clerk, handles passwords and sign-in sessions. If you use Apple or Google sign-in, we receive the account details you authorise that provider to share, which may include your name, email address and profile image.
• Your cat and training: your cat’s name, profile details, optional photo, questionnaire answers, written descriptions, voice transcripts, programmes, session reports and progress. Details you provide about your household or routine may also contain personal information.
• Purchases: subscription status, product and transaction identifiers, purchase and expiry dates, and verification information from Apple or Google. We do not receive your full payment card details.
• Usage and diagnostics: an installation identifier, the screens you open and how long they stay open, the buttons and links you tap, timestamps, time zone, progress counters, your device model, operating system and app version, crash reports (the error, the screen it happened on and the app version) and other technical information needed to understand use and resolve problems. Some events record which cat-safety check was shown and its outcome. These records never contain what you type, say or photograph, or an advertising identifier. Before sign-in they are tied only to the installation identifier; after sign-in they are linked to your account, so they are not anonymous.
• Ad measurement: on Android, your phone’s advertising identifier and Google Play’s details of where the app was installed from; on an iPhone, what Meta’s software in the app sends to Meta, with the advertising identifier only if you allow tracking. See Our ads.
• Feedback and support: messages you send us. In-app bug reports may also include your app and device versions, current screen, subscription status and programme progress.
• Notifications: a push notification token, language and time zone when you turn on a notification we send: that your programme is ready, or the evening streak reminder. Reminders the app sets on your phone, such as the daily one or the one the day before a free trial turns into a payment, stay on your phone.

Please provide information relevant to your cat. Avoid including sensitive information about yourself or other people in descriptions, recordings, photos or support messages.

03

When information is sent

The app keeps local copies of your profile, intake, programme, reports and preferences so you can return to them. After sign-in, account-related information is synchronised with our server. Usage and diagnostics records are sent while you use the app, including before you create an account: until you sign in they carry only the random installation identifier, the app's language and the device details above, and when you sign in they are linked to your account. Crash reports wait on your phone until you sign in. Our server sees the IP address each request comes from, to limit how often one address can send and to mark Google's own test devices as such; the address is not stored with these records, and our hosting keeps it in short-lived security logs.

Voice transcription can take place before you create an account or subscribe. If you choose to record a voice note, the recording is sent to our transcription service. Using the website, checking for app updates and signing in also involve network requests and the technical information needed to serve them.

Cat photos are optional. A selected photo is resized before upload and is used for your cat’s profile, not for breed recognition or AI training. Profile photos are served through a unique URL; anyone who obtains that exact URL may be able to view the image.

04

How we use information

We use information to provide and personalise training, save and restore progress, manage accounts and subscription access, transcribe requested voice notes, deliver requested notifications, answer support requests, investigate errors, prevent misuse and improve the service.

Where applicable data protection law requires a legal basis, we rely on:

• Performance of our contract with you for accounts, paid features, programme generation and progress synchronisation.
• Legitimate interests in operating a secure and reliable service, understanding use, measuring our own ads, responding to support and preventing fraud, balanced against your rights. On Android you can opt out of ad measurement by turning off ad personalisation in your phone’s settings, or by writing to us.
• Consent where required for optional processing. You can withdraw consent and change device permissions; this does not affect processing that was lawful before withdrawal.
• Legal obligations for required records and lawful requests.

We do not sell your personal information or show ads in the app. The advertising identifier is used only to measure our own ads, and on an iPhone only if you allow tracking when the app asks (see Our ads). We do not use your content to train AI models or authorise our AI providers to use it for that purpose.

Our ads

We advertise Lapka on Instagram and Facebook (Meta) and on Google. So that the ads reach people the app will really help, we tell these companies whether an ad led to an install, a sign-up, a free trial or a payment. On Android this goes through our server. On an iPhone the app includes Meta’s software development kit (SDK), which tells Meta itself, and the iPhone’s own mechanism tells Apple.

• Android. Each time the app starts, it sends our server the phone’s advertising identifier, Google Play’s details of where the app was installed from, the phone model, the Android and app versions, the language and the region, with the random installation identifier. Our server adds your IP address and the name of the software the request came from, and tells Meta when the app was installed, when an account was created, when a free trial began and when the first payment was made (with its amount). Your name, email, cat’s details, what you write or say and your photos are never in it. Google sees installs and purchases on Google Play by itself.
• If you turned off ad personalisation or deleted the advertising identifier in your Android phone’s settings, the app sends no identifier, and our server tells Meta nothing about you.
• iPhone. The app asks once whether you allow it to track you. Whatever you answer, Meta’s SDK in the app tells Meta when the app was opened, when an account was created, when a free trial began and when a subscription was bought, with technical details of the phone (such as its model, iOS and app versions, language, time zone and screen size) and the IP address Meta sees. If you allow tracking, it also sends your iPhone’s advertising identifier. If you ask the app not to track, it does not, and Meta counts you only in aggregate with others (Aggregated Event Measurement). You can change your answer at any time in Settings → Privacy & Security → Tracking. Your name, email, cat’s details, what you write or say and your photos are never sent. The app also tells Apple’s built-in mechanism (SKAdNetwork) how far someone got, and Apple passes that on, delayed and without any data about you, to the company that showed the ad. Our server sends nothing about iPhones to advertising companies.
• Europe. If a phone’s region is set to a country in the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom or Switzerland, an Android phone sends none of this to our server, and we pass nothing on; an iPhone does not ask to track you, and Meta’s SDK in it stays off.

05

AI programme generation

Lapka uses AI services from Anthropic or OpenAI to help create personalised training content. Depending on the request, these services receive your cat’s name, relevant intake answers and descriptions, transcripts, programme context and session reports. Programme generation requires subscription access; voice transcription is a separate optional service.

The app tells you this before anything you write or say leaves your phone, on the questionnaire step where you describe your cat in your own words, and continues only after you confirm. Both OpenAI and Groq are bound by data-processing terms that require them to protect your data to the same standard we do.

We use these providers’ business APIs. Their published API policies do not use customer content for model training by default. Providers may retain requests and responses for security, abuse prevention, legal compliance or service operation under their own terms; a no-training policy does not mean zero retention. See Anthropic’s API retention information and OpenAI’s data controls.

AI content may be inaccurate. Lapka does not use your data to make automated decisions that produce legal or similarly significant effects about you.

06

Voice notes and device permissions

Microphone access is requested when you choose to record. Recordings are sent through our server to Groq for speech-to-text processing. Our server processes the audio temporarily rather than keeping a permanent audio archive. The resulting transcript is saved with your intake and may be used to generate your programme. Groq’s processing and retention practices are described in its data policy.

A local audio copy may remain on your device after transcription until it is replaced, discarded or the app’s data is cleared. Device backups may contain local app data, subject to your Apple or Google backup settings.

You can decline microphone, camera, photo-library or notification permissions and use the features that do not need them. You can change these permissions in your device settings.

07

Service providers and sharing

We share information as needed with the following providers:

• Clerk: account authentication and session security.
• Hetzner: hosting for our website, our application server and our database in Finland, and the associated delivery and security logs.
• Anthropic and OpenAI: AI generation, as described above.
• Groq: optional voice transcription.
• Expo, Apple and Google: app delivery, updates and push notifications. A programme-ready notification may include your cat’s name. Apple and Google also process store purchases and any sign-in you choose through them. Google counts installs and purchases on Google Play towards our ads by itself; Apple passes on the anonymous SKAdNetwork signal described under Our ads.
• Meta: measures our ads on Instagram and Facebook. It receives what is listed under Our ads: from our server about Android phones, and from its SDK in the app on an iPhone. Meta also processes this data under its own privacy policy.
• Google Gmail: messages sent to our support email address.

Authorised operators may access account information, training records and feedback to provide support and administer the service. We may disclose information when required by law, to protect rights and security, or in connection with a business transfer subject to appropriate privacy protections.

Providers may process information in the United States, the European Economic Area or other countries. Where applicable law requires safeguards for international transfers, we use the relevant contractual safeguards or other lawful transfer mechanisms. You can contact us for information about safeguards applicable to your data.

08

Retention and security

Account, cat, intake, programme and report data are retained while your account remains open so that we can provide training and restore your history. Replacing a cat or starting again can archive previous records rather than delete them. To remove all associated server data, use the deletion request below.

Usage records, feedback, support correspondence and notification tokens are retained as needed to operate the service, investigate issues and manage your requests. Retention depends on whether your account is active, whether an issue remains unresolved, and any applicable legal or recordkeeping obligations. Deleting an account does not automatically cancel a store subscription.

For our ads, our server erases a phone’s advertising identifier, IP address and software name 90 days after that phone last sent them. The record of what was passed to Meta, and when, remains; after you delete your account it is no longer linked to you.

After a full deletion request, limited payment, security and deletion-audit records may remain where needed for legal obligations, fraud prevention or resolving disputes. A deletion audit can contain account identifiers, your cat’s name, the date, reason and counts of deleted records. Accounting and store-notification records may be retained with the link to your account removed. Backup copies may not be removed immediately and remain protected until replaced or deleted.

We use HTTPS, authenticated access and access restrictions to protect data. No internet service or device can guarantee absolute security.

09

Delete your account and data

To request deletion of your Lapka account and associated server data, email lapka.admin@gmail.com with the subject “Delete my Lapka account and data”.

Include the email address used for your Lapka account. You can make this request without installing the app or keeping the account open. We may ask for proportionate verification to protect your account; do not send us your password.

We delete the account, cat profiles and photos, intake answers and transcripts, programmes, reports, linked usage records and feedback from our active systems, subject to the limited retention described above. We confirm completion by email. We respond without undue delay and within the period required by applicable law, normally within one month; if a lawful extension is needed, we explain why.

In the app: Settings → Delete my account removes your sign-in account and local app data. For deletion of associated server records as well, send the email request above. Removing the app alone does not delete server records. You can also remove a cat photo or withdraw feedback using the corresponding in-app controls.

Cancel your subscription separately in your Apple or Google subscription settings to stop future renewals.

10

Your privacy rights

Depending on where you live, you may have rights to access, correct, delete or receive a portable copy of your personal information, restrict or object to processing, and withdraw consent. Contact lapka.admin@gmail.com to exercise these rights. We may verify your identity before acting and will explain any lawful reason we cannot fully fulfil a request.

You may complain to your local data protection authority. We do not penalise you for exercising applicable privacy rights. Some information is necessary to provide the service; deleting it or restricting its use may prevent related features from working.

11

Children

Lapka is intended for adults aged 18 or over and is not directed to children. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children. If you believe a child has provided personal information, contact us so we can investigate and remove it where appropriate.

12

Website and support

The public landing page, Privacy Policy and Terms do not use advertising trackers or analytics cookies. Our hosting provider receives technical request information, such as IP addresses, browser information and requested pages. Sign-in pages use authentication technologies needed to manage sessions.

On public marketing and guide pages, Lapka measures page views itself, with no third-party analytics service and no analytics cookies. We record the page path, page language, referring website’s domain and whether the App Store or Google Play button was selected. A random identifier connects a store-button click to that one page view and is not saved in your browser or reused on another page view. We do not store an account identifier, cookie, advertising identifier, IP address or full referring URL in these records. This measurement also respects Do Not Track and Global Privacy Control signals.

If you email us, we use your email address and message to respond and handle your request. In-app feedback is reviewed for product improvements and bug reports; it is not a live support chat. Use email if you need a reply.

13

Changes to this policy

We may update this policy when our service or legal obligations change. The effective date appears at the top of this page. Where required, we will notify you of material changes through the app or your account email before they take effect.