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Animou

Privacy Policy

1. Data controller

This policy explains how ANIMOU SAS processes personal data in connection with the animou-app.com website, the Animou mobile app, the Animou API and related services.

Data controller: ANIMOU SAS, a simplified joint-stock company with share capital of €1,000, registered with the Bordeaux Trade and Companies Register under number 101 984 730, with its registered office at 457 route du Médoc, 33520 Bruges, France.

Privacy contact: Email protected — enable JavaScript

Animou does not sell users’ personal data and does not share it with data brokers.

Animou has not appointed a Data Protection Officer at this stage. For any privacy question, please use the contact address above.

2. Data we collect

Depending on how you use the service, Animou may collect or process the following categories of data:

  • Account and authentication data: first name, last name, username or display name, email address, phone number, authentication identifiers, email/phone verification status, terms acceptance, account status, deletion requests and data export requests.
  • Profile and preferences: profile picture, privacy settings, discreet mode, notification preferences, language and account settings.
  • Animals and listings: animal information, photos, descriptions, distinguishing marks, identification details entered by the user, listing type, report date and listing status.
  • Location and addresses: GPS position when you allow it, listing location, address or location label, approximate public coordinates, addresses and points of interest used for nearby alerts.
  • Messages and interactions: conversations, messages, attachments, photos sent, location voluntarily shared in a conversation, reports, blocks and information needed for moderation.
  • Support and communications: contact form requests, support emails, data export or deletion requests and newsletter subscriptions.
  • Notifications: push notification tokens, device platform, device name and activation status.
  • Technical data: IP address, security logs, error events, crash and performance diagnostics, device type, app version, and data required for security and service operation.
  • Website browsing data: cookies and trackers on the website, including for audience measurement and service improvement, subject to your consent choices where consent is required.

Some data may also come indirectly from other people, for example when a user mentions or describes a third party in a listing, a description or a message. Animou then processes that data solely as part of the service and in accordance with this policy.

3. Required and optional data

Some data is required to create an account, secure exchanges and use Animou’s main features:

  • verified email address and phone number;
  • technical authentication identifiers;
  • acceptance of the applicable terms;
  • minimal profile information;
  • data required for listings, messages, reports and support requests when you use those features.

If this data is not provided or cannot be verified, Animou may limit access to the account or to the relevant features.

Other data depends on your choice or on a system permission:

  • precise device GPS location;
  • push notifications;
  • newsletter subscription;
  • profile picture, additional photos or optional media;
  • addresses and points of interest used to receive alerts around chosen places.

Refusing optional data does not necessarily prevent use of the service, but the related feature may be unavailable or less accurate.

4. Why we use this data

Animou uses personal data to:

  • create and secure your account;
  • verify your contact methods, including email and phone, to make lost, found and seen animal reports more reliable;
  • publish, display, moderate and manage listings;
  • display maps, search addresses and calculate proximity for useful alerts;
  • send alerts, notifications, transactional emails and service reminders;
  • enable conversations between users;
  • handle reports, blocks and support requests;
  • provide a data export and process deletion requests;
  • protect the service against abuse, fraud, errors and non-compliant use;
  • measure the technical reliability of the app and fix crashes.

The listing-matching feature relies on an automated comparison of criteria (species, breed, distinctive features, location, date) designed to suggest relevant matches. These suggestions do not constitute a solely automated decision producing legal effects or similarly significantly affecting you: they are provided for guidance only, and the final assessment remains human.

Processing may rely on:

  • performance of a contract when the data is necessary for the account, listings, messages, alerts and support requests;
  • your consent for device location, push notifications, newsletter subscriptions and certain cookies or trackers;
  • Animou’s legitimate interest for security, moderation, abuse prevention, technical diagnostics and service improvement;
  • legal obligations when certain data must be retained or disclosed to comply with the law.

You may withdraw consent at any time where processing is based on consent. This does not affect processing already carried out before withdrawal.

6. Listing visibility and data shared with other users

Animou is a community service. Some information that you voluntarily publish may be visible to other users or visitors: listing type, photos, animal description, reporting area and information useful for the search.

To protect users, the public coordinates of a listing may be rounded or shown as an approximate area. Contact details and certain profile information may be hidden or limited depending on the settings available in the app.

7. Service providers and processors

Animou may rely on technical providers that are strictly necessary for the service, including:

  • OVH SAS (France) for hosting of the site, app and API, as well as database and cache services;
  • the self-hosted Animou authentication service, on this same infrastructure, for managing accounts, identifiers and email/phone verification flows;
  • Amazon Web Services: Amazon SES (EU region) for sending transactional emails and Amazon SNS (EU region) for sending SMS verification codes;
  • Mailchimp (The Rocket Science Group, USA) for managing website newsletter sign-ups;
  • Cloudflare R2 for media storage and delivery;
  • Mapbox (USA) for maps, address search and geocoding;
  • Apple Push Notification service, Firebase Cloud Messaging (Google) and Expo Push Service for push notification delivery;
  • Sentry for crash and performance diagnostics;
  • on the website only and subject to your consent via the cookie manager: Google Analytics 4 (Google, USA) for audience measurement, as well as, depending on the active configuration, TikTok, Contentsquare and Meta (Facebook Pixel) for audience measurement and analysis.

These providers may process data only for the purposes defined by Animou or to provide their service.

Some providers may be located or process data outside the European Union. Where required, Animou relies on an adequacy decision, the European Commission’s Standard Contractual Clauses, the Data Privacy Framework where applicable, or another appropriate safeguard.

8. Retention periods

Retention periods depend on the type of data:

  • account data is retained while the account is active or needed to provide the service;
  • when account deletion is requested, a 30-day grace period starts so that deletion can be cancelled; after that period, the account is purged and associated data is deleted or anonymised, except where retention is necessary for legal, security, abuse-prevention or rights-defence purposes;
  • active listings are retained for as long as they are useful for the report; closed or expired listings may be deleted or anonymised after 12 months when they are no longer useful to the service;
  • personal data exports are provided as temporary archives and remain available for a limited period, currently 7 days;
  • contact requests are retained for up to 365 days after the last exchange, unless a legal obligation or legitimate need requires a longer period;
  • security, moderation and diagnostic logs are retained for as long as necessary for service security, generally up to 12 months;
  • cookie consent choices are stored by the cookie manager for a proportionate period, currently 180 days in the website configuration;
  • cookies and trackers set by providers are retained according to their purpose, your choices and the limits applicable to each service.

9. Account deletion and data export

You can request an export of your data from the app under Profile > My data > Export my data (GDPR). An email is sent to you when the archive is available.

You can start account deletion from the app: open Profile, then tap Delete account at the bottom of the screen. Confirmation by email code is required. Deletion becomes final after the 30-day grace period if you do not cancel it.

A dedicated public page also explains how to request deletion if you no longer have access to the app: /en/account-deletion.

10. Security

Animou implements technical and organisational measures designed to protect personal data: HTTPS encryption, access controls, environment separation, security logging, limited internal access and verification for sensitive identity flows.

Photos sent from the app are normalised in the app before upload on the main upload paths. Animou also continues to verify backend and storage protections to limit unnecessary metadata.

11. Your rights

Under the GDPR, you have the following rights:

  • right of access;
  • right to rectification;
  • right to erasure;
  • right to object;
  • right to restriction of processing;
  • right to data portability;
  • right to withdraw consent where processing is based on consent;
  • right to set directives regarding the fate of your data after your death (Article 85 of the French Data Protection Act).

To exercise your rights, contact Animou at Email protected — enable JavaScript. Animou will respond within 30 days, except in specific cases provided by applicable law.

You may also lodge a complaint with the CNIL: www.cnil.fr.

12. Minors

Creating an Animou account is reserved to people aged 15 or over. Animou does not knowingly collect personal data from children under 15. If a parent or legal representative believes that a child under 15 has created an account or provided personal data without appropriate authorisation, they can contact Animou at Email protected — enable JavaScript to request review and deletion of the relevant data.

13. Cookies

The animou-app.com website may use strictly necessary cookies, as well as audience measurement or marketing cookies that require consent where applicable. You can accept, refuse or change your choices through the cookie manager available on the website.

A dedicated page explains tracker categories, the providers involved and how consent is managed: /en/cookie-policy.

14. Updates

This policy may be updated to reflect changes to the service, providers or legal requirements. If a significant change is made, Animou will inform users through an appropriate channel.

Last updated: June 27, 2026.

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