Privacy Policy

Version: 2026-10-11. Updated October 11, 2026.

Pet Friend LLC is an Ohio-based provider of animal shelter, rescue, and animal control software at petfriend.io. This policy explains our handling of information through the website, subscription accounts, and software. Contact us about privacy at contact@petfriend.io.

When a shelter or another organization enters information about adopters, staff, volunteers, donors, animal owners, or other people, that organization decides how to use its records and which features to enable. We process those records to provide the service. Contact the relevant organization about its collection or use of your information; you can also contact us for help directing a request. We separately maintain records needed to run Pet Friend, bill our customers, provide support, and protect the service.

Information we collect

• Account and organization information: names, contact details, organization identifiers, authorized users, login credentials, account settings, and subscription information supplied during signup or use.
• Customer content: the records, photos, documents, communications, application responses, signatures, and other information an organization or its applicants submit. The information depends on the features used and may include contact, animal-care, adoption, licensing, donation, volunteer, or case records.
• Billing and payment records: subscription and invoice identifiers, amounts, currency, payment status, billing contact details, cancellation history, and limited payment-method information returned by our billing providers. Subscription payment details are processed through Chargebee and its payment providers, including Stripe. Do not send us a full card number or security code by email or support ticket.
• Consent and communications records: the disclosures or terms shown and accepted, their version when recorded, acceptance time, IP address, browser information, SMS opt-in or opt-out status, and billing or service notification send logs. We also keep support messages and requests.
• Technical and usage information: IP addresses, browser or device information, session identifiers, login attempts, security and audit events, actions taken in the software, export requests, and measured storage, downloads, and AI-feature usage. Marketing-site analytics and advertising information is described below.

How we use information

We use information to create and secure accounts, provide the features an organization requests, process subscriptions and payments, measure billable usage, answer support requests, send service notices, maintain and improve the software, investigate misuse, and comply with legal obligations. We retain consent and relevant account activity to document the service and respond to billing questions or disputes. A recorded login or other activity does not, by itself, establish that a cardholder authorized a payment.

Service providers and sharing

We share information needed for the functions described here with service providers, including hosting and file-delivery services such as Amazon Web Services, email services, Twilio for text messages, Chargebee for subscription management, and Stripe or other payment providers for payment processing. Their handling of information is subject to applicable agreements and their own privacy notices.

Payment disputes: when a payment is questioned or disputed, we may provide relevant billing, signup-consent, account-identity, notification, and service-usage records to Chargebee, Stripe or the applicable payment provider, payment networks, and the banks or issuers handling the dispute. These organizations may use the information to investigate the payment, administer the dispute, prevent fraud, or meet their own legal obligations. We seek to limit the evidence to what is relevant to the payment and account.

Features your organization chooses: public listings, sharing tools, exports, payment connections, and other integrations send the selected information to their intended recipients. For example, an organization may publish animal information to Petfinder, connect its own Stripe, Square, or PayPal account, or submit a requested registration to a registry. Review the destination and its policies before sharing. Information deliberately published or exported may remain with recipients after it is removed from Pet Friend.

Optional AI features: if your organization enables and uses AI assistance, the text, images, or documents needed for that request may be sent to our AI provider, Anthropic. Staff should submit only information needed for the task and review the suggestions before saving them. Choosing an AI feature is separate from merely opening an account.

We may disclose information when reasonably necessary to comply with legal process, protect rights or safety, investigate abuse, or resolve a dispute. If the business is involved in a merger, acquisition, or asset transfer, information may be transferred as part of that transaction, subject to applicable protections and notice requirements. This policy does not authorize unrestricted public disclosure of customer records.

Cookies, analytics, and advertising choices

We use cookies and similar storage for essential functions such as sessions, security, language preferences, and remembering your privacy choices. Our marketing website also uses Google Analytics and Google Ads tags to measure visits and advertising conversions. When enabled, those services may receive device or cookie identifiers, IP or network information, pages visited, referral details, and interactions or conversion events. Their processing can include linking activity across websites or devices under their policies.

Use the website's cookie choices to accept or decline optional analytics and advertising tags. You can change your choice through the cookie controls and manage cookies through your browser. Declining optional tags does not prevent you from purchasing or using the software; blocking essential cookies may prevent functions such as sign-in. We do not treat accepting these terms or creating an account as a separate opt-in to optional tracking.

We also use Google reCAPTCHA on protected forms to help prevent spam and automated abuse. Information needed for that security check is processed under Google's Privacy Policy and Terms of Service. These security checks are separate from the optional analytics and advertising choices.

Text-message information and consent

Pet Friend collects optional consent for its own account texts, such as login help, trial-ending, and billing notices. Organizations may separately collect consent for their adoption or animal-related texts. Account-message consent is held in Pet Friend's central billing records; shelter-message consent is held with the shelter's records. The record can include the phone number, exact disclosure accepted, status, date and time, IP address, and associated account or organization. Consent for one purpose is not blanket permission to send unrelated messages.

Phone numbers and SMS opt-in information are not sold or shared with third parties for their marketing or promotional purposes. We provide information to messaging providers as needed to deliver messages and manage replies, and may preserve or disclose relevant consent records for legal, security, or compliance purposes. Message frequency varies. Message and data rates may apply. Reply STOP to stop program texts or HELP for help; see the SMS Policy. Opting out of texts does not cancel a subscription or stop necessary account emails.

Retention and deletion

We keep information for the purposes described in this policy, taking account of the account's status, the type of record, applicable obligations, and unresolved issues. Our ordinary cleanup process makes an inactive organization's tenant database eligible for deletion approximately ninety days after deactivation, subject to checks. That window is not a promise that every copy or every record is deleted on the same date, or that access remains available during it.

Billing, payment, tax, consent, opt-out, support, security, and dispute records are maintained separately and may be retained longer when needed for those purposes. Backups may remain until their retention cycle expires. Legal holds, unresolved disputes, security investigations, or other legal requirements can delay deletion. Contact us about a specific retention or deletion request; we will explain any applicable limitation. Organizations should export needed records before their access ends.

Security, location, and your requests

We use technical and organizational measures designed to protect information, including access controls and available account-security features. No transmission or storage system is completely secure. Your organization should restrict access to appropriate staff, use strong authentication, and protect exported records. Pet Friend operates from the United States, and information may be processed there and in other locations used by our providers, subject to applicable requirements.

Depending on applicable law and your relationship to the information, you may have rights to request access, correction, deletion, or a copy of information, or to object to or restrict certain processing. Send requests to contact@petfriend.io. We may need to verify your identity and authority, and may refer a request about an organization's records to that organization. Requests are subject to applicable legal requirements and retention exceptions. You can also change account information through available settings and exercise the cookie and SMS choices above.

The software is intended for organizations and their authorized users, not for children under thirteen to open accounts independently. If you believe a child has directly supplied information without appropriate authorization, contact us so we can investigate and address it. Information an organization lawfully enters about a minor is handled as part of that organization's records.

Changes and contact

We will identify updates using a fixed date and version on this page and provide additional notice or obtain consent when required for a material change. An update does not itself authorize a new use of previously collected information where further notice or permission is required. For questions, contact Pet Friend LLC at contact@petfriend.io. See also the Terms of Service and SMS Policy.