Privacy Policy
Your privacy, in plain language
Last updated August 20, 2026. This page explains what Paw Paw Adoption collects, how it's used, and the choices you have — written without the legal jargon wherever we can help it.
1. What we collect
Paw Paw Adoption shares its account system with pawpaw.website — logging in here uses the same name and email you already have there. Beyond that shared account, this app collects what you add specifically for adoption: your adopter or organization profile (display name or organization name, bio, phone number, WhatsApp number — only if you choose to show them), the pinpoint addresses you add for "near me" search (exact coordinates, pincode, city, state), and anything you post — dog listings, photos, adoption inquiries, and messages to other users. We also collect basic session information (IP address, device, browser) to keep you signed in securely and detect suspicious activity.
2. How we use it
We use your information to run the adoption platform: showing and searching listings (by breed, pincode, or distance from your location), connecting listers and adopters through inquiries and messages, sending account and activity notifications (a new inquiry, a message, a saved-search match), and investigating reports when they come in through our reporting tools. We don't sell your personal data to third parties, and we don't use it to train unrelated products.
3. What you control
Your phone number, WhatsApp number, and email can each be shown or hidden independently, from your profile settings. Your whole profile can be set to Public or Private. You can block another account at any time — this hides you from each other completely and stops further messages or connection requests — and unblock just as easily from your Connections page. Listing visibility (exact address vs. just city/state) is yours to control per listing. Notification emails (new inquiry, new message) can be switched off individually. Deleting a listing or address is self-service, any time.
6. Third-party services we use
A small number of trusted providers help us run this app: cloud storage for the photos you upload to a listing or profile, an email provider for notification emails, and two location-lookup services used only to help you fill in an address faster — India Post's public pincode API (turns a 6-digit pincode into a state/district/area) and a state-to-city lookup service used on search filters. Only the pincode or state name you type is sent to these two — never your name, account, or any other personal data. They aren't permitted to use what we send them for their own purposes.
7. Who at Paw Paw Adoption can see your data
Authorized members of our team can access account and content information when it's necessary to investigate a report, respond to a policy violation, or help with a support request you've raised — never to browse accounts without a reason. Every such action is logged internally.
8. Data retention & security
We keep account, listing, and address data for as long as your account is active, and for a limited period after deletion in case you want to restore it. Passwords are stored using industry-standard one-way hashing, never in plain text, and access to sensitive systems is restricted and logged. No system can be guaranteed 100% secure, but we take reasonable, real safeguards rather than treating this as a formality.
9. Children's privacy
Paw Paw Adoption is intended for users who are at least 18 years old, since it involves arranging pet adoptions, adoption fees, and in-person handovers. We don't knowingly collect information from minors, and any account found to belong to a minor will be removed.
10. Your rights over your data
Wherever applicable law gives you rights over your personal data — including access, correction, deletion, and portability, such as under India's Digital Personal Data Protection Act — you can exercise most of these directly from your profile and address settings, or by reaching out through Contact for anything settings don't cover.
11. Changes to this policy
If we make material changes to this policy, we'll notify active users in-app before the changes take effect.
12. Contact us
Questions about this policy or your data can be sent to support@pawpaw.website — it reaches a real inbox our team actually checks. We aim to respond within a few business days.
A note, stated plainly
This page describes our real data practices in good faith, but it isn't a substitute for formal legal review under applicable data-protection law. See also pawpaw.website/about for more on who we are.