Privacy Policy

Last updated: August 25, 2026

Sidewalk is a tool that helps dog owners and dog walkers coordinate walks — schedules, live updates, photos, and an honest log of what happened. This policy explains what information the app handles, why, and the control you have over it. In this policy, “Sidewalk,” “we,” and “us” refer to the Sidewalk service.

Sidewalk is intended for people 18 and older. It is not directed to children, and we don’t knowingly collect information from anyone under 18.

1.What we collect, and why

We collect only the information needed to provide the service:

Account & identity

When you sign in with Google, we receive your email address, name, and profile photo from Google. We use these to create and secure your account and to show who you are to the people you walk with or for. We never receive your Google password.

Profile & household details

• Walkers may add a phone number and profile photo.
• Dogs — name, photo, and any care details an owner chooses to add (e.g. breed, things they love or avoid, allergies, vet/emergency info) so a walker can care for them well.
• Households — the names, and optionally phone numbers and email addresses, of the members of a household, so everyone in the home can follow their dog’s walks.

Walk activity

Schedules, walk status, notes, milestones (e.g. “peed,” “had water”), and the photos a walker shares during a walk.

Location — only during an active walk

While a walk is in progress, the walker’s app records GPS location to draw the live route map so the dog’s owner can follow along. We collect this only during an active walk, from the walker’s device, and it stops when the walk ends. Location is not collected from owners, and not collected in the background when no walk is underway.

Photos

Photos walkers take during walks, plus profile photos for walkers and dogs. These are stored on our infrastructure provider (Cloudflare) and shown to the people on that walk’s household, scoped per dog.

Notifications

If you turn on notifications, your device gives us a push token so we can send walk updates you’ve asked for. You can turn this off any time in Settings or your OS.

Basic technical data

Like any web service, our servers process basic technical information (such as error logs) needed to keep the app running reliably and secure. We do not use third-party advertising or analytics trackers.

2.How we use information

• To operate Sidewalk — accounts, scheduling, live walks, photos, logs.
• To send the notifications you opt into.
• To keep the service secure and fix problems.
• To respond when you contact us for support.

That’s the whole list. We do not use your information for advertising, and we do not sell or rent it.

3.Who can see your information

Other people on Sidewalk

Sidewalk works by sharing the right things with the right people: a walker sees the dogs and households they walk for; an owner sees their walker and the updates from their dog’s walks. Walk updates and photos are scoped per dog, so a household only sees what concerns their own dogs.

Service providers

We rely on a small number of providers to run the app, who process data only to provide their service to us:

• Google — sign-in.
• Cloudflare — application hosting, database, and photo storage.
• Expo — delivery of push notifications to your device.

Legal & safety

We may disclose information if required by law, or where necessary to protect someone’s safety or our legal rights.

We do not sell your personal information, and we do not “share” it for cross-context behavioral advertising (as those terms are used under California law). There are no ad networks in Sidewalk.

4.Payments

When an owner pays a walker, the payment happens directly between them through a third-party app they choose (such as Venmo, PayPal, Cash App, or Zelle). Sidewalk does not process, hold, or receive that money, and we don’t take a cut of it. Those payment apps handle that transaction under their own privacy policies — we never see your financial account details.

5.How long we keep it

We keep your information for as long as your account is active so the app works as expected (your walk history, photos, and households stay available to you). You can request a copy of your data or ask us to delete your account and associated data — see your rights below.

6.Your rights & choices

You can review and update much of your information directly in the app. You also have the right to:

• Know & access — request a copy of the data we hold about you.
• Delete — request deletion of your account and associated data.
• Correct — ask us to fix inaccurate information.
• Opt out of sale/sharing — not applicable, because we don’t sell or share your data in the first place.
• Non-discrimination — we won’t treat you differently for exercising any of these rights.

California residents have these rights under the CCPA/CPRA. To exercise any of them, email privacy@sidewalk.dog and we’ll verify your request and respond as required by law.

7.Security

We take reasonable measures to protect your information — sign-in is handled by Google, sessions are encrypted, and access to data is limited to what each person is allowed to see. No method of storage or transmission is ever 100% secure, but we work to keep your information safe and to fix issues quickly.

8.Children

Sidewalk is for adults (18+). We don’t knowingly collect personal information from anyone under 18. If you believe a minor has given us information, contact us and we’ll delete it.

9.Changes to this policy

If we change this policy, we’ll update the date at the top and, for meaningful changes, let you know in the app. Continuing to use Sidewalk after a change means you accept the updated policy.

10.Contact

Questions, requests, or concerns? Email privacy@sidewalk.dog. Sidewalk operates from California, USA.