Privacy Policy

Chester (“Chester,” “we,” “us,” or “our”) is software operated by Chester Pet Inc., based in Ontario, Canada. Chester is a platform that helps independent pet-service providers (dog walkers, sitters, trainers, and groomers) run their businesses, and helps their clients (pet owners) book and stay connected with those providers. Chester is available on the web and as a mobile app.

This Privacy Policy explains what personal information we collect, why, who we share it with, and the choices and rights you have. We’ve written it in plain language. If anything is unclear, contact us at privacy@chester.pet.

Who this policy covers

Chester has two kinds of users:

• Providers — the pet-service businesses and their team members who use Chester to run their operations.
• Clients — the pet owners who are invited by a provider to book services, message, and view updates about their pets.

Because Chester is a tool that providers use to serve their own clients, a provider is the party that decides what client and pet information to enter into Chester. For that information, the provider acts as the controller of the data and Chester acts as a service provider (processor) handling it on the provider’s behalf. For account-level information (such as your login), Chester is the controller.

You own the records you enter. As between you and Chester, you own and retain all rights in the business, client, and pet records you enter into Chester. We do not claim ownership of them; we only host and process them to provide the Service to you. If you leave, you can export your records, and we delete or anonymize them as described in “How long we keep your information.”

Information we collect

Account and profile information

When you create an account, we collect your name, email address, and (optionally) phone number. Providers also provide business details such as business name, business address, phone, and email. We use email and password for sign-in (authentication is handled through our backend provider, Supabase).

Client and pet information

Providers enter information about their clients and the pets they care for. This can include:

• Client contact details (name, email, phone) and saved service addresses.
• Pet profiles: name, species, breed, age, weight, sex, spay/neuter status, color, and a photo.
• Pet health and care information: vaccination records, uploaded documents, veterinarian name/clinic/phone, emergency contacts, medical notes, behavior notes, and grooming or training profiles.

Bookings and scheduling

Service type, dates and times, service location/address, and notes related to a booking.

Messages and attachments

Messages exchanged between a provider and a client through Chester, including any photos or files attached to them.

Report cards and media

Updates a provider sends about a pet, including written observations and photos or other media. A report card may also include the route and distance of a walk — see “Location and route information” below.

Location and route information

On the mobile app, when a provider chooses to track a walk, Chester uses the provider’s device location to record the route taken and calculate the distance. We collect this precise location information only while a walk is actively being tracked (foreground only), and only from the provider’s device — never from a pet owner’s device. We do not track location in the background or when a walk is not in progress. If a provider declines or disables location permission, the session continues normally and no route is recorded. The web app does not collect location, and you can turn off location access at any time in your device settings.

How the recorded route and distance are used depends on the report card: for a one-on-one walk where the pet owner receives report cards, the route map and distance are attached to that owner’s report card so they can see where their pet was taken. For a group walk, we attach only the distance walked — not the route map — to each owner’s report card, so that one owner’s route cannot reveal another household’s location. For pet owners who have turned off report cards (a “private” preference), no report card is sent and neither the route nor the distance is stored for that pet.

Signed agreements

When you sign a service agreement in Chester, we record the signature image, the date signed, and the IP address used to sign, so the signature can be verified later.

Payment information

Payments are processed by Stripe. When a provider sets up payouts, Stripe collects and verifies their identity and banking details directly. When a client saves a payment method, Stripe stores the card; Chester stores only a reference to the payment method and the card’s brand and last four digits — we never store your full card number.

Device and notification information

On the mobile app, if you enable push notifications, we store a device push token so we can deliver notifications through the Expo push service. We also keep records of notifications we’ve sent (type, channel, and delivery/read status).

Technical information

Like most online services, we store authentication tokens in your browser or device to keep you signed in, and our infrastructure logs standard technical data needed to operate and secure the service.

Usage and analytics information

We use product-analytics tools — PostHog and Vercel Analytics — to understand how Chester is used so we can improve it. These tools collect information such as the pages you visit, actions you take in the app, device and browser type, approximate location (derived from IP address), and error reports, and they store small identifiers (cookies or similar) on your device. For signed-in users, this usage data may be associated with your account. PostHog processes this data on infrastructure located in the United States. We use this only to operate and improve Chester. We do not use third-party advertising networks or cross-site tracking cookies, and we do not sell this information.

How we use your information

We use personal information to:

• Provide, operate, and maintain Chester (create accounts, schedule bookings, deliver messages and report cards, process payments and payouts).
• Send transactional and service communications — booking confirmations, payment receipts, agreement requests, and (on mobile) push notifications, in line with your notification preferences.
• Provide pet-care insights and summaries to providers based on the records they enter.
• Keep Chester secure, prevent fraud and abuse, and troubleshoot problems.
• Comply with legal obligations and enforce our Terms of Service.

We do not sell your personal information, and we do not use it for third-party advertising.

We do not use your data to train AI. We do not use your personal information to train artificial-intelligence or machine-learning models. When we use an AI provider to read and extract information from documents you upload (see “Anthropic” under “Who we share information with”), that processing happens solely to provide that feature to you — not to build or improve AI models.

Honoring your preferences

Where you have made an explicit choice — for example, opting out of push notifications, or a client choosing that report cards stay private — we honor that choice across the product. Preferences you set are treated as binding.

Who we share information with

We share information only with the service providers we rely on to run Chester, and only as needed:

• Supabase — our database and authentication provider, which stores Chester’s data and handles sign-in.
• Vercel — our web hosting provider, which serves the Chester website and web app.
• Stripe — our payments processor, for billing, subscriptions, and provider payouts. Stripe’s handling of payment data is governed by Stripe’s own privacy policy.
• Expo — the mobile push-notification delivery service (mobile app only).
• Resend — our email delivery provider, used to send transactional emails such as confirmations, receipts, and invitations.
• PostHog and Vercel Analytics — our product-analytics providers, used to understand and improve how Chester is used. PostHog processes data in the United States.
• Mapbox — our map-rendering provider. When a report card includes a walk route, the route’s coordinates are sent to Mapbox to draw the map image shown on the report card. Before rendering, we trim the start and end of the route (about 120 metres each) so the map does not pin the walk’s exact start or end location. Mapbox processes data in the United States.
• Anthropic — our AI document-extraction provider. When a provider uploads a client intake card or a veterinary/vaccination document, we send the uploaded image or PDF to Anthropic’s Claude service to automatically read and extract the relevant fields (such as client contact details and pet information), saving the provider from re-typing them. Anthropic processes this data in the United States.

We may also disclose information if required by law, to respond to lawful requests, to protect the rights and safety of our users or the public, or in connection with a merger, acquisition, or sale of assets (in which case we’ll notify you).

Beyond these, providers can export certain data (for example, a CSV of their own client list) for their legitimate business use; such exports are logged.

Calendar sync (iCal feed)

If you are a provider, Chester lets you subscribe your Chester schedule to an outside calendar app — such as Google Calendar, Apple Calendar, or Outlook — using a private calendar-feed link. When you set this up, your booking details, including the service, the date and time, the client’s name, the pet’s name, the booking’s status, and the service address, are sent to the calendar provider you choose, which then handles that information under its own privacy policy rather than ours. The link is secured by a secret token that only you control; you can turn the feed off or generate a new link at any time from your calendar settings in Chester. Because enabling calendar sync shares client and pet details with an outside service, only turn it on with a calendar account you trust.

Where your information is stored — international transfers

Chester is operated from Canada, and our infrastructure may store and process data in Canada, the United States, or other countries where our service providers operate. If you use Chester from the United States or elsewhere, your information may be transferred to and stored in Canada and other jurisdictions. We rely on our service providers’ safeguards and contractual protections for these transfers. By using Chester, you understand that your information may be processed in countries other than the one you live in, which may have different data-protection laws than your own.

To be specific about where your data is stored: our primary database is hosted in the United States (US East region, via Supabase), and several of our service providers — including our analytics (PostHog), map-rendering (Mapbox), and AI document-extraction (Anthropic) providers — also process data in the United States. Regardless of where you live, your Chester data is stored primarily in the United States and Canada.

For Canadian users, we handle personal information in accordance with the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA). For users in the United States, we honor applicable state privacy laws regarding access and deletion of personal information.

How long we keep your information

We keep your information for as long as your account is active and for a reasonable period afterward, as needed to provide the service, meet legal and accounting obligations, resolve disputes, and enforce our agreements.

When you request deletion of your account, we disable your login immediately and begin a 14-day recovery window. During that window you can restore your account using a link we email you. After 14 days, your personal information is permanently and irreversibly removed or anonymized, except for the limited records we are required to keep for legal, tax, or accounting purposes. Some information that does not identify you may be retained in anonymized form.

If you are a client, note that much of your information was entered by your provider, who keeps their own business records; deleting your Chester account does not necessarily erase the records your provider maintains.

Account deletion

You can delete your account at any time from Settings → Security → Delete account on the mobile app or the website, or by emailing privacy@chester.pet. When you request deletion, your login is disabled immediately and your account enters a 14-day recovery window; we email you a link to restore it during that time. After the window closes, your personal information (name, email, phone, address, photos, and message contents) is permanently and irreversibly removed.

Where a pet-service provider has a lawful basis to retain financial records — for tax, accounting, and audit obligations — we keep an anonymized record of past bookings and invoices. These retained records no longer identify you: they contain no name, email, phone, or address, and are shown to the provider as a “Deleted client.” This retention is limited to what those legal obligations require.

Your rights and choices

Depending on where you live, you may have the right to:

• Access the personal information we hold about you.
• Correct information that is inaccurate or incomplete (you can edit much of your profile directly in the app).
• Delete your account and associated personal information, subject to legal retention requirements.
• Withdraw consent to optional processing, such as turning off push notifications.

To make a request, contact us at privacy@chester.pet. We’ll respond within the timeframe required by applicable law. If you are a client and your request concerns records your provider entered, we may direct you to your provider, who controls that information, and we will assist them in responding.

Cookies and local storage

Chester stores small amounts of data on your device or browser for two purposes: (1) essential authentication tokens and settings that keep you signed in and let the service function, and (2) product-analytics identifiers set by PostHog and Vercel Analytics, which help us understand and improve how Chester is used (see “Usage and analytics information” above). We do not use advertising or cross-site tracking cookies.

Children’s privacy

Chester is a tool for pet-care businesses and pet owners. It is not directed to children and is not intended for use by anyone under 18 (or the age of majority in your jurisdiction, if higher). We do not knowingly collect personal information from children. If you believe a child has provided us information, contact us at privacy@chester.pet and we will delete it.

Security

We take reasonable technical and organizational measures to protect your information, including access controls, row-level security in our database, encryption in transit, and keeping payment-card data with Stripe rather than on our own systems. No method of transmission or storage is completely secure, so we cannot guarantee absolute security.

Changes to this policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. When we make material changes, we’ll update the effective date above and notify you through the app or by email before the changes take effect. Your continued use of Chester after an update means you accept the revised policy.

Contact us

Questions, concerns, or privacy requests:

Chester Pet Inc.
Ontario, Canada
privacy@chester.pet
Attn: Privacy Lead