Laika Family Privacy Policy

Last updated: 03.11.2026

This policy explains what personal information the Laika app collects, why, who it is shared with, and your rights. It also extends to the Laika mobile app for iPhone and Android. Our website has its own cookie notice.

Who we are

Laika Family Ltd (“Laika”, “we”, “us”) is the controller of your personal information. We are a company registered in England and Wales, company number 16663144, registered office Laika Family Ltd, Bartle House, 9 Oxford Court, Manchester, M2 3WQ. ZC177904

Questions about your information: privacy@laikafamily.com.

What we collect

Information	What it is	Why we use it
Account details	Your name, email address, phone number and home address.	To create your account, sign you in with a one-time code sent by email, and know roughly where your home is for lost pet alerts.
Your pets	Name, photo, species, breed, age, sex, size, temperament, medical needs, microchip number, vet details, routines, likes and hiding spots.	To build each pet’s Emergency Animal Card.
Emergency contacts	The name, phone number and, if you add them, email and address of people you choose as an emergency contact. You can pick them from your phone’s contacts; we only store the ones you choose.	So someone can be reached about your pet if you can’t.
Location	Your phone’s location, only if you allow it.	To alert you to pets lost near you, to send your lost pet alert to people nearby, to record where a pet was last seen or spotted, and to show places near you. We keep only your phone’s latest location.
Lost pet reports, sightings and messages	When and where a pet was last seen, notes, sightings and the messages exchanged about a lost pet.	To help reunite lost pets with their families.
Sharing with sitters	The email address of someone you share a pet with, and the dates.	To give a sitter access to the pet’s card for those dates.
Notifications	A notification token for your phone, only if you allow notifications.	To send you alerts about lost pets, sightings, messages and shared pets.
App usage	Which screens and features you use, and your app version.	To understand how the app is used and improve it.
Crash reports	Technical details about errors and crashes. These are not linked to your account.	To find and fix problems.

We do not use your information for advertising, we do not sell it, and we do not track you across other companies’ apps or websites.

Who can see what

Your household can see and edit the household’s pets and emergency contacts.
Sitters you share a pet with can see that pet’s Emergency Animal Card while the share is active. They see the pet’s photo only if you choose to share it, and they never see your home address.
When you report a pet lost, people using Laika within 2 miles see the pet’s name, photo and description, the area where the alert was raised, when it was last seen and your note. They do not see your name, address or contact details. Anyone who spots the pet can message you in the app; they see you as “Owner” or “Sitter”, and you see them as “Finder”.
Fire & Rescue sharing is on by default and can be turned off in the app. While it is on, your pets’ Emergency Animal Cards can be made available to fire and rescue services responding to an emergency at your home.

Our legal basis

Contract: to provide your account and the app’s features, including lost pet alerts, sightings, messages and sharing with sitters.
Legitimate interests: to keep the app secure, fix problems, understand how it is used, and share Emergency Animal Cards with fire and rescue services. You can turn Fire & Rescue sharing off at any time.
Your choice on your phone: location, notifications, contacts, camera and photos are only used if you allow them in your phone’s settings, and you can withdraw that at any time.

Who we share it with

We use trusted service providers who process information only on our instructions:

cloud hosting, database and file storage, in the European Union;
an email service, to send sign-in codes;
Apple and Google, to deliver notifications to your phone, and through a notification delivery service we use;
maps from Apple (on iPhone) and Google (on Android), to show maps in the app;
a UK postcode lookup service, which receives your home postcode only, to find its approximate location;
a crash reporting service.

Some of these providers process information outside the UK, including in the United States. Where they do, we rely on UK adequacy regulations or the UK’s approved contract terms to protect it.

We may also disclose information if the law requires it, or to protect someone’s safety.

How long we keep it

Account, pets and contacts: until you delete them or your account.
Your phone’s location: only the latest, deleted within 3 days of your phone last sending it.
Lost pet alerts, with their sightings and messages: deleted 24 hours after the alert ends. An alert ends when the pet is marked found, or after 7 days.
App usage: 6 months.
Records of what changed and when (for example, that a pet was edited): kept for security and accountability, holding only internal identifiers, not your details.

Deleting your account

You can delete your account in the app: tap your initials, then Delete account. You are signed out on every device straight away and can no longer sign in. We then delete your account and personal information within 90 days. If you share a household with someone else, the household’s pets stay with them. You can also ask us to delete your account by emailing privacy@laikafamily.com.

Your rights

Under UK data protection law you can ask to access, correct or delete your information, to restrict or object to how we use it, and to receive a copy of it in a portable format. To make a request, email privacy@laikafamily.com. We will respond within 20 working days.

If you are unhappy with how we handle your information, you can complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office at ico.org.uk. We would appreciate the chance to put things right first.

Children

The Laika app is for people aged 18 and over. We do not knowingly collect information from children. If you think a child has created an account, contact us and we will delete it.

Security

Information is encrypted in transit, photos are only accessible through short-lived links, and access to personal information is limited to those who need it.

Changes

If we make important changes to this policy, we will tell you in the app before they take effect.