HOUNDWARD

Privacy Policy

Last updated 14 October 2026

The short version.

We use your location to record the walks you start, and the ground you claim on them is visible to other players.
The camera and microphone are used only during trick practice. Camera frames are checked on your phone and deleted; we never keep them.
We don't sell your data. You can delete your account, and your game data with it, from inside the app.

Who we are

HoundWard is a walking game for dog owners, made in Australia. In this policy "we" means the HoundWard team. You can reach us about anything here at privacy@houndward.com.au.

What we collect

What	Why	Where it goes
Your email address and sign-in details	To create and sign in to your account	Our database (Supabase). If you use Sign in with Apple or Sign in with Google, Apple or Google confirms who you are and shares your email address and name with us.
Your trainer name, dogs, gold, items and game progress	To run the game and save your progress between devices	Our database, and on your phone
Precise location, during walks you start	To measure the distance and route of your walk and to find dens and territory near you	The full route stays on your phone. We receive the map squares you claim (with their coordinates), not your route.
Camera and microphone, during trick practice only	To check that your dog is on camera and that you said the trick's command	Frames are checked on your phone and deleted. Speech is recognised by your phone's speech service.
A notification token	To send you game notifications you have switched on	Our database, Expo's push service, and Apple Push Notification service or Google Firebase Cloud Messaging, which deliver them to your phone
Purchases	To give you what you bought and keep it across reinstalls	Apple or Google, RevenueCat, and our database
Crash reports	To find and fix crashes	Sentry, with device and app details, not your name
Game usage events, such as finishing a walk or joining a duel, with your player ID, app version and device type	To understand which parts of the game work and fix the ones that don't	PostHog (analytics). Events never contain your GPS location, your route or your dogs' names. PostHog may estimate a rough region from your internet address.
Advertising identifier	To show optional reward ads. We ask for non-personalised ads only.	Google AdMob

Location

HoundWard only tracks your location during a walk you start. If you allow it, it keeps recording while your phone is locked or the app is in the background, for up to 30 minutes at a time, then stops. It stops when you end the walk. Your full route is stored on your phone.

When you finish a walk, the app sends us the map squares you walked through, about 20 metres each, with their coordinates, so the ground can be claimed. Claimed ground is shown on other players' maps under your trainer name or your pack's, and can show where you usually walk. Ground fades when it isn't walked again, and we delete a square once it has fully faded.

Camera and microphone

These are used only while a trick practice session is running. Every few seconds the app takes a small still from the camera. It checks that still on your phone, for movement and for your dog (its face, on phones that can detect one), then deletes it. No image is uploaded, saved, or seen by anyone.

Your phone's speech service listens for the trick's command, such as "sit". HoundWard does not save the audio or what was said. Depending on your phone's settings, its speech service (Apple or Google) may process the audio online under its own privacy policy.

What other players can see

Your trainer name, your dogs, and your game record (battles, walks, tricks) when they open your trainer card
Your position on leaderboards, and your pack
Dens you hold, and ground you or your pack have claimed, on the map
Your dog when it defends a den or fights them in a duel

Other players never see your email address or your exact live location.

Who we share it with

We don't sell your data, and we don't share it for other companies' marketing. We use the services named above to run the game: Supabase (database and accounts), Expo, Apple and Google Firebase (notifications), Apple and Google (sign-in, purchases and speech), RevenueCat (purchases), Sentry (crash reports), PostHog (analytics) and Google AdMob (ads). Each handles data under its own terms and keeps its own records. Some of these services are based outside Australia.

How long we keep it

We keep your account and game data for as long as your account exists. Claimed ground is deleted once it fully fades. Walk history on your phone stays until you reset the game or remove the app.

Deleting your account

You can delete your account at any time in the app: Dogs → Settings → Delete account. This removes your account and your game data from our database, and clears the game from your phone. Services we use may keep their own copies for a limited time under their own policies. If you can't get into the app, email privacy@houndward.com.au from the address on your account with the subject "Delete my HoundWard account", and we'll delete it within 30 days and confirm by reply.

Children

HoundWard isn't directed at children under 13, and we don't knowingly collect their information. If you believe a child has created an account, contact us and we'll delete it.

Your choices and rights

You can turn off location, camera, microphone and notification permissions at any time in your phone's settings; the parts of the game that need them will stop working. You can ask us for a copy of your data, to correct it, or to delete it, and you can complain to us about how we handle it. We handle personal information in line with the Australian Privacy Principles. If you're not satisfied with our answer, you can contact the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner.

Changes

If we change this policy, we'll update the date at the top. If a change affects how we use data you've already given us, we'll tell you in the app first.