Živalce Privacy Policy

Version: 2026-10 · Effective from: 28 September 2026 · Previous version: 2026-07 (portal without user accounts)

This policy explains which personal data we process, why, on what basis, how long we keep it and what rights you have. It applies to the Živalce services: the zivalce.si website, the user account with pet profiles and care, the public directories, and the official Živalce mobile applications when and if we publish them (the app uses the same accounts and data; at publication we supplement this policy with the information specific to the app stores).

1. Controller

The controller of personal data is GE-KO, Maja Dolžan s.p., Cesta Toneta Tomšiča 71, 4270 Jesenice, Slovenia, registration number 8732043000, e-mail info@zivalce.si, telephone +386 51 821 907. We have not appointed a data protection officer, because the processing is not large-scale or systematic within the meaning of Article 37 GDPR. Send privacy questions to the e-mail address above.

2. What data we process and why

2.1 Visiting the website (without an account)

• Technical data on every request: IP address, browser/device type, time, requested page. We use it to run and secure the website (server logs, abuse limiting). Basis: legitimate interest (security and operation of the service). Web-server access logs are rotated by the system after 21 days. Application logs contain technical error data; the application deliberately does not write passwords, authentication or confirmation tokens, private journal content or whole bodies of private requests into them, and deletes them after 30 days.
• First-party analytics: for public pages we record the page visited, device type, country (derived from the IP address), traffic source and a pseudonymised value of the IP address and browser (a keyed one-way hash from which the IP address cannot be read), without cookies. We delete the pseudonymised IP after 6 months and the row after 14 months. Basis: legitimate interest (measuring visits and telling people apart from automated traffic). Your account pages (profile, pets, care) are not included in this analytics. For directory providers we also count visitors' clicks on their contact links (phone, e-mail, website, directions, profile): we record the link type, the listing it belonged to, the language and the same session pseudonym as for a page visit — no IP address and no cookies; the row is deleted after 14 months. The provider sees the totals for its own listing, we see overall totals. Basis: legitimate interest (measuring the directory's usefulness to providers). “Which pet is right for me?” quiz: your answers about your lifestyle (home, time, activity, family, wishes) and the suggested breeds are stored without personal data; until you create an account or sign in, the record is linked only to a session pseudonym and is deleted after 14 months. Once you claim the result in your account it is part of your account data (you can see and delete it yourself, and it goes with the account). Basis: performance of the contract (the result in your account) or legitimate interest (measuring the quiz's usefulness for guests).
• Search: we keep search queries (no IP address, no link to an account) for 24 months for editorial demand analysis. Basis: legitimate interest.
• Google Analytics 4 is switched on only if you consent to analytics cookies in the banner (see the Cookie Policy). Before consent no Google components are loaded; with "Essential only" it stays that way. Basis: consent, which you can withdraw at any time through "Cookie settings" in the footer. Recipient: Google Ireland Ltd.; Google may transfer data to the USA under the safeguards it publishes in its data processing terms (the EU–US Data Privacy Framework or standard contractual clauses). The IP address is truncated and advertising features are switched off.
• Maps and videos: when you open the map view in a directory, your browser loads map tiles from the OpenStreetMap Foundation servers (United Kingdom; it receives your IP address). When you click a video preview on a breed page, the YouTube player (Google, cookie-free domain until playback) or Vimeo loads and may set its own cookies. Nothing happens before your click.

2.2 Contact form

Name, e-mail address, telephone (if entered), subject and message, and the IP address at submission (abuse prevention). Purpose: answering your question. Basis: steps at your request or legitimate interest (communication with those who contact us). Retention: the message with the reply for at most 24 months, the IP address for 30 days. Recipient: the hosting provider (server). The same applies to requests submitted through the public "Delete your account" page.

2.3 Applications to the public directories (breeders, dog schools, grooming salons)

Business or personal name, contact person, e-mail, telephone, website, address and place, description of the activity, logo, (for breeders) breeds, and the IP address at submission. At submission the applicant confirms that they are authorised to provide the contact person's details and that this person is aware of the publication. Purpose: public display of the listing at your own request — after approval the name, place and country, description, map location, logo and selected contact details are visible to every visitor; internal application data (IP address, review notes) is not published. Basis: contract (publication at your request); for business contact persons, the applicant's and our legitimate interest. Retention: while the listing is published; removal at any time on request (info@zivalce.si), removed listings are permanently deleted after 90 days; rejected applications 12 months; the IP address at submission 30 days.

Listing reports. Any visitor can report a listing. For a report we process the public address of the reported listing, the reason, the explanation, the reporter's name and e-mail address, the time of the good-faith declaration, optionally a link to evidence, and a hashed value of the IP address (abuse prevention, deleted after 30 days). We send an acknowledgement of receipt and, after review, the decision with reasons to the reporter's e-mail address, and record when both were sent. The reporter's identity is not disclosed publicly and is not passed to the business. We keep a closed report (including the reporter's name and address, the decision and the reasons) for 24 months as proof of handling and for a possible re-review. Basis: legitimate interest (safety and lawfulness of the directory) and the legal obligation to handle reports of illegal content.

2.4 Newsletter

E-mail address, language, time, IP address and consent text (proof of consent), confirmation and unsubscribe tokens. A subscription becomes valid only after confirmation through the link in the e-mail (double opt-in). We do not measure opens and clicks in the messages we send; we process only the delivery information your mail server returns (e.g. a bounce) so that we stop sending to unreachable addresses. Basis: consent; the unsubscribe link is in every message and takes effect immediately. Retention: until you unsubscribe; after that the address stays marked "unsubscribed" so we honour the unsubscribe permanently; unconfirmed subscriptions are deleted after 30 days; delivery information is kept for 12 months. If you delete your user account, we automatically unsubscribe the same address from the newsletter.

2.5 User account

For the account we process: the e-mail address (sign-in, address confirmation, password reset, account notices), the password — stored exclusively as a one-way hash; we do not keep it in readable form and nobody here can see it —, language and time zone, account state (active, suspended, being deleted), creation date, time of e-mail confirmation, the version label of the terms and this policy you accepted with the time of acceptance, and a random public account label. At registration you confirm that you are at least 16 years old; we do not collect a date of birth. Purpose: providing the service you asked for and proving the contract. Basis: contract (terms of use). Without an e-mail address and password no account can be created; the other data is optional or defaulted.

E-mail confirmation. After registration we send a single-use link (valid 24 hours) to the address; we store only a hash of the token. Until the address is confirmed the account is limited to confirmation, sign-out and deletion. You can request a new link from the account, at most three times per hour. You cannot change the e-mail address yourself in this version.

Member news and member-only offers. From time to time we send registered users with a confirmed e-mail address news about the portal and offers reserved for members. For this we use the account's e-mail address and language; the basis is legitimate interest (informing users of our own service about its development and member offers), which you may object to at any time. You unsubscribe from these messages with the »Unsubscribe« link in the footer of every such message; it takes effect immediately and is honoured permanently (the address stays marked »unsubscribed«). It does not cover messages needed to run the account (address confirmation, password reset, account notices and reminders you switched on yourself) — you receive those for as long as you have an account. When the account is deleted we unsubscribe the address from member news automatically. We do not measure opens or clicks in these messages; we only process delivery information (e.g. bounces), as for the newsletter (2.4).

2.6 Sessions and devices

On sign-in we create a session: on the web a session cookie, in the app a random device token that we store only as a hash. For every session we keep the platform (web, iOS, Android), a descriptive label (e.g. "Chrome on macOS", the device name from the app), the app version, the language and the time of last use. Purpose: keeping you signed in and letting you see in the settings where you are signed in and revoke any session. Basis: contract; the security purpose also legitimate interest. We do not use device fingerprinting and do not record location. Sessions remain until sign-out, revocation, a password change or account deletion; a web session expires after 2 hours of inactivity; revoked sessions are deleted after 90 days, expired password-reset and confirmation tokens 30 days after expiry.

2.7 Pets and photos

Pet name, species or group, breed or custom label, sex, date of birth (with the chosen precision), photo and state (active/archived). Purpose: the pet profile in your account. Basis: contract. Pet data may, in connection with your account, also be data about you (e.g. a photo with you in it), so we protect it like all other account data.

Pet photos are private. They are stored outside the web server's publicly accessible folders and are shown only through verified access: to you when you are signed in (on the web, or in the app through a short-lived signed link that expires after 20 minutes and stops working when the photo is replaced or removed), and to our support when handling your request. The photo has no public address, is not indexed by search engines and is not published anywhere. When you remove the photo or delete the account we delete the file. On upload we re-encode the photo and strip its metadata (e.g. camera location).

2.8 Care: journal, measurements, reminders, health

Journal entries (free text, date and time), measurements (e.g. weight, note), health records you enter yourself (medications with doses and dosing times, vaccinations with the next due date, vet visits with findings), reminders (title, time, recurrence, completed occurrences, whether e-mail notification is on and an optional extra e-mail address you enter) and the time zone. Purpose: your private record-keeping about the animal's care and the notifications you switched on. Basis: contract. Only you see them. If you switch on e-mail notification we send a message at the due time to your address and to the extra address you entered; we record when and to whom it was sent (to prevent duplicates) and delete that record with the reminder. Our support does not see journal text by default: it sees only facts (dates, values, entry length). The text of an individual entry can be shown only by an employee with a special authorisation, exclusively to resolve your request or a security incident; every such view is recorded (who, when, which entry) and you can ask to see it.

The records are meant for the animal. Do not enter unnecessary sensitive data about yourself or other people (e.g. people's health data); you are responsible for the content you enter. We do not treat the journal as data about your health, but we protect it as private account content.

2.9 Support and the admin audit trail

Our employees with a support role may, to resolve your requests and secure the service, see account data, sessions and pet profiles including the photo (not journal text, see 2.8), revoke a session or suspend an account on a breach. Every such action is recorded in an audit trail (who, what, when, on which account, the employee's hashed IP). Basis: legitimate interest (staff accountability, security, evidence). Retention: 12 months; when your account is deleted we remove your e-mail address and pet names from these records, leaving only a random label.

2.10 Mobile app

When and if we publish the official app, it uses the same accounts, pets and records through the same backend and does not collect additional data without an update of this policy. The app uses no cookies; on the device it keeps the session token (in the system's secure storage), your settings and a cache of public content; it has no built-in analytics or crash reporting. Reminders in the app show notifications locally on the device. The data the Apple App Store and Google Play process at installation is described in their policies.

3. Cookies

We use essential cookies for the session, form protection and remembering your cookie choice, and Google Analytics cookies only with your consent. Details: Cookie Policy (separate page).

4. Who we share data with

• Hosting provider (server, database, backups, outbound e-mail): G-SERVER d.o.o., Slovenia; server in a data centre in Slovenia. A processor acting on our instructions under a data processing agreement.
• Google Ireland Ltd. — Google Analytics 4, only with consent (2.1).
• OpenStreetMap Foundation (map tiles), YouTube/Vimeo (videos) — only on your interaction (2.1).
• The public — the data you ask us to publish in a directory (2.3).
• Recipients of e-mail notifications you enter yourself on a reminder (2.8).
• Public authorities — where the law requires it.
• When the app is published, Apple and Google as app store providers (2.10).

We do not sell data and do not use it for advertising. Private care records (journal, measurements, reminders, photos) are never used for targeted advertising or profiling.

5. Transfers outside the EU/EEA

Our servers, database and backups are in Slovenia. A transfer outside the EU/EEA can occur only with: Google Analytics (with consent; Google relies on the EU–US Data Privacy Framework or standard contractual clauses), OpenStreetMap map tiles (United Kingdom; European Commission adequacy decision) and the YouTube/Vimeo players on click. A copy of the safeguards is available on request.

6. How long we keep data

The periods are enforced by an automated job that runs every day.

7. Account deletion

You delete the account yourself in the settings by confirming your password (or in the app). On deletion we immediately remove from the active systems the account, sessions, pets, photos, journal, measurements and reminders, sign out all devices and unsubscribe the same e-mail address from the newsletter. Limited copies may remain temporarily in encrypted backups until the regular rotation overwrites them (database up to 30 days, photos up to about 2 months); we restore backups only after a technical or security event, not for normal operation, we do not restore deliberately deleted data from them individually (not even through support), and after any full restore we re-apply deletions as far as possible. What remains: the anonymised audit trail (12 months), contact messages under section 2.2 (you can request their deletion separately) and data we must keep by law. If you cannot access the account, request deletion on the "Delete your account" page; we verify identity through the account's e-mail address.

8. Your rights

You have the right of access, rectification, erasure, restriction of processing, objection (for legitimate interest), portability of the data you provided (account, pets, care) and withdrawal of consent (cookies, newsletter) without affecting earlier processing. Send requests to info@zivalce.si; we answer within one month at the latest (for complex requests we may extend the period and will tell you). You edit and delete account, pet and care data yourself in the account; a data export in a structured, machine-readable form (JSON) is prepared by our support on request and sent to the account's e-mail address. We verify identity proportionately: as a rule through the account's e-mail address, without asking for identity documents. You can lodge a complaint with the Slovenian Information Commissioner (Informacijski pooblaščenec RS, Dunajska cesta 22, 1000 Ljubljana, gp.ip@ip-rs.si, www.ip-rs.si) or with the supervisory authority of your country of residence.

9. Children

Accounts may be created by persons aged 16 or over; you confirm this at registration. We do not knowingly collect children's data; if we learn of an account of a younger person, we delete it.

10. Automated decision-making

We do not carry out automated decision-making with legal or similarly significant effects and do not profile users.

11. Security

Connections are encrypted (HTTPS), passwords are hashed, session tokens and single-use links are stored only as hashes, photos are outside publicly accessible folders, support access is role-limited and audited, backups are encrypted and serve recovery after a technical or security event (not the restoration of individual deliberately deleted records). We apply appropriate technical and organisational measures to reduce risks, but no system can guarantee complete protection against every attack, error or other security event, or uninterrupted availability. If a personal data breach occurs, we handle it in accordance with applicable law and, where required, notify the competent supervisory authority and the affected individuals. This description of risks does not affect our obligations or your rights under data protection law. If you suspect misuse of your account, change your password, sign out the other sessions and write to us.

12. Changes

We update the policy with new features (mobile app, community), new processors or legislation. We notify account holders of material changes by e-mail at least 30 days before they take effect and ask for confirmation at sign-in; the version and date are always shown at the top.