Privacy Policy

1. Who Is Responsible

DesktopCat is operated by Chen Wenjian, an individual (sole trader) in China, who has run DesktopCat since June 2026 and is the controller of the personal data described here. Contact: support@desktopcat.com. A data protection officer is not required for our processing and has not been appointed.

2. The DesktopCat Desktop App

The app watches keyboard activity and mouse position locally on your device to trigger pet animations. This input is processed in memory only — it is never stored, reconstructed, or transmitted.

The app contains no usage analytics or telemetry. No usage data, crash reports, or identifiers leave your machine. Starting with version 0.2, the app checks for updates automatically at launch and once every 24 hours by contacting releases.desktopcat.com. Earlier versions check only when you click “Check for Updates”. Each check sends the app version, operating system, and chip type, and like any web request it exposes your IP address to the host. It carries no account, usage, or device identifier, and we use it only in aggregate to count update checks by version and platform. Update files download only after you confirm. Starting with version 0.3, the app also contacts desktopcat.comand our private file storage when you ask it to: the official cats panel loads preview images, and starting a trial or downloading a cat you bought requests a short-lived download address. Like any web request, these expose your IP address and the request time to the server. A download request for a purchased cat includes an unlock token holding your order ID, which we use to confirm the order hasn’t been refunded; the token holds no email or device identifier and stays on your device. We count trial and download requests. The “More cats” and website links open pages in your own browser. macOS asks you to grant Accessibility and Input Monitoringpermissions for the typing animation; you can revoke them at any time in System Settings → Privacy & Security.

3. What the Website Collects

• Account data: email address, display name and profile picture from Google sign-in, or your email address and a hashed password if you register with email.
• Sign-in records: session cookies plus the IP address and browser user agent stored with each sign-in session, used to keep you signed in and protect your account.
• Photos and pet details: the cat photos you upload (we remove embedded metadata such as GPS location after upload), plus the cat name, breed or build, and appearance notes you enter.
• Generated content and orders: concept sheets, generation status and failure reasons, your chosen concept, delivered .desktopcat files, order status and amounts.
• Payment records: order and payment reference IDs, amount, currency and status from Waffo Pancake, plus the email address you paid with. We use that email to send your purchase and its download link and to help you recover the order. An email entered on the purchase recovery page is used only to look up orders and send the recovery link. We never receive or store card numbers, CVCs or bank details.
• Download events: when you download an app installer or character pack, we store the file name, platform, app version, source page, timestamp, country code, account ID if signed in, and a hashed IP address plus hashed user agent. We do not store raw IP addresses or raw user agent strings in this table.
• Support messages: emails and WeChat messages you send us, including the cat photos you email us for a custom cat order. We also retain the selected concept image, confirmation terms and version, outgoing email identifier, your agreement reply (including email headers), receipt time and the administrator’s production-start record.

We use two analytics tools, covered together by one analytics choice. Google Analytics 4 measures visits to public pages using analytics cookies, page names, referring website origins, browser/device information and approximate geography. We do not send account IDs, emails, photos, order details, URL query strings or fragments to Google Analytics. Login, account and admin pages are excluded. Advertising personalization and automatic form, search and outbound-link measurement are disabled. Microsoft Clarity records how you interact with the website (such as clicks, scrolling and the pages you view, including session replay) using its own cookies. If you visit from the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom or Switzerland, neither tool loads until you allow analytics. Elsewhere, or if we cannot determine your country, analytics is on by default; you can withdraw through “Analytics settings” on public pages or use browser blocking settings. To decide which applies, our server checks the country of your IP address supplied by Vercel; we do not store it for this purpose. We do not collect precise location. The website also loads a Google Tag Manager container, which we do not use to load analytics tags.

When first-party conversion analysis is enabled, the same analytics choice controls a server-issued browser identifier with a 30-day window. We keep normalized referral channels, approved campaign labels, referring hostnames, public landing paths and language. With verified sign-in we can link these observations to your account, and save registration and checkout attribution separately. We record actions such as choosing an example or your own photos, requesting a concept, generation outcome, viewing or saving a result, and starting checkout. These records contain no photo content, prompts or signed download URLs. Account, order and generation identifiers stay in our own systems and are not sent as analytics fields to Google or Clarity. Missing observations are not treated as proof of inactivity.

Clarity recording is excluded from the custom-generation page and private account, order and admin routes. We use first-party events to analyze generation intent instead of recording your private images. Withdrawing stops new optional analysis and clears the browser attribution cookie; historical records are not automatically erased by withdrawal. You can request deletion of account-linked analysis records.

We also use self-hosted Plausible for aggregate public-page visit statistics on our server in the United States. It uses no analytics cookies and follows the same analytics choice described above. We send only public page paths and referring website origins, excluding query strings, fragments, account details, photos and order information. Private pages are excluded; form, download and outbound-link tracking are disabled. Declining or withdrawing analytics stops new Plausible page views.

4. Why We Use It (Legal Basis)

• Providing your account, concept sheets, orders, downloads and support — performance of our contract with you.
• Screening content, preventing fraud and abuse, and securing the service — our legitimate interests.
• Keeping transaction records and answering lawful requests — legal obligations.
• Analytics (Google Analytics, Microsoft Clarity and first-party conversion analysis) — your consent in the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom and Switzerland; elsewhere, our legitimate interest in understanding how the website is used. In those regions you can decline in the prompt; in all regions you can withdraw at any time through “Analytics settings” on public pages.

We do not send marketing emails. Messages about your account, orders, refunds and security are service messages, not marketing.

5. Service Providers We Share Data With

We share data only with the providers needed to run the service. We do not sell personal data or share it for advertising.

• APIMart (AI API platform) — receives your cat photos and the generation prompt (including the cat name, breed and notes you enter) to generate concept sheets with GPT Image 2 (gpt-image-2). For custom orders, it also receives your confirmed concept sheet and derived frames for production with GPT Image 2 (gpt-image-2-official) and Wan 2.6 (wan2.6-i2v-flash).
• fal (AI API platform) — if you use the AI Pet GIF Maker, receives a temporary link to the photo you upload for that GIF and a fixed generation prompt, to generate it with GPT Image 2.6. Our free GIF tools run in your browser and send your images to no one.
• Waffo (Waffo Pancake) — Merchant of Record and PCI-DSS compliant payment processor that handles checkout, card data, tax and receipts. Waffo Prompt Sift also receives generation prompt text to screen it before generation; Waffo states that this check does not store prompt text.
• SeeAPI — receives a link to each generated concept sheet or AI pet GIF to screen it for unsafe content before it is shown to you.
• Cloudflare — R2 object storage keeps your photos, concept sheets, AI pet GIFs and character files in a private bucket; Turnstile checks sign-up requests for bots and processes browser signals and IP address.
• Neon — PostgreSQL database hosting for account, order and download records.
• Vercel — hosts the website and API and processes request logs for operation and security.
• Google — provides Google sign-in, Google Tag Manager, and Google Analytics 4. Analytics receives the visit data described above only under the analytics rules described above. See Google’s privacy policy.
• Microsoft Clarity — provides website interaction analysis and session replay, under the same analytics choice as Google Analytics. See Microsoft’s privacy statement.
• Feishu (Lark) — hosts our support and custom-order mailboxes. Payment emails, confirmation emails with your selected concept attached and your replies are stored there; we also save agreement evidence with your order.

Each provider processes data under its own terms and privacy policy. We do not use your photos or content to train our own models, and we cannot promise that every provider applies zero retention. We may disclose information when required by law or to resolve security and payment disputes.

6. International Transfers

We operate from China, and our providers process data in the United States and other countries. Transfers rely on the providers' contractual safeguards, such as Standard Contractual Clauses where they offer them, and on the safeguards required by applicable law.

7. How Long We Keep Data

• Account data, photos, concept sheets and order files: while your account exists, so you can view and re-download them. Deleted within 30 days after a verified deletion request.
• AI pet GIFs: the photo you upload is deleted from our storage when that generation ends; the finished GIF is kept while your account exists, on the same terms as above.
• Transaction and payment records: 5 years after the transaction, for accounting, tax and dispute obligations, even if you delete your account.
• Download events: kept for download statistics and support; when your account is deleted, your account reference is removed while aggregate counts remain.
• Support correspondence: normally 12 months after the issue is resolved.
• Moderation records (verdict, provider request ID and the order or trial they belong to, never your prompt text or photos): at least 12 months, to answer reports, appeals and payment-platform reviews.

Anonymous visitors can generate one concept preview using a server-issued cookie. Accounts have a separate allowance; a valid official cat pass increases that allowance. Server quotas help prevent abuse. Unclaimed anonymous materials are retained for 7 days and then cleaned up. Signing in assigns them to your account without consuming its separate free allowance; account retention rules then apply.

Deletion is handled by us on request; it does not reach copies already held in providers' logs or backups under their own retention rules.

Website live chat

Our public pages offer optional live chat through tawk.to. The chat service loads after the page has finished loading and the browser is idle, or immediately when you click the chat button. tawk.to processes the messages, attachments and contact details you choose to provide, along with connection information such as your IP address, browser, pages visited and approximate location. Chat cookies remember your conversation. New-chat notifications and the full transcript after a session ends, including attachment links, are forwarded to our private Feishu support group so we can respond. This is separate from analytics consent. We do not automatically populate chat with your account, orders or uploaded cat photos. You can use email instead, and contact us to request deletion of support records. Chat data may be processed outside your country under tawk.to and Feishu’s policies.

8. Cookies

Necessary cookies support sign-in, Cloudflare Turnstile and secure guest-order claims. A guest-checkout cookie lasts up to 30 days and lets this browser claim a paid order after sign-in; the server stores only its hash. Official cats stay downloadable through the link in your payment email; if the cookie is lost or expires, you can request a recovery link at the recovery page, which is sent only to the email you paid with, or contact support with your payment receipt. Analytics cookies (Google Analytics and Microsoft Clarity) are optional. In the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom and Switzerland, no analytics script loads before you allow it; elsewhere analytics is on by default. We store your analytics choice in local storage. In every region, “Analytics settings” on public pages lets you decline or withdraw at any time; this stops optional collection, deletes Google Analytics cookies, clears our browser attribution cookie and asks Clarity to erase its cookies and stop recording. Google Analytics cookies are configured to last up to 400 days and may be renewed by visits. Google sign-in and Waffo's hosted checkout may set their own cookies under their policies. Blocking necessary cookies will prevent signing in.

9. Security

We use HTTPS, hashed passwords, a private storage bucket that is reachable only after an account check or through short-lived signed links, metadata stripping on uploaded photos, and hashed identifiers in download records. No system is risk-free. If a personal-data breach occurs, we will assess it and notify the relevant authority within 72 hours where required, and affected users without undue delay.

10. Your Rights

Depending on where you live, you can ask to access, correct, delete or export your data, restrict or object to processing, and withdraw consent. Email support@desktopcat.com from your account email address; we ask only for what is needed to verify the request and respond within 30 days. You can also complain to your local data protection authority.

11. Children

The website and its accounts are for adults 18 and older. We do not knowingly collect data from children; if you believe a child has given us personal data, contact us and we will delete it. Do not upload photos showing children.

12. Changes

We may update this policy at any time. Changes take effect when posted here with a new version date, and we will email affected users where required.

13. Contact

Privacy requests and questions: support@desktopcat.com. Mainland China users can also reach us on WeChat at 13312808634. See also our Terms of Service.