Privacy & Camera DataUpdated 21 days ago

Flappie has a camera — so it's fair to ask: what happens with the footage? Here's a straightforward overview of how we handle your data.

The camera is for cats, not people

Flappie's camera is triggered by a dedicated cat detection system. It's designed to record your cat passing through the flap — not to monitor people. That said, false positives can occasionally happen (a hand reaching through, someone bending down near the flap), which may result in incidental recordings of people. These are unintentional and are treated the same as any other recording on the device.

Prey detection runs on the device

The AI that decides whether your cat is carrying prey runs entirely on the Flappie hardware. No video is sent to the cloud for that decision. The camera captures the moment, the on-device neural network analyzes it, and the flap locks or unlocks — all locally, in real time.

What gets sent to the cloud

If your Flappie is connected to WiFi, videos and event data are sent to our servers so you can view them in the app, receive push notifications, and save highlights. This data is encrypted during transmission and stored securely.

If you use Flappie without WiFi, nothing leaves the device. All data stays local and Flappie does not transmit any personal data to us.

AI training

We use video data from connected devices to improve our AI models — for example, to make prey detection more accurate or to develop future features like Cat ID. This is something you can control:

• You can opt out of AI training at any time in the app settings.
• If you opt out, your data is excluded from active training use.
• You can also request permanent deletion of your data from our training datasets by contacting us.

Opting out doesn't affect your access to any features — prey detection and everything else works exactly the same.

FlappieTV and sharing

When you save a video, you can choose to share it to FlappieTV — our in-app community feed. This is always opt-in, video by video. If you share a video to FlappieTV, it may also be used by Flappie for marketing purposes (social media, website, advertising). Only an approximate location is shown — never your exact address or personal details.

If you don't toggle the sharing option, your video stays completely private.

We don't sell your data

Flappie does not sell personal data to third parties. We share data only with service providers who help us run the platform (hosting, notifications, analytics) — and they're bound by strict data processing agreements.

Your rights

You have the right to access, correct, or delete your personal data at any time. To make a request, send an email to [email protected] with the subject line "Data Request." We'll acknowledge receipt within 7 days and fulfill your request within 30 days.

If you delete your account in the app, your videos, cat profiles, and user data are permanently removed. Transaction records are kept for 10 years as required by law.

Full legal details

This article is a simplified summary. For the complete legal framework, see our Privacy Policy and Terms and Conditions.

Questions about your data? Write to [email protected] or use the chat in the bottom right — we're happy to help.