BarkBus is software for dog daycare, walking and pet transport businesses. It is run by Tim and Lu Limited, a New Zealand company. This policy explains what the BarkBus app (on iPhone, Android and the web) collects, why, who else handles it, and what you can ask us to do about it. It is written under the New Zealand Privacy Act 2020 and, for people in the UK and Europe, the UK GDPR and EU GDPR (see below).
Tim and Lu Limited, trading as BarkBus, 125 Pearson Road, Cromwell, New Zealand. Our privacy officer can be reached at hello@barkbus.app.
A business that uses BarkBus decides what it records about its own customers and dogs. For that information we hold and process it on the business’s behalf; questions about it can go to the business or to us.
An admin can choose to connect the business’s bank account through Akahu Technologies Limited, a New Zealand open-banking provider. You approve access at your bank, through Akahu; we never see your bank login. We read transactions on the accounts you choose and keep money coming in (date, amount, description, particulars, code, reference and the payer’s account number) to match payments to customers’ invoices. Money going out is skipped and never stored. Akahu’s access token is encrypted in our database. Disconnect at any time from the Reconciliation screen, or at my.akahu.nz. The full detail is at barkbus.app/privacy.
Some features use Claude, an AI model from Anthropic, to read what you give them: messages from customers, screenshots and files of a customer list, and bank lines and statements. It drafts replies, sets up dogs and owners, and suggests which customer a payment came from. A payment match the model is very sure of (0.9 or higher on its scale) is applied automatically; anything less waits for a person to confirm. Anthropic processes this under its commercial terms, which do not allow it to train its models on it.
We do not sell personal information. Apart from the sign-up stages above, nothing in the app is sent to advertising platforms.
A business’s records are visible only to that business’s staff, and to its customers for their own dogs and account. Our own staff see them only to support the business or fix a problem.
For as long as the business uses BarkBus. If it stops, or its last admin closes it from Profile > Delete account, the logins are deleted but we keep its customer, dog, booking and billing records so it can come back where it left off. We delete them when the business asks us at hello@barkbus.app, and give it a copy first if it wants one. Some invoice and payment records may need to be kept longer for tax and accounting law. Error reports and usage data are kept for up to 12 months.
Wherever you are, you can ask what we hold about you, ask us to correct it, or ask us to delete it. Email hello@barkbus.app; we will answer within 20 working days, or within one month if you are in the UK or Europe. In New Zealand this is under the Privacy Act 2020, and if you are not happy with our answer you can complain to the Office of the Privacy Commissioner (privacy.org.nz). In the UK or Europe, see the next section.
Who is responsible. For the records a business keeps about its own customers and dogs, the business is the controller and we are its processor: we handle them only to run BarkBus for it, under the data processing section of our Terms. For your BarkBus account itself, the subscription, support and usage data, we are the controller.
Why we may use it (lawful basis). To provide the service you or your business signed up for (contract); to keep it secure, fix faults and see where people get stuck (our legitimate interests); to keep the invoice and payment records tax law requires (legal obligation); and, with your consent, notifications, which you can turn off at any time, and telling Meta about your sign-up to measure our adverts. Location while driving is collected for the business you work for, to show it the van and tell owners it is close: the business decides whether its runs are tracked (usually on its legitimate interests), and we process the location as its processor. Your phone’s location permission is how you turn it on or off.
Your rights. The UK GDPR and EU GDPR give you the rights above, and also the right to object to how we use your data, to restrict it, and to take a copy of it with you.
Where it goes. Our servers are in Australia (Amazon Web Services, Sydney), and some of the providers named above are in the United States. When data from the UK or Europe goes to them we rely on the standard contractual clauses (with the UK Addendum) in those providers’ data processing terms, or on a provider’s certification under the Data Privacy Framework and its UK Extension.
Complaints. Tell us first at hello@barkbus.app. You can also complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ico.org.uk, 0303 123 1113), or to the data protection authority where you live in Europe.
BarkBus is for businesses and adult dog owners. We do not knowingly collect information from children under 16.
We will update this page when what we do changes, and change the date at the top. Bigger changes will also be told in the app.
See also the Terms of Service.