HerbieGet HerbiePrivacy,
with the details.
This page separates Herbie’s app privacy policy from this website’s services. The original app policy remains available.
Herbie app privacy policy
Overview
Herbie is designed to help people care for their cats without advertising, tracking or data selling. AndyHQ does not operate a separate Herbie account server and the app contains no third-party advertising or analytics SDK.
Information stored by Herbie
The app can store cat names, photos you choose, dates of birth, sex, breed, neutering status, microchip IDs, notes, household notes, vet contact details, weight entries, routines (such as meals, water and litter), key care dates, completion history and game scores. This information is stored in protected app storage on your device.
Photos
Herbie uses Apple's photo picker. The app receives only the image you select, lets you crop it, and stores the resulting profile picture with the cat's record. It does not browse the rest of your photo library.
Camera
Camera access is optional and asked for only when you choose to scan a microchip number. The camera image is read on your device to find the number and is never recorded, stored or sent anywhere. You can also read the number from a photo you choose, which works the same way through Apple's photo picker.
Sign in with Apple
If you choose household sharing, Sign in with Apple supplies a private user identifier and, on first approval, the name you choose to share. Herbie stores these details in the device Keychain. AndyHQ does not receive your Apple password.
Shared cat homes and iCloud
Sharing is optional. When you start or join a shared cat home, the cat and care information listed above is stored using Apple CloudKit in Herbie's iCloud container. It is available to the Apple accounts the owner invites and is used only to keep that household's devices in step. Apple provides the storage, authentication, invitations and transport security under its own terms and privacy policy.
iCloud backups
Herbie can keep backups of your cats and their care in your own private iCloud database, once a day when something changes or when you choose Back up now. Only your Apple Account can read them; AndyHQ cannot. Each backup includes the cat and care information listed above, the device type and the app version, so you can choose which one to restore. You can turn automatic backups off, delete individual backups in Herbie, or remove all of Herbie's iCloud data in iPhone Settings.
Widgets and Apple Watch
To show your cats on the Home Screen, Herbie writes a small summary (cat names, chosen photos, birthdays, coat colours and today's routines) to storage shared only between the Herbie app and its widget on the same device. The Apple Watch app receives a similar summary directly from your paired iPhone using Apple's Watch Connectivity, and sends back any care you tick off. None of this passes through AndyHQ.
Calendar
Calendar sync is optional and off until you turn it on in Settings. Herbie then asks for calendar access so it can add, update and remove its own key date events in a Herbie calendar. It uses that access only to manage those events and does not upload your calendar anywhere.
Herbie Pro purchases
Herbie Pro is an optional one-time In-App Purchase handled entirely by Apple. AndyHQ does not receive your payment details. Herbie checks with Apple's StoreKit on your device whether Herbie Pro is unlocked, including through Family Sharing, and remembers the result on the device.
Notifications
Notification permission is optional. Routine, key-date and birthday reminders are calculated and scheduled on your device. Notification and Focus settings are controlled by iOS.
AirPlay and games
Mouse Hunt, Bird Watching and Goldfish Pond run on the device. If you choose Screen Mirroring or an AirPlay audio output, Apple sends the selected screen or sound to the receiver you choose. Herbie does not record game video or audio.
Exports and support
Herbie can create a care export at your request. It may contain sensitive cat and household information, so you should share it only with people you trust. If you open a GitHub support ticket, the information you choose to submit is used to investigate and respond to that request and is visible according to GitHub's privacy settings and policies.
Retention, deletion and choices
Local information remains until you edit it, use Delete everything, or remove the app. On a shared device, Delete everything removes and detaches that device's local copy; it does not silently erase the shared home for everyone. The iCloud owner can remove participants or stop sharing through Apple's Manage Shared Home screen. Apple controls the retention of iCloud backups and account data. You can revoke Herbie's Sign in with Apple access in your Apple Account settings.
Contact
For privacy questions or deletion help, open a Herbie support ticket.
Website services
This website is hosted through Sites. Hosting and access services may process technical request information, such as an IP address, to deliver pages, enforce access and operate the service. This information is separate from your cat records in Herbie.
No website analytics provider is connected in this version. There are no advertising or analytics scripts, forms or third-party media embeds. Download links take you to Apple’s App Store, which applies its own privacy practices.
This website does not receive your cat records, purchase payment details or Apple Account credentials. If website analytics are added, this section will describe the actual service and configuration before collection begins.
For website privacy questions, use the support ticket link above. Avoid including sensitive information in a public GitHub ticket.