Privacy policy

StopSmith helps people who work at their clients' homes, such as pet sitters and dog walkers, check whether they can take on a new appointment given where they already need to be and how long it takes to drive between stops. StopSmith is run by Greg Stenger, doing business as StopSmith (“we”). This policy explains what we collect, why, who we share it with, and the choices you have.

The short version: we collect only what StopSmith needs to plan your day. We don't sell your data, we don't show ads, and we never change your Rover calendar or calendars you add by link. We only change your Google Calendar when you add, edit or delete an event in StopSmith.

What we collect

Your account

• Your email address and name.
• If you sign in with a password, a secure one-way hash of it (never the password itself). If you sign in with Google, the name and email address Google shares with us.

Your home base and settings

• Your home address and its map coordinates, which StopSmith uses as the start and end of each day.
• Your time zone and planning preferences, such as the extra time you want between stops.

Calendars you connect

• Rover: the private calendar link Rover gives you, which we store encrypted. From that calendar we store each booking's or request's title (which can include pet and client names), start and end times, whether it's a booking or a request, and the link Rover includes to that booking in your Rover account. We don't sign in to Rover, and we never open that link or read Rover's website on your behalf.
• Google Calendar: if you connect it (you can connect up to three Google accounts), each account's email address and list of calendars and, for the calendars you choose, each event's title, start and end times and location. We also store an access token from Google for each account, encrypted, soStopSmith can keep your calendars up to date. See “Google user data” below.
• Other calendars you add by link (such as iCloud, Outlook or a booking tool): the link, which we store encrypted, the name you give the calendar, and each event's title, start and end times and location. We only read these calendars and never change them.
• We keep events from the past two weeks and the next six months, and delete older ones automatically.

Client addresses and requests you enter

• Addresses you add for your clients, and their map coordinates.
• Details of requests you check: a client or pet name, an address or area, dates and times.

Messages you send us

• If you use the contact form or email us, your name, email address and message, so we can reply. With the contact form we also keep a scrambled code made from your IP address, not the address itself, so we can stop the form from being flooded. We keep messages for up to a year, then delete them.

Technical information

• Basic logs our hosting providers keep to run and secure the service, such as IP addresses, browser type and error reports. We keep client addresses out of these logs.
• When you last used StopSmith, so we can count active accounts.
• A sign-in cookie that keeps you signed in, a short-lived cookie used while you connect Google Calendar, and cookies that remember display choices you make on that browser, such as light or dark colors and which calendars you've collapsed. If you open someone's referral link, a cookie remembers their code until you sign up (up to 60 days). We don't use advertising, analytics or tracking cookies, so there's nothing to opt out of.

Billing

If you subscribe, our payment processor, Stripe, collects your payment details. We receive your subscription status and limited billing details (such as the last four digits of a card), not your full card number.

Referrals

If you sign up through someone's referral link, we record that they referred you, so we can give them a free month when you first pay. They see how many people they've referred and how many are paying, but not your name, email or anything else about your account. Opening a referral link stores the referral code in a cookie on that browser for up to 60 days.

How we use it

Only to provide and improve StopSmith:

• to show your bookings and personal events together on one timeline;
• to work out drive times between your stops and check whether a new appointment fits;
• to keep your connected calendars up to date;
• to run your account and subscription, answer your questions and send messages about the service;
• to keep StopSmith secure, prevent abuse and meet legal obligations.

Who we share it with

We don't sell or rent your information, and we don't share it for advertising. We share it only with service providers that run parts of StopSmith for us, under contracts that limit their use of it:

• Supabase stores our database and handles sign-in.
• Vercel hosts the app.
• Google Maps Platform receives addresses (as you type them, and to find map coordinates) and map coordinates of your stops, to suggest addresses and estimate drive times. Google's use of this is covered by the Google Privacy Policy.
• openrouteservice, run by HeiGIT gGmbH in Germany, receives the map coordinates of your stops (not names or addresses) to estimate drive times between them. Drive times are based on OpenStreetMap data.
• Stripe processes payments if you subscribe.
• Email providers we use to send sign-in and account emails.

We may also disclose information if the law requires it, to protect someone's safety, or as part of a merger or sale of the business, in which case this policy would continue to apply to it.

Google user data

If you connect Google Calendar, StopSmith asks Google for two things: to see your list of calendars (calendar.calendarlist.readonly), and to view and edit the events on them (calendar.events). StopSmith only creates, changes or deletes an event when you do that yourself in StopSmith; it never changes events on its own, and it can't change your calendars themselves or who they're shared with.

• We use this data only to show your events in StopSmith, to check drive times and appointment conflicts for you, and to make the changes to your events that you ask for.
• StopSmith's use and transfer of information received from Google APIs adheres to the Google API Services User Data Policy, including the Limited Use requirements.
• We don't use Google user data for advertising, we don't sell it, and we don't use it to train artificial intelligence or machine learning models.
• We transfer it only to the service providers listed above, as needed to run StopSmith, or when required by law.
• No one working on StopSmith reads your Google data unless you ask us to (for example, to help with a problem), it's needed for security or to investigate abuse, or the law requires it.
• You can disconnect Google Calendar in StopSmith at any time; we then delete the events we stored from it and ask Google to cancel our access. You can also remove access at myaccount.google.com/permissions.

Your clients' information

StopSmith stores some information about the people you work for, such as names and home addresses. You're responsible for having the right to use that information. We protect it the same way we protect yours, use it only to provide StopSmith to you, and never contact your clients or use their information for anything else.

How we protect it

• Data is encrypted in transit, and your calendar links and Google access token are also encrypted when stored.
• Database rules make sure each account can only read and change its own information.
• Access by our own team is limited to what's needed to run and support the service.

No system is perfectly secure, but we'll tell you promptly if a breach affects your information.

How long we keep it

• Calendar events: from two weeks in the past to six months ahead, refreshed automatically.
• Map coordinates and drive times between them: at most 30 days, then refreshed or deleted.
• Disconnecting a calendar deletes the events we stored from it.
• If you delete your account, we delete your information within 30 days, except for records we must keep by law (such as billing records). Backups are overwritten within a further 30 days.

Your choices and rights

You can see and change most of your information in StopSmith, disconnect calendars at any time, and ask us to give you a copy of your information, correct it or delete your account by emailing support@stopsmith.com. Depending on where you live, you may have further rights under local law; we'll honor them. We won't treat you differently for using them.

Children

StopSmith is for adults running a business. It isn't meant for anyone under 18, and we don't knowingly collect information from children.

Where your data is stored

StopSmith is run from the United States, and your information is stored and processed there. Map coordinates of your stops are also sent to Germany to estimate drive times, as described above.

Changes to this policy

If we change this policy, we'll update the date at the top. If a change is significant, we'll tell you in StopSmith or by email before it takes effect.

Contact

Questions or requests: support@stopsmith.com. Greg Stenger, doing business as StopSmith.