Hamro Kukur privacy policy

Last updated: 29 October 2026

Hamro Kukur is a free, volunteer-run project for counting and caring for street dogs in Nepal. It runs as the Kukur app (iPhone and Android; in testing now, public from Kukur Tihar 2026) and at hamrokukur.org. This policy explains what we collect, what is public, and what we never do.

Who runs Hamro Kukur: Hamro Kukur, a volunteer project. Contact: info@hamrokukur.org.

We have no ads and no tracking, and we never sell or share personal data. The website counts page visits with a privacy-friendly service that uses no cookies (see The website below); the app has no analytics.

What you share when you count a dog

• The dog photo. Before upload, the app resizes the photo and re-encodes it. This removes hidden photo data (EXIF) such as the camera model and GPS tags.
• Where the dog was seen. The location of the sighting comes from your phone's location (only while you use the app) or from a pin you place yourself. A short place name, such as "Thamel, Kathmandu", may be looked up for it.
• Optional details you add: a name for the dog, an age guess, how it looks (for example thin or injured), and a note.
• Feedings and help reports you log for a dog, and photos you report. The note on a help report is seen only by you and volunteers.

Dog photos, sighting locations, place names and dog details are public. Anyone using Hamro Kukur or its partner organisations can see them. Volunteers may export them for animal welfare work, without any information about who reported them.

Sharing on Facebook (on unless you switch it off)

In the app's Me screen (and on the website's My activity page), there is a switch: Share my dog photos on Hamro Kukur's Facebook. It is on unless you switch it off. While it is on, photos of dogs in Nepal that you add may be posted on the Hamro Kukur Facebook Page, at most one post a day. A post shows the photo, "Nepal" and the day it was added: never your name, your account or the exact place. We record when it was switched on or off.

Before a photo is posted, an AI service (Anthropic) looks at it once more to check it shows no people, number plates, addresses or a dog in distress; anything uncertain is checked by a person first. Switch it off at any time: photos not yet posted won't be. To remove a photo already posted, write to info@hamrokukur.org. Facebook's own privacy policy applies to what happens on Facebook.

Your account

• The app gives your phone an anonymous account automatically. There's no sign-up, and we don't ask for your name, phone number or email unless you choose to (below).
• You may choose a display name. It is shown next to sightings you add. If you leave it blank, you appear as "a neighbour".
• Volunteers who sign in with email: we store the email address to send sign-in links and manage volunteer access. It is never shown in the app.
• We never show who reported a dog beyond the display name you choose.

If you offer help

You can register to help dogs in need in the app (Me screen) or on the website (hamrokukur.org/offer-help). This is optional.

• As a person (you look after dogs in need, can foster, would like to adopt, or can spread the word): we store:

  • your name;
  • the phone number and/or email you give;
  • how you can help, and an optional note;
  • if you spread the word, the link to your page or channel you give;
  • your area only. Your location is rounded to about 1 km before it is stored.

  Only Hamro Kukur volunteers can see these details, so they can contact you when a dog near you needs help.

• As an organisation (vet clinic, shelter or animal welfare group): after a volunteer checks it, the name, phone, website, address, location and services you enter are public in Find help. The email and note are only seen by volunteers.

• When you register while signed in with that same email address (already confirmed), we send you one thank-you email (through Amazon SES, our email provider). We don't email addresses we haven't confirmed are yours, and we don't add you to any mailing list.

• You can change or remove your registration at any time in the app (Me → Edit my registration → Remove). If you registered on the website, write to us.

Find help, Confirm and Report wrong info

Find help lists vets, shelters and animal welfare groups. Some are listed from public sources: the organisations' own websites and public directories, and OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors, Open Database License).

Anyone can tap Confirm on a listing they know, or Report wrong info. We store that your account confirmed or reported it, and show only the total. The total counts signed-in accounts and accounts that have been counting dogs for more than a day, so brand-new accounts can't inflate it.

Feedback

When you send feedback, we store:

• your message;
• the type (problem, looks wrong, or suggestion);
• your email, if you give one;
• a screenshot, if you add one;
• basic technical details to help fix problems:
  • in the app: phone model, operating system, app version and language;
  • on the website: browser, screen size, language, and which page of this site you came from.

Only volunteers can read feedback.

Show off your dog

You can post a photo of your own dog, a link to a video of your own dog, or a link to a cute video of dogs in Nepal, with an optional name, caption and area. Posts appear on the wall straight away. Anyone can report a post, and volunteers hide posts that break the rules. Pet posts never include a map location. You can delete your post at any time.

We never copy or host videos: we store only the link. When you tap Play on a video post, the app loads that video in the player of the site it is on (YouTube, TikTok, Instagram or Facebook), and that site's own privacy policy applies to what it collects while it plays. Nothing loads from those sites until you tap Play. The player keeps no cookies or logins between videos (YouTube plays through its privacy-enhanced youtube-nocookie.com player).

The website

hamrokukur.org uses no tracking cookies. To see how many people visit and which pages help, we use Plausible Analytics (plausible.io), which counts page views without cookies and without collecting personal data: no IP addresses are stored, and visitors can't be followed across sites or days. We only see totals, like "120 visits to Find help today". If you tap Confirm or send feedback on the website, your browser gets an anonymous account, kept in the browser's storage, so it can remember your confirmation. Registering on Offer help also creates an anonymous account, for that registration only; it isn't kept in your browser.

Location

The Kukur app asks for location only while you are using the app, and only to tag the dog you are saving and to show the map around you. We do not track your location in the background. We do not store your location anywhere except as the location of a dog you counted.

Automatic photo checks

We use an AI service (Anthropic) to check new dog photos once a day: whether a dog is in the photo, and a guess of breed, colour and age, to fill in details. Photos posted to Show off your dog are also checked to make sure they're fit for a public wall. If a photo clearly shows no dog, or shows something that shouldn't be public (for example nudity, cruelty, personal details or a child's face), the post is hidden, and a volunteer can bring it back. Only the photo is sent, not your name or account. Photos sent for checking are not used to train AI models.

Where data is stored

Data is stored with Supabase (database and photo storage) and emails are sent with Amazon SES.

• Photos waiting to upload stay on your phone until they are sent.
• Sightings and photos are kept as long as they help the count.
• A sighting's local copy is removed from your phone a day after upload.

Moderation, blocking and terms

Use of Hamro Kukur is subject to our Terms of use: no offensive or harmful content.

• Reporting: anyone can report a photo, name or note.
• Blocking: you can block a person, so you no longer see their posts.
• Volunteers: they review reports, hide content, and ban accounts that break the terms.

Please don't photograph people's faces or private property. The app is for dogs.

Deleting your account and data

• In the app: Me → Delete my account and data. This deletes:

  • your account and display name;
  • your offer-help registration;
  • pet posts and their photos, likes, confirmations, and feedback with any screenshot.

  Dog photos you added stay in the count, without any link to you.

• Without the app: see hamrokukur.org/delete-account, or write to info@hamrokukur.org.

Children

Hamro Kukur doesn't knowingly collect personal information from children.

Changes

If this policy changes, we'll update the date above and show the new version here.