1. Acceptance of these Terms
These Terms of Service govern your use of Catown Map (the āServiceā).
By using the Service, you agree to these Terms and our Privacy Policy. You must accept these Terms in the App before creating an account, posting content, commenting, or using other user-generated content features.
2. Age requirements
The Service is not directed to children under 13, and children under 13 may not use it.
If the laws of your country or region require a higher minimum age to use online services or consent to the processing of personal data, you must meet that higher age requirement.
If you are under the age of legal majority where you live, you must have permission from your parent or legal guardian.
3. Purpose and nature of the Service
Catown Map helps people share sightings of cats living in their community and create opportunities for ongoing care, rescue, and support when needed.
The Service is not an emergency response, veterinary, rescue, trapping, or adoption service. In an urgent situation, contact the appropriate local authority, police, veterinary clinic, or animal welfare organization.
We do not guarantee that information posted through the Service is accurate, complete, or up to date.
4. Accounts
You are responsible for properly managing your account and login credentials.
You may not sell, transfer, lend, or allow another person to use your account. If you become aware of unauthorized access, please contact us promptly.
5. User content and license
You retain ownership of the photos, text, location data, comments, and other content you post, or such rights remain with their lawful owner.
You confirm that you have the rights and permissions necessary to post your content and that it does not infringe another personās copyright, privacy, publicity, or other rights.
You grant Catown Map a non-exclusive, royalty-free license to store, reproduce, display, resize, process, and distribute your content only as reasonably necessary to provide, operate, moderate, secure, and maintain the Service.
This license does not transfer ownership of your content to Catown Map. An additional optional license for AI development and data sharing is described under āHelp build AI that recognizes catsā below.
6. Location information and safety
You understand that information about a catās location may affect the safety of cats, local residents, or private property.
You must not:
- Use location information to harm, abuse, poison, or improperly capture an animal
- Enter private property without permission
- Unnecessarily post information that identifies a home, person, or vehicle
- Use the Service for stalking, harassment, surveillance, or identifying individuals
Precise rescue locations may be accessed only with the poster's approval and within the sharing period. Do not use them for other purposes or redistribute them without permission. Viewing and external-map activity is logged and visible to the poster and requester. Expiry or revocation does not guarantee removal of information saved outside the Service.
We may blur, limit, or hide location information when reasonably necessary for safety.
7. Prohibited content and conduct
You may not post or engage in:
- Illegal content or conduct
- Content that encourages, threatens, or promotes harm to animals or people
- Animal abuse, harassment, threats, discrimination, or stalking
- Sexual, excessively violent, or child-endangering content
- False sightings, impersonation, or deliberately misleading information
- Infringement of copyright, privacy, publicity, or other rights
- Disclosure of another personās personal information without permission
- Advertising, solicitation, spam, or content unrelated to the Service
- Unauthorized access, excessive automated collection, scraping, or circumvention of security measures
- Circumvention of viewing limits, location blurring, suspensions, or other restrictions
- False, abusive, or retaliatory reports
- Any other conduct that we reasonably determine interferes with the safe operation of the Service
8. Reports and moderation
You may report inappropriate content or conduct through the in-app reporting tools or by contacting us.
We may review reports and take appropriate action, including hiding or removing content, restricting features, suspending an account, or deleting an account.
Where there is a serious risk of harm or a valid legal request, we may provide relevant stored information to law enforcement or other appropriate authorities.
9. Content and account deletion
You may delete your account from within the App.
When deleting your account, you may choose to:
- Delete all sightings and photos you posted; or
- Keep your sightings and photos as community records without an account link
If you choose to keep community records without an account link, the connection to your account and any private notes will be removed. You will not be able to edit, reclaim, or restore those records after deletion.
For content you choose to retain as community records, the license in Section 5 continues after account deletion only as needed to display and distribute those records through the Service. Photos, locations, and times may still allow a person to be inferred.
Your account, profile, comments, favorites, votes, viewing history, and other personal data will be deleted as described in our Privacy Policy.
10. Suspension and termination
We may remove content, restrict features, suspend an account, or delete an account without prior notice if we reasonably determine that a user has violated these Terms, endangered an animal or person, abused the Service, or violated applicable law.
We will provide a reason where reasonably possible, but we may be unable to do so for safety, investigative, or legal reasons.
11. Changes or interruption to the Service
We may modify, suspend, or discontinue all or part of the Service for maintenance, improvement, safety, legal, or operational reasons.
Where reasonably possible, we will provide advance notice of material changes or discontinuation.
12. Third-party services
The Service uses third-party services, including Supabase, Google, Apple, Cloudflare, and Resend.
Your use of features provided through these services may also be subject to their respective terms and privacy policies.
Your use of map features is subject to the Google Maps/Google Earth Additional Terms of Service. By using map features, you also agree to those additional terms.
13. Disclaimers and limitation of liability
We do not guarantee the accuracy of user-submitted information, the location or condition of any cat, the outcome of any rescue effort, or uninterrupted availability of the Service.
You are responsible for checking local laws and safety conditions before approaching, rescuing, trapping, or otherwise interacting with an animal or entering any property.
Where damage results from our ordinary negligence, our liability is limited to direct and ordinary damages actually suffered.
This limitation does not apply to damage caused by our intentional misconduct or gross negligence, personal injury or death, or any liability that cannot lawfully be limited.
14. Changes to these Terms
We may update these Terms when necessary because of changes to the Service, applicable law, safety requirements, or our operations.
We will provide advance notice of material changes through the App or official website. Where required by law, we will ask you to accept the updated Terms again.
15. Governing law
These Terms are governed by the laws of Japan.
This does not limit any mandatory consumer rights available under the laws of your country or region.
Any dispute will be resolved by a court having jurisdiction under applicable law.
Help build AI that recognizes cats (optional)
Participation is optional. You can use the app with this setting OFF.
Purpose and sharing
Data is used to develop and improve AI that recognizes cats, such as suggesting matching cats. For this purpose, data may be provided to external companies and research organizations, with or without payment.
Photo license
By participating, you grant the operator a non-exclusive, royalty-free license to reproduce, process, and use eligible photos you have rights to for AI training, and to supply and sublicense them to others, with or without payment, for the purposes described above. Copyright remains with the rights holder. Contributors do not receive payment. Photos that infringe othersā rights are not eligible.
For eligible data, what happens when you turn OFF or delete your account, and consent records, see AI contribution in the Privacy Policy.
Notice version: 2026-09-17-v1