What this policy covers
This policy covers the HorseDex app, for iPhone, iPad, Mac and Android, and the website at horsedex.co.uk. Where something applies to only one of them, it says which.
The short version
HorseDex keeps your journal on your own devices, and on iPhone, iPad and Mac it also keeps a copy in your own iCloud — sync is on by default, and backup happens automatically whenever iCloud Drive is available, both switched off in the app's Settings if you'd rather. It has no accounts, no server of ours, and your records never come to us. Nobody but you can see what you write in it, including us.
This website is nearly the same. It has no accounts, no analytics and no tracking, and stores nothing about you. The exceptions are the feedback page, described further down, and the Android closed testing page at horsedex.co.uk/android/, which has two forms on it — one to ask to join the test, one to report a bug. Both are described in full further down.
If you write to the support address, we will receive your email address and any information you choose to include in your message in order to respond to your enquiry.
Who is responsible
HorseDex is made by Toby Kalkman, a sole developer based in the United Kingdom. Contact: support@horsedex.co.uk.
HorseDex does not receive, store or have access to the records you create in the app. Where HorseDex processes personal data directly, such as correspondence sent to the support email address, Toby Kalkman is responsible for that processing.
What HorseDex stores, and where
HorseDex stores what you enter: your horse's name and any notes about them, the observations you tick or type, exercise and feed records, weights and other measurements, appointments and care dates, what a care visit cost, medications, episodes of illness or injury, and any photographs or video you attach.
All of it is written to a private database inside the app's own storage on your device. On iPhone, iPad and Mac, if you have sync turned on, the same records are copied to your own iCloud account, so they appear on your other devices too. That copy is between your devices and Apple, using Apple's CloudKit private database; it is not transmitted to us and we have no means of reading it, on your device or in your iCloud.
Backups
HorseDex backs your records up on its own, about once a day, when you open the app.
On iPhone, iPad and Mac the copy is written to your own iCloud account, using Apple's iCloud Drive. It goes to your Apple storage under your Apple Account, not to us, and we cannot access it. Apple's handling of that copy is covered by Apple's own privacy policy and your agreement with them.
On Android the copy is written to the app's own private storage on the device, and to a folder you choose if you have chosen one — on the phone, an SD card or a cloud drive. Neither is uploaded to us.
The written record also travels in Android's own backup, to your Google account, so that a new phone can bring your journal back. Android encrypts that copy end to end using your device's PIN, pattern or password; it is covered by Google's privacy policy and your agreement with them, and it never reaches us. You can switch it off in Android's own settings, under Backup. Photographs are deliberately left out of that route: Android will not store an app's backup at all once it passes 25 MB, and a journal with photographs in it would pass that and be backed up not at all rather than in part. They travel in the folder you choose, which is why the app asks for one.
Photographs are included in the backup written to iCloud Drive or to your chosen folder, newest first, up to 200 MB in any one copy. Video never is: a single clip can be larger than years of written records, and a backup that quietly grows to gigabytes inside your storage is not a reasonable thing to do to you without asking.
Anything left out is listed by name and date in the backup's own record, and when you restore, the app tells you what did not come back and that it is still on the device it was taken on.
On iPhone, iPad and Mac this happens as long as you are signed into iCloud and iCloud Drive is switched on for HorseDex. Turn iCloud Drive off for the app in Settings and no further copies are made; you can remove the copies already held from the same place, under your iCloud storage. There is also a Back up now button in the app if you would rather not wait for the daily copy.
Sync between your devices
On iPhone, iPad and Mac, if you use HorseDex on more than one device signed into the same iCloud account, an entry made on one appears on the others. This uses Apple's CloudKit, in your own iCloud private database — the same one the backup uses. It is never a server of ours, and we have no means of reading it.
Photographs sync as part of your records. Video does not: it stays on the device it was taken on, the same rule the backup already follows.
Sync is on by default and can be turned off from the app's Settings. Turning it off stops new changes syncing; it does not delete what has already reached your iCloud account.
On Android there is no sync between devices, because CloudKit has no Android surface. Each Android device keeps its own database, backed up as described above.
Locking the app
You can require Face ID, Touch ID or your device passcode to open the app. This uses your device's own authentication system. The app is told only whether the check passed. It never receives, sees or stores your biometric data or your passcode.
What the app does not do
It has no user accounts and asks for no email address, name or password. It contains no analytics, no tracking, no advertising and no third-party software development kits. It makes no network requests of its own for the purpose of collecting information about you. It does not build a profile of you, and there is no automated decision-making. Nothing is sold or shared, because there is nothing held to sell or share.
What this website stores
The website consists of flat pages served through Cloudflare, with no accounts, no newsletter, no analytics and no advertising cookies. The small amount of JavaScript it carries is decoration — it reveals sections as you scroll — and it collects nothing and sends nothing anywhere. Apart from the two forms on the Android closed testing page, described below, the website does not collect information from visitors. However, technical information such as IP addresses and request data may be processed by infrastructure providers as part of delivering and securing the website.
There was a mailing list here for a short time in August 2026; it was shut down before it ever sent anything, and every address it had recorded was erased.
What the app stores see regardless
Downloading the app is a transaction between you and Apple or Google, and they hold that record under their own privacy policies. If you have chosen in your device settings to share analytics and crash reports with developers, they may pass us aggregated, non-identifying diagnostic information about how the app performs. That contains none of your records. On iPhone you can turn it off in Settings under Privacy and Security, then Analytics and Improvements; on Android, under Settings, Google, then the usage and diagnostics setting.
International transfers
HorseDex does not transfer your app records, because they are stored on your device and, where enabled, in your own iCloud account. Third-party providers used to deliver the website or cloud services, such as Apple, Google or Cloudflare, may process information outside the United Kingdom. Any such processing is governed by those providers' own privacy policies and safeguards.
The Android closed testing page
The page at horsedex.co.uk/android/ exists for as long as Android HorseDex is in closed testing, and no longer. It carries two forms.
Asking to join the test collects one thing: the email address of your Google account, and a tick to say you want to be added. Google Play admits testers by that address and there is no other way in, so it is the whole of what is asked for. That address is used to add you to the closed test in Google Play and to send you the link to install from. It is not used for anything else, there is no mailing list, and you will not be sent news, marketing or anything you have not asked for.
Reporting a bug collects what you type: the description itself, and, only if you choose to fill them in, your device and Android version and an email address to reply to. None of those three are required. Please do not paste your horse's records into it; they are not needed and are not wanted.
Who sees it. Both forms post to Web3Forms, a form-to-email service, which passes the message on to the HorseDex support inbox. Web3Forms is a third party and a processor for this purpose, and may handle the message outside the United Kingdom. Its documentation states that it does not store submissions, and that server logs which may contain personal data are deleted every two months; what it does with the message is governed by its own policies, at web3forms.com/privacy. If you would rather not use a form at all, email support@horsedex.co.uk directly and only the email providers are involved.
Google. To enrol you in the closed test your address is entered into Google Play Console. Google then holds it under its own privacy policy, and it is Google that emails you the invitation.
Lawful basis. Consent, which you give by ticking the box and sending the form. You can withdraw it at any time by emailing support@horsedex.co.uk, and your address will be removed from the test list.
How long it is kept. Sign-up addresses are kept for the length of the closed test and deleted when it ends or when you ask, whichever comes first. Bug reports are kept only as long as it takes to deal with the problem and to check the fix held.
When the test ends the page comes down, the list is deleted, and the website goes back to having no forms on it.
The feedback page
The page at horsedex.co.uk/feedback/ carries one form, for bug reports and suggestions. It is anonymous by design: it collects what you type — the kind of message you picked, the message itself, and, only if you choose to fill them in, your device and an email address to reply to. Nothing else is asked for and nothing is recorded about you beyond what you write. Please do not paste your horse’s records into it; they are not needed and are not wanted.
Who sees it. The form posts to Web3Forms, the same form-to-email service the Android page uses, described in the section above, which passes the message on to the HorseDex support inbox. If you would rather not use a form at all, email support@horsedex.co.uk directly.
Lawful basis and retention. Legitimate interest in fixing and improving the app. Messages are kept only as long as it takes to deal with them and to check the fix held, and an email address you give is used only to reply about that message.
Support correspondence
If you contact us using the support email address, we will receive your email address and any information you choose to include in your message. This information is used solely to respond to and manage your enquiry. Support correspondence is retained only for as long as reasonably necessary to manage the enquiry and maintain support records.
Links to other sites
The app may link to websites we or others operate. Those sites are outside this policy and have their own.
Children
The app is not specifically directed at children and does not knowingly collect personal data from users. Because records are stored on the user's own device, and, where sync or backup is turned on, in the user's own iCloud, HorseDex does not receive or access the information entered into the app.
Your rights
Under UK data protection law you have rights over personal data an organisation holds about you, including access, correction, erasure, restriction, objection and portability.
Because your records stay on your own devices and, where sync or backup is turned on, in your own iCloud, we hold nothing from the app about you, and there is nothing for us to produce, correct or erase on request. You already have direct and complete control: you can edit or delete any record inside the app, export your data, and remove everything by deleting the app. Deleting the app removes its database from your device. If you switched on sync or the iCloud backup, delete those copies from your iCloud storage as well.
If you believe we hold personal data about you and want to exercise a right over it, contact us at the address above. You may also complain to the Information Commissioner's Office at ico.org.uk.
A note on medical content
HorseDex records what you observe and shows it back to you. It does not diagnose, score or interpret anything, and it is not a substitute for veterinary advice.
Changes
If this policy changes, the revised version will appear here with a new date, and material changes will be announced in the app.