Privacy, in plain language.

Privacy at a glance

• Only owner-approved recovery details appear on a finder page.
• Finder contact details and location are optional.
• Direct contact details are not displayed when people use the private relay.
• We do not sell personal information or use recovery data for third-party behavioural advertising.
• You can ask to access, correct, or delete personal information, subject to verification and applicable law.

Scope and who is responsible

This notice explains how CloakTag handles personal information when you visit cloaktag.com or use a CloakTag owner, finder, recovery, messaging, support, or partner-branded experience (collectively, the "Service"). It should be read with our Terms of Use.

A brand, seller, school, employer, or other partner may separately collect information or provide its own privacy notice. Where a partner brand uses CloakTag to provide a recovery experience to its own customers, that brand is the organization responsible for the recovery information (its controller) and CloakTag acts on the brand's behalf as a service provider (a processor); the brand's own privacy notice governs that experience. CloakTag is responsible, as controller, for this website and for the account, billing, telemetry, and security information it handles directly.

This notice does not cover a third-party website, product, purchase, account, or service merely because it links to or works with CloakTag.

Information by interaction

The information involved depends on what you do:

Website visitors

• Basic request, device, browser, and security information that may be created when a page is delivered.
• A theme preference stored on your device.
• Information you choose to submit through our enquiry form or send by email.

The enquiry form submits the details you provide to CloakTag so we can respond. We also retain the consent record, a shortened browser description, and a one-way hash derived from the network address for abuse prevention. Enquiry records are normally deleted after about 180 days unless they are still needed for follow-up, security, or legal reasons.

Owners and account users

• Account and contact details, such as an email address and account identifier.
• Tag activation, status, and purchase-matching information needed to connect an eligible tag with the right account.
• An item label, display name, if-found message, and the specific fields an owner chooses to publish.
• Notification settings, support correspondence, and messages sent through the recovery relay.

Finders

• A message sent to an owner and an optional name or contact method supplied for a reply.
• An optional approximate location supplied to help coordinate a return. CloakTag does not require background location access.
• A temporary display name or pseudonym and device, browser, network, or security signals used to operate and protect the relay.

Partners, business contacts, and support users

We may handle a name, role, organization, business contact information, enquiry details, service correspondence, and records needed to manage the relationship or respond to a request.

Where information comes from

We receive information directly from you, from another person participating in a recovery conversation, from a relevant partner or seller when needed to validate eligibility or provide a branded experience, and automatically from the browser, device, or network used to access the Service.

If you provide information about another person, you must have authority to do so and should share only what is reasonably needed.

What becomes visible

A recovery page can be opened by anyone who has its link. Owners control whether approved fields such as a display name, item label, or recovery message appear. Account credentials, owner notification details, and private relay addresses are not intended to appear on the finder page.

Do not publish sensitive, confidential, or unnecessary information in an item label or recovery message. If another person copies or records information while it is visible, removing it from CloakTag cannot erase that separate copy.

How we use information

• Create and authenticate accounts, validate eligible activations, and associate tags with authorized accounts.
• Display owner-approved recovery details and provide private return coordination.
• Send service, recovery, security, and support communications.
• Respond to enquiries, troubleshoot problems, maintain the Service, and improve reliability and accessibility.
• Detect, investigate, and prevent spam, fraud, abuse, security incidents, or prohibited activity.
• Keep records, enforce agreements, protect people and rights, and comply with applicable law.
• Create aggregate or de-identified insights that are not reasonably capable of identifying a person.

We process information according to your choices and consent, to provide the Service you request, for reasonable service-delivery and security purposes, and when required or permitted by law. If we need information for a materially different purpose, we will provide an appropriate notice or seek consent where required.

Private recovery conversations

The relay is designed to avoid displaying direct owner and finder contact details to each other. CloakTag still processes messages and routing information to deliver the conversation, protect the Service, investigate reported misuse, and provide support. Relay messages are recorded and retained, are visible to the item's owner, and are not end-to-end encrypted; they may also be produced in response to a valid legal request. Do not use the relay for emergencies, do not include financial, identity-document, medical, or other highly sensitive information, and do not send anything you would not want recorded, retained, or read by the owner.

A participant may voluntarily disclose contact details in a message. That disclosure is their choice and falls outside the protection provided by the relay address.

When information is shared

We disclose personal information only as reasonably needed for the purposes described in this notice:

• Between recovery participants. An owner sees the finder's message and any contact or approximate location the finder chooses to provide. A finder sees only the recovery details selected by the owner.
• With the relevant partner. A partner may receive information needed to provide, support, or verify its branded recovery experience, subject to its role and agreement.
• With contracted service providers. Providers may support hosting, authentication, communications, security, customer support, and website delivery. They receive only the access reasonably needed for their work and are subject to contractual or legal obligations.
• For legal, safety, and integrity reasons. We may disclose information when reasonably necessary to comply with law or legal process, respond to an emergency, investigate misuse, or protect a person, property, the Service, or legal rights.
• For an organizational transaction. Information may be reviewed or transferred as part of a proposed or completed financing, reorganization, merger, sale, or transfer of the Service, subject to appropriate confidentiality and applicable law.
• At your direction. We may share information when you request it or give valid consent.

No sale or behavioural advertising

CloakTag does not sell personal information. We do not use recovery messages, item details, finder contact information, or recovery location information to build advertising profiles or target third-party behavioural advertising.

Cookies and storage on your device

This public website stores a theme preference on your device. It does not currently use advertising cookies or third-party audience analytics. Owner and recovery experiences may use session, security, and preference technologies that are necessary to sign you in, remember your choices, route a recovery conversation, or prevent misuse.

Clearing browser storage may sign you out or reset your preferences. A browser or font-delivery provider may also receive standard request information when it supplies a page resource.

Location, device, and security information

A finder can choose to share an approximate location to help an owner understand where an item was found or coordinate a return. CloakTag does not require continuous or background location tracking for this feature. You can decline and still send a message.

We may use device, browser, network, request, and diagnostic information to operate the Service, rate-limit activity, prevent abuse, investigate incidents, and protect accounts. These signals are not used to track the physical location of an item.

Retention and deletion

We keep personal information only for as long as reasonably needed for the purposes described in this notice. Retention depends on the type of record:

• Private relay message content is normally retained for up to 90 days.
• Security, audit, consent, and recovery-event records are normally retained for up to 24 months.
• Account, tag, visibility, and notification information is kept while the account or tag relationship is active and for a reasonable period afterward where needed to close the service or resolve a concern.
• Enquiry and support records are kept for as long as needed to respond, maintain a reasonable business record, and handle follow-up.

Information may be kept longer when required for a legal hold, investigation, safety matter, dispute, access request, enforcement, or other legal obligation. When information is no longer required, we delete it or de-identify it using measures appropriate to the sensitivity and the available technology.

Data is stored within the applicable jurisdiction.

Safeguards and incidents

We use administrative, organizational, and technical safeguards designed for the nature and sensitivity of the information involved. Personal information is encrypted in transit and at rest, access is limited on a least-privilege basis, and recovery identifiers are designed to resist guessing and enumeration. Service providers are assessed and restricted according to their role. We describe our security accurately: recovery details you choose to publish, and messages you send through the relay, are processed on our servers and are not end-to-end encrypted.

No service can promise perfect security. If a privacy or security incident creates a risk of serious harm or a notification or reporting obligation, we will notify affected people and the appropriate authority and take the other steps applicable law requires. Please contact us promptly if you believe an account, tag, message, or recovery link has been misused.

Your privacy rights and choices

Depending on the law that applies, you may ask to:

• Access personal information we hold about you and learn how it has been used or disclosed.
• Correct incomplete or inaccurate personal information.
• Change which approved recovery details are visible or stop publishing a recovery page.
• Withdraw consent for future processing where processing depends on consent.
• Delete personal information or close an account, subject to records we must or are permitted to retain.
• Object to or restrict certain handling, receive a portable copy where available, or make a complaint.

We may need to verify your identity and authority before completing a request. Rights can have legal exceptions, and withdrawing consent may prevent us from providing part of the Service. We will explain a refusal or limitation where required.

To make a request, email support@cloaktag.com and describe the account, tag, or interaction involved. Please do not send passwords, identity documents, or other sensitive records unless we ask for a secure verification step.

Children and family use

Owner accounts and controls are intended for adults. The recovery experience is designed to reach a responsible adult, not a child: a finder is never shown a child's identity, and a child's name or identity should never be entered as recovery information. A parent, guardian, school, or other responsible adult should manage any tag used with a child's belongings and should avoid publishing a child's identity, schedule, location, school, medical information, or direct contact details.

If you believe a child provided personal information without appropriate involvement from a responsible adult, contact us so we can review and take appropriate action.

Automated security tools

We may use automated rules or signals to filter spam, limit suspicious activity, protect accounts, and route service requests. CloakTag does not use recovery information to make solely automated decisions that produce legal or similarly significant effects about an owner or finder. If an automated anti-fraud or anti-abuse control blocks something you were trying to do, you can ask for human review by contacting support@cloaktag.com.

External destinations

The Service may link to a seller, partner, email application, map, or other destination operated by someone else. Their privacy practices apply when you leave CloakTag or choose to interact with them. Review their notice before providing information.

Changes to this notice

We may update this notice as the Service, law, or our practices change. The current version will show a revised date. If a change materially affects how existing personal information is used, we will provide additional notice or seek consent when required.

Questions, requests, and complaints

Email support@cloaktag.com with a privacy question, request, or complaint. Include enough context for us to identify the relevant interaction, but do not include a password or unnecessary sensitive information.

We will review the concern and respond as required by applicable law. You may also contact the privacy regulator or other authority available where you live.