← Friends4horses

Privacy policy

for friends4horses.de and the Friends4horses apps for iPhone and Android · As of: 27/10/2026

Translation for information. Only the German version is binding: Datenschutz.

Who is responsible

Friends4horses is a service of Friends4. The controller is the operator of Friends4; name and address are in the legal notice (in German). For everything concerning the Friends4 account itself (sign-in, profile, security), the Friends4 privacy policy applies. This page adds what only Friends4horses processes.

This website

The website loads nothing from third-party servers: no fonts, no scripts, no statistics, no advertising. The pages themselves don’t set cookies – only someone who opens the sign-in or registration page under friends4horses.de/stall, or chooses a language there, gets one (see Friends4horses in the browser). Our web server logs every request (IP address, time, requested address, amount of data, browser information) in order to run the website securely and detect misuse (Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR).

The links “Download on the App Store” and “App Store” lead to Apple. Only when you tap one of them do you leave this website; Apple then processes its own data under its privacy policy. On the iPhone, Safari shows a banner for the app at the top of the page (Smart App Banner); Safari gets the details for it from Apple itself – this website loads nothing for it and learns nothing from it.

Signing in to the app

You sign in with your Friends4 account; the app doesn’t create a separate account. The sign-in is kept by a Friends4 session cookie on your device, as in the Friends4 app. If the account is blocked at Friends4, it is blocked here too.

Language: with every request the app sends the device language (German, French or English) so that the texts arrive in that language. The server remembers the language your account last explicitly asked for (only “de”, “fr” or “en”, without history) so that emergency messages to you arrive in your language, even when they arise without a request from you. It is deleted with “Delete Friends4horses data” and with your account (Art. 6(1)(b) GDPR).

Friends4horses in the browser (friends4horses.de/stall)

Under friends4horses.de/stall you also use Friends4horses in the browser – everything that works without a phone: stable and horse profile, health record with stable contacts and insurance, breeding, equipment, calendar and stable day, mucking-out plan, feeding plan, pasture and weather check, cost book, equine passport, viewing rides, sharing, horse dossier, Erich, academy, shops and prices nearby, your statistics, emergency contacts and children’s accounts. The website shows and changes the same data as the app, with the same rights and through the same server; it stores nothing more about your horse. You can’t buy anything there; you buy Friends4horses Plus in the app. Recording rides, fall detection and the live location only exist in the app – the website never asks your browser for your location, camera or microphone.

Children’s accounts (8 to 12 years)

You can only register yourself at Friends4 from the age of 13. For children aged 8 to 12, an adult parent can create a children’s account in the app under “More” → “Children’s accounts” from their own Friends4 account. To do so, the parent confirms the consent text shown by the app with their password. This link constitutes the parents’ consent; the legal basis is Art. 6(1)(a) and Art. 8 GDPR. The German consent text is authoritative; the French and English translations in the app are a reading aid.

What data Friends4horses stores

AreaData
HorseName, date of birth, sex, breed, coat colour, height, UELN, transponder number, FEI ID, life number, country of birth, breeder, sire and dam with breed and coat colour, the colour of the name plate, profile and cover photo; the food status (whether the horse is intended for slaughter according to the equine passport), who last set it and when; if you enter it, whether the horse is clipped and whether it is hardy (for the rug suggestion); if you enter it, the purchase price; who owns the horse; if you set it, the stable location (rounded to about one kilometre) and the pollen region for the weather check
ImagesThe profile photo, the cover photo, the photos of symptoms, equipment and entries (task, turnout, appointment, training, own entry, illness, medication) are saved again on upload, reduced in size and without metadata – that is, without the location where they were taken (GPS), device and date. For every image, the server stores who uploaded it and when – for the check by the photo team (see “Who sees what”).
SharingWho has access to a horse and with which role (co-manager, helper); invitation codes with creator, expiry and who used them; whether a horse appears on the Friends4 profile of the owner and of the people it is shared with
Stable day and calendarTasks and appointments (title, type, type of task or appointment, the ground for turnout, date, start and end time, repetition with the weekdays, note, a photo if you like), who they are assigned to, who created them; for every day done, who ticked it off and when; for the mucking-out plan, who mucks out on which weekday, the reminder time and covers for certain days (who someone is covering for) – the mucking-out plan consists of ordinary tasks, there is no separate data
Health recordThe horse’s blood type if you enter it (as text, as in the lab report), vital signs (temperature, pulse, respiration, weight, capillary refill time, body condition score, crest) with the time, for a weight estimated with a tape also the girth and body length, symptom entries (with a photo if you like, for example of a swelling, a wound or the hoof), treatments, medication (with the type of medication if you like), illnesses (with the type of illness, ongoing or over, if you like), vaccinations, dewormings (with the active ingredient if you like), for treatments the withdrawal period stated by the vet if you like, faecal egg counts for the worm check (date, eggs per gram of droppings, result for roundworms and tapeworms, lab, note), a photo on illnesses and medication if you like; in each case, who made the entry
Feeding planFeed, category (forage, hard feed, other), amount or “ad lib”, time of day, time, note
Rides and sessionsWho rode or worked the horse, the activity (ride, lungeing, groundwork, cool-down), the discipline (type of training), whether the session was recorded, timed or entered afterwards (the start of a running stopwatch stays on your device until the end, so that it isn’t lost after a crash), start, duration, distance, speed, time per gait (with your corrections if you correct a gait – the estimate is kept next to it), your feedback (stars for you and your horse, how your horse seemed, note) and when you filled it in or skipped it – visible like the ride’s note; only you can fill it in –, and the recorded positions (GPS) with the time and, if your phone measures it, the altitude of each position, from which ascent and descent follow; if a heart rate belt was connected, the horse’s pulse during the ride (condensed into 5-second averages) with average and maximum; if a second belt was connected as the rider’s belt, likewise the rider’s pulse (see “Heart rate belt”); and, every four seconds, characteristic values from the motion sensor and, if you state it, where the phone is carried (see “Motion sensor during the ride”)
Equine passportPassport number, issuing body and date of issue, who last changed them and when; the scanned passport pages (image or PDF) with their order, the file size, who uploaded them and when (see “Equine passport”)
InsuranceType, insurer, policy number, due date
Stable contactsThe contacts around the horse that you enter at the end of the health record (vet, equine clinic, farrier, stable, physio and others): type, name and phone number, who made the entry and when. Nothing else – no address, no email, no note.
EquipmentSaddle, bridle, bit, girth, rug, boots, hoof boots and other per horse: type, brand/model, note, a photo and the purchase price if you like; depending on the type, sizes and measurements (e.g. saddle type, seat size, tree width, date of the last saddle fitting, bridle size, noseband, bit type and width, material, girth length, rug size) and which of your stable contacts is the saddler; who created the entry and last changed it, and when
Cost bookThe expenses you enter for a horse: date, amount, category (e.g. livery, feed, farrier, vet), whether they repeat monthly, quarterly, half-yearly or yearly and until when, a note, a photo of the receipt if you like and, if you like, the treatment they relate to; as owner, also a contribution paid to you by a person you share the horse with (who, how much, from when); in each case, who made the entry and for which owner
BreedingFor mares: start and end of heat with note; coverings or inseminations (date, type, name of the stallion, vet or stud, note); results of pregnancy checks (in foal, not in foal, twins) with note; the birth (date, sex of the foal, note) and which horse is the foal; in each case, who made the entry. The server calculates forecasts and dates from this without storing them. Visible like the health record – only for the owner and co-managers.
Pasture and grazingWhether you have marked the horse as prone to laminitis; a grazing plan (start, starting time, increase per day, target time) and, for every day ticked off, the planned and actual grazing time, the day’s fructan level, a note, who ticked it off and when
SettingsOrder of the home screen, units, 12/24 hours
UsageThe day you first used the app and the day you last used it – only the date, without time (see “Usage statistics”); the language the app last explicitly asked for (“de”, “fr” or “en”, see “Signing in to the app”)
AcademyThe riding exercises you have saved; for exercises with a video, whether and when you watched the video to the end (“Video watched”). So that “watched” only counts after watching, the server keeps the start time in your session (not in the database) and forgets it after the report. Others only see the total number of times an exercise was saved – never by whom. Your answer to “How do you like this exercise?” (boring, good or great – one per exercise, changeable, no free text) is stored by the server with your account; it is used to improve the exercises. For articles and first-aid content, the server doesn’t store who opens which content or what they search for. Only what you do yourself is stored: the content you have saved with the heart, your answer to “Did this help you?” (no, partly or yes – one per content, changeable, no free text) and an error report if you send a short note via “Report an error” (your text, your account, the time). Their cover images come from friends4.de, not from third-party image services; the author of an image is credited below it (photo credit). The videos of the “video tip” are also played from friends4.de – not via YouTube or any other video service; who watches which video is not stored. For now, the academy content is written in German.
Plus subscriptionIf you have Friends4horses Plus: store (App Store or Google Play), product, expiry date, renewal or not, refund or not; an identifier of the purchase and a random identifier of your account that links the purchase to you; a log with purchase, renewal and expiry. No payment data – only Apple or Google have it.

The health record concerns the horse, not you. Nevertheless, it is only visible to the people you share the horse with (see below).

Deleted entries (“Undo”)

If you delete a ride or session, a task or appointment, a health record entry (vital sign, symptom, treatment, faecal egg count), a feeding plan entry, an insurance, a stable contact, an item of equipment, a cost book entry or a photo (profile photo, cover photo, photos of entries, receipts), the app briefly shows “Deleted – Undo”. To make that possible, the server doesn’t remove the entry immediately but hides it: from then on it no longer appears in any list, any evaluation or any horse dossier, and nobody but you can get it back – you yourself only for 10 minutes and only as long as you are still allowed to delete. For this, the server stores on the entry when and by whom it was deleted. After that it is deleted permanently with its photo, at the latest 30 minutes after deletion. The basis is our legitimate interest in protecting you from deleting something by mistake (Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR). Deleting a horse, “Delete Friends4horses data”, children’s accounts and the Friends4 account delete immediately and permanently – “Delete Friends4horses data” also takes what you have only just deleted.

Equine passport

Under “Equine passport” you can enter your horse’s passport details and scan its pages, so that you can show it even when the paper passport isn’t to hand – for example at the showground or at a check on the road. Stored are the passport number, issuing body and date of issue and the passport pages as an image (JPEG) or PDF, at most 40 per horse. UELN, transponder number (microchip), FEI ID and food status are shown from the details already entered for the horse; they are not stored a second time. The basis is that you use the feature (Art. 6(1)(b) GDPR).

A passport page shows more than the horse: depending on the passport, also the owner’s name and address, signatures, stamps of the vet or the studbook and the vaccinations and treatments entered. That is why stricter rules apply to the pages than to other images:

Other people’s phone numbers (stable contacts)

Stable contacts are phone numbers of other people – your vet, your farrier or the yard manager. They are there so that you and the people who look after the horse with you can call them quickly in an emergency. So only enter numbers that were given to you for this purpose, for example business numbers or those whose holder agrees (Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR). The owner and co-managers of this horse can see them, not helpers or anyone else. A call only happens when you tap a number: the app then opens your device’s phone app with that number; it doesn’t dial itself and doesn’t read your address book. The server doesn’t pass the numbers on to anyone and doesn’t write them into any log. Every owner or co-manager can delete a contact in the health record at any time; with the horse, with “Delete Friends4horses data” and with the Friends4 account, the contacts of your own horses are deleted.

Location during the ride

The app asks for your location and only records it between “Start” and “Stop” of a ride – also with the screen locked, so that the ride is complete. Outside a ride it only reads the location for the shop search (see below). A ride shows where and when you rode and usually starts at the stable. It is only saved when you finish it; until the server has accepted it, it stays on your device.

Fall detection and emergency contacts

Only if you turn it on yourself under “More › Fall detection and emergency contacts” does the app evaluate your phone’s accelerometer during a recorded ride to recognise a possible fall or a long period without movement. Detection takes place only on your device; no sensor values go to the server for it. (What goes to the server during the ride for the gait and the ride analysis is described under “Motion sensor during the ride”.) The detection is an estimate, can miss falls and trigger without a fall, and it doesn’t replace an emergency call.

Emergency contacts are the name and email address of at most five people you enter. So that nobody receives mail without agreeing, the server first sends every address entered an invitation with your Friends4 name; only when the person confirms via the link do they receive alerts. The basis is their consent (Art. 6(1)(a) GDPR); we process your own data in an alert because you use the feature (Art. 6(1)(b) GDPR). If they decline or unsubscribe via the link in every email, they no longer receive emails from your account; to keep it that way, the server keeps only a check value (hash) of their address, not the address itself.

In an alert – the countdown runs out without you cancelling, or you tap “Call for help” – the app sends the server the type of alert, the length of the countdown, the horse’s name and your last known location (coordinates, accuracy, time). The server sends your confirmed emergency contacts an email with your name, the time and this location (with a link to OpenStreetMap). If a contact has a Friends4 account with exactly the address they confirmed as an emergency contact and has also confirmed this address at Friends4, they also receive the same message as a push notification in the Friends4 app; likewise after you end the alert. A push notification goes through the notification service of the contact’s device – Apple (iPhone), Google (Android) or their browser’s push service – and contains your Friends4 name, the type of alert, the time, the horse’s name and the location; on the lock screen the name and type are visible, the coordinates only after tapping. These services keep a push notification for at most six hours to deliver it. It is written in the language the contact’s app last asked for, otherwise in yours; emails and text messages are written in your language. The app doesn’t show you whether a contact was reached by push, only how many contacts were alerted. The basis is the same consent of the contact; the invitation tells them in advance that a push notification may arrive. The server stores the alert as a log, so that it can be traced what was sent and when; it deletes the location after 30 days. Neither addresses nor locations go into the server log. Outside an alert, your location only goes to the server if you share your live location yourself (see below).

Emergency text message. In addition to the email and the push notification, an emergency contact can receive a text message in an alert and when it ends – but only if you or the owner of the horse being ridden have Friends4horses Plus, and only if the contact has entered their mobile number themselves: on their own page, which they reach via the link in the confirmation and in every emergency email. You can’t enter a number for them and you don’t see it either, only whether they have entered one. The basis is their consent (Art. 6(1)(a) GDPR), which they give there by saving. The country code and the number are stored, only for this purpose. For sending, we pass the number and the text of the message to Hetzner Online GmbH (Industriestr. 25, 91710 Gunzenhausen, Germany), which delivers the message via its text message service; the order goes through a web hosting package at Hetzner. Hetzner processes the data as a processor (Art. 28 GDPR) in Germany. The message contains your Friends4 name, the type of alert, your last location as an OpenStreetMap link (when the alert ends only your name) and the sentence saying that it isn’t an emergency call. The contact can remove their number on their page at any time; if they unsubscribe, if you remove them or if you delete your Friends4horses data or your account, it is deleted. Neither numbers nor message texts go into the server log.

You delete the contacts and the alert log with “Delete Friends4horses data” or with your Friends4 account; individual contacts at any time in the app.

Live location during the ride

Only if you turn on “Share my live location” at the start of or during a ride does the app send the server your latest location about every 30 seconds (coordinates, accuracy, time and speed). You choose the recipients yourself: your confirmed emergency contacts receive an email with your Friends4 name, the horse’s name if you add it, and a link; and/or you get a link to share yourself, which you send via your phone’s share menu. This open link only exists from the age of 18 (and only if your age is known at Friends4) – younger people only share with their confirmed emergency contacts, because nobody sees where an open link is passed on to. The basis is that you use the feature (Art. 6(1)(b) GDPR), and for the emails to your contacts also their consent as an emergency contact (Art. 6(1)(a) GDPR).

Whoever opens the link doesn’t need an account and sees a map with your current location and the route of the last 30 minutes, the time of the last update, the speed and the gait estimated from it, a notice if you haven’t moved for a long time and – if fall or no-movement detection triggers an alert while sharing – that alert. The page shows neither your name, nor your account, nor any other details; the horse’s name only if you add it. If you are in one of your Friends4 privacy zones, the server stores no location there and the page only shows “privacy zone”. The map images come from OpenStreetMap; OpenStreetMap thereby learns the address of the person viewing and only “friends4.de” as the origin, not the link itself.

Only the latest location and the route of the last 30 minutes are stored, not a complete movement profile; the link itself is only on the server as a check value (hash). Sharing stops with the ride, when you end it, or at the latest after six hours. At the end, the server deletes the location immediately; the rest (the fact that there was sharing, from when and until when) 24 hours after the end, so that the link can show “Ride finished” until then. If sharing has only expired, the last location stays stored until those 24 hours, but is only shown during an ongoing emergency alert. Neither locations, links nor addresses go into the server log.

Heart rate belt (Bluetooth)

Under “More › Heart rate sensor” you can pair a Bluetooth heart rate belt for your horse. For this, the app only looks for heart rate belts (Bluetooth standard “heart rate”) and reads them directly – without the manufacturer’s account or cloud. The identifier of the paired belt and its name stay only on your device, never go to the server and disappear with “Forget sensor” or when you delete the app. Other Bluetooth devices nearby are neither stored nor sent. On Android, the app doesn’t use the search for location.

During the ride, the app records the horse’s pulse between “Start” and “Stop” and then for at most ten minutes until you save the ride (for recovery). The values go to the server with the ride, are stored there in condensed form with the ride, are visible to the same people as the ride and are deleted with it. If you measure the resting pulse with the belt, nothing is stored until you save the value in the form yourself – it is then a normal vital sign.

You can wear a second belt yourself and give it the role “Rider” under “More › Heart rate sensor”. The rider’s pulse is health data about you. The app only records it if you expressly consent when assigning the role (Art. 9(2)(a) GDPR), and only during a ride, like the horse’s pulse. It is stored with the ride separately from the horse’s pulse and is only visible to you – the owner and co-managers who see your ride on their horse don’t receive it, neither the average nor the peak. Friends4horses only shows the curve, the average and the peak and makes no statement about your health. You withdraw your consent by removing the role from the belt or forgetting it; you delete the stored values with the ride, with “Delete Friends4horses data” or with your Friends4 account.

Wear OS watch: with the Friends4horses app on a Wear OS watch, the watch can measure your pulse instead of a belt. Here too, you expressly consent under “More › Heart rate sensor › Wear OS watch”; everything just said applies. The watch only measures during a recording and sends the values to your phone (recording on the watch alone: see below) – it never talks to the server itself and stores no sign-in details. You withdraw your consent there with “Stop recording”; when you sign out, it ends by itself.

Apple Watch: likewise, the Friends4horses app on an Apple Watch can measure your pulse. You expressly consent on the iPhone under “More › Heart rate sensor › Apple Watch”; everything just said applies. The watch only measures during a recording and sends the values to your iPhone (recording on the watch alone: see below) – it never talks to the server itself and stores no sign-in details. To measure, the watch opens an “Equestrian sports” session in Apple Health, which it discards at the end: Friends4horses stores no workout in Health and reads nothing there except the heart rate during the ride. The heart rate readings are stored in Health by watchOS itself, as with every workout; you manage them in the Health app. You withdraw your consent with “Stop recording”; when you sign out, it ends by itself.

Recording on the watch alone: if your phone isn’t nearby (or you choose “Watch only”), the Apple Watch and the Wear OS watch record lungeing, groundwork and cool-down themselves. For this, the watch knows the names of your horses and your user number from the last sync with the phone; after you sign out on the phone, it receives an empty list. The session – horse, type, start and end and, only with your consent for the pulse, your pulse every five seconds – stays only on the watch (in its own app folder, not backed up; on the Apple Watch encrypted as long as the watch hasn’t been unlocked since it was switched on) until your phone is back. It then goes via the connection between watch and phone and from there to the server like any other session; after that, the watch deletes its copy. The watch itself never talks to the server here either. Intervals (work/rest) only help with training and are not stored. Without a phone, the watch doesn’t detect falls and doesn’t alert any emergency contact.

Motion sensor during the ride (gait and ride analysis)

During a recorded ride – only between “Start” and “Stop” – the app reads your phone’s accelerometer to estimate the gait and calculate the ride analysis (rhythm, evenness of the rhythm, seat stability, transitions). The raw sensor data stays on your device. With the ride, only one line of compact characteristic values every four seconds goes to the server: the estimated gait with its degree of certainty, the frequency of the rhythm, the number, average and spread of the intervals from one stride to the next and a value for the phone’s restlessness outside the rhythm. If you choose before the ride where the phone is carried (for example belt bag or jacket pocket), this information goes too; the app remembers this choice on your device.

The server stores the characteristic values with the ride and derives a short summary per gait from them, so that you can compare your rides. The only purpose is the analysis of your rides (Art. 6(1)(b) GDPR); the values are estimates of the phone’s movement, not a statement about your health or your horse’s. Gaits, rhythm and transitions are visible to the same people as the ride; seat stability describes you as a rider and is – like the rider’s pulse – only visible to you, not even to the owner and co-managers of the horse. The characteristic values and the summary are deleted with the ride (you can always delete your own ride) and with the horse – so also with “Delete Friends4horses data” for your own horses. Rides on other people’s horses are part of their history and stay until you or the owner delete them; if you delete your Friends4 account, they stay with the horse without your name, and nobody sees their seat stability any more.

Calories during the ride (body weight)

For the calories estimated per gait in the ride analysis, you can enter your body weight under “More › Settings”. The calculation takes place in the app; the weight stays on your device and never goes to the server. It is only used for your own rides and stays on the device even after you sign out, separately for each account. It is deleted when you clear the field, when you delete your Friends4 account in the app or when you delete the app.

Stable location for the weather check

For the notes on fructans, insects and pollen, you can set a stable location for the horse. It is only stored rounded to about one kilometre, with the horse, and everyone you share the horse with can see it. For the forecast and official weather warnings, the server sends the rounded location to Bright Sky, an open interface to the data of the German weather service (Deutscher Wetterdienst) – without your name and without your account. You can delete the stable location on the horse at any time.

Location for “Around the horse, nearby” and “Compare prices”

Only if you start one of these searches does the app determine your location once and roughly (to about one kilometre) and send it to the server with the search. The server doesn’t store it and doesn’t write it into any log, nor your search term. The entries – tack shops, equine vets, farriers, riding stables, saddlers and feed merchants – come from OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors) and the Friends4 marketplace; only prices that the shops enter there themselves are compared.

Marketplace

The marketplace in Friends4horses is the same as on Friends4: a listing for horses is an ad in the Friends4 marketplace and appears there too. What you enter is stored – title, description, category, type (sale, loan, service, wanted ad), price, place, condition, size, brand, whether you offer commercially, a photo and, for a horse, the year of birth, breed, sex, height and, if you give it, the UELN; for a horse share, horse or pony, riding style, experience and days. If you take details from the record, only these five come along – never the name, stable or health; only the horse’s owner can do that. The basis is the performance of the contract of use (Art. 6(1)(b) GDPR). For a stable place, the type of housing, “free from”, the number of places and the services are added and – only if you choose it – your own verified riding stable from “Around the horse, nearby”; for a job, the field of work, type of employment, start, pay if you give it and, for a job offer, the employer. The marketplace doesn’t store CVs or application documents – you apply via Friends4 messages. Whether you are under 18 the server reads from your Friends4 account: then you only see mini-jobs, apprenticeships and internships among the jobs and can only post a search yourself (youth employment protection); your age doesn’t appear in any listing.

Who sees what: an active listing is seen by all signed-in users of Friends4 and Friends4horses (without children’s accounts), with your username. It shows the place as you write it – give the area, not the stable. For the radius search, the server determines once from this place a point rounded to about one kilometre and stores it with the listing; for this it only sends the place name to Nominatim (OpenStreetMap), without your name and without your account. Nobody gets to see this point, only the distance. If you search within a radius, the same applies to your location or the place you type in as above: it isn’t stored. A photo is saved again without metadata (that is, without the location where it was taken) and checked by the photo team (see “Who sees what”).

Saved list and messages: what you save, the server stores with your account, so that your saved list is the same on all devices; only you can see it. You write via Friends4 messages – Friends4horses stores nothing of its own for this. There is no payment via the app.

Reporting: you can report a listing, for example for animal welfare, suspected fraud or – for a job – as a discriminatory job ad. The reason, your optional text, your account, which listing it is, its title and who posted it are stored – in the list of reports of the Friends4 moderation (Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR). The person who posted the listing doesn’t learn who reported it.

Deleting: if you withdraw a listing, it is gone for everyone else; marked as sold, it stays visible to you. With your Friends4 account, your listings, photos and your saved list are deleted.

Bridleways on the map

For “Bridleways nearby”, the app sends the server either the horse’s stable location or – only if you choose “My location” – your location, determined once and roughly (rounded to about one kilometre). While a ride is being recorded, the app asks for the paths around your current location, also rounded to about one kilometre, and only again after about 1.5 km of distance. The server doesn’t store this location and doesn’t write it into any log; it fetches the paths for a fixed map tile of about 11 × 7 km from OpenStreetMap (via the open Overpass service, without your name and without your account) and keeps this tile for a week, so that not every request asks again. Only the map tile is stored, not who asked for it. The paths come from OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL licence).

Sharing and repeating trail routes

A route is one of your own rides that you expressly share as a public route (see “Who sees what”). Only accounts whose adulthood is confirmed at Friends4 can share. Around the start and finish, the server always cuts off a piece of about 300 to 500 m, so that your stable doesn’t appear on the map, as well as everything in your privacy zones. Stored with the route are the shortened track, its name, its length, the elevation and the time you took for this stretch – not your horse, your log or your pulse. Whoever repeats a route only receives it loaded onto their phone; the server doesn’t learn that it is being repeated.

Friends4horses Plus (subscription)

You buy Plus in the App Store or on Google Play; payment takes place there, and that’s also where you cancel. So that Plus applies in the same way on the iPhone and on Android, the server remembers that you have Plus and until when. Before the purchase, the app receives a random identifier from the server that the store takes along into the purchase – so a purchase can only be assigned to your account.

The server checks an App Store purchase using Apple’s signature, without asking Apple; Apple also reports renewal, cancellation and refund to the server. The server checks a Google Play purchase by asking Google with the purchase identifier (via the Google Play Developer API) – with this identifier, without your name. The basis is the performance of the subscription contract (Art. 6(1)(b) GDPR).

“Delete Friends4horses data” leaves the Plus record in place, because the subscription is paid for and continues in the store; it is deleted with your Friends4 account.

Emoji code with Plus. For every year of subscription (once for a gifted Plus), you receive a code for the “Friends4horses” emoji set, which you use in Friends4 or give away. For this, Friends4 stores the encrypted code, who it was issued to, until when the period ran and – after use – which account used it and when; the code itself is then deleted, only a check value remains. You don’t see who used it, only that it was used; Friends4 administrators see it in order to deal with misuse and questions. The basis is the performance of the subscription contract (Art. 6(1)(b) GDPR). An unused code remains usable even if your subscription ends or you delete your account – you may already have given it away. Children’s accounts don’t receive a code.

Usage statistics

So that we can see whether Friends4horses is growing and where the app is too complicated, the server remembers exactly two dates for your account: the day of your first and the day of your last use – without time, and the last day is overwritten, no history is created. For the daily figures, the server counts each day how many accounts used the app on the iPhone or on Android (the app states with every request which system it runs on); these totals contain no account. There is no analytics program in the app, no third-party statistics service, no device or advertising identifier and no recording of the pages or buttons you use. The language last asked for (see “Signing in to the app”) is stored in the same row, but doesn’t go into any statistics.

Evaluation only takes place as totals, in the Friends4 admin area and only for administrators: how many accounts are new and were active, how many created a horse, made an entry, recorded a ride or shared a horse, how many horses use a feature and how many Plus subscriptions are running. Numbers from 1 to 4 only appear there as “< 5”, so that nobody can recognise individuals. The basis is our legitimate interest in improving the app (Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR). “Delete Friends4horses data” and deleting your Friends4 account also delete these two dates.

Who sees what

Rolesees
Ownereverything about their own horse, including who has access – in the cost book their own entries and those others make for them
Co-managerhorse, equipment (without purchase price), stable day, calendar, health record with stable contacts, equine passport with scans, feeding plan, insurance, all rides on this horse, in the cost book only their own entries
Helperhorse, equipment (without purchase price and without the saddler’s number), feeding plan, their own tasks and those assigned to nobody, the whole mucking-out plan (who mucks out on which day), their own rides, in the cost book only their own entries – not the health record with the faecal egg counts or the stable contacts, not the equine passport, not other people’s rides

Access is only by an invitation code from the owner; it is valid for seven days and only once. Whoever gets a horse shared with them only sees this horse, never the owner’s other horses. Photos are not freely on the internet but are only handed to signed-in people who have access; a photo of a symptom is part of the health record and so only goes to the owner and co-managers, not to helpers – likewise a photo of an illness or medication. A photo on a task is seen by whoever sees the task: helpers therefore only on tasks assigned to them or to nobody. The same applies to the blood type: it is in the horse’s form, but it is part of the health record, and helpers don’t see it. Only you, as owner, see the purchase price – neither co-managers nor helpers receive it, and they can’t change it; if you hand the horse over to someone else, the purchase price is deleted.

Photo team: every image uploaded in Friends4horses – profile photo, cover photo and photos of symptoms, entries and equipment, but not the equine passport pages (see “Equine passport”) – is also checked by the Friends4 photo team, like every other image on Friends4. The team checks whether it breaks the Friends4 rules (for example violence, nudity or images that endanger children); the basis is our legitimate interest in protecting users – many of whom are minors – from illegal content and content harmful to minors (Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR). The team only sees the image, the username of the person who uploaded it and the horse’s name – no results, no notes, no other log data – and only as long as the image is waiting to be checked. For you and the people you share the horse with, the image is visible immediately. If the team rejects it, the server deletes the file, the entry stays; the person who uploaded it receives a message, in the case of a serious violation also a warning or a block of their Friends4 account. Who in the team decided and when is recorded.

Reporting a photo: you can report a photo that another person uploaded on a horse in full screen. The reason, your optional text, your account, the photo concerned and the time are stored – in the list of reports of the Friends4 moderation, like every other report on Friends4 (Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR: protection of users, especially minors). The photo then goes back to the photo team and doesn’t appear on any Friends4 profile until it decides. The person who uploaded the photo doesn’t learn who reported it.

Equipment is seen by everyone you share the horse with, including helpers – whoever tacks up needs to know which saddle and which bit fit the horse. Only the owner and co-managers can change it. Only you, as owner, see the purchase price of the equipment; it is deleted when the horse is handed over. The stable contact chosen as saddler is only seen, like all stable contacts, by the owner and co-managers. From the date of the last saddle fitting, the server calculates when the next check is due; a reminder is an ordinary stable day task that you create yourself. With the horse, with “Delete Friends4horses data” and with the Friends4 account, the equipment of your own horses is deleted with the photos; if you have entered something on someone else’s horse, it stays with the horse, just without your name.

Cost book: money is private, which is why a stricter rule applies here than for the log. Everyone only sees the expenses they have entered themselves. You, as owner, also see what others enter for you on your horse – the app tells them so when they enter it. Co-managers and helpers don’t see your expenses. A contribution you set is only seen, apart from you, by the person who pays it. If you hand the horse over, the new owner sees no expenses from the previous period, and running contributions end; if the access of a person who pays ends, their contribution ends too. A receipt photo is seen by exactly whoever sees the entry; it is stored without metadata, like all photos. Friends4 administrators have no insight into the cost book, and amounts and notes are not in any log. With the horse, all entries are deleted with the receipts; with “Delete Friends4horses data” and with the Friends4 account, also your entries on other people’s horses – a contribution you paid to an owner stays in their cost book, now ended and without your name.

Pasture and grazing is also health data: the “prone to laminitis” marking, the grazing plan, the history and the notes are only seen by the owner and co-managers, not by helpers. A helper only sees the day’s target time, so that they can tick off the day; their note is not stored. For the fructan level, the server uses the same rounded stable location as the weather check. The app doesn’t make a diagnosis. Every owner or co-manager can delete the plan with its history at any time; it is deleted with the horse, with “Delete Friends4horses data” and with the Friends4 account. If someone ticked off a day on another person’s horse, the day stays with the horse, just without their name.

Only what you share yourself as a route becomes public. You can expressly pass one of your rides to the Friends4 route system and publish it there. Signed-in Friends4 users then see the track of this route and its name – not your horse or your log. Because a ride usually starts at the stable, the server always cuts off a piece around the start and finish; a personal privacy zone, which the app offers beforehand, can enlarge this piece. Only adults can share publicly. Published routes can be reported and are moderated by Friends4; the Friends4 privacy policy applies.

Horses on your Friends4 profile: only if you turn it on for the horse does it appear on your profile at Friends4 – with photo, name, breed, sex and age in years, never with the date of birth, stable location, UELN or chip number, health record or rides; only those who can see your profile can see it (for minors, only friends); you only show a shared horse if the owner has also allowed it, and when sharing ends, the horse is handed over or you turn it off, it disappears. The photo only appears there once approved by the photo team; until then, on profiles only the owner and the person who uploaded it see it.

Riding exercises: only you see your vote on “How do you like this exercise?”. Friends4 administrators only see per exercise how many times “boring”, “good” and “great” were chosen – never who voted what. Other users see nothing of it; the other exercises suggested to you come only from the exercise catalogue, not from your votes. Your votes are deleted with “Delete Friends4horses data” and with your Friends4 account.

Academy: only you see your hearts. Of “Did this help you?”, the HorsesTeam (who look after the content) and Friends4 administrators only see how many times “no”, “partly” and “yes” were chosen per content – never who voted what. An error report is seen by the HorsesTeam and Friends4 administrators on the content concerned, with your username, so that they can get back to you; it is only used to correct the content. Once dealt with, it is deleted; the log only keeps who dealt with it and when, not its text. Hearts, answers and reports are also deleted with the content, with “Delete Friends4horses data” and with your Friends4 account.

Storage period and deletion

The data stays stored until you delete it. In the app, under “More”, “Delete Friends4horses data” deletes your horses with everything attached to them (including other people’s entries on these horses, all photos and the equine passport pages), your shares, your settings, your emergency contacts with the alert log, a shared live location, the first and last day of your use and the language last asked for (see “Usage statistics”) and everything you have saved in the academy (saved exercises, votes on exercises, hearts, answers to “Did this help you?”, error reports); your Friends4 account stays. You delete a single horse in its settings. Whoever leaves a shared horse loses access; their entries stay with the horse, because they are part of its history.

Deleting the Friends4 account: also under “More”, you can delete your whole Friends4 account – with your password and the confirmation text “ACCOUNT LÖSCHEN”. This doesn’t only delete the Friends4horses data (with the horse photos, all photos of symptoms and entries and the scanned equine passport pages of your own horses), but the whole account on friends4.de with everything you created there, and cannot be undone. It doesn’t cancel a running Plus subscription: cancel it beforehand in the App Store or on Google Play. The same is possible on friends4.de in the settings.

No advertising, no passing on

Friends4horses shows no advertising, analyses nothing for advertising purposes and doesn’t pass any data on to third parties – except, in an emergency alert, to the notification services of your emergency contacts’ devices and, for the emergency text message, to Hetzner Online (see “Fall detection and emergency contacts”). The maps in the app come from Apple (Apple Maps) on the iPhone and from OpenStreetMap on Android; for this, the app loads the map tiles of the area shown, and the provider concerned thereby receives your IP address.

Rating in the App Store

After you have saved a few rides, the iPhone app asks at most once per app version for a rating in the App Store – at the earliest three days after first use. Apple shows the dialogue; only Apple learns whether and how you rate. The app only counts on your device how many rides you have saved and whether it has already asked; nothing of this goes to the server.

Transmission

All connections between the app, the website and the server are encrypted (HTTPS).

Contact and help

Questions about the app or your data: support@friends4.de. Name and address are in the legal notice (in German).

Your rights

You have the right of access, rectification, erasure, restriction of processing, data portability and objection, as well as the right to lodge a complaint with a data protection supervisory authority. To do so, contact the address in the legal notice.

Translation for information. Only the German version is binding.