What belongs on Petable
- Real photos of street, community, or outdoor animals you encounter from a safe public distance.
- Friendly comments, corrections, names, and context that help the community.
- Reports that help us remove unsafe, abusive, or privacy-invasive content.
Safe spotting rules
- Observe first. Do not approach an animal if it looks scared, defensive, sick, injured, protective, near traffic, or part of a pack.
- No chasing, cornering, feeding, touching, baiting, restraining, flash-at-close-range photos, or staged behavior for a clearer photo.
- Stay where you are allowed to be. Do not enter private property, restricted areas, homes, yards, windows, schools, workplaces, vehicles, or animal shelters without permission.
- Skip the spot if the situation is unsafe. Badges, streaks, First Finder credit, and map pins are never worth risking a person or animal.
Firsts and launch collectibles
City and area “first” awards celebrate the first safe spotter in a place — never the fastest or the closest. A safe photo counts; a risky one does not. First-style awards are granted only after a safety review, and any award earned through trespass, staged or re-photographed images, faked location, or unsafe behavior is revoked.
What is not allowed
- Harassment, threats, hate, sexual content, graphic violence, animal cruelty, or illegal content.
- Photos meant to identify or shame a person, private home, vehicle, school, workplace, or exact address.
- Internet photos, screens, printed images, staged hoaxes, spam, impersonation, scraping, or attempts to manipulate badges, maps, or reports.
- Instructions or behavior that could put animals, people, or private locations at risk.
Privacy and animal safety
Frame the animal, not people or private property. Avoid faces, license plates, house numbers, windows, indoor spaces, school identifiers, clinic names, and exact address clues. Do not publish exact location details in captions or comments. If a post exposes a person, private location, vulnerable animal, or unsafe behavior, report it.
Reports and blocks
Use the in-app report and block tools on posts, photos, comments, and profiles. Every report is reviewed by a person; report volume alone never removes content, and misusing reports to target someone is itself a violation. You can follow the status of your reports in the app under Settings → Your reports. For urgent reports, email support@petable.app or our grievance officer, Mufaddal Hirani (mufaddalhirani7@gmail.com), with a link, screenshot, username, and short explanation.
Fake or staged captures
Petable is for real animal encounters. Photos of screens, prints, or staged shots can be reported as “Not a real capture.” Confirmed fakes are not usually deleted — they lose trusted status: no first-finder credit, no badge or collectible progress, and reduced reach. Repeatedly posting fakes to chase firsts or collectibles is treated as reward fraud and escalates like any other repeated violation, and awards earned through fakes are revoked.
Enforcement and account standing
Enforcement is proportionate and escalates with repetition. A first low-harm violation usually brings a warning with a pointer to the rule. After that, the feature you misused (for example commenting or capturing) is paused temporarily, then longer, then the account is suspended, and — if violations keep coming — permanently banned. Violations stop counting toward escalation after 90 days of clean behavior. Severe harm (content sexualizing minors, credible threats, animal cruelty, sexual content targeting a person) skips the ladder: the account is suspended immediately and permanently banned on confirmation. You can always see your own record under Settings → Account status in the app.
Appeals
Every enforcement decision names the rule it was based on and can be appealed once, from Settings → Account status (or directly from the suspension screen). Appeals go to a human — never a machine — and are answered within 15 days. If an appeal succeeds, the decision is reversed and any strikes from it stop counting. You can also reach our grievance officer, Mufaddal Hirani, at mufaddalhirani7@gmail.com.