What we collect (and don’t)
Obeagle works without accounts. When you start a session, our server issues a random anonymous session ID and a reconnect credential. Your browser keeps them in sessionStorage for that tab so a brief reload or connection drop can resume safely; closing the tab ends that continuity. Your acceptance of the house rules is stored separately on your device. Friend invite links carry a short one-time code (the ?join=CODE part of the URL), nothing personal.
We don’t collect names, email addresses, phone numbers, or payment details, because we never ask for them. Outside the report flow described below, we never see, store, or upload your camera feed.
Camera & microphone
We ask for your camera and microphone for two reasons: to run a pet check before you join the queue, and for the call itself. The pet check runs entirely on your device, using MediaPipe inside your browser — its frames are analyzed locally and are never uploaded, stored, or seen by us. It is a lightweight product gate, not liveness or identity verification and not proof that a live pet is present. It can make mistakes, and someone can bypass it by showing a photo or screen or by modifying the browser client. If you deny permission, nothing is captured; you just can’t join the queue.
Video calls & relays
Calls are peer-to-peer WebRTC whenever the network allows, meaning your audio and video travel directly between you and your match rather than through our servers. (One side effect of peer-to-peer: your IP address is visible to the device on the other end — that’s how WebRTC works.) When a direct connection fails, media is relayed through Cloudflare’s TURN service, and if that doesn’t work either, the call falls back to a Daily.co room. In every mode, Obeagle does not record calls by default.
Location
We turn your IP address into an approximate location — city, region, country — using MaxMind’s GeoLite2 database. It serves one purpose: matching you with nearby people first. We never ask for GPS and never see anything street-level.
Analytics
We use PostHog to count explicit product events: clicks, queue joins, call starts and ends, and whether camera permission was granted. That’s how we learn what’s working. There is no session replay, no keystroke logging, and no webcam frame, evidence image, storage key, or image hash ever ends up in analytics.
Reports & safety
If you report someone, we store the report: your session ID, theirs, the reason, and when it happened. For visual safety reports, such as nudity or a child-safety concern, your browser may attach one bounded snapshot from the current call. Evidence is stored separately from analytics and normal product surfaces. Reports are how we apply temporary holds, bans, and rate limits to slow abuse down.
Calls are also protected by automated safety checks. During a call, your browser analyzes the other person’s incoming video locally to detect nudity. If that check trips, your device covers the video and may upload a small burst of snapshots of the flagged feed to our servers, where an automated scan (currently OpenAI’s moderation service) confirms or clears them. Confirmed nudity can end the call and apply a temporary suspension automatically. We never record the call itself and continuous video never streams to our servers — but the snapshots taken when a check trips are stored as safety evidence under our normal evidence-retention window (see below) whether or not the automated scan confirms them; they are not published or reviewed by a person unless a report or the scan flags them. By using Obeagle you consent to this safety processing of call video.
Data retention
Sessions are ephemeral. The random session ID and reconnect credential live in sessionStorage for the current tab, and our matching state is short-lived — once you leave, the queue forgets you. Reports are the exception: we keep them as long as they’re needed to enforce bans and keep Obeagle safe. Child-safety evidence connected to a CyberTipline obligation is preserved for at least one year, then handled under the written legal retention policy.
Third parties
A short list of who helps run Obeagle:
- Render — hosts our servers, in the United States.
- Cloudflare — DNS, CDN, the TURN relay for calls, storage for DoggiTV clips, and private storage for report-time safety evidence.
- Daily.co — fallback video rooms when a direct connection isn’t possible.
- PostHog — product analytics, as described above.
- OpenAI — automated safety scanning of flagged call snapshots, for moderation only.
- MaxMind — the GeoLite2 database we use to turn IPs into approximate locations.
These providers process data only as needed to run the service.
Your choices
- Deny camera and microphone permission — nothing is captured, though you can’t join the queue without them.
- Close the tab to end its anonymous session continuity. Clearing obeagle.com’s localStorage separately removes your saved rules acceptance.
- Email davidaspiegs@gmail.com with any question or request about your data.
Children
Obeagle is for adults: you must be 18 or older to use it. The service is not directed at children, and we do not knowingly collect information from anyone under 18. If you believe someone under 18 has used Obeagle, use the in-call report button or contact us and we’ll act on it.
Changes
If we change this policy, we’ll update the date at the top. For meaningful changes, we’ll say so on the site rather than hope you re-read legal pages for fun.
Contact
Questions, requests, concerns: davidaspiegs@gmail.com. A human reads it.