Privacy Policy

Information we handle

MurBuddy handles only the information needed to provide the virtual pet experience, protect accounts, process optional memberships, and respond to support requests.

• Account data, such as email address, display name, authentication identifiers, and timezone.
• Optional birthday month and day. MurBuddy does not store your birth year; this information is used for the annual birthday greeting and gift.
• Buddy and game data, such as pet state, progress, inventory, achievements, customization, and activity timestamps.
• Conversation data, including messages you send, generated replies, and the context needed to keep a chat coherent.
• Optional long-term memories derived from current Buddy chats while the feature is eligible, including corrections and confirmations you make.
• Membership and billing metadata, such as plan, provider, subscription status, period dates, and provider identifiers. Payment credentials are handled by the payment provider, not stored by MurBuddy.
• Technical and security data needed to operate the service, such as request timing, error details, IP-derived network information, and redacted security logs.
• Support correspondence and any diagnostic information you choose to include in an email.
• For visitors who allow analytics, page paths and titles, coarse referrer information, consented funnel events, browser and device characteristics, and approximate network or location information produced by Google Analytics. MurBuddy does not send chat text, email addresses, account identifiers, pet names, payment order identifiers, or checkout URLs to Analytics.

How we use information

Where applicable law requires a legal basis, processing may rely on providing the service you request, legitimate interests in operating and securing MurBuddy, consent where required, and compliance with legal obligations.

• Create and authenticate trial or saved accounts, synchronize progress, and prevent conflicting sessions.
• Operate Buddy care, chat, customization, achievements, and other game features.
• Generate AI replies and, for eligible memberships, organize useful long-term memories for the current Buddy.
• Process, confirm, and manage optional subscription benefits.
• Detect abuse, investigate failures, secure the service, and comply with legal obligations.
• Answer support, privacy, billing, and account-deletion requests.
• Measure how consenting visitors move through public pages and a limited product funnel so MurBuddy can improve navigation and product reliability. Analytics reports cover consenting traffic only and are not an account, registration, or revenue ledger.

Chat, AI, and long-term memory

Chat history and long-term memory are different. Chat history is the conversation record used to provide and contextualize the chat experience. Long-term memories are selected pieces of useful context associated with the current Buddy.

An AI service provider receives the instructions and conversation context needed to generate replies or organize eligible memories. AI output can be inaccurate, incomplete, or unexpected, so avoid sharing secrets or information you would not want processed by an AI service.

Inside Membership Center you can review long-term memories, confirm or correct them, stop an individual memory from being mentioned, or clear all long-term memories for the current Buddy.

Eligible users can also turn long-term memory off for the current Buddy. While it is off, MurBuddy does not learn new long-term memories, recall saved memories, or include them in AI instructions; saved memories remain available to manage. Turning it back on restores recall of saved memories and learns only from chats sent after re-enabling, without backfilling earlier unprocessed chats.

Service providers and transfers

MurBuddy uses service providers to run the service. They process data under their own contractual and security terms, and their systems may be located in countries other than yours.

• Authentication and cloud-data service providers for accounts, databases, and cloud account data.
• Hosting and infrastructure service providers for website delivery, APIs, networking, and security.
• AI service providers for AI-generated chat and eligible memory processing.
• Payment and billing service providers for checkout, subscription management, payment confirmation, and billing support.
• Google Analytics, provided by Google LLC as a service provider processing consented analytics data for MurBuddy under the accepted data-processing terms. Google products-and-services data sharing, Google Signals, advertising personalization, Google Ads linking, User-ID, and advertising features are disabled.

Browser storage and cookies

MurBuddy uses browser storage and essential authentication data to keep the game working, preserve local UI state, and maintain a signed-in session. Google Analytics is optional and uses a global opt-in choice: before you select Allow, MurBuddy does not create an Analytics dataLayer, load the Google tag, contact Google, write Analytics event queues, or send analytics behavior. Declining Analytics does not limit the service.

After you allow Analytics, Google Analytics may set the first-party cookies _ga and _ga_<container>. MurBuddy limits the Analytics cookie lifetime to up to 90 days and stores the first-party Analytics consent preference buddy_analytics_consent_v1 for up to 90 days. Analytics data retention in each GA4 Property is configured to 2 months.

Use “Analytics preferences” in the Privacy or Terms footer, or in Account settings for a saved account, to change your choice. Withdrawing consent stops new business events, clears MurBuddy Analytics markers and available _ga cookies for this host, and reloads the page without the Google tag. An expired consent is not carried forward.

When you sign in with “Keep me signed in for 30 days” selected (the default), MurBuddy keeps that saved-account browser session for up to 30 days from the successful sign-in. Activity and automatic token refresh do not extend that window. If you clear the checkbox, the saved-account session is limited to the current browser tab session: a refresh in that tab can restore it, but closing the tab or browser ends it, and a new tab is not guaranteed to inherit it.

Email verification after sign-up, finishing an anonymous-trial save, and password-recovery completion create a saved-account browser session with the same default 30-day keep-signed-in window. Changing your password while already signed in does not restart that window.

Google sign-in may briefly return Provider Tokens to the browser during OAuth completion. MurBuddy deletes the provider_token and provider_refresh_token fields before writing the browser session. MurBuddy does not separately retain those tokens or use them to call other Google APIs.

Anonymous trial progress stays in local browser storage without that fixed 30-day sign-in window; inactive anonymous trial accounts are still scheduled for deletion after 30 days of inactivity on the server.

Retention and deletion

Releasing a Buddy removes it from the visible game and archives associated server chat records. Deleting the saved account is the in-product path for permanent removal of account data, subject to records that must be retained for legal, fraud-prevention, or transaction obligations.

• Inactive anonymous trial accounts are scheduled for deletion after 30 days of inactivity.
• Saved account, Buddy, chat, and memory data: Account and game data remain available while the account is active or a scheduled deletion is pending. They are removed when verified deletion completes, except where limited retention is legally required.
• Billing and transaction records: Billing metadata is retained for up to 7 years.
• Support correspondence: Closed support communications are retained for up to 1 year.
• Security and diagnostic logs: Routine operational and security logs are retained for up to 7 days.
• Google Analytics event and user-level data: 2 months in GA4; first-party Analytics cookies and the Analytics consent preference: up to 90 days.
• For an active refund, chargeback, security, or legal matter, only the minimum evidence needed to resolve the matter is retained for as long as necessary.
• Database backups follow the service provider’s retention cycle; separately stored objects are not included in database snapshots.

Account settings offers two paths: delete after current paid access ends, or delete immediately and give up remaining access. Scheduling deletion immediately requests that recurring renewal stop while keeping already-paid access through the shown deletion date. MurBuddy does not delete the account until recurring billing is confirmed stopped. If automatic cancellation permanently fails, deletion pauses for payment-provider or support action. Withdrawing deletion does not restore renewal: PayPal users subscribe again after access ends, while Creem renewal can be restored only when Membership Center says it is available. Account deletion and refunds are separate; deletion never automatically issues a refund. MurBuddy sends no deletion-confirmation email; a status receipt stays only in the requesting browser through the scheduled date and for up to 30 days after completion.

Your choices and rights

Depending on your location, you may have rights to request access, correction, deletion, portability, restriction, or objection, and to complain to a data-protection authority.

Saved users can delete their account from Account settings. Long-term memories can be managed separately in Membership Center. Analytics consent can be changed through Analytics preferences without contacting support. For other requests, contact support from the email associated with the account so identity can be verified.

Age requirement and policy changes

MurBuddy is intended for people aged 13 or older. If the minimum age required by law in your location is higher, that higher age applies. People below the age of legal majority should use the service only with any permission required by local law.

Material policy changes will be published on this page with a revised effective date. Questions about this policy can be sent to the support address below.