Here to help

Your information. Your understanding.

What OnlyCat collects, why, who sees it and what you can do about it. Written to be read, not just agreed to.

Who we are

OnlyCat is a trading name of VirtualV Trading Ltd, a UK company based in Cramlington, Northumberland. We are the data controller for the personal information described here. If anything on this page is unclear, email privacy@onlycat.com and a person will answer.

This policy covers onlycat.com, the OnlyCat app, the OnlyCat cat flap and the ways you contact us. It applies wherever you live, and where your local law gives you extra rights, you have them.

What we collect

We collect only what we need to sell you a cat flap, run it and help you. In practice that is:

  • Your account: name, email address, password (stored hashed), and the language and notification settings you choose.
  • Your orders: delivery and billing address, what you bought, and the payment confirmation. Payments are taken by our payment providers; we receive confirmation of the payment and the last digits of a card, never the full card number.
  • Your device: its serial number, its Wi-Fi network name for setup, its firmware version and connection status.
  • Door events: when the flap opens or stays shut, which cat’s microchip was read, and the short video clip recorded at the flap. This is what makes prey detection and your activity feed work.
  • Your cats: the names, microchip numbers and photos you give them in the app.
  • Support conversations: what you write to us by email, chat or the helpdesk, so we can pick up where we left off.
  • Website visits: pages viewed, device and browser, approximate location from your IP address, and, if you accept them, analytics and advertising cookies.

Event video

The camera at the flap records a few seconds when a cat approaches, so OnlyCat can check for prey and you can see who came home. Clips are stored in your account and shown only to you and anyone you have invited to share the device.

We analyse events to run prey detection and to keep improving it. We do not sell your videos, use them for advertising, or share them with anyone outside OnlyCat except the providers who host our service under contract. If we would ever like to use one of your clips publicly, for example on our website, we will ask you first.

You can delete any clip in the app, and deleting your account deletes your clips with it.

Why we use it

Each use has a lawful basis under UK and EU data protection law:

  • To provide what you bought: taking orders, shipping, running the flap and the app, answering support. Basis: our contract with you.
  • To keep the service working and safe: diagnostics, fraud prevention, security monitoring, improving prey detection. Basis: our legitimate interests, balanced against yours.
  • To tell you about OnlyCat: product news and offers by email, only if you have signed up, and you can unsubscribe in one click. Basis: your consent.
  • To measure and advertise: analytics and advertising cookies help us understand how the website is used and reach people who might like OnlyCat. Basis: consent where the law requires it, otherwise our legitimate interests.
  • Because the law requires it: keeping order and tax records, responding to lawful requests. Basis: legal obligation.

Who we share it with

Your information is handled by companies that provide parts of our service under contract with us. They act on our instructions and cannot use your information for their own purposes.

  • Hosting and storage: Amazon Web Services, in European data centres.
  • Payments: Stripe and PayPal.
  • Delivery: the carriers who bring your order to your door receive your name, address and contact details.
  • Support: Crisp for chat, and our helpdesk.
  • Email: Mailchimp, for product news you have signed up to.
  • Push notifications: Apple and Google, to deliver alerts to your phone.
  • Analytics and advertising: Google, Meta, TikTok and Reddit, through the cookies described below.

We share information with authorities only when the law requires it, and we never sell personal information.

Where it is kept

Our service runs in the United Kingdom and the European Union. Some providers process information elsewhere, including the United States. Where that happens we rely on recognised safeguards such as the UK International Data Transfer Agreement and the EU Standard Contractual Clauses.

How long we keep it

  • Account, device and event data: while your account is open, and for up to twelve months after it closes, so you can come back or ask for a copy.
  • Order and payment records: for as long as tax and accounting law requires.
  • Support conversations: for as long as they help us help you, and no longer than twelve months after your account closes.
  • Analytics and advertising data: for the lifetime of the cookie you accepted.

When information is no longer needed we delete it or make it anonymous.

Your rights

You are in control of your information. You can:

  • Ask for a copy of what we hold about you.
  • Correct anything that is wrong.
  • Ask us to delete it, or delete your account yourself in the app.
  • Object to a particular use, or ask us to limit it.
  • Take your information to another service in a portable format.
  • Withdraw consent at any time, for example by unsubscribing or clearing cookies.

Email privacy@onlycat.com and we will respond within a month. If you are unhappy with how we handle your information you can complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office in the UK, or to the data protection authority where you live.

Cookies

We use cookies. Essential cookies keep you signed in and your basket remembered. Analytics cookies help us understand how the website is used, and advertising cookies help us reach people who might like OnlyCat. You can block or clear cookies at any time in your browser’s settings; the website will still work, though you may need to sign in again.

Children

OnlyCat is sold to adults. We do not knowingly collect information from anyone under 18. If you think a child has given us information, tell us and we will delete it.

Changes to this policy

When we change how we handle information we will update this page and, for significant changes, tell you by email or in the app. The date of the last change is shown at the bottom.

Contact us

Privacy questions: privacy@onlycat.com. Everything else: our support team. By post: VirtualV Trading Ltd, trading as OnlyCat, Unit 4, Arcot Court, Nelson Park Industrial Estate, Cramlington NE23 1BB, United Kingdom.

Last updated 9 September 2026.