Questions
If yours is not here, ask: support@purrgressapp.com.
Using it
Do I need a phone signal to log a feeding?
No. Feedings, weights and medical records are stored on the phone first and sync when you are back on a signal, so a basement foster room or a car park at the vet is fine. Two people logging the same litter offline will both land safely, because entries are separate records rather than edits to a shared one.
Two exceptions. Photos need a connection, because picture uploads are not part of the offline queue, so add those when you have signal. And the first sign-in on a new phone needs a connection; after that the app opens and works without one.
I foster for two rescues. Do I need two accounts?
No. One account can belong to several rescue teams, and you switch between them in the app. Each team only ever sees its own animals.
I have been keeping paper records. Can I bring them in?
Yes. Every feeding and weigh-in has a Past record switch that lets you enter it with its real date and time. Backdated entries go into the history and the growth chart without disturbing the kitten's current status or setting off reminders. Medical records take any date normally.
Grams or ounces?
Whichever you think in. It is a per-phone setting, and it converts both ways, so a rescue can have one foster on grams and another on pounds and ounces, both looking at the same kitten.
What if I log something on the wrong kitten?
Tap the entry to correct it, or swipe it away to delete, with an Undo if you were too quick. Deleting the most recent weight puts the kitten's current weight back to whatever the previous reading was, so the growth flag corrects itself.
Does it work on iPhone?
Not as a native app, but the browser version works on an iPhone. Open purrgressapp.com/app in Safari and add it to your home screen, and it behaves much like an installed app. The one thing it cannot do is scheduled reminders, because a browser cannot alert you with the tab closed. A native iOS app only makes sense once enough people need one to justify Apple's yearly developer fee.
Rescues and teams
Who can see my litters?
A foster sees only the litters assigned to them. Coordinators, co-owners and the owner see everything in that rescue. Nobody outside your rescue sees anything. This is enforced on the server, not just hidden in the app, and there is an automated test suite that checks it on every change.
Will I get woken up by someone else's kittens?
No. You are only alerted for litters assigned to you. Alerts for someone else's litter require both of you to agree, one animal at a time. That is useful when you are covering a weekend for another foster, and it is off by default.
What happens when a foster leaves the rescue?
The litter stays. Removing a foster requires assigning their litters to someone else, and if a foster leaves on their own the litter shows up under "Needs a foster" for coordinators rather than quietly vanishing. The care history stays with the rescue either way.
Someone signed up with a Google account that shows a nickname.
Coordinators and above can set a display name for anyone in the team, and anyone can set their own. It applies to past entries too, so the feeding log stops saying "xXcatmom92Xx" retroactively.
What happens to the records when a kitten is adopted?
Mark the animal as adopted, transferred, returned to field or deceased, and it stops appearing in rounds and reminders while keeping its full history. When every animal in a litter has left care, the litter moves to the archive on its own.
Your data
Can you see my rescue's records?
Technically yes, and it would be dishonest to imply otherwise. Purrgress runs on Google Firebase, and the administrator of any such project can read what is stored. The access rules that separate teams apply to the app, not to the administration console. In practice that means looking only to fix a reported bug, or if the law requires it. The privacy notice says so in writing.
Do you sell anything, or run ads?
No, and there is no advertising SDK, no analytics, and no usage tracking in the app at all. That is not a policy that could quietly change. It is the absence of code, and the privacy notice commits to it.
If I delete my account, do the kittens' records go too?
No, and that is deliberate. Your personal details are deleted; the animals' feeding, weight and medical history stays with the rescue, because it is that rescue's medical record and an adopter or a vet may need it years later. Your name stays on the entries you logged unless you ask for it off. Say the word and they become "logged by a former member", and you do not have to give a reason. The full list is on the support page.
Can I get my records out?
Yes. Back up to your own Google Drive whenever you like. The app asks for one narrow permission that only lets it touch files it created, so it cannot see anything else in your Drive.
Cost
What does it cost?
Nothing today, and the goal is to keep it as close to free as it can be for as long as it can be. What cannot honestly be promised is "free forever" - the hosting bill grows with the number of animals being tracked. If charging ever becomes necessary the intent is to scale it with size, so that a foster doing a few litters a year stays free and a rescue moving hundreds of animals pays something. You would hear about it beforehand.
Will you charge per person?
That is the one shape being deliberately avoided. Charging per volunteer would make a rescue think twice about inviting another foster, and the thing they would fall back to is a paper binder.
What it is not
Will it tell me if a kitten is in trouble?
It will flag weight loss and gain that is below the usual range for the age, which is often the earliest visible sign. But it is not veterinary advice, and it cannot see the kitten. A neonate that is cold, limp, or not eating needs a vet now, not another data point. Do not wait for an app to tell you something is wrong.
Can I rely on the reminders for overnight feeds?
Not on their own. Phones delay notifications, restart, run out of battery, and some manufacturers kill background apps aggressively. Set a separate alarm for overnight feeds and treat the app's reminder as a second line of defence.
Is this a replacement for my rescue's management software?
No. Purrgress is about what happens in the foster home: what went in, what the scale says, what the vet did. It does not do adoptions, applications, donations or accounting, and there is no plan for it to.