Playdates & Pet Dating Guidelines

Welcome to Swipaw playdates and pet dating 🐾 This is where cats and dogs find new playmates, and these Guidelines keep every swipe, chat and meetup safe, kind and fun.

In short: Kita muna sa public, pet-friendly place. Leash dogs (1.5 metres at most), bring vaccination cards and be honest about your pet. Alaga mo, sagot mo: you answer for your pet, and a biting dog's owner reports the bite within 24 hours and pays the medical costs. Ask before taking photos, pay only in the app (paid playdates have Payment Protection), never mate or sell pets at playdates, and stop at the first sign of stress. We introduce; we don't supervise or insure. Emergency? Call 911.

1. About these Guidelines#

1. These Playdates & Pet Dating Guidelines (the "Guidelines") cover swiping, matches (both owners liked each other's pets), match chats, the meetups they lead to and playdate listings, free or paid, which a host lists and a guest requests. Swipaw is operated by Parada Technologies Inc. ("Swipaw", "we").
2. They form part of our Terms of Service, alongside the Community Guidelines and Privacy Notice. Paid playdates also follow the Payments & Refunds Policy, and their hosts the Provider Agreement. On playdates these Guidelines prevail.
3. You also accept them in the app before your first match and for each new version we ask you to accept; guests agree to them again, with the cancellation policy, when paying. Each acceptance binds like a signature under the Electronic Commerce Act of 2000 (RA 8792); we record the version and time.
4. Only members aged 18 or over with a verified e-mail address and mobile number may swipe, match or chat, and only cats and dogs on their own profiles take part.

2. What Swipaw does, and what it doesn't#

1. Introductions only. We make introductions and host listings but do not attend, supervise or insure meetups, inspect venues or check any animal's health or temperament. A free meetup is arranged between two owners and a paid playdate is a contract between host and guest; Swipaw is a party to neither, beyond the payment role in section 3.
2. What our checks mean. Verified contact details don't tell us who someone is; we run no criminal background checks. A Verified badge, or a pet's Vaccination Verified badge, means we checked the documents or cards at that time, not that anyone will behave well or any animal is gentle; other vaccination statuses are owner-entered.

3. Free meetups and paid playdates#

1. Free meetups. Plan one in your match chat, or request a free playdate listing, whose chat opens once the host accepts. Nobody pays, so a free meetup is not a sale of services under the Internet Transactions Act of 2023 (RA 11967); hosts who charge must use a paid listing.
2. Playdate listings. Listings show the host's pet, venue, duration, pet limit, activities and price, and hosts keep to them. A paid listing goes live only after the host's identity verification, a verified BIR tax registration and our review. A guest requests a time and, where offers are allowed, may offer down to the host's floor, never below 50% of the price. The host accepts, rejects or counters, never above the listed price, and a rejected request never opens a chat.
3. Payment Protection. The guest pays the total shown, taxes included and no fee added, through Swipaw's checkout within 24 hours of acceptance, or the booking lapses; by default basic identity verification comes first (Verification Policy). Xendit Philippines, Inc., an operator of payment systems registered with the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, collects the payment into an account it keeps for the host and holds it there until the playdate is complete ("Payment Protection"); Swipaw never holds it and only instructs release or refund. Payment opens the booking chat and shows both parties the exact meeting point or address.
4. Release. After the scheduled end the host marks the playdate complete; the guest confirms, or it confirms automatically after 48 hours (or the period shown on the booking) unless a dispute is open. At release our commission (by default 10%, or the playdate rate shown to hosts before listing) and any tax we must withhold come off the host's share.
5. Cancellations and disputes. The cancellation policy shown before you pay (the listing's own or the defaults below) is fixed on your booking. Host cancellations, and cancellations our force-majeure notice covers (typhoons, floods, government orders), are refunded in full. A host may decline or stop a session to protect an animal or person (a "welfare stop"), refunding in full without a cancellation strike; a guest who never arrives may be reported as a no-show 60 minutes after the start, which counts as a late cancellation. These windows cover a change of mind and never limit your remedies under the Consumer Act of the Philippines (RA 7394) for a playdate not delivered as described: dispute it before release, which freezes the payment while we decide to refund, release or split it ().

4. Keep money and contact details on Swipaw (dito lang ang bayad)#

1. Keep phone numbers, social handles, e-mail addresses, links and payment details out of profiles, pet bios, listings and request notes; we may remove them. Early in a match chat, and in a booking chat until completion, the app privately reminds you when a message looks like contact or payment details; share yours only when you are ready.
2. Never send money to anyone you meet here for a "reservation fee", "down payment" or "vet check": pay only for bookings, through Swipaw's checkout, since paying a host directly breaches the Terms and loses Payment Protection. Never share one-time codes (OTPs), PINs or e-wallet logins, or lend or sell a bank or e-wallet account; scamming people out of these, and money-muling, are crimes under the Anti-Financial Account Scamming Act (RA 12010). Chat messages asking for one-time codes or "confirmation fees" are blocked and flagged to our team.

5. Before you meet#

1. Be honest and disclose. Use real, recent photos of your own pet, and tell the other owner beforehand about any aggression or bite history, fearfulness, food or toy guarding, illness or parasites, heat, pregnancy or recent surgery; what you leave out is your responsibility (section 7).
2. Vaccinations. The Anti-Rabies Act of 2007 (RA 9482) requires dogs to be registered with their city or municipality and regularly vaccinated against rabies, recorded on a card. We strongly recommend both pets, cats included, show "Up to date" (anti-rabies within 12 months plus core vaccines) on their profile and swipe card, and the match screen reminds you to swap records. Bring the card; hosts may require current vaccines, and requests for pets without them cannot be sent.
3. On the day. Keep a sick, injured, in-heat, recovering or stressed pet at home, and cancel a booked playdate in the app as early as you can. Agree the plan in chat and bring water and poop bags.

6. Meeting safely#

1. Public first. Hold first meetups in daylight in a public, pet-friendly place, such as a park, café or mall, and tell a friend where you'll be. Keep your address private until you have met and feel comfortable, and pin only meetup places in chat.
2. Leashes and muzzles. In public, keep dogs on a leash no longer than 1.5 metres, as the Anti-Rabies Act and its implementing rules require, unleashing them only in a secure, enclosed area where the venue allows it and both owners agree. Muzzle a dog that has bitten or shown aggression, with a basket muzzle it can pant through.
3. Cats and travel. Bring cats in a closed, ventilated carrier until you are indoors, and dogs leashed, harnessed or crated, as the Bureau of Animal Industry's land-transport rules (Administrative Order No. 19, s. 2006) expect. Never carry a pet in a car trunk or an uncaged truck bed or leave it in a parked car; under the Animal Welfare Act (RA 8485, as amended by RA 10631), that can be cruelty.
4. Introductions. Start on neutral ground after a short side-by-side walk, leashes loose, and part the pets after a few seconds of sniffing. Don't force a greeting, keep food and toys away at first, stay within reach, and never leave the pets alone together or a child alone with an unfamiliar dog.
5. When to stop. Loose, wiggly play with pauses is good. Separate the pets calmly at warning signs (a stiff body, hard stare, raised hackles, bared teeth, growling, a tucked tail or one-sided chasing; in cats, flattened ears, a puffed tail or hissing), and end the playdate if they return, if a pet is hurt, unwell or overheating (watch flat-faced breeds), or if either owner asks. Never break up a fight with your hands; use a leash, a barrier or water.

7. Your pet, your responsibility (alaga mo, sagot mo)#

1. Under Article 2183 of the Civil Code of the Philippines (RA 386), whoever possesses or uses an animal answers for the damage it causes, even if it escapes or is lost, unless the damage comes from force majeure or the injured person's own fault. So you stay in charge of your pet and answer for harm it causes to people, pets or property, including reasonable medical and vet costs.
2. If you hid your pet's aggression, bite history, illness or heat, the consequences are yours. A host who takes a guest's pet into their care or runs a session also answers for their own negligence and their venue's safety. You answer for anyone you bring, children included.
3. Swipaw is not at meetups, never possesses or uses members' pets and insures no member, pet or meetup, so we pay for no injury, illness or damage there unless the law makes us liable (Terms of Service).

8. No breeding, buying or selling#

1. Keep intact males away from females in heat, and never mate pets at a playdate: matings happen only through a stud booking under the Stud Service Terms, even after a match made while looking for a stud.
2. No animal, litter or future puppy or kitten is sold, swapped, "reserved" or given away for a fee here; no wildlife or exotic pets take part (Wildlife Resources Conservation and Protection Act, RA 9147); and no fights, pranks or rough games.

9. Photos and privacy#

1. Ask first. Ask before photographing or filming another owner, their family or their pet, and before sharing the images; respect a "no" and delete on request. Images of identifiable people are personal information under the Data Privacy Act of 2012 (RA 10173).
2. Never intimate images. Sharing anyone's intimate images without consent is a crime even if they agreed to be recorded (Anti-Photo and Video Voyeurism Act of 2009, RA 9995).
3. Locations. Others see only your city or a point a few hundred metres off, and Swipaw strips location data from photos you upload; keep homes, street signs and plate numbers out of shot.
4. Use it only for the playdate. Use the other owner's details only for the meetup: never share, publish or sell them, market to them or post chat screenshots, and delete them when done.

10. Respectful messaging#

1. A chat opens only after a mutual match or a confirmed booking. We match pets, not people, so keep chats about the pets and the playdate.
2. No unwanted sexual remarks, advances or photo requests, sexual content, threats, slurs, stalking or floods of messages, in chat or in person; the Safe Spaces Act (RA 11313) punishes gender-based sexual harassment online and in public places. Never touch anyone without consent or turn up uninvited, and take "no" or silence as an answer: reaching someone who declined or blocked you through a new account or another person breaches the Terms.
3. Treat everyone equally; hosts may set rules about animals, never about people. No fake profiles or borrowed photos (Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012, RA 10175).

11. Unmatch, block and report#

1. Unmatch ends a match and turns its chat read-only; we don't notify the other owner.
2. Block hides you from each other in the deck and search, closes every chat and match you share, withdraws pending requests and stops new ones, without telling the other person. Confirmed bookings stay in place, so ask support to cancel one.
3. Report a profile, pet, listing, message or chat from the chat itself or wherever the app shows Report (ticking block if you wish), or at [email protected], with screenshots if you can. We tell you the outcome and never reveal who reported unless the law or a court requires it.
4. Private chats. Staff open a chat only for a report or payment dispute that points to it (only the reported messages and their neighbours, if specific ones were reported), and every access is logged.
5. Enforcement. Under the Community Guidelines we act on reports, animal-welfare and scam reports first, and may warn, remove content, suspend or ban accounts, hold payouts or alert the authorities, at once where safety is at risk; ask for a review at [email protected].

12. Emergencies and bites#

1. Danger now? Call 911 if anyone is hurt, threatened or followed, then tell us.
2. A person is bitten or scratched. Wash the wound at once with soap and running water for at least 15 minutes and see a doctor or an animal bite treatment centre the same day about rabies shots, without waiting to see if the animal gets sick. Exchange names and numbers with the other owner.
3. Your dog bit someone. The Anti-Rabies Act requires you to report the bite within 24 hours to the barangay or the city or municipal veterinary office, have a government or private veterinarian observe your dog (for 14 days under its implementing rules, during which the dog may not be killed), help the victim at once and pay their medical expenses. Cats carry rabies too: after a cat bite, take the same steps and check your city's rules.
4. A pet is hurt. Separate the animals safely and see a vet promptly; the other pet's owner pays reasonable vet costs unless you were at fault (section 7).
5. Tell us about any bite, injury, escape or threat as soon as you can, and within 24 hours of a bite: from the booking for a booked playdate, which alerts the other owner and our team and reminds you of the 24-hour bite report, otherwise through Report or [email protected]. Paid playdate hosts tell the guest at once and us within 2 hours, as the Provider Agreement requires.

13. Changes and contact#

1. We give notice of material changes to these Guidelines as the Terms of Service describe; no change alters a playdate already confirmed. Questions go to [email protected], and complaints about a paid playdate to our Complaints page.