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How Minou works
Three steps, in the order you live them: you photograph a cat you meet, the neighbourhood remembers, and the day the cat goes missing, you alert the neighbours.
Step 1
Photograph a cat you meet
You come across a cat in the street: you tap the photo button on the map and photograph them in the app. The phone itself checks that it really is a cat, without sending the photo anywhere to analyse it.
The cat then joins your Dex: your collection of the neighbourhood's cats, the ones you've met. You see your photo right away; your neighbours see it 45 minutes later.
A black cat at night, far away or half hidden may not be recognised. The photo still goes through, then neighbours confirm it in the Sort tab: it takes five votes for it to join the map.
Step 2
The neighbourhood remembers
Every cat has a card. Every time a neighbour photographs them in turn, their card grows: more photos, more dates. After a few weeks, every cat on the street is known, and the fun is in seeing them again.
As long as they don't have an owner, the neighbourhood can suggest nicknames; from five suggestions on, the vote decides. Their usual corner and hours take shape photo after photo, and are shown to their owner only, and to the neighbourhood during an alert.
If it's your cat, claim their card as the owner, or add them with "Add my cat" if they don't have one yet. You can then describe them (coat, collar, distinctive marks, how they react to strangers) so people recognise them faster.
Step 3
Alert the day they go missing
Their owner starts a free alert. It can notify neighbours who turned on alerts around where the cat was last seen, with a message that gives neither their name, nor where they are, nor your number. Their card turns red, and photos taken after the alert starts appear right away, at their exact location, as soon as they're recognised or validated.
No card for your cat yet? In the latest version of the app, "I've lost my cat" creates one from a photo in your gallery, and the alert goes out, even if you're not at home.
And privacy?
The neighbourhood sees cats, not people
At every step, the location is rounded to about a hundred metres and published 45 minutes later; it's only exact for a missing cat, during their alert. What Minou publishes, and when.