Does the tag replace the microchip?

No, and the two do not do the same job. The microchip is the official identification, it is inside the animal, it cannot fall off, and it is read by vets, shelters and authorities with a dedicated scanner: in most countries it is also a legal requirement for dogs. The tag is an external item, readable by anybody with a phone and without needing to reach a facility, and for exactly that reason it is lost along with the collar. You want both, for different reasons.

Anybody who knows the address can see the page: is that a risk?

It is a deliberate design choice, because a page that demanded a sign in would be useless to the person who found your animal. The risk is managed through content rather than access: put only the details you accept a stranger reading. The address is long and random, it is not guessable, and the store cannot be asked for a list of existing tags, so in practice only somebody holding the code or a link you sent will reach it.

Can I use the same code for two animals?

No, each tag belongs to one animal and carries its profile. Two animals need two tags and two separate prints, which is also more useful: whoever finds one of them sees the right name, the right photo and the right message. On a shared tag the code would always lead to the same profile, and a finder holding the other animal would give misleading information to whoever answers.

What happens to sightings I received if I delete the tag?

Deleting the tag immediately breaks the public page and with it any code already printed. Sightings are your own documents and stay readable only by you, but without the tag the panel loses its context: if a sighting holds something you need, such as a location or the contact of somebody who helped, copy it elsewhere before deleting. Sightings can in any case be deleted one at a time while keeping the tag active.

Should I leave lost status permanently on, just in case?

No, and it would be counterproductive. A lost pet banner shown permanently loses credibility and confuses whoever reads it, for example a neighbour who has found the cat in the garden and cannot tell whether the notice is old. Keep the tag active with up to date contacts and switch lost status on only when the animal really is out, switching it off as soon as it is home.

Using Animiyo15 minLevel: IntermediateUpdated on August 5, 2026

Using the if found tag and its public page

How the code is generated, what a finder actually sees, how sightings reach you and how to revoke the whole thing in one second.

Audience: Pet owners
Species: Dog, Cat
Scope: Valid everywhere

What you need before you start

Una scheda animale già creata, meglio se con foto, razza e colore compilati
Un numero di telefono che sei disposto a rendere pubblico, oppure un indirizzo email dedicato
Una medaglietta o un supporto su cui applicare il codice stampato
Una stampante, oppure un negozio che stampi il file che scarichi

A tag with a phone number engraved on it works as long as the number stays legible and stays valid. The if found tag solves both problems differently: instead of the number you print a code that leads to a read only public page, and you can update that page whenever you like without redoing the tag. In exchange you need to know exactly what that page shows to anybody who knows the address, because it is public by necessity: somebody who finds an animal has no account and should not need one. This guide explains how the code is generated, which fields end up on the page and which do not, what a finder can do, where sightings arrive and how to switch it all off in one second.

How the tag works, in two sentences

When you generate the tag a long random public identifier is created, and that becomes the address of a page reachable without signing in. The QR code you print contains none of the animal's data: it contains only that address, and everything shown lives in the public document rather than in the code.

The identifier is randomly generated and not guessable: without the code or the link, the page cannot be reached.
The public document can only be read by knowing the exact identifier, and the store cannot be asked for a list of existing tags.
There is one tag per animal and it stays the same until you delete it: changing the contacts does not change a code already printed.
The public page requires no registration from whoever opens it, which is exactly why it contains only what you chose to expose.
Lost status is a separate switch: you can keep the tag active for years and turn lost status on only on the days it matters.

Generating the tag and printing it

Complete the pet profile first
Name, species, breed, colour and above all the photo. The public page takes these fields at the moment you save the tag, so it pays to have them in order beforehand.
Open the animal and go to the lost pet tab
It is the last one in the group about sharing and safety, next to the list of people you share the profile with.
Generate the tag
The command creates the public identifier and immediately shows the code and the address. At that point the page already exists, so the next step is not optional.
Fill in the contacts and the message
The name of the person to contact, a phone number, an email, a short message for the finder and, if you want, some text about a reward. Every field is optional, and whatever you leave empty does not appear.
Decide whether to accept a location
A checkbox states whether you are willing to receive a location from the finder. Without your consent, the location request is not even offered to whoever opens the page.
Save and open the public address to check
Open it in a private window or from another phone. It is the only way to really see what a stranger sees, and the check is worth thirty seconds.
Download the code and print it
The code downloads as a vector image, so it stays sharp at any size. Print it big enough to be scannable and protect it from water.
Attach it where it stays readable
On the tag, behind the name plate, on the back of the collar. Add a phone number in plain text anyway: not everybody knows how, or wants, to scan a code.

What a finder sees, field by field

This is the part worth reading carefully, because it is the only irreversible decision for as long as the tag stays active. The public page holds a copy of the data chosen at the moment of saving, not access to the animal's profile.

What the public page contains and what stays out of it.
Item	Public	Note
Animal's name	Yes	Always present
Species	Yes	Always present
Breed	Yes	Only if filled in on the profile
Colour	Yes	Only if filled in on the profile
Profile photo	Yes	Only if uploaded
If found message	Yes	Free text written by you
Reward	Yes	Only if filled in
Contact name, phone and email	Yes	Only the fields you completed
Lost pet banner	Yes	Appears only with lost status switched on
Microchip number	No	Never appears on the public page
Vaccines, treatments, visits, reports	No	No health data leaves through the tag
Weight, expenses, documents, diary	No	They stay on the profile and are not exposed
Your address and your account	No	They appear in no form at all
Sightings received earlier	No	A finder cannot see anybody else's

What happens when somebody finds them

Whoever opens the page sees the profile, your message and the contacts you gave, with direct links to call or write. Below that there is a form for leaving you a sighting even if they cannot reach you straight away.

The form asks for the finder's name, a contact and a note, and all three are optional.
The note is the field that matters: it says where the animal is, how it is doing and where it can be kept meanwhile.
If you consented to receiving it, a checkbox for sharing a location also appears, which the phone only requests after an explicit consent.
On submission a sighting is created and linked to your tag, and the system verifies that the tag genuinely exists.
The sender gets no access to the animal's profile and cannot read earlier sightings, nor their own once the page is closed.

Sightings received appear in the same lost pet tab, below the tag panel. Each entry shows the sender's name or the word anonymous, the date and time, the contact if one was left, the text of the note and, when a location was shared, a command to open it on a map. Sightings can be deleted one by one.

Lost status, poster and revocation

Lost status is a switch separate from the tag. Switched on, it adds a prominent banner to the public page saying the animal is missing; switched off, the page is simply that of an animal wearing its tag. It toggles with one tap, and changing it requires redoing neither the code nor the printing.

The same tab also generates a lost pet poster, which is a different thing from the tag and serves the search on the ground. The poster is composed and handed to the browser's print dialog, from which you can print it or save it as a PDF. It carries the name prominently, the photo, the physical details, the date the animal went missing, the last place it was seen, the description, the contacts given in the lost report and, unlike the public page, the microchip number too if you recorded one. If a tag exists, the scannable code appears on the poster as well.

The three possible actions on a tag and their effects.
Action	Immediate effect	The printed code
Editing the contacts	The public page shows the new contacts straight away	Keeps working
Switching lost status on or off	The banner appears on or disappears from the page	Keeps working
Deleting the tag	The public page ceases to exist	Stops working and has to be reprinted

What to write in the message and the contacts

The message is the only space in which you can influence the behaviour of a finder, and a finder is almost always an embarrassed person with thirty seconds of attention. A few well written lines are worth more than a paragraph.

Say how the animal behaves with strangers: whether it is fearful, whether it bolts, whether it can be picked up.
Ask for one single action, for example calling, rather than listing three.
Add a second contact belonging to a different person if you can: somebody searching for their own animal often does not answer the phone because they are out on the street.
If the animal is on a treatment that cannot be missed, say so in one line without naming any drug: it is enough to say there is a daily treatment and that you need to be reached soon.
Do not write your home address: it is the piece of information most often added and least often needed, and it stays public for as long as the tag exists.
Use a number you keep switched on and, if privacy worries you, consider an email address created for the purpose instead of a phone number.

A note on current limits. There is no history of page views: you know about the sightings sent, not about how many times the code was scanned. There is no second tag for the same animal. The code downloads as a vector image but there is no ready made tag template to print, so the layout is down to you or to whoever does the printing.

Frequently asked questions

Does the tag replace the microchip?: No, and the two do not do the same job. The microchip is the official identification, it is inside the animal, it cannot fall off, and it is read by vets, shelters and authorities with a dedicated scanner: in most countries it is also a legal requirement for dogs. The tag is an external item, readable by anybody with a phone and without needing to reach a facility, and for exactly that reason it is lost along with the collar. You want both, for different reasons.
Anybody who knows the address can see the page: is that a risk?: It is a deliberate design choice, because a page that demanded a sign in would be useless to the person who found your animal. The risk is managed through content rather than access: put only the details you accept a stranger reading. The address is long and random, it is not guessable, and the store cannot be asked for a list of existing tags, so in practice only somebody holding the code or a link you sent will reach it.
Can I use the same code for two animals?: No, each tag belongs to one animal and carries its profile. Two animals need two tags and two separate prints, which is also more useful: whoever finds one of them sees the right name, the right photo and the right message. On a shared tag the code would always lead to the same profile, and a finder holding the other animal would give misleading information to whoever answers.
What happens to sightings I received if I delete the tag?: Deleting the tag immediately breaks the public page and with it any code already printed. Sightings are your own documents and stay readable only by you, but without the tag the panel loses its context: if a sighting holds something you need, such as a location or the contact of somebody who helped, copy it elsewhere before deleting. Sightings can in any case be deleted one at a time while keeping the tag active.
Should I leave lost status permanently on, just in case?: No, and it would be counterproductive. A lost pet banner shown permanently loses credibility and confuses whoever reads it, for example a neighbour who has found the cat in the garden and cannot tell whether the notice is old. Keep the tag active with up to date contacts and switch lost status on only when the animal really is out, switching it off as soon as it is home.

What to do next

Complete the profile before generating the tag, then fill in the contacts and the message and open the public address in a private window to see exactly what a stranger sees. Remember that the profile details on the page are a copy made when you saved, so after changing the photo go back and save the tag again. Always add a plain text phone number next to the code, and be aware that sightings raise no alert: during a search you have to keep the lost pet tab open yourself.