Critter Chart Support
A step-by-step guide to Critter Chart, plus troubleshooting and contact options.
Lost your data? Start here
Deleted Critter Chart, reinstalled it, or moved to a new phone.
Critter Chart never backs up over a backup this phone didn’t make. If you added a pet before restoring, automatic backup pauses and Your Pets shows Backup paused. Tap it and choose Restore it here, which adds the backup’s records to this phone and keeps everything already on it, or Keep it, back up this phone, which saves the old backup as a dated file (such as petlog-backup-2026-09-12-1430.json) in iCloud Drive › Critter Chart and backs up this phone from then on. If the backup came from a newer version of the app, update it to restore.
- See whether a copy exists. Open the Files app → iCloud Drive → Critter Chart. A file named petlog-backup.json means your records are there; a dated petlog-backup-….json is an earlier backup the app kept aside. Deleting the app leaves them in place.
- Restore it. Make sure the phone is signed in to the same Apple Account with iCloud Drive on, and open Critter Chart. It offers Restore from iCloud?: tap Restore. If you tapped Not now, or it didn’t ask, tap Restore from iCloud on the Welcome screen. If it says the backup is still downloading from iCloud, check that you’re online and try again in a minute.
- Or use a backup file, if you saved one with Back up to a file or the app kept a dated one aside: Settings → Restore from a backup file, then pick it.
- No copy in iCloud Drive and no file? Then the records are only in a backup of the whole iPhone made before you deleted the app (iCloud Backup, or a Mac or PC). Restoring one puts the whole phone back to that day, so it’s rarely worth it for one app. Utilava has no copy: Critter Chart never sends your data to us. If you’re unsure, email support@utilava.com and we’ll go through it with you.
Before you delete the app: if Your Pets shows a yellow Backup is off card, tap it and turn backup on, or save a file with Back up to a file first.
How the app is organized
Three levels: your pets, one pet, one entry.
Your Pets
The home screen. One card per pet with species and breed, age, sex, latest weight and the date of the last vet visit. Every pet gets its own color (shown on the card edge and on their page) and, until you add a photo, an emoji for their species. Pets are listed alphabetically; pets marked In Memory sit in a collapsed In memory section underneath. The gear icon opens Settings and the teal + button adds a pet. Tapping the Utilava logo also opens Settings.
Pet Health
Tap a pet card to open it. A band in the pet’s color holds the round back button, the Critter Chart lockup and a Vet packet button: tap it for a menu with Email to vet, Export PDF, Send record to another phone and Choose time range. The card below shows the photo, name and details (tap that row, marked Edit, to change the pet’s profile) and a Quick Add row (Symptom, Medication, Vet Visit, More). Under it are four tabs: Timeline, Meds, Stats and Vet packet. The round + button in the corner adds an entry for whichever tab you are on: a medication on Meds, a weigh-in on Stats; otherwise, like More, it slides up a sheet listing all seven entry types.
Entry forms
Each of the seven entry types has its own form. When you are creating something, one button at the bottom saves it (Save, Log Medication, Log Vet Visit and so on). When you reopen an existing entry to edit it, Save sits in the top-right corner of the header and a red Delete row waits at the very end of the form, below the last field, so it cannot be hit by accident. The round back button in the top-left returns you to the pet; you can also swipe in from the left edge. Either way, a half-filled entry asks "Discard changes?" first.
Quick troubleshooting
Common fixes first; the step-by-step guide follows.
The Save button is grayed out
Each form has one required field: pet name and species, symptom name, medication name, a weight greater than zero, food name, note text, routine name, and for vet visits at least one filled-in field. The line above the button says what is missing; fill it in and the button turns teal.
An entry shows the wrong date
Open the entry, tap the date field, pick the correct day and time in the sheet, tap Done, then Save in the header. Dates are stored as calendar days in your local time zone.
Export or share isn't working
The PDF is created on your device and handed to the iOS share sheet. If the button spins for longer than usual, wait: after 45 seconds the app gives up and shows a message; then close the app fully and try again, and if it keeps happening restart the phone. Save to Files is the most reliable destination if another app won’t accept the PDF.
A PDF attachment says it is no longer on the device
This can happen for attachments added in an early version, or after restoring from a backup file (file backups made before September 2026 did not carry PDFs). Remove the attachment with the × and add the file again.
Tapping a record file doesn't open Critter Chart
Records end in .critterchart; ones saved before the app was renamed end in .petlog and open too. Some mail apps rename attachments or open a preview first. Use the share icon on the attachment and choose Critter Chart, or save the file to Files and tap it there.
Restore says the file is not a Critter Chart backup
Only files created by Back up to a file can be restored. A PDF export cannot be imported. If the file came from a newer version of the app, update Critter Chart first.
I deleted the app. Is my data gone?
On iPhone with iCloud Drive on: no. Deleting the app leaves your backup in iCloud Drive (Files app → iCloud Drive → Critter Chart). Reinstall Critter Chart with the same Apple Account and restore: the first launch offers to restore, and if it does not, tap Restore from iCloud on the Welcome screen. If you add a pet first, backup pauses instead of replacing that backup; tap Backup paused on Your Pets to restore it or keep it as a separate file. If backup was off and you never saved a backup file, the data exists only in a phone backup taken before the deletion; Utilava holds no copy.
Settings says iCloud Drive is off
Open the iOS Settings app → your name → iCloud → iCloud Drive and turn it on, then return to Critter Chart. The Backup is off card goes away, and automatic backup starts after your next change; tap Back up to iCloud now to do it immediately.
Reminders don’t arrive
Check Settings → Reminders in the app: Pause all must be off, and a routine or visit reminder that falls in Quiet hours comes at the end of them (medicine reminders keep their time). Then check the iOS Settings app → Notifications → Critter Chart, where notifications must be allowed. After restoring a backup, reminders come back paused: Your Pets asks, for example, "Turn Biscuit’s reminders back on?"; tap Turn on.
Start over
Settings → Clear all data removes everything from this phone. Your iCloud backup stays, and the next time you add something Critter Chart asks whether to restore that backup or keep it aside before backing up again.
Step by step
Exactly how each task works.
1. Add a pet
On first launch tap Add your first pet; afterwards tap + on Your Pets. Name and Species are required. Choose 🐶 Dog, 🐱 Cat or 🐾 Other. Other opens a list of animals (rabbit, parrot, bearded dragon, horse and more), each with a small picture, plus a box to type anything else. Dogs and cats get a breed list starting with Mixed breed and Unknown. Every list has a search box at the top and a Back button; if nothing matches, what you typed is used as-is, and Return picks the breed when the match is clear. Weight can be in lb, kg or g; small animals start in grams, and whatever unit you choose is the one the pet’s page, chart and packet use. The weight you enter here also becomes the first point on the weight chart. Age is optional and has two modes: Exact date opens the calendar; Approximate lets you type or tap + and − for years and months when you only know roughly ("born in 2013", "about 4 months"), and the app then says "about 13 years" rather than inventing a birthday. Sex, weight, Allergies, Ongoing conditions, Usual diet (what they normally eat), notes and a Next vet appointment (date and time) are optional too; the picker offers Tomorrow, In 2 days and Next week, and Your Pets then shows, for example, Vet tomorrow 9:00 AM. Allergies and conditions appear as a red alert on the pet’s page and at the top of the vet packet. Tap Add Pet to save.
2. Your Pets at a glance
Each card shows age, latest weight, how many entries are logged and either Last vet with the date of the most recent visit or, if you set one, Next vet with the upcoming date (Vet today on the day). Under the cards, Recent activity lists the newest entries across all pets; tap one to open it. At the foot of every pet’s page a short line repeats where your data lives: on this phone and in your own iCloud Drive.
3. Picking a date or time
Every date field is a button. Tap it to open a calendar sheet. Quick picks along the top answer the usual "when?" in one tap: Now, This morning, Last night, Yesterday, 3 days ago, A week ago (date-only fields offer Today, Yesterday, A week ago, A month ago). Below them on iPhone and iPad is Apple’s own calendar: tap the month and year at the top to get month and year wheels and jump straight to a year (handy for birthdays), tap the day, and for entries set the time on the same card. Tap Done. Entry dates default to the current time. Birthdays and dates of passing cannot be in the future. Number fields such as weight show a Done bar above the keypad.
4. Add a photo
On the Add or Edit Pet form tap Add photo. The iOS photo picker opens without a permission prompt, because only the photo you choose is shared with the app. Crop it square and tap Done. The photo is shrunk and stored inside the app. The × on the photo removes it.
5. Edit or delete a pet
On the pet’s page tap the pet’s photo and name at the top of the card (it is marked Edit). Change what you need and tap Save in the header. To delete the pet and every entry logged for them, scroll to the end of the same form, tap the red Delete row and confirm. Deleting cannot be undone.
6. Log a symptom
Pet Health → Symptom in the Quick Add row. Type the symptom or tap a suggestion (vomiting, diarrhea, limping, lethargy, loss of appetite, coughing, scratching, sneezing). The suggestion chips follow the species: dogs and cats get the classic list, and small mammals, birds, reptiles and horses get their own common signs. Pick Mild, Moderate or Severe, set when it started (the Now, This morning, Last night and Yesterday chips under the date do it in one tap), add notes and optionally a photo, turn on Ask at next visit to add it to your Questions for the vet, and tap Save. A short Saved message confirms it on the pet’s page.
7. Log a medication
Each Medication entry is one dose given. First time: Quick Add → Medication, or + while on the Meds tab. Start typing the name to filter common medications grouped by purpose (each group has a small picture), or type your own. Enter the dosage, choose how it is given (By mouth, Topical, Injection, Ear, Eye, Other), optionally a Stop date for a course with an end (leave it empty for ongoing), choose how often with the buttons As needed (right for a one-off dewormer), Once daily, Twice daily, Weekly, Monthly or Other (which opens a box with schedules like Every 12 hours). A new medicine must have one chosen, so nothing is saved with a guessed schedule. Set when it was given, add notes, and tap Log Medication, or Save and add another to stay on a fresh form for the next pill. Giving the same dose to several pets (a dewormer day)? Tick them under Also give to and one save logs it for each. Every dose after that: open the Meds tab, which shows one card per medicine with its dose, schedule, when it was last given and how many doses are logged, and tap Give now. The form opens already filled in from the last dose with the time set to now; change anything that differs and tap Log dose. The card lists the last three doses (all of them are in the Timeline) and shows since when the medicine has been given and until when, or ongoing. The card also shows Today: 1 of 2 for daily schedules. When a course ends, tap Mark finished; the medicine moves under Past medications and loses its Give now button, and its doses stay in the history and the packet.
8. "Still giving it?"
When a medicine on a schedule has had no dose logged for a while, its card asks, for example, "Still giving Apoquel?". Tap Yes if you’re still giving it, or Mark finished to end it on its last dose. Until you answer, the vet packet lists it as "Not confirmed; last given …", so the vet doesn’t assume it’s current.
9. Log a weight
Open the Stats tab and tap +, or More → Weight. Enter the number, choose the unit, and tap Save Weight Entry. 5.5 and 5,5 are both accepted. The Stats tab draws the weight as a line on a labeled scale, so a small change looks small, with weights recorded at vet visits shown as hollow dots (the At the vet legend). The vet packet uses the same chart and marks. The most recent weigh-in is the weight shown on Pet Health and in the export.
10. Log a vet visit
Quick Add → Vet Visit. Clinics and veterinarians you have used before are suggested as you type, and choosing a clinic used before fills in its email and vet; reasons offer common ones like annual checkup or vaccination. Clinic email is optional but worth filling in once: Email to vet pre-fills it from your most recent visit. Fill in the date, weight at the visit, diagnosis, treatment and notes. At the bottom you can attach a photo and a PDF. At least one field must be filled before Log Vet Visit becomes active. Leaving with unsaved changes asks before discarding them. For an upcoming visit, see Reminders below for the reminder and Add to Calendar.
11. Other care visits and measurements
Vet Visit also covers groomers, farriers, dentists and other care: choose who the visit was with at the top and the fields relabel (Findings instead of Diagnosis). Those visits are tagged in the timeline and packet and never count as the last vet visit. For home readings such as blood glucose (mg/dL or mmol/L), temperature, heart rate or breathing rate, use More → Measurement; each kind gets its own chart on the Stats tab, and readings appear in the packet.
12. Attach and reopen a PDF
Tap Add PDF, choose the file in the Files picker, and it is copied into the app’s own storage so it stays available. Later, open the vet visit and tap the file name to view or share it. The × removes it.
13. Food, routines and notes
Quick Add → More (or + on the Timeline) slides up the "What happened with …?" sheet with all seven types, and Cancel closes it. Food & Water takes what was fed, how much, how much they drank, and notes; water alone is fine. A Routine has a name, a type (Feeding, Walk, Medication, Grooming, Training, Other), a frequency (Daily, Weekly, Monthly or a custom description) and an Active switch: turn it off when the routine stops and it stays in the history marked Paused. A routine can remind you too (see Reminders below). A Note is free text (a Done button above the keyboard puts it away) with an optional title, an optional photo and a category, each with a small picture: General, Question for vet, Observation, Behavior, Training, Grooming, Memory, Other. Questions for the vet are special: they are listed at the top of the vet packet and shown to you when you start logging the next vet visit, so they get asked. Tap Asked next to one and it leaves the packet and shows as Asked in the timeline.
14. Find things in the Timeline
The Timeline lists everything newest first. Once a pet has more than one type of entry, filter chips appear above the list in a fixed order (Symptoms, Medications, Vet Visits, Weight, Food, Notes, Routines); tap one to show only that type, or All to clear the filter. Leaving any entry form with unsaved typing asks before discarding it.
15. Reminders
Reminders are set on your phone and scheduled by iOS; nothing about them leaves it. Medicines: on a medicine’s card tap Remind me, and the times fill in from how often it’s given (twice daily is 8 AM and 8 PM, for example); change them if you like. The first time, Turn on reminders asks iOS for permission once. When a reminder arrives, press and hold it to Log dose or Remind me in 15 minutes. A dose that’s due and not logged shows on the card, for example "Due at 8:00 PM, not logged" (after half an hour, "Overdue since 8:00 PM"), with Given now, In 15 min, Change details and Skip this one; when several are due together, Give all logs them at once. One follow-up notification comes 30 minutes later if nothing is logged. Routines: walks, grooming and the like can remind you the same way, and the notification has Mark done. Vet visits: the next visit gets a reminder at 7 PM the evening before and one an hour before, or at 8 AM that morning when no time is set, and Add to Calendar opens Apple’s own event sheet. Settings → Reminders lists every reminder by pet, with Pause all, Quiet hours (medicine reminders still come at their time) and Hide details on the Lock Screen. Reminders travel in Critter Chart’s backups and come back paused after a restore: Your Pets asks, for example, "Turn Biscuit’s reminders back on?", with Turn on and Not now.
16. Email or export the vet packet
Quickest way: tap Vet packet in the color band at the top of the pet’s page and pick Email to vet or Export PDF or Send record from the menu; it uses the currently selected time range (all time until you change it). For the full options open the Vet packet tab. Choose a time range from the chips: All time, 12, 6 or 3 months, Since last visit (from the day of the most recent vet visit onward, including that visit, the "what’s happened since I saw you" packet), or From a date…, which opens the calendar so a referral can get exactly "since early August". The card shows how many entries that covers. Under Email to vet the To: line shows who will receive it: the clinic address from your most recent vet visit if you saved one. Tap Change to type a different address (a specialist, the insurer, a pet-sitter) or pick one of the addresses you have used before; Critter Chart remembers the last six. Then tap Email to vet, which opens your mail app inside Critter Chart with the PDF already attached (plus any clinic PDFs saved on vet visits in the range), the subject and a short message filled in and the address in To:; or tap Export PDF to get the share sheet. Preview or print, under Export PDF, shows every page of the packet before you send it anywhere and lets you print it (Messages, AirDrop, Files, any app). If no Mail account is set up on the phone, Email to vet explains that and offers Share PDF instead, where Gmail, Outlook and Messages appear. If building the PDF ever takes more than 45 seconds the app stops and tells you, rather than spinning.
17. What the PDF looks like
A cover in the pet’s color with their photo (or species emoji), name, breed, age ("about 8 years" when you entered an approximate age), sex, weight and birthday; a line stating the range covered; four at-a-glance tiles (entries, vet visits, latest weight, last vet visit); the next appointment if you set one; a Current medications table (medicine, dose, how it is given, how often, since, until or ongoing); your Questions for the vet; your owner notes; a weight-trend chart combining your weigh-ins and weights recorded at the clinic; then every entry grouped by type (vet visits first) as cards showing all details: clinic, vet, reason, diagnosis, treatment and attached photos for visits; dosage, frequency and notes for medications; severity and notes for symptoms; and so on. Latest weight and last visit on the cover always reflect the full record even when a shorter range is chosen.
18. Send a pet’s record to another phone
Below the packet buttons, Send Rex’s record creates a small file (Rex.critterchart) containing the complete record: profile, every entry, photos and PDF attachments. Share it however you like: AirDrop, Messages, Mail, WhatsApp. On the other phone, tapping the file opens Critter Chart, which asks "Add Rex to this phone?" and shows what’s inside; one tap and Rex appears with the full history, and you land on their page. If Rex already exists on that phone, it says "Update Rex" instead: nothing there is deleted, and entries that exist on both take the version from the file. This is a one-way snapshot for family, pet-sitters or a new home, not live sync between phones.
19. Several pets in one packet
Settings → Vet packet lets you tick which pets to include and a time range (the same chips, including From a date…), change the To: address, then Email to vet or Export PDF. The PDF gets one cover page per pet. Living pets are preselected; pets marked In Memory can be added.
20. Automatic backup
If automatic backup is not running (iCloud Drive off), Your Pets shows a yellow Backup is off card; tap it to go to Settings. There is nothing to set up. If you are signed in to iCloud with iCloud Drive on, Critter Chart keeps a copy of everything (pets, entries, photos, PDF attachments and reminders) in your own iCloud Drive: a few seconds after each change, when you send the app to the background, and on launch if nothing has been backed up yet. You can see the copy in the Files app under iCloud Drive → Critter Chart. Nothing goes to Utilava. Settings → iCloud shows "On" with the time of the last backup; Back up now is optional and only skips the short wait, and it never writes an empty app over a backup. Critter Chart only replaces a backup this phone made or restored; if it finds another one, it pauses and Your Pets shows Backup paused (see Lost your data, above). If you delete the app or move to a new iPhone on the same Apple Account, the first launch offers to restore that backup with one tap, and the Welcome screen also has Restore from iCloud.
21. Backup file
Settings → Export data as CSV writes every entry as a spreadsheet row (with the time zone) plus a pets file, for your own analysis; it cannot be restored. Settings → Back up to a file creates a Critter Chart backup file (pets, entries, photos and the clinic PDFs attached to vet visits) and opens the share sheet so you can save it to Files or email it to yourself. Settings → Restore from a backup file lets you pick that file back. Either restore asks whether to Merge (keep what is on this device and add or update from the backup) or Replace (wipe this device first). For a PDF covering several pets use Settings → Vet packet.
22. When a pet passes away
Edit the pet (the switch is only on the Edit form, not when adding a new pet), turn on In memory and enter the date of passing. On Your Pets the pet moves into a collapsed In memory section under the living pets; tap the heading to show or hide those cards, and the app remembers your choice. Their card shows the age at passing. Their page keeps the timeline, Meds, Stats and Vet packet tabs, so the full history stays available and exportable, but the quick-add row and the + button are gone. Turn the switch off to reverse all of this. For fosters and pets who went to a new home, use Adopted or rehomed on the same Edit form instead: they move into an Adopted & rehomed section with a note of where they went, and their page becomes read-only. Delete Pet offers to send the record first.
23. Check for updates
Settings → About has Check for updates, on by default. While it’s on, once a day Critter Chart asks utilava.com whether a newer version or a fix exists. When there’s a newer version in the App Store, a bar says so, and you can dismiss it. A fix downloads in the background and applies the next time the app starts (coming back from the background doesn’t apply it). Nothing about you or your pets is sent. Turn the switch off to stop the check.
Contact
How to reach us.
Email support@utilava.com for support requests, bug reports and feedback; we usually reply within one business day. You can also use the Contact page.
Include your device model, iOS version, and what steps led to the issue.
Data & privacy
What we collect.
Nothing. Critter Chart has no accounts, no ads and no analytics. Your pets, entries, photos and PDF attachments live on your device and, if automatic backup is on, in your own iCloud Drive; only you and Apple can access that copy. Reminders are scheduled on your phone by iOS; nothing about them is sent to us.
The only request the app makes is the daily Check for updates (Settings → About), which asks utilava.com for the newest version and fixes and sends nothing about you or your pets. Data leaves the device only when you export a PDF or a backup file, send a record, or open an attachment, and choose where to send it through the iOS share sheet.
For full details, see the Critter Chart section of our Privacy Policy.