ForPaws: The app that uses facial recognition tech to help find lost pets

Recently launched by MARS Petcare, the world's leading pet food company, the app also leveraging technology to spread the message about how one can provide care for pets as a community

A scared Labrador was recently found in Bengaluru's Koramangala neighbourhood looking desperately for his owner. ForPaws, a mobile app that uses bespoke facial recognition technology, along with the Koramangala Canine Squad, are trying their best to use the synergy between smart tech and human social networks to reunite this pet to his parents. “Adorable, polite and super sweet. He just wants to go home. Please help him,” says the social media post describing the pet found in Koramangala.

ForPaws was recently launched by MARS Petcare, the world’s leading pet food company. The firm said artificial intelligence (AI) has been primarily used to solve human pain points and needs. But ForPaws is leveraging the power of AI and social networks to solve problems people have faced in the pet world. 

Its mission is to use technology to help a wide network of kind pet lovers including parents and pet rescues to quickly identify, locate, and reunite lost pets with their families. It is also leveraging technology to spread the message about the prevalent problem of pets getting lost and how one can provide care for them as a community using a simple application.

“Technology has been used for many human services and needs in a big way, why not for the pet world,” says Mohit Arora, global digital marketing lead, MARS Petcare. “With ForPaws we want to leverage facial recognition technology and a network of petlovers to solve a serious problem of tracking missing pets and helping them find their way home.”

The app uses a recent photo of the pet to create a smart ID that is unique to it. In the unfortunate instance that a pet goes missing, ForPaws can use the photo to highlight unique facial features and visual characteristics of the pet, helping people in the ForPaws network connect lost pets with their families. The technology is powered by an advanced machine learning algorithm that constantly improves accuracy rate with the addition of more photos to its database.

“For instance the algorithm checks the breed of your dog and using facial recognition technology one can find the unique features,” said Arora. “We have over 130 breeds of (dogs) on which machine learning has been trained.”

The firm said every festive season, many pets tend to get frightened and run away due to the bursting of crackers and other loud noises associated with the festivities. With the help of ForPaws, pet owners on the network can rely on the app’s artificial intelligence-based image analysis to find their missing pet. Similarly, individuals who come across a lost pet can take a photo and find a match on the app if another user is looking for that pet.The app has been initially launched in Bengaluru and will be providing this service first for dogs before expanding to more cities and including more pets like cats.

The pet food and pet services category is one of the fastest-growing in India. MARS Petcare has been leading the category development in the country through its various initiatives and activities, including the education of pet owners, veterinarians and other stakeholders about right nutrition and wellness requirements of pets. Launching ForPaws would support MARS Petcare in such initiatives and drive the category indirectly.

“We are not going to (sell) pet food through this application,” said Arora. “We are using the data to improve the technology. The more pictures I get within a breed, the better the (technology) becomes to identify that breed from the other,” said Arora. He said the firm is very transparent in telling the users how it would use the data when they use the application and they have the choice to opt out of sharing the information.

Dogs and cats are now considered members of the family, as confirmed by consumer trends within the pet owner category. A Euromonitor report in 2020 showcased a significant rise in the sale of pet products and forecasted a 68 per cent increase in value growth by 2025. This can be attributed to the rapid growth in pet ownership in the last 18 months, especially during the lockdown period.

“ForPaws app can reduce the instances of pet owners losing their pets permanently, through the use of technology and a widespread network of pet lovers,” says Ganesh Ramani, managing director, MARS Petcare. “With the rise in the number of pet adoptions in the past few years, the pet care category has witnessed tremendous growth.We hope people will use this app and help pet parents have the joy of recovering their lost pets.”