Privacy Policy

Last updated: 2 July 2026

Short version: BooksLove has no accounts and no server of our own. Your library lives on your iPhone and in your own private iCloud. We never see it. We do not sell data, show ads, or track you across apps. The only data that leaves your device is what is technically required to search for books, sync your own iCloud, process a subscription, and count anonymous usage — all described in full below.

1. Who we are

BooksLove (“the app”, “we”, “us”) is a personal reading-tracker app for iPhone and iPad developed by Vitalii Volynets (“the developer”). This Privacy Policy explains what happens to information when you use the app. Contact: volynetsvitalii82@gmail.com.

2. Our core principle: privacy by design

BooksLove is built without its own backend. There is no BooksLove account, no login, and no BooksLove-operated server that stores your books. Your reading library, shelves, ratings, reading goals and settings are stored locally on your device and, if you enable iCloud, in your own private iCloud account — which only you can access.

3. Information we do NOT collect

• We do not ask for your name, email address, or phone number.
• We do not collect your location.
• We do not use the advertising identifier (IDFA) and we do not show ads.
• We do not track you across other apps or websites, and the app does not request App Tracking Transparency permission.
• We do not sell or rent any information to anyone.

4. Information stored on your device

Everything you create in BooksLove — the books on your shelves, personal ratings, reading goals, import history and app preferences — is stored on your device using Apple’s on-device database (SwiftData) and standard app settings storage. This data never leaves your device except through the services described in Sections 5–8.

5. iCloud sync (Apple CloudKit)

If you are signed in to iCloud and have iCloud enabled for BooksLove, your library is synced across your own Apple devices through Apple’s CloudKit private database. This data is stored in your iCloud account, controlled by you, and hosted by Apple. The developer cannot see or access it. Its handling is governed by Apple’s Privacy Policy and iCloud terms. If you turn off iCloud, the app works fully offline with on-device data only.

6. Book search (third-party book databases)

To find books and fetch their details (title, author, cover image, description, publisher, community rating), the app queries public book databases. When you search or scan an ISBN, the app sends your search text or the scanned ISBN to these services so they can return matching books:

We do not attach your identity to these requests, and the app deliberately does not send your library, your Apple ID, or which books you own — only the individual search term needed to get results. Book cover images are loaded directly from these services’ image servers.

7. Camera (barcode scanning)

With your permission, BooksLove uses the camera to scan the barcode (ISBN) on a book. Camera frames are processed on your device to read the number. Images are never uploaded or stored by us; only the decoded ISBN is used, and only to look up the book (Section 6).

8. Anonymous usage analytics (TelemetryDeck)

To understand which features are used and to fix problems, the app sends a small amount of anonymous usage data through TelemetryDeck, a privacy-first analytics service that does not use the advertising identifier and is GDPR-compliant. Events are limited to actions such as “app launched”, “a book was added to a shelf”, “a search was performed”, “a rating was set”, and “a reading goal was set”.

These events never include personal or book-identifying data. For example, the search event records only that a search happened, not what you searched for; the rating event records only the star value (rounded to a half-star), not which book. TelemetryDeck generates an anonymous, non-reversible identifier and cannot be used to identify you.

9. Subscriptions (RevenueCat & Apple)

Optional premium features are offered through an in-app subscription. Purchases are handled by Apple’s App Store. We use RevenueCat to manage subscription status and restore purchases. RevenueCat receives purchase/receipt information and an anonymous subscriber identifier — not your name, email, or payment card. All billing is handled by Apple under Apple’s Media Services Terms. We never see your payment details.

10. Children

BooksLove is not directed at children under 13 and does not knowingly collect personal information from children. Because the app collects no personal profile at all, no such data is gathered from anyone.

11. Your rights and control

Because your data lives on your device and in your own iCloud, you are in control at all times:

• Access / export: export your entire library as CSV or JSON at any time from Settings → Data.
• Deletion: delete individual books, clear all data in Settings, or delete the app to remove on-device data. Data synced to your iCloud is managed by you in iOS Settings → your name → iCloud.

If you are in a region covered by the GDPR (EU/UK) or CCPA (California), these controls satisfy your rights of access, portability and erasure. We hold no personal data on any server of ours to correct or delete. Questions: volynetsvitalii82@gmail.com.

12. Data retention

We do not retain your data, because we do not store it. On-device and iCloud data persists until you delete it. Anonymous analytics are retained by TelemetryDeck according to their policy; subscription records are retained by Apple and RevenueCat according to theirs.

13. Security

Network requests (book search, cover images) use HTTPS. Your library is protected by your device’s and iCloud account’s built-in security (device passcode, Face ID/Touch ID, and Apple’s iCloud encryption).

14. International users

The third-party services above (Apple, Google, Internet Archive, TelemetryDeck, RevenueCat) may process the limited data described here on servers located in other countries, under their own privacy policies linked throughout this document.

15. Changes to this policy

If this policy changes, we will update the date at the top and post the new version at this address. Material changes will also be reflected in a new app release.

16. Contact

Questions about privacy? Email volynetsvitalii82@gmail.com.