Privacy Policy

This privacy policy was last updated on July 8, 2026.

Introduction

Welcome to Book Reading Habit. We take privacy very seriously and want you to feel secure while using our application. This Privacy Policy explains how we handle your data and what measures we take to protect your information.

Summary

No personal data collection: We collect no personal information on our own servers. Reading groups are opt-in and let you share selected reading data directly with other members through your own iCloud — see the Reading Groups section below. Anonymous, aggregate usage statistics can be opted out of in Settings.
Local storage: Your data is primarily stored on your device.
Optional synchronization: iCloud synchronization is optional and can be disabled.
Payments: Payment processing is handled through RevenueCat and Apple App Store.

Data stored in the application

Book Reading Habit locally stores on your device:

Information about your books (title, author, pages, progress)
Your custom shelves
Reading sessions and statistics
App preferences

This data is used solely to provide the app's functionality and is never used for marketing purposes. See the Analytics section below for details on anonymous usage statistics.

iCloud Synchronization

Book Reading Habit offers the option to synchronize your data with iCloud. This feature:

Is completely optional and you can disable it at any time
Uses your personal iCloud account and Apple's servers to store your data
Follows Apple's privacy and security policies
Allows you to access your data across multiple devices

When you disable iCloud synchronization, no new data is sent to iCloud servers, and data is stored only locally on your device.

Reading Groups

Reading Groups let you create or join a private reading group with other people. They are built entirely on Apple’s CloudKit sharing and live in your own iCloud — there is no server we operate, no account, and nothing is public or discoverable. This is the only feature that shares any data between users, and it is always opt-in.

When you join a group, the app publishes a small, purpose-built snapshot of your reading to that group so other members can see it. Only the following can be shared, and only the fields you leave enabled:

Your chosen nickname and avatar for that group (not your name or Apple ID).
The title and cover of your current book (never your notes).
Your reading streak, shields, weekly reading rhythm (days read, not minutes) and milestones reached.
Optional activity posts you choose to share — for example finishing a book, reaching a page milestone, or logging pages read — with light reactions and preset replies. Posts show when they were shared.

The following is never shared with a group, under any setting:

Your notes and annotations.
Your individual reading sessions.
Session durations and reading minutes.

Every field on your shared card is an individual toggle, and you can mute individual books to keep them out of a group entirely. Turning a field off blanks it without leaving a trace for others to interpret. A group’s owner can rename the group, set which kinds of activity it accepts, and remove or ban members, but cannot see anything you have not shared.

Group data syncs through participants’ own iCloud accounts, end-to-end, and never passes through our servers. Leaving or deleting a group removes your shared snapshot from it.

A group is reached through an invite link. Anyone who has that link can join the group and see what you have chosen to share, so treat the link like a key and share it only with people you trust.

Sharing to a group happens only with your consent: it is opt-in, and you can withdraw it at any time by turning a field off, muting a book, or leaving the group. Because a group’s data travels between members through their own iCloud accounts and never reaches our servers, each member controls what they contribute, and we do not act as the controller of what members share with one another.

When you leave or delete a group, or turn a field off, the change reaches other members as their devices next sync with iCloud. Information already delivered to another member’s device, or activity you posted before removing it, may remain visible to them until their device syncs.

Children’s Privacy

Book Reading Habit is a general-audience reading-tracking app and is not directed to children. You must be at least 13 years old to use the app and to create or join a reading group. Where the law in your country sets a higher minimum age for digital consent — for example, up to 16 in parts of the European Union — that higher age applies to you.

We do not knowingly collect personal information from children. Because your data stays on your own device and reading groups share information only between members through their own iCloud accounts, we hold no account or server-side profile for any user, child or adult.

If you believe a child under the applicable minimum age has taken part in a reading group in a way that shared their information with others, ask the group’s owner to remove them, leave or delete the group, or contact us and we will help.

Book Search Functionality

When you search for books to add to your library, Book Reading Habit uses the Google Books API to retrieve book information. When using this feature:

Your search queries are sent to Google Books API
We don't store your search history
Book information (title, author, cover image, page count) may be downloaded to your device
Your use of this feature is subject to Google's Privacy Policy

This connection to Google Books API is only made when you actively search for books and is not used for tracking or advertising purposes.

Payment Processing

To process in-app purchases, we use:

RevenueCat: A subscription management service that processes transactions through the App Store.
Apple App Store: Manages all financial transactions.

Payment information is handled directly by Apple, and we do not have access to your credit card details or financial information.

Information collected by RevenueCat

RevenueCat may collect:

Anonymous device identifier
Purchase information
Subscription status

For more details on how RevenueCat processes data, please see RevenueCat's privacy policy.

Anonymous Analytics

Book Reading Habit uses TelemetryDeck to collect privacy-friendly, anonymous usage statistics. This helps us understand which features are useful and where to focus improvements. TelemetryDeck is a privacy-first analytics provider based in the EU.

We do not collect your name, email address, book library, book titles, notes, reading content, or personal reading history
No cookies and no fingerprinting, and IP addresses are not stored or linked to you — analytics data is anonymized and not tied to your identity
We only use this data to improve the app — never for advertising, cross-app tracking, or selling data
You can opt out completely in Settings > General > Share Anonymous Usage Data

Examples of what we measure include how often the app is opened, how many reading sessions are started, and whether certain screens are viewed, such as the upgrade screen.

For more details on how TelemetryDeck handles data, see TelemetryDeck's privacy policy.

Device Permissions

Book Reading Habit may request the following permissions:

Notifications: For reading session alerts (optional)
Camera: For scanning book ISBN codes (optional)
Photos: For adding custom covers to your books (optional)

You can manage these permissions at any time in your device settings.

Your Rights Over Your Data

You have the right to:

Access all your data (which is directly on your device)
Delete your data at any time by uninstalling the app — and, if iCloud sync is enabled, removing the app's data from iCloud in your device settings
Disable iCloud synchronization in settings
Manage or cancel subscriptions through App Store settings

For users in the European Union (EU) and European Economic Area (EEA), you have certain rights under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). While most data in Book Reading Habit is stored locally on your device and we don't collect personal information, we respect your GDPR rights, which include:

Right to be informed: This Privacy Policy provides information about how we handle your data
Right of access: You have direct access to your data on your device
Right to rectification: You can edit your data directly in the app
Right to erasure: You can delete your data by clearing your books and shelves or uninstalling the app; if iCloud sync is enabled, also remove the app's data from iCloud in your device settings
Right to data portability: Your data is already in your possession on your device
Right to object to processing: No processing of your personal data occurs outside your device except for iCloud sync (optional), reading groups you opt into (shared with other members through your own iCloud), and anonymous aggregate analytics (opt-out available in Settings)
Right to lodge a complaint: If you believe we have handled your data unlawfully, you can lodge a complaint with your local data protection authority. As the developer of Book Reading Habit is based in the Netherlands, the competent supervisory authority is the Dutch Data Protection Authority (Autoriteit Persoonsgegevens, autoriteitpersoonsgegevens.nl)

The few third-party services this app relies on (Apple, RevenueCat, Google Books, TelemetryDeck) may process the limited data described in this policy on servers outside your country, including in the United States. Their privacy policies, linked in the sections above, describe the safeguards they apply.

Since Book Reading Habit primarily stores data locally and not on our servers, most GDPR rights are exercised directly through your device. For any concerns related to your GDPR rights, please contact us at [email protected].

LGPD (Brazil)

If you are in Brazil, the Lei Geral de Proteção de Dados (LGPD) gives you rights over your personal data similar to those in the GDPR section above — including confirmation that processing exists, access, correction, anonymisation or deletion, portability, and information about any sharing. As with the GDPR, most of your data stays on your device and we operate no server that holds it, so these rights are exercised mainly in the app itself. For anything else, contact us at the address below.

Security

We implement appropriate technical measures to protect your data:

Data stored locally on the device
iCloud synchronization protected by Apple's security
No personal data sharing with third parties beyond RevenueCat for subscription management and TelemetryDeck for anonymous analytics. Reading groups share only what you opt into, directly with other members through your own iCloud

This Website (bookreadinghabit.com)

This section applies only to the bookreadinghabit.com website — not to the app itself. The app stores your reading data on your device and in your own iCloud, as described in the sections above.

The website uses Fathom Analytics, a privacy-first analytics service with EU-hosted infrastructure, to count visits in aggregate. Fathom uses no cookies and no fingerprinting, does not store IP addresses, and cannot identify you. We see page counts, not people.

If you subscribe to our newsletter, your email address is processed by Buttondown, our newsletter provider, solely to send you the emails you signed up for. Subscription is confirmed by double opt-in, open- and click-tracking are disabled, and every email contains an unsubscribe link that removes your address. We never share subscriber addresses with anyone else.

For more details, see Fathom's privacy policy and Buttondown's privacy policy.

Changes to This Policy

We may update our Privacy Policy periodically. The current version is always available on this page, and the last-updated date below reflects the latest revision — check back here for changes.

Change History

July 7, 2026 — Added the Reading Groups section for the opt-in, member-to-member data sharing introduced by private reading groups, together with a Children’s Privacy section, an LGPD (Brazil) section, and clarifications on the legal basis for sharing, invite-link access, and what happens to shared data after you leave a group. Also added the right to lodge a complaint with a data protection authority, identifying the Dutch Data Protection Authority (Autoriteit Persoonsgegevens) as the competent supervisory authority, plus a note on international processing by third-party services and a minimum-age line in the Terms of Use.
March 31, 2026 — Added Anonymous Analytics section (TelemetryDeck). Updated data sharing, GDPR, and security statements to reflect aggregate analytics with opt-out.
March 20, 2025 — Initial privacy policy.

Contact

If you have questions about our Privacy Policy or wish to exercise your data protection rights, please contact us:

Email: [email protected]