Privacy Policy
Reader's Library is a personal reading tracker for iPhone and iPad. It is built to be private by design: there are no accounts, and we operate no servers that store your library. This policy explains the limited data the app handles and where it goes.
What stays on your device
Everything you create in the app — your books and shelves, reading sessions and progress, ratings, reviews, quotes, notes, collections, achievements, and any cover images — is stored locally using Apple's on-device database (SwiftData).
iCloud sync
If you are signed into iCloud, the app syncs this same data through your private iCloud database so it appears on your other devices. This uses Apple's CloudKit and is governed by Apple's Privacy Policy. The developer of Reader's Library has no access to your private iCloud data and cannot read it.
Information sent to third parties
To make the app useful, some non-identifying requests are sent to outside services. None of these include your name, an account, a device identifier, or a profile:
- Open Library (a project of the Internet Archive) — when you search for a book or scan a barcode, the title, author, or ISBN you look up is sent to Open Library to return book details and cover art. See the Internet Archive privacy terms.
- Google News — if you view author news in the app, the author's name is sent to Google News to fetch recent headlines.
- Reader's Library website (readerslibrary.app) — only when you choose to share a book, shelf, or achievement (see below).
AI features and photos
Some optional, premium features use artificial intelligence to identify books and generate reading insights. When you actively use one of these features, the relevant input is sent over a secure connection to our processing service, which relays it to our AI provider, Anthropic, and returns the result. We do not send your name, an account, or a profile, and these images and text are used only to fulfill your request — not to train models or build a profile of you.
- Cover scan and Shelf scan ("Shelfie") — when you point the camera at a book cover or a shelf to identify books, that photo is sent for identification. The photo is processed to return the book details and is not retained for any other purpose.
- Book insights, read-alikes, discussion questions, and the AI Year recap — these send text only (such as a book's title, author, and description, or your reading statistics) to generate the result.
- Smart "Ask" search — only your typed search phrase is sent; your library itself never leaves your device.
- Quote capture from a page photo runs entirely on your device using Apple's built-in text recognition — no photo or text is sent anywhere.
Anthropic's handling of this data is governed by their Privacy Policy. AI-generated results may contain mistakes and are provided for convenience.
Links to other services
Some premium features can hand off to other websites — for example, a "Post review" action can open Goodreads, The StoryGraph, or Amazon in your browser so you can paste a review you wrote. These are outbound links only: we don't have accounts with or send your data to those services. Once you're on their site, their own privacy policies apply.
Sharing — content you choose to make public
When you tap Share to create a link or card for a book, shelf, or achievement, the details you're sharing (such as the title, author, your rating, your review text, shelf name, and stats) are placed into a public link on readerslibrary.app so the link can preview itself in Messages, social apps, and the like.
Analytics and tracking
The app contains no third-party analytics, advertising, or tracking SDKs. We do not build a profile of you and we do not use tracking technologies across apps or websites.
Purchases
The app offers an optional Reader's Library Pro subscription (and a lifetime option) that unlocks premium features, as well as an optional "tip jar." All purchases are processed entirely by Apple through the App Store; we never see or store your payment information. To confirm an active Pro subscription, the app may send Apple's purchase receipt to our processing service for verification — this contains no personal information beyond what Apple includes to validate the purchase.
Children's privacy
Reader's Library is a general-audience app and is not directed at children under 13. Because we don't operate accounts or knowingly collect personal information, the app does not collect data from children.
Your choices
- You can delete any book, quote, note, or your entire library from within the app at any time.
- You can turn off iCloud sync for the app in iOS Settings.
- You can ask us to remove a shared link from our cache by emailing [email protected].
Changes to this policy
If this policy changes, we'll update the date above and post the new version at this URL.
Contact
Questions about privacy? Email [email protected].