Your books are personal. Your privacy should be too.

Bukshelf accounts are currently available only to people who are 18 years of age or older.

When you create an account, we ask for your date of birth so that we can confirm age eligibility. If the date you enter indicates that you are under 18, account creation is stopped before a new Bukshelf account is created.

For eligible users, we keep the date of birth associated with the account. We use it for age eligibility, age-appropriate experiences and recommendations, and birthday-related features such as future birthday surprises, profile celebrations, or similar bookish features.

Your full date of birth is treated as private account information. It is not included in your public profile or Discover content.

If an existing account is determined to belong to someone under 18, access to normal Bukshelf features may be restricted. The user can still sign out or request/delete their account.

The information Bukshelf processes depends on which features you use.

Account and profile information

When you create or maintain a Bukshelf account, we may process information such as:

• your email address;
• your Firebase account identifier;
• username, display name, and bio;
• profile/avatar information;
• your date of birth;
• favorite genres;
• theme and shelf preferences;
• privacy and visibility settings; and
• account and onboarding status.

You can create an account using email and password or Google Sign-In.

Your library and reading activity

Bukshelf may store information you add or generate through your reading activity, including:

• books in your library;
• reading status and shelves;
• custom shelves;
• favorites;
• book-cover and metadata selections;
• ratings and additional rating categories;
• reviews and review spoiler settings;
• reading progress, including page, chapter, or percentage;
• started, completed, and dropped dates;
• reading activity history;
• reading challenges and progress; and
• related reading statistics shown inside the app.

Social and community information

If you use Bukshelf's community features, we may process information such as:

• follows and friendships;
• friend or follow requests;
• Feed activity;
• comments;
• reactions;
• reviews and reading updates that you choose to share;
• Discover content;
• notification records; and
• visibility settings associated with that content.

What other readers can see depends on the feature and the privacy settings available in Bukshelf.

Content may, depending on your settings and the feature involved, be private, shared with friends, visible publicly to other Bukshelf users, or visible only to participants in a Reading Room or Buddy Read.

Reading Rooms and Buddy Reads

If you join or create a shared reading experience, we may process:

• room or Buddy Read membership;
• invitations;
• participant roles;
• book information;
• reading progress;
• messages;
• spoiler settings;
• room title or description; and
• related timestamps and activity.

Room messages and participant information are available to the relevant room participants according to the feature's access rules.

Reports and moderation information

If you report content, another reader, or account activity, or if a report involves your account or content, Bukshelf may process information such as:

• the report reason or category;
• optional details or context included with the report;
• the reporter's account identifier for internal review;
• the reported account, content, or related identifiers;
• report status and review information;
• moderation actions and enforcement state;
• user-facing moderation messages; and
• internal moderator details used for admin-only safety review and audit history.

Report reasons may include categories such as harassment or bullying, hate or abusive content, sexual or inappropriate content, threats or violence, spam or scams, privacy or personal information, copyright or intellectual property, community rules, security, or other safety concerns.

We do not disclose the reporter's identity to the reported user as part of the normal moderation process, but Bukshelf may retain and use reporter information internally to process reports, review abuse or safety issues, investigate misuse of reporting tools, and maintain moderation records.

Notifications

If you enable notifications, Bukshelf may process:

• a Firebase Cloud Messaging token associated with your app installation;
• app version and basic Android version information;
• notification preferences;
• notification routing information; and
• information needed to deliver notifications related to Bukshelf activity.

You can control notification permissions through your device and may also have notification settings inside Bukshelf.

Bukshelf keeps local copies of certain information on your Android device to make the app faster and provide a smoother experience.

This may include local copies or caches of:

• your library;
• shelves;
• reading activity;
• Buddy Read information;
• social relationship information;
• feed content;
• theme and display preferences; and
• other app state.

For account data, Firebase is the primary cloud source of truth.

Bukshelf excludes its account database and account-related SharedPreferences from Android cloud backup and device-to-device transfer. When you install Bukshelf on another device and sign back in, applicable account information is rebuilt from Firebase rather than restoring an old Bukshelf database from an Android backup.

Temporary cached files, such as book-cover images, may also be stored locally by the app.

Bukshelf uses the Google Books API to help you search for books and retrieve book metadata.

Depending on what you search for or view, Bukshelf may send Google information such as:

• your book search query;
• an ISBN;
• a Google Books volume ID; or
• book title and author information used for metadata lookup.

Bukshelf does not intentionally attach your Bukshelf user ID to these Google Books queries.

Google may independently process technical information associated with requests to Google Books, such as the search query, IP address, browser or client information, and request time, according to Google's own policies.

Bukshelf uses Google Firebase services for core app functionality.

These currently include:

• Firebase Authentication for account creation, sign-in, email verification, password reset, and Google authentication;
• Cloud Firestore for cloud storage and synchronization of Bukshelf account and app data;
• Cloud Functions for Firebase for server-side functions such as account deletion and notification processing; and
• Firebase Cloud Messaging for push notifications.

Firebase Authentication may process information such as email addresses, authentication credentials, user-agent information, and IP addresses for account functionality and abuse prevention.

Firebase states that logged authentication IP addresses are generally retained for a few weeks and other authentication information is retained until the associated user is deleted, after which removal from live and backup systems may take up to 180 days.

Firebase services use Google infrastructure and may process information in countries other than the country where you live.

Firebase Authentication is currently operated from U.S. data centers, while other Firebase services may use Google infrastructure in multiple locations.

If you choose Continue with Google, Google provides authentication information needed to sign you into Bukshelf.

Bukshelf uses the resulting Google credential with Firebase Authentication.

We do not request access to your Google contacts, calendar, Google Drive, or unrelated Google account information as part of the current sign-in flow.

Google Sign-In is optional; email/password registration is available as an alternative.

If you contact Bukshelf through the Help & Contact form, we may receive:

• your name, if you provide it;
• your email address;
• the support category you select;
• subject;
• message;
• submission time; and
• attachments you choose to include.

Attachments may include PNG, JPEG, WebP, PDF, or text files.

We use this information only to understand and respond to your message, troubleshoot issues, or review suggestions you send us.

Support messages are delivered to Bukshelf using Resend.

The Bukshelf website does not separately save support messages or attachments in its own database. Attachments are processed in memory for validation and delivery.

Resend receives the information necessary to deliver the support email, including the message and any attachments.

Resend currently states that email and log data on its Free, Pro, and Scale services is retained for 30 days and backups for 7 days. Vendor retention practices may change over time.

Cloudflare Turnstile

The Bukshelf support form uses Cloudflare Turnstile to distinguish legitimate submissions from automated abuse.

Cloudflare may process security signals such as:

• IP address;
• TLS fingerprint;
• User-Agent;
• site key; and
• the website origin.

Cloudflare states that Turnstile does not access or transmit the contents of your support message or other form entries for this purpose.

Rate limiting

We use Upstash Redis to limit repeated support-form submissions.

For this purpose, Bukshelf derives identifiers from the submitting IP address and email address and applies SHA-256 hashing before storing the rate-limit identifiers in Upstash.

We do not send the support message or attachment contents to Upstash.

Current rate-limit windows are approximately:

• 15 minutes for the IP-based limiter; and
• 60 minutes for the email-based limiter.

Upstash may maintain infrastructure backups or snapshots as part of operating its service.

The current Bukshelf Android app does not request access to:

• precise or approximate location;
• contacts;
• camera;
• microphone;
• SMS;
• call logs;
• calendar;
• Bluetooth or nearby-device data; or
• broad photo/media-library permissions.

Bukshelf currently does not include advertising SDKs.

We also do not currently use Firebase Analytics, Firebase Crashlytics, Meta Pixel, Mixpanel, Amplitude, PostHog, or similar third-party behavioral analytics SDKs in the production app.

If that changes in the future, this Privacy Policy will be updated before the new processing becomes part of normal Bukshelf use.

We use information described in this Policy to:

• create and manage your Bukshelf account;
• authenticate you and protect account access;
• maintain and synchronize your library;
• remember reading progress and activity;
• provide ratings, reviews, shelves, challenges, and personalization;
• enforce Bukshelf's 18+ account requirement;
• provide age-appropriate experiences;
• support birthday-related features;
• operate community, Feed, Discover, friendship, and following features;
• operate Reading Rooms and Buddy Reads;
• send notifications you have enabled;
• search for and retrieve book information;
• respond to support requests;
• review reports and enforce Bukshelf's Terms, community rules, and safety standards;
• communicate moderation decisions where appropriate;
• prevent spam, abuse, fraud, and misuse;
• investigate safety or security issues;
• keep Bukshelf functioning reliably; and
• comply with legal obligations where applicable.

We do not currently use your personal information to sell advertising.

We do not sell personal information to advertisers or data brokers.

Where European data-protection law applies, we process personal data under one or more appropriate legal bases depending on the feature.

Performance of our agreement with you

We process information necessary to provide the Bukshelf services you request, such as your account, library, reading progress, social features, Reading Rooms, and cloud synchronization.

Legitimate interests

We may process information where reasonably necessary for legitimate interests such as:

• protecting Bukshelf from abuse and fraud;
• reviewing reports and enforcing safety or community rules;
• enforcing account eligibility;
• maintaining service reliability;
• responding to support requests; and
• securing accounts and systems.

When we rely on legitimate interests, we consider those interests against the rights and interests of users.

Consent

Where consent is required, for example for certain device permissions or optional functionality, we rely on your choice.

You can withdraw consent where applicable, although this may affect the related feature.

Legal obligations

We may process information when necessary to comply with laws, regulations, legal process, or enforceable governmental requests.

We do not sell your personal information.

We share information only where necessary to operate Bukshelf, provide features you request, protect the service, or comply with law.

Current service providers include:

• Google / Firebase - authentication, Firestore cloud data, Cloud Functions, and push notifications;
• Google Books - book search and book metadata;
• Google Sign-In - optional authentication;
• Resend - delivery of support emails;
• Cloudflare - Turnstile spam and bot protection; and
• Upstash - support-form rate limiting.

Moderation and report information may be accessed by authorized Bukshelf personnel and service providers where necessary to operate, secure, support, or legally protect Bukshelf.

We may also disclose information when required by applicable law, court order, or another legally valid request.

If Bukshelf later becomes part of a company, merger, acquisition, reorganization, or transfer of the service, relevant information may be transferred as part of that transaction subject to applicable law and appropriate notice.

Bukshelf includes social features.

Information you intentionally make public or share with other users may be seen, copied, discussed, or interacted with by those users.

Depending on the feature and your settings, this can include:

• profile information;
• shelves;
• ratings;
• reviews;
• reading updates;
• challenge information;
• Feed posts;
• comments;
• reactions; and
• other reading activity you choose to share.

Buddy Read or Reading Room messages are shared with the applicable participants rather than the general public.

Please use privacy and visibility controls according to the audience you want.

We keep personal information only for as long as reasonably needed for the purposes described in this Policy, subject to technical, contractual, and legal requirements.

In general:

• account and cloud library information is kept while your Bukshelf account exists;
• content you remove may be deleted or updated through the normal operation of the app;
• local account data is cleared as part of account deletion;
• support messages are handled through our email provider as described above;
• rate-limiting identifiers are used over short operational windows;
• moderation, safety, security, fraud-prevention, legal, or audit records may be retained where necessary or permitted to enforce rules, prevent abuse or repeat misuse, investigate reports, maintain security history, comply with legal obligations, or resolve disputes;
• authentication and infrastructure providers may retain limited technical information according to their own service-retention practices; and
• some information may remain temporarily in provider backups before being fully removed.

We do not promise instantaneous removal from every backup or infrastructure log because some service providers maintain limited backup and security retention periods.

You can permanently delete your Bukshelf account from the Android app.

If you no longer have access to the app, Bukshelf also provides an authenticated account-deletion flow on the website.

Deleting your account removes personal account data such as applicable:

• your Bukshelf profile;
• private birthday information;
• personal library;
• reading activity;
• book progress;
• custom shelves;
• reviews stored with your books;
• notification/push-token records;
• challenges; and
• removable social relationships and account-owned data.

Your Firebase Authentication user is also deleted as part of the account-deletion process.

Some safety, security, fraud-prevention, legal, dispute-resolution, or moderation records may be retained where necessary or permitted even after ordinary account and content deletion. These limited records may include report or moderation history needed to enforce rules, prevent abuse or repeat misuse, investigate reports, maintain audit history, or protect Bukshelf and its users.

Shared content

Some content that formed part of a shared conversation or group-reading experience may be anonymized rather than deleted when removing it entirely would damage another reader's conversation or Reading Room history.

For example, certain comments or Buddy Read messages may remain but be attributed to:

Deleted reader

They are no longer associated with your active Bukshelf profile.

If you own a Buddy Read and other joined participants remain, ownership may be transferred to another joined participant so the shared room can continue.

If no other joined participant remains, the room may be deleted.

We use technical and organizational measures intended to reduce unauthorized access, misuse, and abuse.

Depending on the feature, these include:

• Firebase Authentication;
• email verification;
• Firestore access rules;
• authenticated server functions;
• private storage of date-of-birth records;
• visibility controls;
• server-side validation;
• reporting and moderation tools;
• support-form spam protection;
• rate limiting;
• attachment count, size, type, and file-signature validation; and
• restricted handling of server-side credentials.

Internal moderator details are admin-only moderation records. They are not included in the affected user's email, push notifications, in-app moderation notifications, moderation state, or user-facing moderation information.

Firebase states that its services encrypt data in transit and that relevant Firebase services, including Authentication, Firestore, Cloud Functions, and Cloud Messaging, also encrypt data at rest.

No system can guarantee absolute security, so we cannot promise that unauthorized access will never occur.

Bukshelf is intended to be available globally.

Some of the service providers we use operate internationally, so your information may be processed in countries other than the country where you live.

Where applicable law requires safeguards for international transfers of personal information, we rely on the safeguards and contractual arrangements offered by our service providers and other legally permitted transfer mechanisms.

Depending on the feature, Bukshelf gives you choices regarding:

• profile visibility;
• shelf visibility;
• review visibility;
• rating visibility;
• progress visibility;
• challenge visibility;
• birthday visibility;
• notifications;
• Buddy Read muting; and
• account deletion.

Some social content can be kept private, shared with a limited audience, or made discoverable according to the feature and settings available in Bukshelf.

Depending on where you live, you may have rights over your personal information.

These may include the right to:

• request access to information we hold about you;
• request correction of inaccurate information;
• request deletion;
• object to certain processing;
• request restriction of processing;
• receive certain information in a portable format;
• withdraw consent where processing is based on consent; and
• complain to a competent data-protection authority.

These rights are subject to applicable law and may not apply in every situation.

To make a privacy request, contact: support@bukshelf.com

We may need to verify that the request relates to your account before acting on it.

Bukshelf will continue to grow, and this Privacy Policy may change as features, service providers, or legal requirements change.

When we make material changes, we will update the Last updated date and, where appropriate, provide additional notice in the app or on the website.

We encourage you to review this Policy from time to time.

Bukshelf is currently operated by:

Ivana Navarrete Santeliz

For privacy questions, requests, or concerns: support@bukshelf.com