BookShelf is built around a simple promise: your reading is yours. This policy explains, in plain language, what data the app touches and where it goes.
Everything you log — your shelf, your ratings, your reviews, your reading sessions, your mood tags, your reflections — is written to a local SwiftData database on your device. If you sign in to iCloud and have iCloud Drive enabled, that database is mirrored to your private iCloud container. Only you can access it. Apple operates the storage; we have no servers.
When you type a query into the Add Book screen or scan an ISBN, we send only the query string to the Google Books API to look up metadata and cover art. The query is not attached to your identity. We do not store search history.
If you tap "Unlock for $24.99", Apple's StoreKit handles the payment. To verify and persist the purchase across devices on the same Apple ID, we use RevenueCat. RevenueCat receives an anonymous purchase identifier from Apple — never your name, email, or device identifier. It does not advertise to you and is not an ad-tracking SDK.
Book covers load from publisher and Google Books image URLs over standard HTTPS. No identifier is attached to the image request.
The ISBN scanner uses the rear camera to read the barcode on a book. Frames are processed entirely on-device by Apple's Vision framework. They are never recorded, stored, or transmitted. You can revoke camera permission at any time from iOS Settings → Privacy & Security → Camera.
If you want your library on more than one device, sign in to iCloud and enable iCloud Drive in iOS Settings. SwiftData will mirror your library to your private iCloud container. Disable it any time in Settings → Apple ID → iCloud → BookShelf.
BookShelf is rated 4+. It does not knowingly collect data from anyone, including children. There is no chat, no community, no user-generated content shared with others.
You can delete everything by deleting the app. No further request is needed. Removing BookShelf from your device removes the local database. If iCloud sync was on, you can also wipe the iCloud container from iOS Settings → Apple ID → iCloud → Manage Account Storage → BookShelf.
If we ever change this policy in a way that affects how data is handled, we'll update the "Effective" date at the top and surface the change in-app via a banner before the change takes effect. Material changes never apply retroactively.
Questions or concerns: