Privacy Policy

Information We Collect

Your account

• Your email address and name. The name is the one you enter, or the one Apple or Google gives us when you sign in with them.
• If you sign up with a password, our sign-in provider, Clerk, stores it. We never receive it.
• If you use Shelvo as a guest, we don't create an account for you. Analytics and purchases then use a random identifier stored on your device.

Your library and reading

• The books on your shelves, your reading status, progress and dates, ratings, notes and tags.
• The public library you choose (for availability checks) and your settings, such as your preferred store and notification choices.
• The monthly picks and recommendations we make for you, and how you respond to them. Your Reading Wrapped summary.
• Reports you send us about a book's details.

What you import or share into Shelvo

• Goodreads import: you upload your Goodreads export file. We read it to add your books and don't keep the file. Your Goodreads "My Review" and "Private Notes" become notes on those books in Shelvo.
• Sharing a page to Shelvo: when you share a web page or text to the app, it sends the page's address, title and text to our server to work out which book it's about. We keep the address, title and site name with the import. We don't keep the page text.
• Photos and the camera: on iPhone, scanning a barcode or a book cover happens on your device. Only the ISBN or text it finds is sent, as a search. In the web app, a photo you upload is sent to Google Cloud Vision to read the text on it. We don't store it.

The AI Librarian

• The messages you write and the answers you get. Your conversation history is stored on your device.
• To answer, we send your conversation and a summary of your shelves (titles, authors and ratings of some of your books) to Anthropic. Our analytics record that you used the AI Librarian, and how long the AI took to answer, but not what you or the AI wrote.

Searches

• What you search for is sent to our server and to the book-information services listed below. We don't keep a search history tied to your account. The iPhone app keeps your last few searches on your device.
• Crash and error reports can include the address of a request the app made, which can contain what you searched for.

Device and usage information

• Analytics (PostHog): the screens you view and what you do in Shelvo (for example, adding a book or opening the subscription screen), with your app version, device model, operating system, language and time zone. When you're signed in, this is linked to your account by your user ID; we don't send PostHog your email address or name. PostHog may estimate your approximate location (city and country) from your IP address.
• Session recordings (PostHog): our analytics tool can record app sessions to help us find problems. A recording can include a simplified picture of the screens you use, with text masked, and the requests the app makes (their addresses and timing, which can include what you searched for). In the web app, it can also record what you click, including the text of the button or link.
• Crash and error reports (Sentry): crash logs, app freezes, device and app details, recent app activity such as request addresses, and your user ID (not your email address or name). Error reports from our servers include the request address, your IP address and your browser or app details.
• Push notifications: if you allow them, your device's push token, its name (as set in iOS Settings) and its environment, so we can send you notifications such as your monthly pick or a new book in a series you read.
• Device identifiers: Clerk and RevenueCat receive Apple's "identifier for vendor", an ID that only Shelvo's apps on your device share. We don't use the advertising identifier.
• IP address: our servers see it with every request. We use it to limit abuse (kept for up to a day) and it appears in error reports and server logs.
• Cookies (web app): the web app uses cookies and browser storage to keep you signed in (Clerk) and for analytics (PostHog). It uses no advertising cookies.

Siri, Shortcuts and Spotlight

• The iPhone app makes your library searchable in Spotlight and lets Siri and Shortcuts act on it. This stays on your device, and your notes are never added to Spotlight. It's removed when you sign out.

Purchases

• If you subscribe to Shelvo Pro, Apple handles the payment. We never see your card details. RevenueCat tells us your subscription status (product, status, renewal and expiry dates, and store), which we keep with your account.

How We Use Your Information

• To run Shelvo: keep your library in sync between your iPhone and the web, search for books, add them and show availability at your library.
• To personalize Shelvo: monthly picks, recommendations, the AI Librarian's answers and Reading Wrapped.
• To send the notifications you've allowed.
• To keep Shelvo working and secure: fix crashes and errors and prevent abuse.
• To understand how Shelvo is used, so we can improve it.
• To manage your subscription.

We don't use your information to train AI models.

Who We Share It With

We share information only with the service providers that help us run Shelvo, and only what each one needs:

• Clerk: sign-in and accounts (email, name, password, Sign in with Apple or Google, device identifier, IP address).
• Railway: hosts our servers, database and logs.
• Vercel: hosts the web app and this website.
• Anthropic: the AI Librarian, monthly picks (titles, authors, genres and ratings from your reading history), and reading pages you share to work out which book they're about. We don't send your name, email address or account ID.
• OpenAI: the titles and authors from a Goodreads import, to match them to books. No account information.
• PostHog: product analytics and session recordings (user ID, usage, device details).
• Sentry: crash and error reports (user ID, device details, request addresses, and IP address for server errors).
• RevenueCat: subscriptions (user ID, purchase history, device identifier).
• Apple: Sign in with Apple, push notifications and App Store purchases.
• Google: Sign in with Google; Google Cloud Vision for photos uploaded in the web app; and Google Search, which we may use to look up a short piece of text you share without a link.
• Book and library information: Google Books, Open Library, ISBNdb, Hardcover, The New York Times, Project Gutenberg, OverDrive (Libby) and BiblioCommons receive search text, ISBNs, titles or your chosen library. They receive no account information.
• Store links open the store in your browser and carry no Shelvo account information.

These providers have their own privacy policies. We may also disclose information if the law requires it, to protect the safety or rights of our users or others, or as part of a merger or sale of Shelvo, in which case this policy continues to apply.

Shelvo has no social features: other users can't see your library.

Data Storage and Security

• Your data is stored on secure servers, and everything is sent over HTTPS.
• On iPhone, your sign-in tokens are kept in the device's secure Keychain.
• Shelvo is run from the United States. Our service providers may process your information in the United States and other countries.

Data Retention and Deletion

We keep your information while your account exists.

You can delete your account at any time in Settings → Delete Account, in the iPhone app or the web app. This immediately deletes your account and library from our database and deletes your sign-in account at Clerk. Signing out or deleting your account also removes your AI Librarian history, recent searches and Spotlight entries from the iPhone.

Some information isn't removed right away:

• Analytics, session recordings and crash reports already sent to PostHog and Sentry are kept for those services' retention periods. Email us and we'll delete them.
• RevenueCat and Apple keep records of purchases. Deleting your account doesn't cancel an App Store subscription. Cancel it in your Apple account settings.
• Our servers' logs are kept for a limited time.
• Cached data expires within a day.
• Book details added to Shelvo's shared catalog (such as a title and author) stay, without any link to you.

Your Choices and Rights

• Edit your name, books, ratings, notes and tags at any time in the app.
• Delete your account in Settings.
• Turn notifications or camera access off in iOS Settings.
• Email us to get a copy of your information, to correct it, or to delete it, including your analytics and crash-report records.

Depending on where you live, for example in California, the European Union or the United Kingdom, you may have further rights to access, correct, delete or move your information, or to object to how we use it. We'll respond within the time the law requires.

Children's Privacy

Shelvo is not intended for children under 13. We don't knowingly collect information from children under 13. If you believe a child has given us information, contact us and we'll delete it.

Changes to This Policy

We'll post any changes on this page and update the date at the top. If a change significantly affects how we use your information, we'll tell you in the app before it takes effect.

Contact Us

Questions or requests? Email us at privacy@shelvobooks.com.