Reader Privacy Policy

Your books, recordings and device permissions

Reader stores imported books, pasted text, saved study material, recordings, reading progress, bookmarks and preferences on your device. Ordinary reading does not upload your entire library. Local copies remain until you remove them using the app or device controls. Your device backup settings may also affect copies kept by your operating system.

Camera access is used when you choose to scan a page. Microphone access is used when you choose to record a lecture or voice note. File and image imports use the items you select. You can manage camera and microphone access in your device Settings.

Text shared into Reader is used for the reading workflow you choose. When you export, back up or share material, the destination you select controls that copy. Reader cannot remove copies you have shared elsewhere.

Optional sign-in

Reader uses Firebase Authentication for Apple and Google sign-in. Account information can include your name, email address (including an Apple relay address) and account identifier. These details support account access and associate cloud requests, credits and purchases with you.

If you choose to customize your Reader profile, your display name and selected profile picture are saved privately with your account in Firebase so they can appear on your signed-in devices. Reader resizes and re-encodes selected pictures before uploading them. You can replace or remove the picture in Profile; successful account deletion also removes the saved Reader profile. Google and Apple manage changes to their sign-in email addresses and passwords.

Google’s sign-in SDK also declares that its service may process a phone number for account functionality, other usage data for analytics, and other account-linked data for functionality and analytics. These are provider disclosures; Reader does not ask you for a phone number or request phone-number access through additional Google permissions.

Google Sign-In may process IP-based general location for fraud prevention. Reader does not request your Google contacts, Gmail or Drive through sign-in.

AI, translation and transcription

When you confirm a cloud AI action, Reader sends the selected text or audio to its backend and Google Vertex AI to perform that request. Examples include summaries, writing improvements, study guides, translation and recording transcription. Local reading and on-device processing are separate from these optional cloud actions.

Completed AI results, including transcripts, are saved with your account so interrupted requests can retrieve their results. Removing a local reading does not by itself remove the server's saved request result. Audio processing can create temporary server files; the processing routine removes them on completion or when it handles an error. This is not a guarantee of immediate removal following a service interruption.

Cloud providers process submitted data under their applicable terms and retention practices. See Google's Vertex AI data-governance information. We do not promise zero provider retention.

Device verification and diagnostics

Firebase App Check and Apple's App Attest or DeviceCheck help protect cloud services against unauthorized use. They process device-verification information; service requests and integrated SDKs may also process app or device information and diagnostics for operation, reliability and abuse prevention. Device verification does not upload your library.

Subscriptions and credits

Apple handles App Store checkout. Reader verifies subscriptions and credit purchases with Apple and keeps account-linked transaction identifiers, entitlement information and credit records to deliver access, reconcile refunds and prevent duplicate grants. Reader does not receive your payment-card details from Apple's checkout.

Deleting Reader or your Reader account does not cancel an Apple subscription. Manage subscriptions separately in your Apple account. See Apple's subscription cancellation instructions.

Advertising and optional rewards

Versions with advertising enabled may display Google AdMob ads. Reader requests non-personalized ads when its consent flow permits ads to load. Non-personalized ads still involve data processing: Google's advertising and consent services may process device identifiers, IP-derived general location, diagnostic and performance information, and advertising or app interactions for advertising, measurement and service operation.

Where available, privacy controls let you review advertising choices. Availability depends on your region and the installed version. Optional rewarded ads use account-linked reward records to verify completion, grant credits and enforce limits.

See Google's Privacy Policy and Google's iOS advertising data disclosure for provider details.

Cloud retention and deletion

Cloud AI request results in the production service are not currently subject to a fixed automatic expiration period. They remain until removed through account deletion or a handled deletion request. Some testing environments remove expired results after a limited retrieval window; this does not change retention in the production service or remove copies saved on your device.

Where the installed version offers account deletion, it requires fresh sign-in confirmation. Successful deletion removes your sign-in account, Reader profile details and picture, cloud-library records, cloud AI artifacts and saved AI request results. Apple-account deletion also includes revocation of the Apple authorization used by Reader. The app signs you out; local books and recordings remain until you remove them.

Purchase, credit, usage and security records, account-to-purchase mappings and a deletion marker are retained to reconcile transactions, prevent fraud and reject replayed purchases or rewards. These retained records do not currently have a fixed automatic deletion period. Account deletion therefore does not erase every account-linked record.

If in-app deletion is unavailable or fails, or you have a question about retained information, contact support@slothbloom.com. See our deletion instructions. Do not send passwords or verification codes.

Children and changes to this policy

Reader is not designed as a children-directed app. Parents or guardians should supervise a minor's use of recording, AI, advertising and purchase features.

We update this page when our practices change. The date above identifies the current policy.

Contact

For Reader privacy questions and deletion assistance, email support@slothbloom.com.