Privacy Policy

This policy explains what the Bukulu app for iPhone, iPad and Android (“the app”) does with information about you. The app is made by the Bukulu developer (“we”, “us”). If you have a question, write to bukulu@evtsoy.com.

1. What stays on your phone

Everything you put into the app is stored only on your device:

• your books, shelves, ratings, notes and quotes, and the covers you add or the app downloads;
• reading sessions, pages, minutes, daily and yearly goals, streaks and achievements;
• your settings, such as language, theme and reminder times;
• automatic backups the app keeps on the phone, and backup files you create.

We can't see, read or recover this information. The home screen widgets, lock screen widgets and the Live Activity read a small summary (today's goal, streak and current book) that the app shares with them on the same device.

2. What leaves your phone, and why

Book search, barcode scans and covers

To find a book, the app sends what you typed in search, or the ISBN from a barcode you scanned, to two public book databases: the Google Books API (run by Google) and Open Library (run by the Internet Archive). It may also send your app language, to prefer books in that language. When you import a library file with “Fetch covers automatically” turned on, the app sends the ISBNs of the imported books to look up their covers. Cover images are downloaded from these services' servers.

These requests don't include your name, an account, or anything else from your library. Like any request on the internet, they reveal your IP address and basic technical details to the service. Requests to Open Library also carry the app's name and version and our contact email (not yours), as Open Library asks apps to do. Google and the Internet Archive handle this information under their own policies: Google Privacy Policy and Internet Archive terms and privacy.

Scanning a barcode happens on your phone; camera images are never uploaded. You can always add a book by hand instead of searching.

Purchases and subscriptions

Payments are handled by Apple (App Store) or Google (Google Play). We never see your card or payment details. To unlock the app and to let you restore a plan on another phone, the app uses RevenueCat, a subscription service. RevenueCat receives:

• a random, anonymous app user ID created on your device (not your name, email or an advertising ID);
• your purchase history for Bukulu: which plan, price and currency, store transaction IDs, trial and renewal dates;
• technical details needed to process this: app version, platform and OS version, store country and locale.

We use this only to give you access to what you paid for, to restore purchases, and to see overall subscription numbers (for example, how many people are on a yearly plan). It is not linked to your identity and not used for advertising. See the RevenueCat Privacy Policy, Apple Privacy Policy and Google Privacy Policy.

Files you choose to share

When you export your library (CSV, Markdown or JSON) or create a backup, the app opens your phone's share sheet. The file goes only where you send it, such as Files, iCloud Drive, Google Drive or an email you write.

Your phone's own backups

Like most apps, the app's data can be included in your device backups: iCloud or computer backups on iPhone, and Google's Android backup on Android, if you have turned these on. Apple and Google run these backups under their own policies, encrypted and tied to your Apple or Google account. We can't access them.

3. Permissions the app asks for

• Camera: to scan book barcodes and to take cover photos. Images are processed on the phone and saved only as the cover you choose.
• Photos: to pick a cover image from your library. The app only sees the photo you pick.
• Notifications: for reading reminders, the running-timer notification and a reminder before a free trial ends. They are scheduled on your phone; we don't send push notifications from a server.

You can turn any of these off in your phone's settings. The rest of the app keeps working.

4. What we don't do

• No account, sign-in or email collection.
• No advertising, and no advertising IDs (IDFA or Android advertising ID).
• No analytics or crash-reporting tools, and no tracking across other apps or websites.
• No location, contacts, health data or microphone.
• We don't sell or rent information about you.

5. How long data is kept, and how to delete it

• On your phone: until you delete it. In the app, go to Settings → Your data → Delete all my data, or delete the app. Backups you exported or your device backups are kept until you delete them.
• RevenueCat: the anonymous purchase record is kept while needed to provide and restore your plan. Write to bukulu@evtsoy.com to have it deleted; include the app user ID if you can (we'll tell you how to find it). Apple and Google keep their own purchase records under their policies.
• Google Books and Open Library: we don't store your searches. Those services keep their request logs under their own policies.

6. Your rights

Depending on where you live (for example under the GDPR in the EU and UK, or the CCPA in California), you may have the right to access, correct, delete or move your personal data, and to object to or limit how it's used. Because your library never reaches us, you can already do most of this in the app: export your data in Settings → Your data, edit it, or delete it. For the purchase record held by RevenueCat, write to bukulu@evtsoy.com. You can also complain to your local data protection authority.

Where the GDPR applies, we rely on performance of a contract (to provide the app and the plan you bought) and our legitimate interest in running and improving a paid app (book search and overall subscription numbers).

7. International transfers

Google, the Internet Archive and RevenueCat are based in the United States, so the information described in section 2 may be processed there. These companies use safeguards such as the EU Standard Contractual Clauses where the law requires them.

8. Children

The app is not directed at children under 13 (or the minimum age in your country) and we don't knowingly collect personal information from them. Purchases are made through a parent's or guardian's store account and its family controls.

9. Changes to this policy

If the app starts handling data differently, we'll update this page and the date at the top before the change ships. For significant changes, we'll also tell you in the app.

10. Contact

Questions or requests: bukulu@evtsoy.com. See also our Terms of Use.