Last updated: April 8, 2026
Book Butler is a reading journal and social app that helps you track what you read, discover new books, connect with other readers, and find local points of interest. Your privacy matters to us. This policy explains what data we collect, how we use it, and your rights.
When you create an account using email, Google Sign-In, or Apple Sign-In, we receive and store your name, email address, display name, username, and an optional profile photo. When using Apple Sign-In, Apple may share your full name and email address on first sign-in depending on your Apple ID settings. As you use the app, we store:
Recent search history is stored locally on your device. When you actively search for books, your search query may be sent to our servers and to third-party book data providers such as Google Books to return results. Search interactions may also be included in analytics if you have analytics enabled.
Your data is used to power the features you interact with: your personal library, journal, ratings, reading tracker, book recommendations, social feed, book chats, and the community leaderboard.
We use your preferences and reading activity to generate personalized book recommendations. We analyze your reading session times to power Smart Reminders, which learn when you typically read and suggest optimal reminder times.
We do not sell your data to third parties. We use a third-party analytics service to understand usage patterns and improve the app experience. We do not run advertising SDKs or tracking pixels. You can opt out of usage analytics at any time in Privacy Settings.
We collect usage events to improve the app experience. These include screen views, book searches, and feature interactions. Each app session is assigned a session ID to help us understand user journeys.
You can opt out of usage analytics at any time in Privacy Settings. When opted out, behavioral tracking (screen views, searches, session data) stops completely. Functional data that powers features for all users (ratings, reviews, reading sessions) is still collected.
Certain usage analytics are automatically deleted after 90 days. Functional data is retained indefinitely to support recommendations and community features.
Book Butler includes social features such as following other readers, a social feed, and book chats. You control your visibility through Privacy Settings:
Chat messages are stored while a chat session is live so participants can receive them across devices in real time. When the session ends, those messages are automatically deleted from our servers. Chat session metadata (schedule, RSVPs, invites) is stored in our database.
If you enable notifications, we store a device push token to deliver notifications such as chat reminders, reading reminders, and trial expiry alerts. You can disable notifications at any time in your preferences. Push tokens are deleted when you delete your account.
When you invite someone to a book chat via email, the recipient's email address, your name, the book title, session time, and any personal message you include are transmitted through our email delivery service to send the invitation. We store invite email addresses and related invite metadata to send invitations, track invite status, and let organizers view sent invites.
If you choose to invite contacts, we request read-only access to your device contacts to help you find people to invite. Contact data is used only within the app to display names and email addresses for selection. We do not upload, store, or transmit your contact list to our servers.
Book Butler uses your device camera for barcode scanning and to scan page text into your journal. Camera access requires your explicit permission. All image processing is performed locally on your device. Images are not stored, uploaded, or transmitted to our servers.
If you use the Nooks feature, your device location is used to find nearby bookstores, libraries, and coffee shops. Location coordinates may be sent through our servers and to a location services provider to return nearby results. We do not store your precise location in our database, though we may log coarse location context such as city-level search activity for analytics if analytics is enabled.
You may import your reading history from Goodreads or StoryGraph via CSV files. We parse book titles, authors, ISBNs, ratings, reading status, and shelf/tag names from these files. The original CSV file is not retained after import.
Subscriptions are processed entirely by Apple (App Store) or Google (Play Store). We never receive, handle, or store your credit card number, billing address, or any payment credentials. We only know whether your subscription is active and its expiry date.
Your account data is stored on secure cloud servers with industry-standard encryption at rest and in transit. Authentication credentials are never stored in plaintext by Book Butler. Your profile photo is stored in encrypted cloud storage. Some data (search history, notification preferences) is also cached locally on your device for performance.
We use third-party services for database hosting, authentication, location services, email delivery, analytics, subscription management, and payment processing. These services have their own privacy policies. We only share the minimum data necessary for each service to function.
Book Butler uses AI to generate review summaries. These summaries are clearly labeled as AI-generated. No personal user data is sent to the AI service.
Under applicable privacy laws including the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) and GDPR, you have the right to:
You can delete your account at any time from Profile > Account > Delete Account. This permanently removes all your data from our servers, including your profile, library, journal entries, ratings, reviews, reading sessions, follows, chat history, referrals, analytics events, and any uploaded photos. This action cannot be undone.
Book Butler is not designed for children under 13. We do not knowingly collect data from children under 13. If you believe a child has created an account, please contact us and we will delete it promptly.
We may update this policy from time to time. If we make material changes, we will notify you through the app. Continued use of Book Butler after changes constitutes acceptance of the updated policy.
If you have questions about this policy or your data, contact us at support@bookbutlerapp.com.