ScooksPrivacy Policy
Scooks helps you catalogue the books you own and the ones you want to read. This policy explains what the app handles, where it goes, and how long it is kept.
We do not sell your data, use it for advertising, or track you across other apps or websites. Scooks has no accounts and does not ask for your name, email address, or contacts.
Data stored on your device
Your collection, wishlist, ratings, and downloaded cover images are stored only on your iPhone. They are not uploaded to us and we cannot see them. Deleting the app deletes this data permanently, and we have no copy we could restore.
Shelf Scan photos
When you take a Shelf Scan photo, it is sent to our server and then to Google's Gemini API, which reads the titles on the book spines. We look up those titles in the Hardcover book catalogue.
Our server does not save the photo. It is used for that one scan and discarded when the scan finishes.
Google processes the photo under the Gemini API Additional Terms of Service. Under those terms Google may keep submitted content for a limited time to detect abuse. Google may also use it to improve its products, and human reviewers may see it. For that reason, avoid photographing people, documents, or anything private along with your shelf.
Scooks uses only the camera, and only on the Shelf Scan screen. It never asks for access to your photo library.
Book summaries
To show a short summary of a book, Scooks sends the book's published catalogue description to our server, which asks Gemini to shorten it. This contains no information about you.
Searches and recommendations
When you search for a book, ask for similar titles, or use Book Date, the app sends the search text or the relevant book identifiers to our server. The server passes them to the Hardcover catalogue. We do not keep a record of your searches.
Cover images
Cover images are downloaded directly from Hardcover's image servers. As with any image download, those servers receive your device's IP address.
Anti-abuse data
To stop our server from being misused, the app sends the following with each Shelf Scan:
- An installation identifier. This is a random value created the first time you open the app. It is not your Apple ID or your device's hardware or advertising identifier. We use it only to count requests from each installation.
- An Apple App Attest assertion. This proves the request came from a genuine copy of Scooks.
Our server stores the App Attest key for each installation and keeps short-lived request counters. Some requests are also rate-limited by IP address. These counters expire within minutes. None of this data describes you, your books, or your reading.
Services we use
| Service | What it receives | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Cloudflare Workers | All requests to our server, including your IP address | Hosts our server |
| Google Gemini API | Shelf Scan photos and book descriptions | Reads spines and writes book summaries |
| Hardcover | Book titles, search text, and book identifiers; your IP address when downloading covers | Book catalogue and cover images |
| Apple App Attest | Device attestation | Confirms requests come from the real app |
Children
Scooks is not directed at children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect information from them.
Your choices
Your collection is on your phone, so you control it directly: deleting a book removes it, and deleting the app removes everything. If you would like the anti-abuse records for your installation deleted, email us and we will remove them.
Changes
If this policy changes in a meaningful way, we will update the date above and mention the change in the app's release notes.