This policy explains what the Readster app for Android and the Readster servers collect, why, how long we keep it, and the choices you have. Readster is run by the Readster developer (“we”, “us”).
The short version
- You don’t need an account to read. Readster has no ads, and we don’t sell your data.
- The app sends us a record of how you use it: which books you add, open, finish and remove, how long you read, and details about your device, including your IP address.
- We never receive the contents of your books, or the names, folders, titles or authors of your own files.
- If you create an account to download books, with Google or with your email, we also keep your email address and name.
- You can delete your account in the app or on this website at any time, or ask us by email to delete your data.
1. What we collect
How you use the app
Every copy of the app, whether or not you sign in, sends our servers a record of these events:
- When the app opens and closes.
- When you add, open, finish or remove a book. For each book we receive its file size, its format (such as EPUB or PDF), a fingerprint of its contents (a SHA-256 hash, which can’t be turned back into the book), and how it was added: picked from your files, opened from another app, found by the device scan, one of the included sample books, or downloaded from the catalog.
- How long you read in each session, how far through the book you are, and its page count.
- When a device scan finishes, the number of books it found. The scan itself runs on your phone.
- Catalog downloads, and when you sign in or out.
For the sample books included with the app, and for books downloaded from our catalog, we also know the title, because we published them.
Your device and connection
- A random ID created when the app is installed. It identifies this copy of the app, not you or your phone.
- The app version, Android version, device maker and model, language, and time zone.
- Your full IP address, with each batch of events, each sign-in and each download. An IP address can show your approximate location, such as your country or city.
- The app’s user-agent string on sign-ins and downloads.
Your account, if you sign in
Only downloading from the Discover catalog needs an account. When you sign in with Google we receive your Google account ID, email address and name. When you create an account with your email we keep your email address, the name you give (if any) and your password, stored only as a one-way hash that can’t be turned back into the password; we email you a link to confirm the address, and links to reset the password when you ask. We keep a history of your sign-ins and downloads, each with the IP address and app install it came from, and we link your usage events to your account.
Google Analytics for Firebase
The app also uses Google Analytics for Firebase, which collects anonymous statistics such as screens viewed, a Firebase app-instance ID, device type and approximate region. Google processes this under the Google Privacy Policy. See how Google uses information from apps that use its services.
2. What we don’t collect
- The contents of any book or document.
- The names, folders, titles or authors of files from your phone.
- Your contacts, photos, precise location, microphone or camera.
- Any payment details. Any future purchases will be handled by Google Play, not by us.
Readster has no ads and no advertising IDs.
3. Why we collect it
- To run the service: signing you in, delivering the books you download, and applying fair-use download limits.
- To keep it secure: spotting abuse, automated downloading and attacks on our servers.
- To understand and improve Readster: which formats people read, where reading gets stuck, and which catalog books are popular.
If you are in the European Economic Area or the UK, we rely on our legitimate interest in running, securing and improving Readster for usage and device data, and on the need to provide the service you asked for when you create an account.
4. Who we share it with
We don’t sell or rent your data, or share it for advertising. It is handled only by:
- the company that hosts our servers, which stores the data for us;
- Google, for Sign-in with Google, Google Play services and Firebase Analytics;
- our email provider, which delivers account emails (confirmation and password-reset links) to your address;
- authorities, if the law requires it.
Our servers may be in a different country from yours.
5. How long we keep it
- Usage events, device details and IP addresses have no fixed retention period. We keep them until you ask us to delete them (see below).
- Your account is kept until you delete it.
- After you delete your account, your usage events stay but are no longer linked to you. They remain tied to the random install ID, and still include the IP addresses they were sent from. To remove them as well, email us (see below).
6. Deleting your data
- Delete your account in the app: Settings › Account › Delete account. This removes your account, your sign-ins and your download history immediately. Books already on your phone stay there.
- Delete your account on this website: go to the account deletion page and enter your account’s email address. We email you a link; open it and confirm. This removes the same data as deleting in the app, and works whether you sign in with Google or with a password.
- To delete everything, including usage events: email us with the subject “Readster data deletion”. Include the email address of your account, if you have one. We delete your account and every usage event linked to it or to your app installs within 30 days, and confirm by email.
- Stop collection: uninstalling the app stops it completely.
7. Your rights
Depending on where you live, you can ask us for a copy of your data, to correct it, to delete it, or to limit or object to how we use it. You can also complain to your data protection authority. Email us to use any of these rights. We answer within 30 days.
8. Security
The app talks to our servers only over encrypted connections (HTTPS). Sign-in tokens on your phone are encrypted with the Android Keystore. Only a small number of staff, who sign in with two-step verification, can see the data on our servers. No system is perfectly secure, but we work to protect what we hold.
9. Children
Readster is not directed at children under 13, and we don’t knowingly collect data from them. If you believe a child has used Readster and signed in, email us and we will delete the data.
10. Changes and contact
If we change this policy, we will update the date at the top of this page. When a change affects what we collect, we will also describe it in the app’s release notes.
Questions about your privacy? Contact us through the Readster listing on Google Play.