Bookyard keeps track of the books in your home library, keeps a reading history for each of your readers, and lets you lend books to other users you trust. This policy explains what we collect to do that, why, who else can see it, and what you can ask us to do with it.
Who we are. Bookyard is operated by M.A.K. PFA, established in Bucharest, Romania, which is the data controller for the information described here. For anything in this document, write to [email protected].
The short version
- Only users have accounts. Readers are people you add to your library; they never sign in and never have an account.
- About a reader, we keep what you type in: a name or nickname, a birth year, a colour, the languages they read in, and the books you mark as read. Nothing else.
- Other users in your groups see your library's name, the users who manage it, and the books you share with them. They never see your readers or their reading.
- We do not sell your data, there is no advertising, and there is no third-party analytics in the app or on this website.
- You can delete your account from inside the app, without asking us. For a copy of your data, write to us.
What we collect
Your account
You sign in with Apple, Google or your email address, through Firebase Authentication. We receive an account identifier, your name if your provider shares it, and your email address, which with Apple may be a private relay address. We never receive your password. We also keep the language you use the app in and your notification settings.
Your library
Your library's name, the users who manage it with you, and its books: title, author, ISBN, language, ages, how long each can be borrowed, whether you lend it, and its cover. A cover is either one we found for that book in a public catalogue, or a photo you took. Every photo is stripped of its metadata (such as location and camera) before it is stored.
Readers
For each reader you add: a name or nickname, a birth year, a colour, the languages they read in, and the books you mark as read, with the date. A reader does not need their real name; a nickname works just as well. Only add someone as a reader if you are allowed to share these details with us, for example because they are in your care.
Groups and lending
The groups you create or join, and every loan: who asked, when it was approved, handed over, due and returned, and any message sent with a request. Waiting-list places, and books given from one library to another, are kept the same way.
Notifications
A push notification token for each device you sign in on, so we can tell you about requests, returns and reminders. Signing out removes the device's token.
Photos of books
When you identify a book from a photo, the photo goes through AI processing (see Sub-processors) to recognise the book. If you then pick a book we already know, the photo is thrown away. If nothing matches and you add the book yourself, the photo can become that book's cover. Photos of books should show books only: please keep people out of the frame.
Subscription information
Purchases are made through the App Store or Google Play, and we never see your payment details. RevenueCat tells our servers whether your Bookyard Plus subscription is active, until when, whether it will renew, and which store it came from. See Subscriptions & Refunds.
When you visit this website
There is no analytics on this site, no advertising and no tracking pixel. Two things do happen, and it would be wrong to imply otherwise:
- Two strictly necessary cookies: a session cookie and a security token that protects forms. They are not used to recognise you, and they are why this site needs no cookie banner. We set no analytics, advertising or profiling cookies.
- Ordinary server logs: our host and the network in front of it record requests (IP address, time, page, browser) as every web server does, kept briefly for security and to fix faults.
When you write to us
A message you send through the contact form or by email reaches an inbox our staff read: your name, your email address, what it is about and what you wrote, and any later emails in the same conversation. A message sent through the form also records the IP address and browser it came from, to protect the form from abuse.
What we do not collect
No advertising identifiers, no location, no contacts, no tracking across other apps or websites.
Why we hold it, and on what basis
- To run Bookyard for you: your account, your library, your readers, groups, lending and notifications. This is performance of our contract with you.
- To bill and honour your subscription: performance of our contract with you.
- To answer you when you write to us, and to keep the contact form free of spam: our legitimate interest in answering the people who contact us.
- To keep the service working, secure and free of abuse, including request logs: our legitimate interest in a service that works.
- To meet legal obligations, where a law requires us to keep or produce something.
We do not use your library, your readers or their reading to train AI models, to build advertising profiles, or for anything other than running Bookyard.
Who can see it
- The users who manage your library with you see everything in it, readers included.
- Other users in your groups see your library's name, the users who manage it, and the books you share with that group, and the loans between you. Never your readers or their reading.
- Our service providers, listed in Sub-processors, each only for the purpose named there.
- Our staff, only where needed to support you and keep the service working.
The shared catalogue of books (titles, authors, ISBNs, covers) is used by every user. When you add a book that is new to it, its details and cover may be reviewed by our staff and offered to other users. Who added it is never shown.
How long we keep it
- Your account, library, readers and loans: for as long as your account exists.
- After you delete your account: removed from our servers straight away, apart from request logs, which run out on their own (below).
- A library you own is deleted with your account, even if other users manage it with you; they go back to their own library. A library you only help manage stays with its owner.
- Request logs: 7 days. Activity history (what was done, not what was typed): 180 days, and deleted with your account.
- Cover photos no book uses any more are deleted after a day.
- Messages you send us: for as long as we need them to answer you and follow up, then deleted from our inbox.
Your rights
You have the right to access a copy of your data, correct it, delete it, restrict or object to our use of it, take it elsewhere in a portable form, and withdraw consent where we rely on it.
You can delete your account yourself, in the app's settings: Delete account removes your account at our sign-in provider and erases your data from our servers.
For a copy of your data, in a portable form, or for anything else, write to [email protected] and we will answer within 30 days. Exercising these rights is free.
If you think we have got this wrong, you can complain to a supervisory authority. Ours is ANSPDCP. If you live elsewhere in the EU or in the UK, you may complain to your own national authority instead. We would rather you told us first, but you do not have to.
Security
Your data travels encrypted, and access to it is limited to what running the service needs. If a breach ever puts your personal data at risk, we will tell the supervisory authority within 72 hours of becoming aware of it, and tell you without undue delay.
Who Bookyard is for
Accounts are for users aged 13 or over. Readers never sign in and give us nothing themselves: everything about a reader is entered by the user who added them, who can change or delete it at any time.
Where your data is stored
Our servers, database and cover storage are in the European Union. Some of the providers in Sub-processors operate internationally, including in the United States. Where personal data leaves the European Economic Area, we rely on the transfer mechanisms those providers offer, including the European Commission's Standard Contractual Clauses.
Changes to this policy
When we change this policy we update the date at the top of the page. For a change that materially affects how your data is handled, we tell you in the app before it takes effect.