Privacy notice

Operator: VinDev Corp (“VinDev,” “we,” “us”)

Contact: [email protected]

This policy describes how the Book Neko Android app handles information. Book Neko is a personal catalog for books you own, books you want, your reading queue, and notes. VinDev does not run a server that stores your library. Your catalog stays on your phone unless you choose a feature that sends it to Google, as described below.

Information the app stores on your phone

Book Neko saves your catalog in the app’s private storage on the device. That can include:

• Books in My Library, your Wish List, and your reading queue, including title, authors, format, shelf location, ISBN, edition details, reading status, progress, ratings, and dates
• Notes you write (including quotations, journal entries, and study notes), with any title, page, chapter, and tags you add
• A display name and display preferences you set in the app
• Cover photos you take or choose, stored with the book entry
• A device label (the phone model) and an identifier the app uses to tell which phone last wrote a Google Drive backup
• If you connect Hardcover or Google, the sign-in session for that service, including tokens needed to stay signed in

You can remove this information by deleting entries in the app, signing out of a connected account, or clearing the app’s storage or uninstalling Book Neko. A Google Drive backup or a shared shelf is separate and is not removed by uninstalling the app.

Hardcover

Book lookups (search, ISBN scan, book details, editions, series, and community reviews) are sent to Hardcover at https://api.hardcover.app. Those requests include the search text or ISBN you enter, or the book identifier the app is opening.

Connecting a Hardcover account is optional. If you connect one, Book Neko uses Hardcover’s sign-in page in the browser and requests permission to read catalog data, your Hardcover profile, public library entries so it can show community reviews, and other readers’ activity (read:catalog, read:me:content, read:library:public, and read:social). The app stores Hardcover’s access and refresh tokens on the phone and reads your Hardcover profile id, username, and name. You can disconnect the account in the app, which asks Hardcover to revoke the token.

Hardcover’s own privacy policy applies to information Hardcover processes. Book Neko does not sell your Hardcover account information.

Google

Connecting Google is optional. It is used for backup and for sharing a shelf. Sign-in asks for:

• Your Google email address and profile name
• Access to the app’s private Drive folder (drive.appdata), used only for the Book Neko backup file
• Access to Drive files the app creates (drive.file), used for the shared shelf

The app stores your Google email, name, and access token on the phone so it can keep the session.

Backup. If you use backup, Book Neko uploads one private file, book-neko-library.json, to the Drive app-data folder for your Google account. That file can contain your library, notes, settings, display name, cover images stored in the catalog, the phone model, and the app’s device identifier. Other Google apps cannot read that folder. Google’s privacy policy applies to data stored in Drive.

Shared shelf. If you share your library, Book Neko creates or updates a file named book-neko-public.json in a Drive folder called “Book Neko shared,” and sets the file so anyone with the link can read it. The file includes the shelf title and description, your Google name and email, and the owned books you have left visible. For those books it can include title, authors, description, a public cover image URL, format, reading status, ISBN, your rating, and dates. Books you mark private, your notes, wish-list-only entries, and cover photos taken or chosen on the phone are not included. Anyone who has the link or the share code can open that shelf in Book Neko. You can replace the file by sharing again. Deleting it in Google Drive removes it from Drive.

Text message. The app can open your SMS app with a draft that contains the share message and link. Book Neko does not send the message and does not read your text messages. Your carrier and messaging app handle the message only if you send it.

Camera and barcode scanning

Book Neko uses the camera to scan ISBN barcodes and, if you choose, to take a cover photo. You can also pick a cover from your photo library. Barcode images are processed on the phone with Google ML Kit to read the ISBN. Book Neko does not upload those camera frames to VinDev. The camera is optional; you can type an ISBN or add a book by hand.

What we do not do

Book Neko does not include third-party advertising or analytics SDKs. VinDev does not sell your personal information, and we do not share it with data brokers. We receive information only as described in this policy: on your device, through Hardcover when you look up books or connect an account, and through Google when you sign in, back up, or share.

Children

Book Neko is a general-audience app and is not directed to children under 13. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If you believe a child has provided personal information through the app, contact [email protected] and we will help you delete what we can. Most catalog data is on the device or in the user’s own Google account, so deletion is usually done there.

Your choices

• Use the app without connecting Hardcover or Google. Lookups that need Hardcover still send the query to Hardcover.
• Disconnect Hardcover or Google in the app, and revoke Book Neko’s access in that service’s account settings.
• Mark owned books private so they are left out of a shared shelf.
• Delete the Drive backup or the shared file from your Google account.
• Clear app storage or uninstall Book Neko to remove the on-device catalog.
• Email [email protected] to ask what this policy covers or to request help with information VinDev can reach. We do not have a copy of your library on our own servers.

If a privacy law where you live gives you rights to access, correct, delete, or export personal information, you may contact us at that address. Because the catalog is stored on your device and, if you choose, in your Google account, those services are where the data can be viewed and deleted directly.

Security

Catalog data on the phone is kept in the app’s private storage. Connections to Hardcover and Google use HTTPS. No method of storage or transmission is perfectly secure. Keep your phone and Google account locked, and do not share a shelf link with people who should not see that shelf.

Changes

If we change this policy, we will update the effective date on this page. If a change materially expands how the app uses information, we will provide notice in the app or on the distribution page before the change takes effect, where it is practical to do so. Continued use of Book Neko after the updated policy is posted means you accept the update.

Contact

VinDev Corp
Email: [email protected]