Living Shelf — Privacy Policy
Effective 21 September 2026
Living Shelf helps you photograph your bookshelves, build a personal library, and find a book by title, author, or shelf. This policy describes exactly what the app does with your information.
What the developer collects
Nothing. Living Shelf has no account system, no sign-in, no analytics, no advertising, and no third-party tracking software. The developer cannot see your library, your photographs, or how you use the app.
Where your library is stored
- On your device. Your books, shelf maps, and shelf photographs are stored locally on your iPhone or iPad.
- In your own iCloud, if you enable sync. Living Shelf can sync your library through Apple's CloudKit into your personal iCloud account. That data lives in your private iCloud database under your Apple Account. It is governed by Apple's Privacy Policy. The developer has no access to it.
- With people you invite. If you choose to share a library, Apple's sharing interface sends an invitation to the people you pick. Only those participants can see that shared library. You can stop sharing at any time from within the app.
Book information lookups
When online book search is enabled, Living Shelf sends the title and author text it reads from a book spine to Open Library, a service of the Internet Archive, in order to identify the book and download its cover image. These requests contain only that search text. They do not include your name, your device identifier, your location, or your photographs.
Open Library is an independent service with its own terms and privacy practices. You can turn online book search off in Settings, after which the app performs no network requests at all.
Camera and photos
The camera is used only to photograph your shelves and book spines. Photographs are processed on your device to read text from book spines. They are never uploaded to the developer. If you pick an existing image, the app receives only the specific image you select — it does not read your photo library.
Children
Living Shelf is suitable for all ages and does not knowingly collect information from anyone, including children.
Deleting your data
Deleting the app removes the library stored on that device. If you enabled iCloud sync, you can remove the app's data from Settings › Apple Account › iCloud on your device.
Changes
If this policy changes, the revised version will be posted here with a new effective date.
Contact
Questions about privacy in Living Shelf: akeath18@gmail.com