Effective August 27, 2026
Unshelved is an independent reading tracker designed to keep your library and reading activity on your device. It does not require an account, show ads, sell personal information, or use cross-app tracking.
Books, reading progress, dates, goals, preferences, cached book covers, and widget data are stored locally on your device and in Unshelved's private App Group container. They remain there until you edit them, delete them, reset the app, or remove the app and its data.
When you search for or add a book, search text and book identifiers may be sent to Google Books, Open Library, and Apple Books to retrieve titles, authors, page counts, categories, and cover images. Those providers receive ordinary connection information such as your IP address and process requests under their own privacy policies.
If you use Import, the photo or screenshot you choose is resized and may be cropped, then sent through an App Check-protected Firebase function to OpenAI's API to identify book titles, authors, and visible reading dates. Unshelved does not upload your full photo library. The function processes the selected image but does not write it to Unshelved's database or file storage. The application logs described below contain extracted text and image metadata, not the image itself.
OpenAI states that data sent through its API is not used to train or improve its models unless the customer explicitly opts in. OpenAI may retain API content in abuse-monitoring logs for up to 30 days by default, with longer retention possible for legal or safety reasons under its data controls. Unshelved sends each request with response storage disabled; this does not disable OpenAI's abuse-monitoring retention. See OpenAI's API data controls.
To troubleshoot Import and monitor its reliability and usage, Unshelved records diagnostic information in Google Cloud Logging. This includes extracted book titles, authors, and reading dates when present, request identifiers, processing times, usage information, errors, and image metadata such as file size and a computed image hash. The selected image itself is not included in these application logs.
I can access these logs for troubleshooting and service operation. Import diagnostic logs are stored in Google Cloud Logging with a 30-day retention period. This retention is separate from OpenAI's handling of API requests described above.
Deleting a book or removing Unshelved from your device does not delete previously recorded server logs; those follow their own retention schedule. For privacy questions or requests, use the Unshelved feedback form. Open the feedback form.
Camera and photo-library access are used only when you choose to photograph or select an image for import. Unshelved uses Apple's system photo picker and does not scan your photo library in the background.
Firebase App Check sends app and device-integrity information to Apple and Google to help prevent unauthorized use of Import. I do not use Firebase Analytics, advertising, or crash reporting.
Optional support tips are processed by Apple through the App Store. Unshelved receives purchase status and transaction information needed to complete the purchase, but not your payment-card details.