Privacy Policy

Effective Date: September 18, 2026

SHELVD ("we," "us," or "our") is committed to protecting your privacy. This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, disclose, and safeguard your information when you use our reading tracking application and services.

1. Information We Collect

Account Information

When you create an account, we collect:

  • Email address
  • Username (if provided)
  • Password (stored securely using industry-standard hashing)

Reading Data

To provide our core service, we collect:

  • Book titles and metadata from your reading activity
  • Reading progress and page numbers
  • Reading session timestamps
  • Books added to your library and custom shelves

Amazon Kindle Integration

Kindle Sync is available exclusively on the Founders plan. If you are on the Founders plan and choose to connect your Amazon Kindle account:

  • We securely store encrypted authentication credentials to sync your reading progress
  • We access your Kindle reading progress and library information
  • We do not access your Amazon purchase history, payment information, or other Amazon services

Usage Data

We automatically collect:

  • Device type and operating system
  • App version
  • Native build number and active over-the-air update version or state
  • A pseudonymous, app-generated installation identifier (not a hardware identifier)
  • Feature usage patterns
  • Error logs and crash reports

When you use the authenticated native app, we associate this installation information with your account to diagnose support issues and determine release compatibility. The association is cleared when you sign out.

Public Threads Content and Data Deletion

To connect Shelvd's company-owned Threads account, we collect its Threads account ID, encrypted access token, and authorization, expiry, and refresh timestamps. We retain that credential information while the connection is active and delete it when the account is disconnected or Meta sends a verified deletion request.

For our internal Threads opportunity finder, we may collect public Threads post ID, text, username, permalink, and timestamp; root, quote, and reply indicators; whether a post has replies; the exact search phrase and intent bucket that matched it; first and last match times; and delivery metadata.

We use this information only to identify public conversations where a selective, disclosed reply from Shelvd's founder may be relevant. The finder never posts or replies on Threads automatically. Candidate posts may be displayed in a private Slack channel for manual review.

Fly.io hosts this data, Slack displays selected opportunities, and database backups in Amazon Web Services may temporarily contain it. These providers process the data only on our behalf. Public Threads content, matching provenance, and delivery metadata are deleted within 30 days.

Public Threads authors may request earlier deletion by emailing [email protected] with their Threads username. We remove matching data from the live service promptly; to prevent recollection, we retain a keyed one-way suppression marker instead of the author's username. Copies in Slack and backup snapshots expire within 30 days. Disconnecting our Threads account or sending a verified Meta deletion request purges the connected credential and all Threads opportunity data from the live service. An identity-free revocation marker may remain to stop an older credential from restarting the integration.

Verified Meta deletion callbacks return a signed receipt URL showing that deletion is complete.

2. How We Use Your Information

We use the information we collect to:

  • Provide, maintain, and improve our reading tracking services
  • Sync your reading progress across devices
  • Generate reading statistics, streaks, and visualizations
  • Send important service updates and notifications
  • Respond to your support requests
  • Diagnose native app, release, and compatibility issues
  • Analyze usage patterns to improve the app

3. Data Storage and Security

Your data is stored on secure servers hosted by Fly.io. We implement industry-standard security measures including:

  • Encryption of sensitive data at rest and in transit
  • Secure authentication and session management
  • Regular security audits and updates
  • User data isolation to prevent unauthorized access

Amazon Kindle credentials are encrypted using strong encryption before storage and are never accessible in plain text.

4. Third-Party Services

We use the following third-party services:

PostHog

We use PostHog for product analytics to understand how users interact with SHELVD. PostHog collects anonymized usage data to help us improve the app. You can opt out of analytics tracking in your account settings.

Native installation version diagnostics are essential support data and are collected independently of your optional PostHog analytics preference.

Resend

We use Resend to send transactional emails such as password reset requests and important account notifications.

Amazon Kindle

If you connect your Kindle account, we interact with Amazon's services solely to retrieve your reading progress and library information.

Apple Refund Review Information

If you explicitly opt in from Subscription settings and later ask Apple for an App Store refund, Shelvd may tell Apple whether the subscription was delivered and whether free features or purchase information were available before purchase. We do not send Apple your books, reading activity, notes, or feature analytics for this purpose. This sharing is optional, is used only to help Apple review your refund request, and can be turned off at any time in Subscription settings.

Slack

We use a private Slack channel to review selected public Threads opportunities. Slack receives only the information described in the Public Threads Content section and is configured with a 30-day retention period.

5. Data Sharing

We do not sell personal data or allow third parties to use it for their own advertising. We may use service providers to process data on our behalf, including for Shelvd's own outreach; they may use it only to provide those services.

We may share your information only in the following circumstances:

  • With service providers processing it on our behalf
  • With your consent
  • To comply with legal obligations
  • To protect our rights, privacy, safety, or property
  • In connection with a merger, acquisition, or sale of assets (you will be notified)

6. Your Rights and Choices

You have the right to:

  • Access your data: Request a copy of the personal information we hold about you
  • Delete your account: Request permanent deletion of your account and all associated data
  • Export your data: Download your reading history and library data
  • Opt out of analytics: Disable product analytics in your account settings
  • Disconnect services: Remove your Amazon Kindle connection at any time

To exercise these rights, contact us at [email protected].

7. Data Retention

We retain your data for as long as your account is active. If you delete your account, we will permanently delete your personal data within 30 days, except where we are required to retain it for legal purposes.

Pseudonymous native installation diagnostics are deleted after 180 days without activity. Signing out clears their account association, and deleting your account deletes diagnostics associated with that account.

Public Threads content, provenance, and delivery data follow the separate 30-day maximum described above, whether or not the post author has a SHELVD account. Connected-account credential information follows the connection-lifetime rule described above.

8. Children's Privacy

SHELVD is not intended for children under 13 years of age. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If you believe we have collected information from a child under 13, please contact us immediately.

9. International Data Transfers

Your information may be transferred to and processed in countries other than your country of residence. We ensure appropriate safeguards are in place to protect your information in accordance with this Privacy Policy.

10. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. We will notify you of any material changes by posting the new Privacy Policy on this page and updating the "Effective Date" above. We encourage you to review this Privacy Policy periodically.

11. Contact Us

If you have questions about this Privacy Policy or our data practices, please contact us: