Dr. Sven-Eric Molzahn
Lommelstrasse 1, 85101 Lenting, Germany
Email: sven-eric@molzahn-software.de
Booqly respects your reading. We don't sell your data. We don't run third-party analytics SDKs. We don't show ads. Your library lives in our Supabase backend (EU region) and on your device.
When you sign in we store: your email address (used for magic-link sign-in), a generated user UUID, your handle and optional display name, and an optional avatar image if you upload one.
Legal basis: performance of contract (Art. 6(1)(b) GDPR) — we need this data to provide the service you signed up for.
Retention: kept while your account exists. Deleted immediately when you delete your account in the app (Settings → Delete account); encrypted backups roll off within 90 days.
The books you've added, started, and finished, plus any highlights or notes — so the library syncs across your devices and so social features (the feed, read-together sessions) can work. Export at any time as CSV or JSON from Settings → Export your library.
Legal basis: performance of contract (Art. 6(1)(b) GDPR).
Retention: same as account data above.
If you use the shelf-scan feature, the photo you took is sent to Anthropic (Claude API, USA) via our Supabase Edge Function to identify the books in it. Anthropic does not retain the image beyond the request. We log a timestamp + a thumbnail (stored only on your device) + a scan counter (server-side, to enforce the per-user quota). We never retain the original photo on our server.
Legal basis: consent (Art. 6(1)(a) GDPR) — you actively choose to scan.
Retention: the image is not stored. The scan counter is kept while your account exists.
If you switch on Share cover photos (Settings → Privacy), the covers you photograph help other readers see the right edition. What leaves your device is only the straightened crop of the cover itself — at most 1200 pixels on the long edge, with all photo metadata (location, device, time) removed. The rest of the photo — hands, table, room — is never uploaded. A shared cover is stored with your account id (not shown to anyone) and can be seen by every Booqly reader who has that edition. You can turn sharing off at any time; covers you already shared stay until you delete your account or ask us to remove them.
Legal basis: consent (Art. 6(1)(a) GDPR) — sharing is off until you switch it on.
Retention: while your account exists. Removed with the account, or on request — see Rights holders in the Terms.
To suggest books you don't have yet, a summary of your shelf — titles, authors, reading status and ratings, never your notes — is sent to Booqly's server and from there to Anthropic (Claude API, USA), which proposes titles. Without an account this happens under an anonymous id (see below); nothing that identifies you goes along. Suggestions are kept for seven days so the same shelf isn't sent twice. Switch this off in Settings → Recommendations → Personalised picks; your shelf then stays on your device.
Legal basis: performance of contract (Art. 6(1)(b) GDPR) — personalised picks are part of the service, and you can object at any time in Settings.
Retention: the shelf summary is replaced whenever your shelf changes; suggestions expire after seven days.
You can use Booqly without signing in. To keep recommendations working, the app then creates an anonymous account: a random id with no email, name or handle, holding only the shelf summary above. It is invisible to other readers. When you later sign in, its contributions move to your real account and the anonymous one is deleted; anonymous accounts unused for 180 days are deleted automatically.
Legal basis: performance of contract (Art. 6(1)(b) GDPR).
Retention: 180 days after last use, or until you sign in.
If you allow notifications, we store the device token Apple issues, together with the app language and whether the app is a test or App Store build, so we can tell you when a friend invites you to read together or joins your session. The token and the short notification text go to Apple (Apple Push Notification service, USA). Nothing else is sent through notifications.
Legal basis: consent (Art. 6(1)(a) GDPR) — the system permission dialog.
Retention: while your account exists; tokens Apple reports as invalid are removed immediately.
Friends — readers you are mutually connected with — see your handle, display name, avatar, and what you've chosen to show of your shelf (Settings → Privacy). When you invite a friend to read a book together, or accept an invitation, the other person sees whether you already have that book. Notes you write in a reading session are visible to its members.
Booqly's social features — the feed, profiles, comments and reading together — are for readers 13 and up. To check, the app asks Apple's Declared Age Range service, which answers only with a bracket such as "13 or older" or "under 13", from what you or a parent declared to Apple. Booqly never learns a birthday. The answer is kept on your device and is never sent to us. Readers under 13 keep the whole reading app: library, scanning, import and recommendations.
Legal basis: legal obligation and legitimate interest (Art. 6(1)(c), (f) GDPR) — keeping social features to readers of the age the platform requires.
Retention: on the device only, until the app is deleted.
Booqly links to bookshops so you can buy a book you want. Tapping a link opens the shop; only then does the shop learn anything about you, under its own privacy policy. Some links are affiliate links: as an Amazon Associate, Booqly earns from qualifying purchases. No purchase or browsing data comes back to us.
If you submit your email on the landing page, we store: your email address, which launch you asked to hear about (iOS or Android), a UUID confirmation token, a UUID unsubscribe token, the timestamp of signup and confirmation, and the IP + browser user-agent of the device that confirmed (for GDPR-compliant proof of consent). We use this only to send the one launch announcement you asked for. List storage: Supabase. Email sending: Brevo (EU-based, Paris). Every email contains an unsubscribe link.
Legal basis: consent (Art. 6(1)(a) GDPR), confirmed via double opt-in.
Retention: kept until you unsubscribe. Unsubscribed rows are flagged and deleted after 30 days.
If you accept analytics via the cookie banner, we load Vercel Analytics in cookieless mode on thebooqly.com to count page views. No cookies, no advertising identifiers, no cross-site tracking. If you reject, no analytics script is loaded.
Legal basis: consent (Art. 6(1)(a) GDPR).
Retention: Vercel retains aggregated, non-personal page-view data for up to 12 months.
Some sub-processors are based outside the EU:
All other data processing (accounts, library, newsletter) occurs within the EU via Supabase (EU region) and Brevo (Paris, France).
Under the GDPR you have the right to:
Account deletion: Settings → Delete account, in the app, immediately. It removes your profile, friendships, reading sessions, notes and shared cover photos; the books on your device stay. Encrypted backups roll off within 90 days. If you can't reach the app, email sven-eric@molzahn-software.de from your account's address.
You have the right to lodge a complaint with a data-protection authority. Our competent authority is the Bayerisches Landesamt für Datenschutzaufsicht (BayLDA), Promenade 18, 91522 Ansbach, Germany — www.lda.bayern.de.
Supabase (EU region). All transport HTTPS. Backups encrypted at rest. Sub-processors: Supabase (storage), Brevo (newsletter and report emails), Vercel (website hosting & analytics), Anthropic (shelf-scan and recommendation requests), Apple (push notifications).
Questions about anything above: sven-eric@molzahn-software.de.