Privacy Policy

What We Collect

We collect only what we need to run the Service:

• Account. Email and password (passwords are hashed by our auth provider and never stored in plain text), or the name and email Apple or Google share with us if you sign in with them.
• Profile. Optional display name, username, and avatar image you choose.
• Reading activity. Bookmarks you save and recommendations you submit (with the optional “why” note).
• Goodreads import. If you upload a Goodreads CSV export, we store its raw contents so the AI recommender can read your library on future requests. You can remove the import at any time from the recommender page.
• AI requests. The book preferences (titles, mood, filters) and Goodreads library you submit to the AI recommender, plus a count of how many requests you have used (for free-tier metering).
• Subscription. If you upgrade to Pro, we store your Stripe customer ID and subscription status. We do not store credit-card numbers — those go directly to Stripe. Purchases made in our apps are processed by Apple or Google; we receive the subscription status (via RevenueCat), never your payment details.
• Bookshelf photos. In our apps you can photograph your bookshelf. The photo is sent to our AI provider to read the book spines and is never stored or logged by us; we keep only the list of books found, on your account’s bookshelf. The apps use your camera and photo library only when you choose to take or pick a photo.
• Goodreads public profile. If you link a public Goodreads profile, the app reads your public “read” and “to-read” shelves (titles, authors, your ratings and review text) and saves them like a Goodreads CSV import, refreshing them about once a week.
• Device identifier. Before you create an account, the app sends a random identifier (created on install, not linked to your identity) with bookshelf scans so we can enforce daily scan limits. We store it only as a one-way hash.
• Reports. If you report a community post, we store the report and your account ID so we can review it.

Our website runs no analytics. Our apps use PostHog for product analytics, described below. We do not run advertising trackers, and we do not track you across other companies’ apps or websites.

Where Data Is Stored

User accounts, bookmarks, recommendations, Goodreads imports, and subscription status are stored in Supabase (US-East-1 region, in the United States). The site itself is hosted on Cloudflare Pages. Editorial content (curated reading lists, book metadata) lives in Sanity.

Cross-border transfer. Although we are based in Canada, your data is processed and stored on servers located in the United States, and is processed by service providers (listed below) that may be located in the United States or elsewhere. By using the Service, you understand that your data will be transferred outside your country of residence and may be subject to the laws of those jurisdictions.

AI Recommendations and Data Shared with a Third-Party AI (Anthropic)

Readalikes’ recommendations and photo reading are powered by a third-party AI service, Anthropic’s Claude API. When you use these features, we send Anthropic only what that feature needs:

• Book searches: the titles and authors you pick, the mood you describe, your search filters, and the books found on your bookshelf.
• Goodreads library: if you import one, the books in it with your ratings, shelves and any reviews you wrote.
• Photos: bookshelf and book-cover photos you take or choose in our apps, only to read the titles and authors on them. This includes photos you scan while setting up the app, before you create an account.

We never send Anthropic your email address, name, account ID, IP address, payment information or bookmarks. Anthropic processes each request only to return a result to us, and does not use it to train its models. We don’t store your photos: once the titles are read, the photo is discarded.

Your choice. Sending this data to Anthropic happens only when you use an AI feature (a search, a photo scan or a Goodreads import). Before any of it is sent the first time, our apps show a notice naming each service that handles it (Cloudflare, Supabase and Anthropic) and what it does, and nothing is sent unless you tap “Agree & continue”. If you choose “Not now”, the scan, import or search doesn’t run, and you can still browse reading lists, save books and post recommendations. You can delete your account and data at any time in the app or by emailing us.

Product Analytics in Our Apps

Our iOS and Android apps send usage events to PostHog, our analytics provider, so we can see what works and fix what doesn’t. We collect:

• The screens you open and the buttons you tap (the button’s label, such as “Find my next read”), plus named steps: searches started and finished, paywall views, purchases, data-sharing choices, books opened and store links tapped.
• Your app version, device model, operating system version and language, a random ID for your install, and, once you sign in, your Readalikes account ID.

We never send PostHog your name, email, anything you type, your photos or an advertising ID, and we turn off PostHog’s location lookup from your IP address. Analytics data isn’t used for advertising and isn’t sold. You can turn it off at any time in the app under Settings, then Analytics, then “Share usage analytics”. To have your analytics data deleted, email us.

Public vs. Private Data

Most of what you save is private to your account. The exceptions:

• Public recommendations. If you mark your sign-up recommendation as public, the book, your “why” note, your username, and your avatar appear on the public recommendations wall and may be indexed by search engines. You can switch a recommendation back to private at any time from your account.
• Profile details. Your username and avatar are public anywhere you appear on the site. Your real name (full name) is private.

Bookmarks, Goodreads imports, billing details, and AI request history are private to your account.

Third Parties

We share data with the following processors only to the extent needed to provide the Service:

• Supabase — account, profile, bookmarks, recommendations, Goodreads imports, subscription status.
• Anthropic — AI request inputs (book preferences, Goodreads library) and bookshelf photos only.
• Stripe — subscription billing for Readalikes+ on our website. Stripe collects and stores payment-card data subject to its own privacy policy; we never see your card details.
• Apple, Google & RevenueCat — sign-in (if you choose Sign in with Apple or Google) and in-app purchases. RevenueCat tells us whether your app subscription is active; payment details stay with Apple or Google.
• OpenLibrary & Google Books — book metadata and cover lookups. These are anonymous queries; no user identifier is sent.
• PostHog: product analytics in our apps (screens viewed, taps, app and device details, and your account ID once you sign in). See “Product Analytics in Our Apps” above.
• Sanity — editorial content database (no user data).
• Cloudflare — hosting and CDN.

We do not sell or rent your personal data to anyone.

Cookies and Local Storage

We use cookies and browser local storage strictly to keep you signed in (Supabase auth tokens) and to remember small interface preferences (for example, whether you have dismissed an in-product nudge). We do not use cookies for advertising or cross-site tracking.

Affiliate Links

Book purchase links on the site point to Amazon, Bookshop.org, or ThriftBooks with our affiliate tag attached. These links route through the bookseller’s own systems; we may receive a commission on purchases. The commission revenue does not change the price you pay, and we do not receive personally identifiable information about who clicked or what they bought.

Your Rights and Choices

• Access and edit. View and edit your profile, bookmarks, and recommendations from your account settings.
• Make recommendations private. Toggle a public recommendation to private at any time, which removes it from the public wall and from search-engine indexes on the next crawl.
• Delete your account. Delete your account in the app under You → Settings → Delete account, or email us from the address on your account. Deletion removes your profile, bookmarks, recommendations, bookshelf, and Goodreads import. Subscription billing records may be retained by Stripe to satisfy legal/tax obligations.
• Export. Email us and we will send you a copy of your account data in a portable format.
• Canadian residents. Supersparks Apps Ltd is a British Columbia company and our handling of personal information is subject to Canadian federal privacy law (PIPEDA) and provincial law where applicable. You can contact our privacy officer using the email below, and you may file a complaint with the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada at priv.gc.ca.
• EU/UK and California residents. You may have additional rights under GDPR, UK GDPR, and the CCPA, including the right to object to processing and the right to file a complaint with your local data-protection authority. Contact us using the email below to exercise these rights.

Children’s Privacy

Readalikes is not directed at children under 13 (or 16 in jurisdictions where that is the minimum age). We do not knowingly collect personal data from children under those ages. If you believe a child has created an account, please contact us and we will delete it.

Retention

We keep your data for as long as your account is active. After deletion, residual copies may persist briefly in routine backups before they age out. Aggregated, non-identifying analytics (e.g. total AI requests served per day) may be retained indefinitely.

Chrome Extension

The Readalikes Chrome extension is separate from the web account system. It reads the book title from the Amazon page you are viewing to look up our reading list for that title. It does not collect browsing history, set tracking cookies, or transmit personal data. The only data stored locally is your auto-recommend preference. The extension does not require an account.

Changes

We may update this policy from time to time. Material changes will be posted on this page with an updated “last updated” date.

Contact

Questions, requests, or complaints about this policy can be sent to hello@readalikes.ai, or by mail to:

Supersparks Apps Ltd
Attn: Privacy Officer
1322 West Broadway, Suite 1018
Vancouver, BC V6H 1H2
Canada