Privacy Policy

At Tomes, we believe that reading should be a sanctuary. This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, and protect your information when you use our platform.

1. Information We Collect

We only collect the information necessary to provide you with a functional and social reading experience.

• Account Information:
  • Email & Password: If you sign up directly, we store your email address and a securely hashed version of your password.
  • Google Sign-In: If you choose to sign up via Google, we receive your email address, name, and profile picture URL from Google to pre-populate your Tomes profile.
• Profile Data:
  • Username: A public identifier you choose.
  • Bio (Optional): Any text you choose to share about yourself.
  • Avatar (Optional): An image you upload or select to represent yourself.
• Interaction Data: We store the reviews you write, the users you follow, and the invitations you send to friends.

2. How We Use Your Information

We use your data to:

• Create and maintain your account.
• Display your reviews and profile to the community.
• Facilitate social features, like following other readers.
• Send essential service updates (e.g., password resets).

3. Data Sharing & Disclosure

We do not sell your personal data to third parties. Period.

• Public Visibility: Your username, bio, avatar, and reviews are visible to other users of the platform. Your email address remains private.
• Service Providers: We may use trusted third-party services (like hosting providers or email delivery services) to help run the platform, but they only have access to the data needed to perform their specific tasks.
• Legal Requirements: We may disclose information if required by law or to protect the safety and rights of our users.

4. Your Choices & Rights

• Edit/Delete Profile: You can update your bio, avatar, and username at any time in your settings.
• Account Deletion: If you wish to close your account, you can do so through your account settings. This will remove your personal profile data from our active databases.
• Communication: You can opt-out of non-essential emails at any time.

5. Security

We take the security of your data seriously. We use industry-standard encryption (like HTTPS and bcrypt for passwords) to ensure that your information stays between us. However, no method of transmission over the internet is 100% secure, so we cannot guarantee absolute security.

6. Cookies and Tracking

We use cookies and similar technologies to ensure that our platform works correctly and to understand how you interact with it.

• Essential Cookies: These are necessary for you to log in and stay authenticated as you move from page to page. Without these, you would have to log in every time you clicked a new link.
• Performance & Analytics: We may use tools (like Google Analytics) to see which books are the most popular or to identify where users might be getting stuck. This data is usually aggregated and doesn't identify you personally.
• Your Choice: Most web browsers allow you to manage or block cookies through their settings. However, if you disable essential cookies, certain parts of Tomes (like staying logged in) will not function.

7. Children’s Privacy

Tomes is intended for a general audience. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under the age of 13.

8. Changes to This Policy

As Tomes grows, we may update this policy. We will notify you of any significant changes by posting a notice on our site or sending you an email.

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Contact Us

Questions about your privacy? Reach out to us at [email protected].