Privacy

To run your book club we store the essentials: your account and linked sign-in identifiers, email address (for sign-in), chosen display name and handle, optional avatar image URL, clubs and roles, and content you create — book suggestions, votes, availability, meeting notes, and board messages. We also store preferences and notification state to make these features work.

If you sign in with Google or Apple, we receive the provider identity needed to link your account and the email address and name the provider makes available. Apple may supply a private relay address. If you subscribe to a paid plan, we keep a payment reference and your plan status (see “Payments” below).

Live-meeting usage records include the club and meeting identifiers, the plan owner, session start/end and quota deadline. Deleting a club retains its usage and plan-owner reference for monthly limits. Account deletion removes the account reference from those retained usage records; deleting a club alone does not delete its leader’s account.

The iOS app syncs your device timezone identifier to your profile so meeting emails can show the right time. It does not request GPS location for this.

We don’t sell your data, we don’t run ads against it, and we don’t build advertising profiles or feed your reading life to ad trackers.

Your club’s discussions belong to your club, not to us.

Ordinary feedback submitted from the iOS feedback form includes your message and feedback type, app version, device model, operating-system version, submission time, and a randomly generated identifier for that installation. It does not automatically include your Scholarly Oxen account ID or email. A random installation identifier is still persistent; it is not a guarantee of anonymity, and anything personal you write is included.

Black Automations stores this ordinary feedback in its separate Project Hub service on Supabase. Failed submissions can be queued on your device and retried later. Deleting your Scholarly Oxen account does not automatically locate or erase this separate installation-based feedback. Contact us with details about a submission if you need help accessing or deleting it.

Board safety reports follow a separate path: the service stores your account reference, the reported post reference, reason and any details you provide in the Scholarly Oxen backend for authorized moderation. Other readers cannot browse this private report queue. New reports do not copy the post into the ordinary feedback inbox. The operator notification contains only the number of waiting reports, not the report, post, reporter identity or report details.

Website book-summary lookups send public book titles, authors, ISBNs and catalog identifiers through our server to Google Books or Open Library. They do not include account details, club membership or discussion content.

The iOS app sends title, author or ISBN searches directly to Google Books, with Open Library as a fallback. Google requests can include a preferred language. Scanning a barcode processes the camera image on your device; the recognized ISBN is sent for lookup, not the camera frames.

Book covers and remote avatar images are downloaded from their hosting services. Catalog and image services receive requests and network information such as your IP address, and handle these under their own policies.

If you choose calendar export, the app adds meeting details to your device calendar and remembers the event identifier so it can update or remove that event. It does not upload the rest of your calendar to Scholarly Oxen. Your calendar provider may sync the exported event; deleting a Scholarly Oxen account does not erase every calendar copy.

Built-in meetings use LiveKit in the iOS app or your web browser: room access includes your account identifier, display name and club role, and live audio or video is transmitted when you enable it. Both the app and browser meeting rooms start with your microphone and camera off. Your device or browser camera and microphone permissions control access. In the iOS room, meeting audio can continue while the phone is locked or you use another app; the camera turns off and stays off until you enable it again. Meeting capture and playback are not offered in this release; this does not mean the live meeting service processes no media or connection information. If your club uses an external meeting link, that service has its own privacy practices.

Private room-access records support revoking a reader’s live-meeting access before account deletion. Other readers cannot access these records. Confirmed revocation removes its target record, and account erasure requires all targets to be cleared.

Supabase provides account and database infrastructure, Vercel hosts the website, and Resend delivers service emails such as invitations, meeting reminders and mentions. These services receive the data needed for their part of the product. Apple and Stripe handle payments as described below. Contact us about provider handling and retained operational records.

Product analytics is disabled in this release across the website and shared backend. This version does not send product events or page visits to PostHog.

Earlier versions used PostHog for product analytics. Disabling collection does not itself erase historical records; contact us about access or deletion of previously collected data.

AI features are not offered in this release. AI topic drafting is disabled for all clubs, including clubs with previously enabled access.

Earlier versions could send book details and saved meeting agendas to Anthropic to draft discussion questions. Disabling that integration does not itself erase historical provider records or questions already saved in your club. Contact us about previously processed data.

Scholarly Oxen uses database access rules and server checks to control account and club data. Club visibility and role determine what readers can access; public clubs can expose discovery information. Access checks are enforced by the service, not just by hiding controls in the app.

You can sign in by magic link, by email and password, or with Google or Apple. If you set a password, our authentication provider stores a hash rather than a readable password.

During prelaunch, Apple purchases are available to authorized beta testers through Apple’s Sandbox. Public App Store purchasing is not yet available. Existing subscriptions are managed with their original billing provider.

Paid subscriptions are handled by Apple for purchases in the iOS app and Stripe for purchases on the website. We store provider references, verified purchase records, and plan status so your subscription works on both platforms. We never receive your full card number. Manage or cancel your subscription with the provider you purchased through.

During prelaunch, self-service account deletion is not yet enabled. Contact support@blackautomations.com for account-deletion help.

You can update your profile and leave a club at any time. Before deleting your account, transfer leadership of every club you lead, including archived clubs, or delete those clubs. Account deletion removes your profile, posts, votes, and account attribution from shared records. Shared club agendas, meeting summaries, and history remain with the club anonymously. Contact us if retained shared text contains personal details that need review. Account deletion is separate from canceling an Apple subscription: Apple billing continues until you cancel with Apple. Web subscriptions are canceled immediately as part of deletion.

Account erasure does not mean every separate copy disappears at once: ordinary feedback, previously exported calendar events, provider operational records and backups require their own retention handling. Contact us about those records, historical analytics and provider retention.

Depending on where you live — for example under the GDPR or CCPA — you have the right to access, correct, export, or delete your personal data, and to object to certain uses. We don’t sell your data, so there’s nothing to opt out of on that front. To exercise any of these rights, email support@blackautomations.com and we’ll respond within a reasonable time.

Scholarly Oxen is a service operated by Black Automations LLC, which is the data controller responsible for the personal data described here.

Questions about privacy, or want to exercise a data right? Email support@blackautomations.com and a human will get back to you.