Last updated October 2, 2026
The short version
The Archivist is a personal library tracker. We store the information you give it — your books, notes, goals, and the bookstores you've visited — so it can show it back to you. We don't sell your data, we don't show ads, and anything you enter is visible only to you unless you explicitly create a share link or add a friend.
Information we collect
Account information
- Your email address and password (stored as a salted hash, never in plain text), used to sign in.
- Your display name, an optional bio, and an optional avatar or library photo you upload.
- Your theme, shelf style, and other display preferences.
Library data
- Books you add: title, author, ISBN, cover image, status, ratings, notes, and reading dates.
- Reading goals and badges.
- Your bookshelf layout and any decorations you place on it.
- Bookstores you log as visited, including the address you search for and the coordinates we resolve from it.
Friends & social features
- Friend connections you create, and the activity (new books, finished reads) shown to friends who accept your request.
- Messages you send through the in-app recommendation or feedback features.
Payment information
The one-time Plus upgrade is a single $5 payment processed entirely by Stripe. We never see or store your card number — Stripe tells us only whether the payment succeeded, and we record that your account is upgraded.
Optional Google Calendar connection
If you choose to connect Google Calendar, we store the access tokens needed to read, add, edit and delete the calendar events you ask us to, and nothing else from your Google account. The tokens are encrypted when stored. You can disconnect at any time from the Planner page, which revokes the connection with Google and deletes the tokens; deleting your account does the same.
Optional Spotify connection
If you choose to connect Spotify, we store encrypted access tokens and your Spotify display name so the Planner can list your playlists, search for songs, and play music on the page through Spotify's own player (which needs Spotify Premium). We do not store your listening history or the contents of your playlists. You can disconnect at any time from the Planner page; deleting your account deletes the tokens.
Planner
Goals and tasks you add, and the planner theme and colors you pick, are saved with your account. If you choose a location for the window's weather, it is stored only in your browser and is not sent to our servers; your browser asks a public weather service (Open-Meteo) for the conditions there, and, if you use your device's location, a place-name service (BigDataCloud) to name it.
Features that send a photo or question to another service
Some Plus features hand your input to a service that does the work, using our account with that service. Reading a card from a photo sends that photo to Anthropic (Claude); asking a board game rules question sends your question, and the rulebook PDF you saved for that game if there is one, to Anthropic; reading a book cover from a photo sends it to OCR.space. We use the results to fill in your form and do not keep the photo unless you save it as a picture on your own item. Searching for books, board games and cards sends what you type to the matching public catalog (such as BoardGameGeek or the Pokémon TCG database).
Technical & security information
We keep short-lived logs of sign-in attempts and IP addresses to protect accounts against abuse, and standard web server logs. These are not used for advertising or shared with third parties.
How we use this information
- To operate the core features of the app: your shelves, goals, map, and friend activity.
- To send account-related email (password resets, email verification).
- To respond to feedback or support requests you send us.
- To keep the service secure and prevent abuse.
We do not use your data for advertising, and we do not sell or rent it to third parties.
Sharing your library
Your library is private by default. Two features let you choose to share it: a personal share link (anyone with the link can view a read-only copy of your shelves) and friend connections (an accepted friend can browse your library the same way from inside the app). Nothing is shared unless you take one of those actions.
Where your data is stored
Data is stored on our hosting provider's servers and is not transferred to any other party except the processors named above (Stripe for payments, and Google only if you connect Calendar).
Your choices
- Edit or delete any book, note, goal, or bookstore visit at any time from within the app.
- Disconnect Google Calendar at any time from Settings.
- Remove a friend or revoke your share link at any time.
- Delete just your library data (books, goals, bookshelf layout, bookstore visits) while keeping your account, from Profile & Settings.
- Permanently delete your entire account and everything tied to it, also from Profile & Settings. This cannot be undone.
Children's privacy
The Archivist is not directed at children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect information from them.
Changes to this policy
If this policy changes, we'll update the date at the top of this page.
Contact
Questions about your data? Send us a message and we'll get back to you.