Privacy policy
Last updated:
Bistory has no accounts, no advertising, no analytics and no trackers. The only data we hold is the anonymous sync state and the error reports you choose to send. This page explains exactly what that means.
What we do not collect
We never ask for your name, email address, phone number, payment details or contacts. We do not read your precise location. We do not set tracking cookies and we do not embed third-party analytics or advertising code in the app or on this website.
Data that stays on your device
Books, dictionaries, audio, reading progress, highlights, notes, reading statistics, settings and your sync code are stored in your browser or app storage. They stay on your device unless the sync described below sends part of them to our server. Deleting the app data, or clearing the site data in your browser, removes them.
Anonymous sync
On first launch the app generates a random sync code. When it syncs, our server stores only a SHA-256 hash of that code together with your sync state: reading position per book, the last book opened, favourite sentences with any note you attached, and your settings. Nothing links this record to a person.
The sync code is the only key to that record. Anyone who has it can read and change the record, and we have no way to recover, reset or identify it for you. If you clear your local data, a new code is generated and the old record is abandoned. We may delete abandoned records from time to time.
Error reports
When you report a mistake in a book, we receive the text you selected, its position in the book, the category you chose, your optional comment, the interface language and the hashed device identifier used for daily rate limits. Reports are kept and used to correct the content. Please do not put personal information in the comment.
Region detection
Some editions are in the public domain in one country and not in another. To hide editions that are not available where you are, the app asks our server which country your IP address belongs to. The answer comes from the Cloudflare edge, and the server does not store your IP address.
Infrastructure and third parties
The app, this website, the content and the sync API are delivered by Cloudflare (Pages, R2, Workers and D1). Cloudflare processes IP addresses and request metadata to deliver and protect the service and keeps short-lived logs under its own privacy policy.
The web app loads a typeface from Google Fonts, so Google receives your IP address when the font is fetched. This website uses no third-party resources; it remembers your language choice in browser storage only.
Children
Bistory is not directed at children under 13, and in any case it collects no personal information from anyone.
Your rights
Because we cannot identify you, we can act on an access or deletion request only if you send us your sync code. We will then delete the record that belongs to it. Depending on where you live, you may have further rights under local law; we will honour them to the extent we are able.
Changes
If this policy changes, the new version is published on this page with a new date. Material changes will be announced in the app.
Contact
A contact address will be published on this page.