Shinro

Codex Books

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Privacy Policy

Your privacy matters. Shinro runs no server for Codex Books and never receives your library. Your library is stored on your device and in your own iCloud or Google backup, book lookups go straight from your device to public catalogues, and crash reports go to Firebase Crashlytics. This policy explains each of these and how to remove the data.

Effective date: March 11, 2025  ·  Last updated: October 12, 2026

1. Who We Are

Codex Books is a personal library cataloguing application published by Shinro OÜ, a company registered in Estonia ("Shinro", "we", "us"), which is the controller for the personal data described in this policy. If you have any questions about this policy, please contact us using the details at the bottom of this page.

2. What Information We Collect

We do not collect or receive your library content. Codex Books has no account and does not use your library data to track or profile you.

Your library (titles, authors, ISBNs, notes, ratings, reading status, and cover addresses) is stored on your device. On iPhone and iPad it is also synced through your own iCloud account; on Android a copy is placed in your own Google account by Android Auto Backup (section 4). Apple and Google hold these copies under your account: we never see your library, access it, or store it on our own servers.

Camera access is used solely to scan barcodes and photograph covers. Images are processed on your device and are never uploaded. The ISBNs and text recognized in them are then used as search terms for the catalogue lookups in section 5.

When the app crashes, Firebase Crashlytics sends a crash report. Section 6 describes what it contains and how to turn it off.

3. How We Use Your Information

Your library data is yours alone. Neither the iCloud copy nor the Android backup passes through us.

We use crash-reporting data only to identify, diagnose, and fix technical problems, monitor app stability, and improve the reliability and security of Codex Books. We do not use this data for advertising, marketing, or profiling.

If you contact us for support, what you send is handled as described in our general privacy policy. The app's Contact link opens a draft in your email app with only the app name and version in the subject.

4. Cloud Sync and Backup

On iPhone and iPad, Codex Books always syncs your library through iCloud; the app has no switch for it. The data is stored in the private iCloud database of your own Apple Account, not on our servers, and is subject to Apple's Privacy Policy. You can manage which apps use iCloud in your device's iCloud settings. Like other app data, the library is also included in your iPhone or iPad backup.

On Android there is no live sync between devices. The library database is included in Android Auto Backup, which the system copies to your own Google account and restores when you reinstall the app or move to a new phone. App settings are not backed up, so after a restore crash reporting is on again until you turn it off. The backup is run by the device, not by us, and you can turn it off in Settings under Google → Backup. What Google does with that copy is subject to Google's Privacy Policy.

5. Third-Party Services

Codex Books looks book data up in three catalogues, tried in order: the Google Books API, then Open Library (operated by the Internet Archive), then isbnsearch.org for new and self-published titles the first two do not carry. A lookup carries the ISBN or the search text (the words you type, or the text recognized in a cover photo), and no account or contact details. Cover images are downloaded directly from the catalogues' image servers. Like any web server, these services also see your device's IP address. Please refer to Google's Privacy Policy for details on how Google handles such requests, and to the Internet Archive's and isbnsearch.org's own policies for theirs.

When Auto-translate non-English is turned on in Settings (it is off by default), Codex Books sends a book's title, description, or category to the MyMemory Translation API to translate it. Only that text is sent. See MyMemory's Privacy Policy for details.

On Android, barcode scanning, text recognition, and (when Auto-translate is on) language identification use Google ML Kit. Its models are bundled with the app and run on the device: ML Kit does not upload your photos or the barcodes and text it recognizes. It does send Google usage data about these features: device information (manufacturer, model, operating system version and build), app information, per-installation identifiers, the features' configuration and version, event types, error codes, performance metrics, and, for language identification, the languages identified. Google uses this data to measure performance, debug, maintain and improve ML Kit, and detect misuse, and keeps it under Google's Privacy Policy; see Google's ML Kit data disclosure. We do not receive it. The app has no switch for this data, and the crash-report setting (section 6) does not affect it. Where data-protection law requires a legal basis, this rests on our legitimate interest in offering on-device scanning through a maintained recognition library (GDPR Art. 6(1)(f)). Codex Books on iPhone and iPad does not use ML Kit; it uses Apple's on-device recognition.

Codex Books uses Firebase Crashlytics, a service provided by Google, for crash reporting. It is on by default and can be switched off in the app. Diagnostic data is transmitted to and processed by Google on our behalf. For more information, see Privacy and Security in Firebase and Google's Privacy Policy.

If you buy the unlimited upgrade, the App Store or Google Play processes the payment under its own terms and privacy policy. Shinro receives no payment or purchase details; the app checks your purchase with Apple or Google on the device.

We do not integrate advertising or behavioral analytics SDKs. Firebase Crashlytics is used only for crash reporting.

6. Crash Reporting, Retention, and Processing

When the app crashes, Crashlytics sends a report with the stack trace, the date and time, the app version, the device model and operating system version, a Crashlytics installation UUID, and a Firebase installation ID. These pseudonymous identifiers group reports from one installation and may be considered personal data under some privacy laws. The app adds no account, name, email address, library content, photographs, or notes, and sends no reports other than crashes.

Crash reporting is enabled by default, so that a crash during startup is still captured. You can switch it off under Settings → Privacy → Send crash reports; the choice persists across restarts and app updates. Turning it off stops new reports but does not delete reports already waiting on the device.

Firebase states that Crashlytics retains crash stack traces and associated identifiers, including Crashlytics installation UUIDs and Firebase installation IDs, for 90 days before beginning the process of removing them from its live and backup systems. We do not export crash reports anywhere else.

Firebase Crashlytics operates on Google's global infrastructure, so diagnostic data may be processed in countries outside the country where you live. Google applies the safeguards described in its Firebase Data Processing and Security Terms.

Where data-protection law requires a legal basis, we process this limited diagnostic data on the basis of our legitimate interest in keeping the apps stable and secure (GDPR Art. 6(1)(f)).

7. Deleting Your Data

Deleting a book in the app removes it from the device and, on iPhone and iPad, from iCloud. There is no single action that deletes the whole library.

Deleting the app removes the library and settings stored on the device. It does not remove:

  • the iCloud copy, which returns if you reinstall; you can delete it in your device's iCloud storage settings;
  • the copy in your iPhone or iPad backup, or in Android's backup to your Google account;
  • crash reports already sent (kept by Firebase as described in section 6);
  • on Android, ML Kit usage data already sent to Google (section 5);
  • searches already sent to the catalogue and translation services;
  • your purchase, which stays with your Apple or Google account.

8. Your Rights

Your library data lives on your device and in your own iCloud or Google account, which you can manage directly through Apple's or Google's settings at any time.

Depending on where you live, you may have rights regarding personal data processed through crash reporting, including the right to request access, correction, deletion, restriction, or objection, and the right to lodge a complaint with your local data-protection authority or with ours, the Estonian Data Protection Inspectorate. Because crash reports are associated only with pseudonymous installation identifiers, we may not be able to identify a particular report as yours without additional information.

If you contacted us for support and want any correspondence removed, reach out at the address below.

9. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. When we do, we will revise the "Last updated" date at the top of this page and, where appropriate, notify you within the app. Continued use of Codex Books after changes constitutes acceptance of the updated policy.

10. Contact Us

If you have any questions or concerns regarding this Privacy Policy, you can reach us at:

Email: contact@shin.ro