Privacy Policy

What Cadence Collects

If you don't sign in, nothing that identifies you: only the anonymous usage statistics that Usage Statistics describes below, which you can turn off. If you sign in, it keeps your account, which Signing In describes below. Unless you sync your reading with Cadence Pro, which Cadence Pro describes below, nothing about what you read, which books or what's in them, is sent anywhere. Cadence contains no third-party analytics, advertising or crash-reporting code, and it doesn't track you across other apps or websites.

Apple's own reporting is separate from the app. If you've turned on Share With App Developers in your device's settings, Apple may pass the developer crash reports and statistics about how Cadence is used. You can turn this off in Settings, under Privacy & Security, then Analytics & Improvements.

Usage Statistics

To see that Cadence works as it should, the app sends Cadence's server a short note when certain things happen: when it opens; each step of the questions it asks the first time; when a book is added, opened or finished; when reading starts and stops, and for how long; when you meet your daily goal; when Cadence Pro is offered, bought or restored; when it asks for a rating; and when adding a book, signing in, a purchase or a sync doesn't work.

A note says only whether a book was one of Cadence's or one you added, never which book, and for a book you add, its kind of file. It carries the app's version, your device's model and iOS version, your App Store country, whether you have Cadence Pro, and a random number made on your device, so that notes from the same device can be counted together. That number isn't linked to your account, your Apple Account or your name. The notes never include a book's title or text, what you said makes reading harder, or anything you type, and the server doesn't keep your IP address with them.

The notes are kept on Cadence's server, run by Supabase in the United States, for 13 months, then deleted. A summary of each day's, in numbers only, is posted to the team's Slack. To stop them, turn off Share Usage Statistics in Settings: Cadence then forgets the random number and any notes not yet sent.

What Stays on Your Device

Everything Cadence keeps, it keeps on your iPhone or iPad, in the app's own storage: the books in your library, how far you've read in each, the marks you make, your reading pace and other settings, and the book covers it has downloaded. Unless you sync it with Cadence Pro, Cadence never sends any of it anywhere. It leaves the app only when you export or share it yourself.

It's yours to manage. Export Everything, in Storage and Export, saves your library as plain text files wherever you choose, and Remove Everything deletes your books, your places in them and your marks. Deleting Cadence deletes what it keeps in its own storage. If you're signed in, your device's keychain may keep the sign-in, so Cadence installed again can find you still signed in: sign out first to remove it.

If you back up your device to iCloud or to a computer, the backup includes Cadence's data, as it does for most apps. Backups are made and kept by Apple or on your computer, and the developer can't see them.

If you set a reading reminder, it's a notification your device schedules for itself at the time you chose. Nothing is sent anywhere to set it, and turning it off in Settings removes it.

Signing In

You can sign in with Apple, or not. If you do, Apple gives Cadence an identifier that only Cadence uses and the email address you choose to share, which can be a private address that Apple forwards, and the first time, your name if you share it. Cadence keeps these as your account, with whether you asked to hear when Cadence Pro launched, if you were asked before it did.

When you sign in, Cadence also keeps your answers from when you first opened the app with your account: why you read, the kinds of books you picked, how long you mean to read each day and when to remind you, and how you set up your page, its font, size and background, with your reading speed. What you said makes reading harder isn't among them: it stays on your device.

Your account is kept on Cadence's server, which is run by Supabase in the United States, and a copy stays in your device's keychain so you stay signed in. It's used for your account and, with Cadence Pro, to keep your reading in sync between your devices. Your email is used to tell you about Cadence Pro only if you asked to hear when it launched.

If you rate a book, your rating is kept with your account, and counts, without your name, towards the rating everyone sees for that book.

Your account is kept until you delete it, and your ratings with it. Delete Account, on the You tab under Account, deletes it from the server and from your device. Signing out removes it from your device only. You can also stop using Sign in with Apple for Cadence in your device's Settings, under your name: that signs you out on your device, but it doesn't delete your account, which only Delete Account does.

Cadence Pro

If you subscribe to Cadence Pro, Apple handles the purchase, and Cadence never sees your payment details. The app reads Apple's record of your subscription on your device to know that you have Pro, and doesn't send it to Cadence's server.

To show what's left of the paced reading that's free each month, Cadence counts on your device how long you've read with the words moving. Without Cadence Pro, it stays on your device, like the rest of your reading time.

With Cadence Pro, when you're signed in, Cadence keeps your reading in sync between your devices. To do that, it keeps with your account on Cadence's server: the books on your Reading List and whether you've finished them, your place in each, your highlights with the words you highlighted, and how long you read each day on each device. The books themselves aren't sent: each device downloads its own copy.

Books you add yourself sync another way: through your own iCloud account, with your place in them and your highlights. They're kept in your iCloud, where only your Apple Account can open them, and never go to Cadence's server, so Cadence can't see them. With iCloud turned off for Cadence on a device, they stay on it and don't sync. Deleting your Cadence account doesn't delete them from iCloud: you can do that in your device's iCloud settings.

What's synced is kept until you delete your account, which deletes it from the server. If Pro ends, syncing stops and nothing is deleted, so it's there if you subscribe again. Signing out stops syncing on that device and leaves your reading on it.

When Cadence Goes Online

Cadence connects to two places, and with Cadence Pro a third. The first is gutenberg.org, the website of Project Gutenberg, where the books in its library come from: to download a book when you choose to read or keep it, and to fetch the covers of the books you see as you browse. The second is Cadence's own server, run by Supabase: to show each book's star rating, to send the usage statistics described above unless you turn them off, and if you sign in or write to us, to sign you in and out, keep you signed in, read and update your account, keep the ratings you give, delete your account, and pass on a message you send. The third is your own iCloud, through Apple, to keep the books you add yourself in sync between your devices.

If you write to us from Cadence, your message goes to Cadence's server with the email address you give, if you give one, the app's version, your device's model and iOS version, whether you have Cadence Pro, and the number Apple gives Cadence for your device, so that a device can send only a few messages an hour. If you're signed in, it's linked to your account and deleted with it. The server passes it to the team through Slack, the messaging service the team uses, to be read and answered.

Each request is encrypted and names the app and its version. As with any website, Cadence's server sees your device's IP address and the ordinary details every web request carries, along with the account the request is for. To Project Gutenberg Cadence adds nothing about you, and its servers can see your device's IP address, the ordinary details every web request carries, and which book or cover was asked for. Project Gutenberg's privacy policy, at gutenberg.org/policy/privacy_policy.html, explains what it does with them.

Once a book is on your device, reading it needs no connection. Links to Project Gutenberg's website, such as the credit on each book, open in your browser, outside Cadence.

Children

Cadence isn't made for children under 13, and collects nothing that identifies anyone who doesn't sign in. If you believe a child has made an account, contact us and it will be deleted.

Changes to This Policy

If this policy changes, the new version will be here in the app, with a new date at the top.

Contact

Questions about privacy in Cadence are welcome at louissampson26@gmail.com.