Privacy and trust
Privacy-First Book Notes on iPhone
Your reading history can reveal your interests, questions, beliefs, and unfinished thinking. A book-notes app should explain what stays on the phone, what requires a network, and how you can delete or export your library before you depend on it.
Ask where the library lives
The most important distinction is between the personal library and a processing request. In the current BookQuotes release, books, quotes, tags, collections, and related library data are stored locally on the device. Cloud sync is not enabled.
That means the device is also part of your backup plan. Export the library when you want a separate copy, and remember that deleting the app removes local data unless you have exported it elsewhere.
Understand the processing boundary
BookQuotes can use on-device OCR for local processing. A separate remote AI route is available in the relevant signed-in subscriber flow and requires network processing of the marked-page image and extraction request. The app should not describe those routes as interchangeable.
Remote processing is optional in the product flow. Read the current privacy policy before enabling it, especially if the page contains material you do not want to send to a third-party provider.
Check deletion and export before building a library
A trustworthy note-taking tool should give you a clear way to remove account data and should not make export an afterthought. BookQuotes provides in-app account deletion for server-side account and usage records, while the local library remains on the device unless you delete it yourself.
Subscriptions are managed through Apple. Deleting an account does not cancel an App Store subscription, so manage billing separately in Apple subscription settings.
Privacy is a product feature, not a slogan
“Private” should answer a concrete question. Look for a current privacy policy, a clear remote-processing explanation, a deletion route, and export. Avoid absolute claims such as “nothing ever leaves your phone” when a feature can use remote processing.
Questions readers ask
Does BookQuotes store my personal book library in the cloud?
Not in the current release. The local library is stored on the device and cloud sync is not enabled. Account and subscription records are separate service data described in the privacy policy.
Can remote AI process a book page?
Yes, when the eligible signed-in subscriber flow is enabled and the user chooses remote processing. That route requires sending the relevant request for processing, so it should be treated separately from on-device OCR.
Does deleting my account delete my local books and quotes?
No. Account deletion removes the relevant server-side account and usage records. Your local library remains on the device unless you delete it yourself.