legal

Privacy policy

Last updated November 11, 2026

Who we are

Riverbound is a book tracking and book club app run by Ashley Panganiban ("we"). Questions about your privacy go to support@river-bound.com.

What we collect

• Account details: your email address, a username, and an optional display name, bio and profile picture.
• Reading data: the books in your library, your reading status, progress, notes, reviews, favorites, goals and wishlist.
• Social data: your friends, follows, club memberships, club votes, club meeting RSVPs, buddy reads and club reads you join, and messages you send.
• Photos you add: profile and club pictures, and photos of book covers you submit.
• Reports and blocks: reports you file and people you block.
• Crash reports (phone app only): when the app breaks, it records what went wrong, which kinds of screens you opened just before (not what was on them), the app version, your phone model and system version, and a random number for this install of the app. Reports are linked to your account so we can ask you about a problem. You can turn them off in Settings with "Send crash reports", which also deletes any reports not yet sent.

We don't use advertising or analytics tools, and we don't track you across other apps or websites.

Camera

Riverbound uses your camera to scan a book's barcode or printed ISBN. The camera turns on only when you tap Start scanning, and reads a barcode only when you tap Scan barcode. Scanning happens on your phone, and the picture isn't sent to us; photos of printed ISBNs are deleted as soon as they're read. Cover photos are uploaded only when you choose to submit one.

How we use it

We use your information to run the app, show you your library and the people and clubs you choose to connect with, keep the service safe, and find and fix problems.

We send account emails, such as sign-up codes and password reset emails, through Amazon Simple Email Service (Amazon SES). We don't use your email address for marketing.

Who can see your information

You choose who can see your library, reviews and reading activity: only you, friends, or everyone. Your username, display name and profile picture are visible to other people using Riverbound. Messages are seen by the people in that conversation. When you join a buddy read, or read along with your club's current book, the other readers in it see where you are in the book (club members who haven't joined see only that you're reading along). Blocking someone overrides all of these.

Cover photos you submit may be added to Riverbound's shared book catalog, where everyone can see them. Admins see reported content, to review reports, and crash reports, to fix problems. We never sell your personal information.

Services we use

• Supabase stores your account, data and photos and runs sign-in, on Amazon Web Services servers in the United States (US East).
• Amazon Web Services sends account emails and hosts this website.
• Open Library provides book details and covers. When you search for or scan a book, the app asks Open Library directly, so Open Library sees what you looked up and your IP address.
• ISBNdb provides book details when Open Library doesn't have a book you scan, or you tell us its match is wrong. Our server asks ISBNdb about that ISBN only, never who you are. If ISBNdb has a cover, the app loads it from ISBNdb directly, so ISBNdb sees your IP address.
• The National Diet Library of Japan helps fill gaps in our catalog. When a scanned book is missing, our server looks up that ISBN there and at Open Library, without saying who scanned it.
• Wiktionary provides word definitions. When you look up a word, the app asks Wiktionary directly, so it sees that word and your IP address.

This website

river-bound.com doesn't use cookies or analytics. Its pages load fonts from Google Fonts, so Google sees your IP address when you visit.

Keeping and deleting your data

We keep your data while you have an account. Crash reports are deleted after 90 days.

You can delete your account in the app, from your profile settings. That removes your profile, library, reviews and other personal data. Messages you sent, and cover photos already in the catalog, stay for the people who use them, without your name. Clubs you own pass to another member.

Your rights

Depending on where you live, you may be able to access, correct, export or delete your personal information. To make a request, email support@river-bound.com.

Children

Riverbound is for people 13 and older. It isn't meant for children under 13, and we don't knowingly collect their information. If you believe a child under 13 has an account, email us and we'll delete it.

Changes

If our practices change, we'll update this page and the date at the top.