Privacy Policy

Last updated: 29 September 2026

Close Reader is a local-first e-book reader. Your books and everything you do with them stay on your device unless you use an AI feature or choose to sign in and sync. We don’t show ads, don’t use analytics or tracking tools, and don’t sell your data.

1. Who we are

The controller of your personal data is Ilia Ilinskii PR Novi Sad, Mite Ruzica 3, Novi Sad, Serbia (“we”, “us”). Contact us about privacy at ilia@oshn-ai.com.

This policy covers the Close Reader app for iOS, iPadOS and Android and this website.

2. Data that stays on your device

The books you import and the data you create while reading are stored in the app’s private storage on your device: the book files, reading positions, highlights and notes, vocabulary and flashcard progress, chat history, cached AI answers and your settings. We have no access to this data unless you sign in to sync it (section 5) or send part of it to an AI feature (section 3).

3. AI features

When you translate a word, ask “Who’s this?”, request an explanation, chat about a book or when the app prepares chapter summaries for the chat, the app sends the text needed for the answer to our server, which forwards it to OpenAI to generate the answer. Depending on the feature, this can include:

• the text you selected and the sentences or paragraphs around it;
• passages from the book, limited to the part you have already read unless you switch to “Whole book”;
• your question and the earlier messages of that book’s chat;
• the book’s language and your translation language; in “Whole book” mode, possibly its title and author.

Our server does not store the text of your requests or of the answers. We call OpenAI with response storage turned off. OpenAI processes this data as our service provider; under its API terms it does not use it to train its models and may keep it for a limited time (currently up to 30 days) to detect abuse. Answers are cached on your device so that repeating a request doesn’t send it again.

Don’t use the AI features on text you are not allowed to share with a service provider.

4. Usage limits

AI features have daily limits. To enforce them, the app creates a random installation identifier that is not derived from your device’s hardware or advertising identifiers and sends it with AI requests. If you are signed in, your account identifier is used instead. For each identifier we store only a daily count of requests per type of request. These counters contain no content.

5. Account and sync (optional)

You can sign in with Apple, Google or a one-time code sent to your email. We then receive and store:

• your email address (with Apple, possibly a private relay address) and the identifier the sign-in provider gives us;
• your name and profile picture link, if Google or Apple shares them.

While you are signed in, the app syncs between your devices: the book files you add, book details (title, author, language, cover), reading positions and progress, highlights and notes with the passages they refer to, chat messages, vocabulary with example sentences, and your reading and translation settings. The book index used for search and chapter summaries is not synced; each device builds its own.

Synced data is stored with Supabase in the European Union (Frankfurt, Germany). Book files are kept in a private storage bucket, and every record is protected by access rules that allow only your account to read or change it.

6. Sample books

If you tap “Load sample books”, the app downloads public-domain books directly from Project Gutenberg, Wikisource and arXiv. Those sites receive your IP address as with any download; their own privacy policies apply.

7. Emails to us

If you write to us, we use your email address and message to answer you and keep the conversation for as long as needed to handle your request.

8. This website

This website uses no cookies, analytics or third-party scripts and loads no external fonts. Our hosting provider, Vercel, processes technical request data (such as IP address, browser and time of request) to deliver the site and protect it from abuse, and keeps these logs for a short period.

9. Why we process your data (legal bases)

We process personal data under the Serbian Law on Personal Data Protection and, where it applies, the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR):

• to provide the service you asked for — AI answers, your account and sync (performance of a contract);
• for our legitimate interests — enforcing usage limits, keeping the service secure, preventing abuse and answering your messages;
• to meet legal obligations, when the law requires it.

We don’t use your data for advertising, profiling or automated decisions that have legal or similarly significant effects on you.

10. Service providers

We share data only with providers that help us run Close Reader, under contracts that require them to protect it:

Apple and Google act as independent controllers when you download the app from their stores or use Sign in with Apple or Google; their privacy policies apply to that. We may also disclose data when required by law or to protect our rights and users’ safety.

11. International transfers

Some providers process data outside Serbia and the EU, mainly in the USA. Where this happens, we rely on safeguards recognised by applicable law, such as the European Commission’s Standard Contractual Clauses or the EU–US Data Privacy Framework.

12. How long we keep data

• On your device: until you delete it or the app.
• Account and synced data: until you delete it or your account. Deleting the account removes your book files and synced records at once; copies in our database provider’s backups are overwritten within its backup cycle (currently up to 7 days).
• AI request content: not stored by us; kept by OpenAI as described in section 3.
• Usage counters: only as long as needed to enforce limits and prevent abuse. Once your account is deleted they can no longer be linked to you.

13. Your rights

You have the right to access your personal data, correct it, delete it, restrict or object to its processing, and receive it in a portable format. You can delete your account and all synced data yourself in the app (how to delete your account). For any other request, write to ilia@oshn-ai.com. We answer within 30 days.

You also have the right to lodge a complaint with the Serbian Commissioner for Information of Public Importance and Personal Data Protection (poverenik.rs) or, if you live in the EU, with your local data protection authority.

14. Children

Close Reader is not directed at children under 13, and we don’t knowingly collect their personal data. If you are younger than the age at which you can consent to the processing of your data where you live (15 in Serbia; between 13 and 16 in EU countries), use Close Reader only with the permission of a parent or guardian. If you believe a child has given us personal data, contact us and we will delete it.

15. Security

Data is encrypted in transit. Server access keys are kept on the server, synced records and files are isolated per account, and we keep the data we hold to a minimum. No system is perfectly secure, but we work to protect your data and will inform you and the authorities of a breach where the law requires it.

16. Changes

We will post any changes on this page and update the date above. If a change materially affects how we use your data, we will also tell you in the app or by email before it takes effect.

17. Contact

Ilia Ilinskii PR Novi Sad, Mite Ruzica 3, Novi Sad, Serbia. Email: ilia@oshn-ai.com.