undercover. is built so that we don't need to know who you are. There are no accounts, and your library never leaves your device unless you choose to contact us.
What stays on your device
- Your library: books you want, are reading, have read or didn't finish, plus your ratings and reactions.
- Your swipe history: which books you passed or wanted. It powers your recommendations.
- Your preferences: genres, filters and similar settings.
- Your age confirmation: if you confirm you're 18 or older, or if Apple's age range service tells the app you're an adult, that answer is stored only on your device and never sent to us.
We can't see any of this. You can delete all of it at any time in Settings → Delete all my data, or by deleting the app.
Anonymous usage data (analytics)
To understand which features work, the app can send anonymous usage events to PostHog, our analytics provider (PostHog Inc.). Data is hosted in the European Union.
- What is sent: actions such as "card swiped", "book revealed" or "Amazon link tapped". Books are identified by an internal book ID. We also send the app version, the catalog version and how many days ago you installed the app.
- What is never sent: your name, email, contacts, location, advertising identifier, or the titles and authors you read.
- Identifier: the app creates a random ID on your device so that events from the same install can be counted together. It isn't linked to your identity. Deleting your data creates a new ID.
- Your choice: if you're in the EU, EEA or Switzerland, analytics stay off unless you turn them on (legal basis: your consent, Art. 6(1)(a) GDPR). Everywhere else they're on by default. You can switch them off at any time in Settings → Share anonymous usage data.
- No tracking: we don't use this data for advertising, don't combine it with data from other companies, and don't sell or share it.
Book data and covers
Book information, cover images and search results come from Open Library (openlibrary.org), run by the Internet Archive. When the app loads a cover or you search for a book, your device connects to Open Library directly. Like any website, Open Library receives your IP address and the search text. Their privacy policy applies.
Amazon and other stores
Buttons such as "Get it on Amazon" open Amazon's website or app. As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.
- The link tells Amazon that the visit came from undercover. It doesn't contain anything about you.
- Anything you do on Amazon is covered by Amazon's own privacy notice.
- We only receive aggregated reports from Amazon, such as the number of orders, and nothing that identifies you.
Contacting us
If you email us (for example through "Contact us" or "Report an issue"), we receive your email address and whatever you write. The app pre-fills the app version, iOS version and, for reports, the book ID. We use this only to answer you and fix problems (legal basis: Art. 6(1)(b) and (f) GDPR), and we delete it once it's no longer needed.
This website
These pages use no analytics or trackers, load no fonts from third parties and set no cookies of their own. They are delivered through Cloudflare, Inc. (content delivery and security), which, like our web host, processes your IP address and technical request data to deliver the pages and protect them from abuse (legal basis: Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR). Cloudflare may also obfuscate email addresses on these pages against spam bots. See Cloudflare's privacy policy.
Children
undercover. isn't directed to children. Some books in the catalog contain mature themes. Explicit books are hidden unless you confirm that you're 18 or older.
Your rights
Depending on where you live (for example under the GDPR or the CCPA), you have the right to access, correct or delete your personal data, to restrict or object to processing, to data portability, and to withdraw consent at any time.
- Most data never reaches us: delete it on your device in Settings.
- For anything else, email [email protected].
- You may also complain to a data protection authority. In Austria that's the Datenschutzbehörde (dsb.gv.at).
Changes
If we change this policy, we'll update the effective date above and, for significant changes, tell you in the app.