Privacy policy

What stays on your device

Crease is local-first. You can import EPUB, PDF, MP3 and M4B files you already have. These stay on your device:

• Your book files, covers and extracted text.
• Your private highlights, notes, lists and bookmarks.
• Your reading position and display settings, unless you sign in and sync them (see below).

Crease doesn't upload your book files, or your private notes and highlights.

Read-aloud with your device's own voices happens entirely on your device. AI narration voices are made on our servers (see who helps us run Crease), and the audio is kept for a short time so it can play again without being made twice.

Looking for books on Android

On Android you can let Crease search shared storage for book files (“All files access”). The search reads file names, sizes and dates to list EPUB, PDF, M4B and text files. It opens only the files you choose to add and sends nothing about the others anywhere. On iPhone and iPad the search covers only a folder you pick.

Your account

You don't need an account to read. An account is for friends, clubs and plans. You sign in with an email link, or with a password if you set one. We store:

• Your email address and an internal account ID.
• Your username, display name and an optional bio.
• Session and security details, so we can keep you signed in and prevent abuse.

When you are signed in, Crease can sync your library list (titles, authors and formats), reading positions, reading progress and display settings between your devices. Your book files, notes and highlights are not part of that.

Friends, clubs and shared notes

To run private reading with friends, Crease stores:

• Friend requests, friendships, blocks, club memberships and invitations.
• Notes, replies, photos, short voice notes, reactions and spoiler labels, with the book, page or passage you choose to share.
• Shared reading progress.
• Reports, report details and moderation decisions.
• Short-lived records of searches and actions, used to limit abuse. The words you search for are not stored.

Shared content goes only to the friend or club you pick. There is no public feed. “Private” here means access-controlled on our servers. It does not mean end-to-end encrypted.

Voice notes and the microphone

Crease asks for the microphone only when you tap record. Voice notes last up to two minutes, are stored privately and are delivered through short-lived links. You can always use text instead.

Safety checks

Before a note is delivered, we check it automatically for abusive and harmful content. Voice notes are turned into text for this check, and photos are looked at by an automated model. Voice notes and photos are held until they pass. The checks run on Cloudflare, and Cloudflare doesn't use your content to train its models. We don't keep the transcript. Content that fails or can't be checked stays visible only to you.

The beta list

If you join the beta, we store your email address and where you signed up on our site. We email you once to confirm the address, and we add you to the list only after you click the link. We email you again when your invite is ready.

To learn which links bring people in and which devices to build for first, we also record a few details when you sign up, confirm your email and open your invite:

• The kind of device (phone, tablet or computer), its operating system and browser, including whether you used an app's built-in browser such as Instagram's.
• Your country, worked out from your connection. We don't store your IP address.
• The page you signed up on, the website that sent you, and any campaign tag in the link you followed.

We use these details only in totals, never to build a profile of you, and we delete them after 12 months.

That is all we use the beta list for. Every invite email has an unsubscribe link, or write to [email protected] and we'll remove you.

Payments

Subscriptions are sold on this website through Paddle, which is the merchant of record. Paddle is the seller. It takes your payment details and handles tax, invoices and refunds. Crease never sees your full card number.

We receive your plan, billing period, subscription status and a customer reference from Paddle, so we can switch your plan on. Paddle's own privacy notice covers what it collects.

Free trials don't need a card and don't involve Paddle.

This website

We don't use advertising trackers or analytics cookies on this site.

We count visits with Cloudflare Web Analytics. It doesn't use cookies, doesn't identify you and doesn't follow you to other sites. While you browse, your browser also keeps a note of the link that brought you here, so a beta sign-up can be credited to it. That note is not a cookie and is cleared when you close the tab.

If you sign in on the checkout page, our account service sets a session cookie so you stay signed in. It is used for that and nothing else. Our host, Cloudflare, processes basic request data such as your IP address to deliver the site and keep it secure.

Who helps us run Crease

• Cloudflare hosts this website and our account service, database and file storage, sends sign-in and beta emails, provides our visit counts, and runs the automatic safety checks on shared notes, voice notes and photos. It doesn't use that content to train its models, and doesn't keep it after the check.
• Paddle processes payments, as described above.
• OpenAI and ElevenLabs turn book text into speech when you choose an AI narration voice. They receive only the passage being read and the voice and speed you picked, never your name, email or account. This works only for free classics from our catalog, not books you import.

They process information in the United States and other countries where they run servers. We don't give them your information for their own use. We'll update this list before we add anyone new.

How we use information

We use it only to:

• Sign you in and keep your account secure.
• Let you find friends by username and manage friends and clubs.
• Deliver the notes and voice notes you choose to share.
• Check for abuse, enforce our rules and keep the service safe.
• Run your plan and take payment.
• Run the beta list and see, in totals, which links and devices people join from.
• Delete your account and content when you ask.

We don't sell your information, use it for third-party advertising, or track you across other companies' apps and sites.

How long we keep it

• On your device: until you delete it, clear app storage or uninstall Crease.
• Account and social data: while your account is active.
• Deleted notes and replies: removed from the active record, and any voice note is deleted at once where we can.
• Deleted accounts: hidden right away, then kept for 30 days in case you change your mind. You can sign in and restore the account in that time. After that, the account and its private storage are permanently removed. Files on your device stay until you delete them.
• Abuse-prevention records: deleted after seven days.
• Beta list: your address until you leave the list or the beta ends. Device and link details from sign-up: 12 months.
• Reports and moderation decisions: one year after the report is closed, unless the law requires us to keep them longer.
• Backups: overwritten within 30 days, so deleted data leaves our backups by then.
• Support emails: two years after the conversation ends.

Your choices

You can:

• Read without an account.
• Say no to the microphone and use text instead.
• Delete your notes, your content and your account in the app.
• Block and report other readers.
• Leave the beta list at any time.

Your privacy rights

Wherever you live in the United States, you can ask us to:

• Tell you what information we hold about you and give you a copy.
• Correct it.
• Delete it.

Write to [email protected] from the email address on your account or the beta list, so we know it's you. We don't charge for this, and we reply within 45 days. Someone you authorize can ask for you, with your written permission. We won't treat you differently for using these rights.

Some state laws, including California's, give you the right to opt out of the sale or sharing of your information for targeted advertising. We don't sell or share it in that way, so there is nothing to opt out of.

If we turn down your request, you can appeal by replying with “Appeal” in the subject line. We'll answer within 45 days. If you're still not satisfied, you can contact your state attorney general.

Children

Crease is for people 13 and older. It is not directed to children under 13, and we don't knowingly collect their information. If we learn that a child under 13 has an account or is on the beta list, we delete the account or address and what's linked to it. If you think a child has given us information, write to us and we'll delete it.

Security

We use access-controlled storage, short-lived links, permission checks on every request, rate limits and moderation tools. No system is perfectly secure, so we can't promise absolute safety. If something goes wrong that affects you, we'll tell you as the law requires.

Changes

If we make a material change, we'll tell you in the app or by email before it takes effect. The date at the top of this page always shows the latest version.

Contact

Questions about privacy, or a request about your information: [email protected].

Crease LLC
418 Broadway, Ste N, Albany, NY 12207