Your reading life belongs to you. Athos has no accounts, analytics, ads, or library backend. Your data stays on your devices and, if enabled, in your private iCloud account.
Athos is built without a backend for your library. No Athos service tracks behaviour, stores books, or serves ads. Your books live on your devices and, if you choose, in your private iCloud account.
If you only read one section, read this one:
Athos does not run servers that hold your library, collect personal data, use analytics, or sell ads. It connects to catalogue and artwork services for book lookups and discovery, to Apple for purchases, and to iCloud if you enable sync.
Athos has no account or library backend and does not send app usage analytics to its developer. Your library and reading records are stored on your devices and, if enabled, in your private iCloud account. Information needed for catalogue lookups, artwork, and purchases is sent to the relevant services as described below.
If you email us, we receive your email address and the information you choose to include so we can respond.
Your library is stored on your device. If you turn on iCloud sync, a copy is kept in your private iCloud account — visible only to you, never to us.
| Category | Status |
|---|---|
| User accounts | None — no sign-up, no email, no password |
| Usage tracking | None — we don't measure how you use the app |
| Athos crash reporting | None — standard Apple diagnostics only |
| Advertising IDs | Not requested, not used |
| Code from outside companies | No third-party analytics or advertising SDKs |
| Marketing emails | None — we have no email list |
| Cookies and web trackers | None |
| Sale of data | None — we have no data to sell |
If you turn on sync, Athos keeps your library in step across your Apple devices using your private iCloud account. What that means:
For details on how Apple secures iCloud, see Apple's iCloud privacy documentation.
When you scan an ISBN, search for a book, refresh metadata, or explore releases and series, Athos requests relevant catalogue information and artwork. Depending on the lookup, services include:
Your device talks to these services directly. Requests can include an ISBN, title, author, publisher, series name, or other terms needed for the query. Cover, author photo, and publisher logo requests go to the relevant artwork hosts. Providers receive normal network information, including your IP address and request headers.
Each service’s privacy policy applies to its handling of requests. Athos can keep pending lookups, saved drafts, and lookup results on your device to support review and retry. These are not sent to an Athos analytics service.
Athos has no analytics. We do not track feature use, session length, taps, or screens.
Feedback comes by email, not usage dashboards.
| Permission | Why | Required? |
|---|---|---|
| Camera | Scanning book barcodes | Optional — only requested when you open the scanner |
| Calendar | Adding due-date reminders for active loans | Optional — only requested when you create a loan |
| Notifications | Optional alerts for sync completion and app activity you request | Optional — declined by default |
| iCloud | Syncing your library across devices | Optional — Athos works fine on a single device |
You can revoke any of these permissions at any time in iOS Settings, and Athos will continue to function (with the relevant feature disabled).
Athos integrates with three categories of third party:
Athos is not directed at children under 13 and collects no personal information.
Because Athos holds no data about you, access, correction, deletion, and objection requests generally apply to the copies on your devices and iCloud, not an Athos server.
For the data on your devices and in your iCloud:
When this policy changes, the updated version and date will be published on this page.
Privacy questions or data requests: athos@lja.nz. For everything else, see contact.