Your reading is yours
Last updated 12 October 2026
The short version. Covers has no accounts, no ads, no analytics, no tracking and no servers of our own. Your library, notes, scores and profile stay on your iPhone. What you post to a club goes through Apple's iCloud to that club's members. If you share your reading, your membership card goes to the people who have scanned it. Your calendar is read on your phone and never leaves it.
Who we are
Covers is made by SPENCER AI (ABN 31 978 335 623), Victoria, Australia ("we", "us"). This policy covers the Covers iPhone app and this website. We follow the Australian Privacy Principles in the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth). Questions: welcome@myspencer.ai.
What stays on your iPhone
- your profile: the first name you choose, the character you build (female or male, hair, skin tone and outfit) and the reading tastes you pick;
- your books: what's in your hand, your pages, your shelves, books you read before Covers, and any cover photos you take or pick;
- your scores, sign-offs, records and Members Log;
- your notes on a book, until your club has met (see below);
- your settings, including people you've blocked.
Covers saves this on your phone, with a second copy in the app's own folder so nothing is lost if one copy fails. Your iPhone may include it in your own backup (to iCloud or a computer), depending on your settings. We cannot see any of it. Cover photos never leave your phone.
What goes to your club
When you start or join a club with its QR code, what you post to that club is sent through Apple's iCloud (CloudKit), in a database that belongs to the Covers app, so other members' phones can show it:
- that you joined or left, and if a founder removed a member;
- pins, messages, questions and votes;
- suggested days, whether you can make them, and the meeting date, time, host and address;
- nominations to lead the next night;
- your page in the club's book, and your score and sign-off when you post a finished book;
- your notes on the club's book, but only once the night is marked done, or 48 hours after the meeting.
Each post carries the name you chose, the time, and an iCloud user ID that Apple creates for Covers. That ID is not your Apple ID, email address or phone number. You need to be signed in to iCloud for club news to travel; if you're not, posts wait on your phone.
Who can see club posts. Each club is stored under a long random ID carried in its QR code. Covers only shows a club to people who have scanned that code, but anyone with the code, or a photo of it, can join, so only share it with people you'd invite. As the owner of the app's iCloud database we can access it through Apple's tools. We only do so to keep Covers working, act on a report, or delete information when asked.
Sharing your reading
Share my reading live is switched on when you start. You can switch it off any time in Settings. While it's on, Covers sends to iCloud, for the people who have scanned your membership card:
- your card: name, character, member number, the date you joined, your clubs' names and colours, books read and your reading record;
- what's in your hand, your top 10 and favourite three, and your pages, books started and finished, scores and sign-offs.
Whether sharing is on or off, when you follow someone their card is told your name, and when you raise a glass to their read, they see it came from you. Your notes are never shared this way. Issue a new membership card in Settings stops your old card updating for everyone who followed it. You can unfollow anyone in Settings.
What the QR codes carry
Covers QR codes work without signal because the details are inside the code:
- A club's code: the club's ID, name, colours and crest, current book, meeting date, time and place, host and meeting address, moderator and founder's name.
- Your membership card code: your name, character, member number, the month you joined, books read, the books in your hand with your pages, up to 12 scores, your card ID, your iCloud user ID for Covers and short fingerprints of your clubs (enough to match clubs you share, not to join them). Never your notes.
A QR code can be photographed and passed on. Only show yours to people you know.
Permissions
| Permission | What it's for |
|---|---|
| Camera | Scanning club and card QR codes, scanning a book's barcode, and photographing a book cover. |
| Photos | Picking a book cover or a QR code from your library. |
| Calendars | Add to calendar puts a meeting in your calendar. If you switch on calendar sync, Covers reads the start and end times of your events (never their names, places or notes) to show your free evenings. The times are used while the app is open and never saved or sent. |
| Notifications | Meeting reminders, notes opening, an optional weekly nudge, club news and fellow members' reading. Reminders are scheduled on your phone; news is checked from iCloud in the background. Each type has a switch in Settings. |
You can change any of these in your iPhone's Settings.
Other services Covers uses
- Apple iCloud (CloudKit), for club posts and shared reading. Apple's privacy policy covers how Apple runs iCloud.
- Open Library (run by the Internet Archive). When you scan a barcode, Covers sends the book's ISBN to openlibrary.org to fill in the title, author, pages and cover. Open Library also sees your device's internet address.
Covers has no advertising, analytics, crash reporting or third-party tracking, and doesn't track you across other apps or websites. We don't sell or rent information.
Reports and emails
When you report something with ⋯, Covers hides it on your phone and opens an email to us with the post, who posted it, the club and your Covers name. If you send it, we receive your email address too. We use emails only to answer you, act on reports and keep Covers safe.
How long we keep it
- On your phone: until you delete the app.
- In iCloud: club and shared-reading posts are kept until they are deleted. There is no automatic expiry. We delete yours when you ask.
- Emails: until the question or report is dealt with, unless the law requires us to keep them longer.
Deleting your information
- On your phone: delete the Covers app. Everything it stored on your phone goes with it. Copies may remain in your own backups until they're replaced.
- From your clubs: leave a club with Remove my posts when I leave switched on, and other members' phones remove your pins, messages, questions and notes.
- Your shared reading: switch off Share my reading live, or issue a new membership card.
- From iCloud: email welcome@myspencer.ai with your Covers name and your clubs, and we'll delete your posts from the app's iCloud database. Copies already shown on other members' phones stay on those phones.
Overseas
Information on your phone stays there. iCloud data is stored by Apple, which may be outside Australia, including in the United States. Open Library is based in the United States.
Children
Covers is for people aged 16 and over. We don't knowingly collect information from anyone younger. If you think a child is using Covers, email us and we'll delete what we can.
This website
This website has no cookies, analytics or tracking. It loads typefaces from Google Fonts, so Google sees your internet address. Our web host, Cloudflare, keeps standard logs (such as internet addresses and pages requested) for security and to keep the site running.
Your rights and complaints
You can ask what information we hold about you, and ask us to correct or delete it, by emailing welcome@myspencer.ai. We usually hold nothing more than club posts and emails you send. We'll reply within 30 days. If you're not happy with our answer, you can complain to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner at oaic.gov.au, or to the privacy regulator where you live.
Changes
If Covers starts handling information differently, we'll update this policy and its date before the change, and tell you in the app if the change is significant.
Contact
SPENCER AI (ABN 31 978 335 623), Victoria, Australia. welcome@myspencer.ai