Privacy policy

Information Oulie handles

The information involved depends on the features you use and the details you choose to provide.

• Account and profile information: your login identifier, public handle, display name, biography, profile image and settings. Auth0 handles sign-in and may process your login email and authentication records. An email you provide for the weekly digest is stored separately by Oulie.
• Reading information: shelves, books, progress, reading dates, goals, ratings, reviews, notes, achievements, favourite authors and genres, languages, recommendation feedback and imported reading history. Optional profile information can include birth year and gender.
• Social information: friendships, group membership, shared reading plans, polls, reactions, posts and direct or group messages. Activity timestamps include when your account was last active.
• Images and files you submit: profile and group images, photos used to identify books, and reading data imported from CSV files.
• Support and safety information: correspondence, reports, relevant content, moderation records and optional feedback when deleting your profile.
• Technical and usage information: book opens, time zone, request information, error reports and diagnostic records. Some events are associated with your account. Infrastructure and analytics services also receive connection information such as your IP address and browser information.
• Email information: subscription choices, address verification and delivery information. Resend email open/click tracking is not currently enabled.

Why we use information

We use account, reading and social information to provide the features you request: saving your library, tracking progress, communicating with other readers and organising shared reads. Processing necessary to provide those services is based on our agreement with you.

We use technical, support and safety information to maintain the service, investigate problems and address misuse. Our legitimate interests are operating a reliable service and protecting readers. Where processing is required by law, we rely on the relevant legal obligation.

The optional weekly digest uses your subscription consent. You can withdraw it in notification settings or through the unsubscribe option in the email. Withdrawing consent does not affect processing that was lawful before withdrawal.

Reading preferences and activity are also used to personalise recommendations and understand which features readers use. You can contact us to object to processing based on legitimate interests. The AI and analytics sections below explain the services involved.

What other people can see

Oulie is a social service. Your profile, reading activity and contributions may be visible to other readers according to the feature and its settings. Hiding your profile limits discovery by strangers; friends and people who share groups with you may still see it.

Messages are available to the conversation participants. They are stored by Oulie and are not end-to-end encrypted. Authorised access may be needed to operate the service, investigate reports or respond to legal requirements. People who receive your content may retain their own copies.

Use the privacy settings in your profile to manage visibility and chat participation. Avoid posting information you do not want the intended audience to receive.

Services involved in running Oulie

Oulie uses service providers for authentication, delivery, communication and selected app features. Providers receive the information needed for their respective functions.

• Auth0, an Okta service, handles authentication and login security.
• Our application server is currently hosted in Norway. Our application, database, image storage and backup infrastructure hold information needed to operate Oulie.
• Cloudflare delivers and protects access to the website and API. Cloudflare email routing and Google/Gmail handle correspondence sent to [email protected].
• The configured email delivery service handles app emails and associated delivery information.
• OpenAI processes inputs for the AI features described below.
• ISBNdb provides book information and cover images. Book searches and lookups send search text or ISBNs to ISBNdb from our server, never your account details or reading records. Covers in search results can load directly from ISBNdb, which exposes connection information such as your IP address to it; covers of books already in Oulie are served by Oulie.

AI recommendations, searches and book scans

Oulie uses OpenAI to support recommendations, interpret book searches, identify books in submitted photos and generate personalised achievement or level-up remarks. Weekly recommendations may be prepared in the background.

Depending on the feature, inputs include selected reading history and ratings, favourite authors and genres, reading language, recommendation feedback, achievement information, search text or the photo you submit. Recommendation prompts do not deliberately include your name or email. Reading preferences, free text and photos can nevertheless contain personal information.

The photo you submit for book identification leaves your device for processing. Please keep unrelated people, private documents and other sensitive information out of it. You can search for a book by title or ISBN instead of submitting a photo.

Oulie stores generated recommendations and, for weekly picks, their prompts and responses. Provider processing is not represented as anonymous or as having zero retention. Contact [email protected] with questions or requests concerning your information in these features. AI suggestions can be inaccurate.

Storage on your device and analytics

Oulie and its authentication service use browser or app storage to maintain login sessions and remember settings such as appearance. Clearing that storage can sign you out or reset local preferences.

We record interactions such as book opens and recommendation feedback to understand use and improve discovery. Some interaction records are linked to your account. We also collect diagnostic information to investigate errors. The presence of analytics does not mean that your messages or reading history are public.

You can control camera access through your device settings. Camera permission is separate from the processing of a photo you choose to upload.

Retention and account deletion

Account and reading records are kept to provide your account and chosen features. In Profile, choose Delete profile to request deletion. Your access stops immediately, the profile is hidden and digest participation stops. The current profile database deletion schedule is 30 days.

Shared groups and reading plans may continue under another member’s ownership. Deleting the profile database record does not automatically erase every record held in separate systems: login-provider records, uploaded files, email records, safety reports and backups require separate handling. Contact [email protected] to request deletion of your account and associated information across these systems, or if you cannot access the app.

Application error records normally have a 30-day retention period. Cached AI search interpretations normally expire after seven days. General AI generation records are normally retained for 30 days, and weekly-pick records for 180 days. These periods concern those application records, not every service provider’s logs.

Safety records may need to be retained to investigate an unresolved report or meet a specific legal obligation. We consider the purpose, necessity and applicable legal requirements when handling retention or deletion requests. We can explain any information retained in response to your request; profile deletion is not a promise that every copy disappears immediately.

International processing

Oulie is operated from Norway and its primary server is currently in Norway. Using international providers such as Auth0, Cloudflare, Google and OpenAI can involve processing outside Norway and the European Economic Area. A provider’s regional endpoint alone does not establish where all processing takes place.

Contact [email protected] for information about the providers, processing locations and safeguards relevant to your information.

Your choices and privacy rights

You can edit your profile, change visibility and chat settings, manage the weekly digest and request profile deletion in the app. Optional details and uploads are your choice; some features need the information you submit to work.

Where applicable, you can request access to your personal information, correction, erasure, restriction of processing or a portable copy. You can object to processing based on legitimate interests and withdraw consent where it is the basis for processing.

Email [email protected] with your request. We may ask for proportionate information to verify ownership, but never your password. We normally respond within one month and will explain any lawful extension. You can complain to Datatilsynet or your local supervisory authority.

Younger readers

Oulie is intended for people aged 16 and over. It is not intended for children under 16. Parental controls and a younger-child experience are not currently available.

If you believe an account belongs to someone below 16, or have a safety concern involving a young person, contact [email protected] so we can investigate.

Changes to this policy

We update this policy when our practices change and show the latest revision date above. Material changes will be communicated as appropriate, and new consent will be requested where required.