Legal
Privacy Policy
Last updated: August 30, 2026
ReadCast is a personal audiobook reader. We collect only what's needed to run the service — your account, your library metadata, and reading progress. We do not sell your data, show you ads, or track you across the web. Text from your books is sent to generate narration audio, and a short excerpt is sent once per book to suggest a narration tone; we do not store this text on our servers.
Contents
1. Who We Are
ReadCast is an AI-powered audiobook reader for iOS, developed and operated by its creator. If you have any questions about this policy, you can reach us at contact@readcast.cc.
2. What We Collect
Account information
When you create an account we collect:
- Email address — used for sign-in and to contact you about your account.
- OAuth tokens — if you sign in with Apple or Google, we receive a unique identifier and, where permitted, your name and email from those services. We do not receive your Apple or Google password.
Your library
- Book metadata — title, author, format, file size, and cover image.
- Book pages (text) — for EPUB and TXT files, extracted text is stored in our cloud so your library syncs across devices. PDF files are never stored in our cloud — your PDF library stays on your device.
- Reading progress — current page number and last-opened timestamp, synced so you can continue on any device.
Usage data
- TTS character count — we track how many characters of text you have narrated each month to enforce your subscription quota. This count is stored locally and in your account.
Book text sent for narration
When you listen to a page, that page's text is sent to generate audio using one of two engines: our own self-hosted narration server ("Standard" voices), or xAI's TTS API ("Signature" voices). Which engine is used depends on your voice choice and subscription plan. To make playback start instantly, the first page of the book you most recently opened — and any book you open or import — may be prepared for narration in the background before you press play. This text is transmitted over an encrypted connection and is not stored on our servers afterward.
Book excerpt sent for narrator-tone analysis
The first part of a book (roughly 2,000 characters), along with its title and author, is sent once per book to a third-party AI service (Alibaba Cloud's DashScope) to suggest a narration tone — for example, calmer for a somber book, brisker for a lighter one. This can happen automatically shortly after you open or import a book, not only when you press play. The excerpt is processed in real time and is not stored on our servers.
PDF text extraction
When you import a PDF, the file is sent over an encrypted connection to our text-extraction service so we can read its pages and metadata. The file is processed entirely in memory and is never written to disk, logged, or retained — once the text is returned, the upload is discarded. We do not store your PDFs, and PDFs are never synced to your cloud library or shared with any third party.
What we do NOT collect
- Copies of your PDFs (processed in memory for text extraction, never stored)
- Browsing history, web activity, or cross-app tracking
- Precise location data
- Device contacts, microphone, or camera data
- Advertising identifiers
3. How We Use Your Data
- To authenticate you and keep your account secure.
- To sync your library, covers, and reading progress across your devices.
- To generate AI narration audio for the text you are currently reading.
- To suggest a narration tone for a book, once, via a short excerpt.
- To enforce your subscription's monthly narration quota.
- To send essential account emails (e.g., password reset, billing issues) — no marketing emails unless you opt in.
We do not use your data for advertising, profiling, or any purpose other than operating ReadCast.
4. Third-Party Services
ReadCast uses the following third-party services. Each has its own privacy policy:
Supabase (Authentication & Cloud Storage)
Supabase stores your account information and synced library data (covers and text pages for non-PDF books). Supabase is GDPR-compliant and stores data in the EU (AWS eu-central-1) by default. Supabase Privacy Policy →
xAI (Signature Voice Narration)
When you listen using a Signature voice, the text being narrated is sent to xAI's TTS API to generate audio. This is processed in real time and is governed by xAI's terms of service. Standard voices use our own self-hosted narration server instead — that text stays on infrastructure we control, not a third party. xAI Privacy Policy →
Alibaba Cloud DashScope (Narrator-Tone Analysis)
Once per book, a short excerpt (title, author, and the first part of the text) is sent to Alibaba Cloud's DashScope service to classify the book's tone and suggest a narration style. This runs automatically, is processed in real time, and is not stored on our servers. Alibaba Cloud Privacy Policy →
RevenueCat (Subscriptions)
Subscription purchases are processed by the Apple App Store. RevenueCat manages entitlement verification. RevenueCat receives a random customer identifier and purchase receipt data — never your payment card details. RevenueCat Privacy Policy →
Apple & Google (Sign-In and Payments)
If you sign in with Apple or Google, or make a purchase through their respective stores, those transactions are governed by Apple's and Google's privacy policies.
5. Data Retention
We retain your account and library data for as long as your account is active. If you delete your account, all associated data — account record, synced pages, covers, and reading progress — is permanently deleted within 30 days.
Subscription receipt data held by RevenueCat is subject to their own retention policy. We do not retain book text or excerpts sent for narration or narrator-tone analysis beyond the duration of the real-time API call.
6. Security
All data transmitted between the app and our servers uses TLS encryption. Supabase enforces row-level security so your library is only accessible to you. We do not store passwords — authentication is handled via Supabase's secure session tokens or Apple/Google OAuth.
7. Children's Privacy
ReadCast is not directed at children under 13 (or under 16 in the European Economic Area). We do not knowingly collect personal information from children. If you believe a child has provided us with personal information, please contact us at contact@readcast.cc and we will delete it promptly.
8. Your Privacy Choices
You are in control of your data. Here is what you can do:
Delete your account and all data
- Open the ReadCast app → Settings → Delete Account.
- Or email contact@readcast.cc with subject "Delete my account" and we will process it within 30 days.
- Deletion removes your account, all synced library data, covers, and reading progress permanently.
Access a copy of your data
- Email contact@readcast.cc with subject "Data export request".
- We will send you a copy of the data we hold for your account within 30 days.
Opt out of AI narration
- Choose Standard voices in Settings to keep narration text off xAI entirely — Standard runs on our own self-hosted server, not a third party.
- To avoid sending text to any narration engine, don't use the Listen feature. Note that opening or importing a book can prepare its first page and a short excerpt for narration and tone analysis in the background, ahead of you pressing play — this doesn't require Listen to have been used yet.
- The narrator-tone analysis (Alibaba Cloud DashScope) doesn't yet have a separate on/off switch — it runs automatically, once per book. A dedicated setting to disable it is planned.
- You can continue reading, importing, and organizing your library without ever pressing play.
Opt out of cloud sync
- PDFs are never synced or stored — they are processed in memory for text extraction only, and your PDF library stays on your device.
- EPUB and TXT page text syncs automatically to enable cross-device reading. To prevent this, use the app without an account (sign-out) — reading progress will then be local only.
Rights under GDPR and CCPA
If you are located in the European Economic Area or California, you have the right to access, correct, port, and delete your personal data, as well as the right to object to or restrict certain processing. To exercise any of these rights, contact us at contact@readcast.cc.
9. Contact Us
If you have any questions or concerns about this privacy policy or how we handle your data, please reach out:
We may update this policy from time to time. Material changes will be communicated via an in-app notice or email. Continued use of ReadCast after changes take effect constitutes acceptance of the updated policy.