Privacy Policy — Readby
Provisional document (v1) — pending legal review. Targeted compliance: Regulation (EU) 2016/679 (GDPR) and Google Play program requirements. Last updated: 2026-10-12.
1. In short
Readby sells no data, shows no ads and does not track your usage. It is an audiobook player: your library, your progress and your bookmarks stay on your phone. There is no JOLABS40 account, no tracker and no usage analytics. The only things that leave the device are the cover and description lookup when you import a book, and what the services you set up require (section 5).
2. Data controller
Readby is published by JOLABS40.
Contact: contact@jolabs40.net
3. Data saved on the phone
These items stay on your device and are never sent to JOLABS40:
| Data | Purpose | Storage |
|---|---|---|
| Library: titles, authors, covers, descriptions, chapters, file locations | Show and play your books | App internal database |
| Progress, bookmarks, status and speed of each book, for each profile | Pick up where you left off | App internal database |
| Profiles: first name and color | Several listeners on one phone | App internal database |
| Settings: appearance, playback, sleep timer, headset | The way you listen | App internal storage |
| Your Audiobookshelf or Plex server address and sign-in tokens (never your password) | Stay signed in to your server | Encrypted with the Android Keystore |
| Books downloaded from your server | Offline listening | App internal storage |
| Readby Premium purchase: bought or not | Unlock Premium features | App internal storage |
4. In your folders, if you ask for it
The “Save book state in its folder” setting, off by default, writes a
.readby folder into the folder of each book imported from “My folders”. It holds the
book’s position, bookmarks and status for each profile (with the profile’s first name), the speed,
the phone model and a random installation identifier, so you can find your place again after a
reinstall or on another device. Anyone or any app with access to that folder can read it; if the
folder is synced with an online service, this file goes with it. Readby never deletes these
folders: remove them yourself if you turn the setting off.
The backup export (bookmarks and settings, as JSON) is written where you choose, and nowhere else.
5. Network connections
| Destination | When | What is sent |
|---|---|---|
| Open Library (openlibrary.org, images on covers.openlibrary.org) | When you import a book, and when you ask to “Enrich metadata” | The detected title and author, to suggest a cover, a title and a description |
| Google Books (www.googleapis.com, images on books.google.com) | At the same moments, when Open Library does not find enough results | The detected title and author |
| Your Audiobookshelf server | If you connect it | Your username and password when signing in, exchanged for a token; then library and download requests, and your listening position |
| Plex (plex.tv) and your Plex server | If you connect Plex | Your Plex credentials to plex.tv, to get a token and the list of your servers; then requests to your server and your listening position |
| Your Chromecast or Cast-enabled device, on your local network | While you cast a book | The audio file, cover, title and author, served by the app at an address protected by a random token |
| Google Play, through the phone’s Play Store | To show the price of Readby Premium, buy it and restore a past purchase | What Google Play processes for a purchase, under its own policy (section 7); nothing is sent to JOLABS40 |
Like any web request, these connections reveal your IP address to the services involved. No advertising or account identifier is attached. What Open Library and Google keep is governed by their own policies: terms of the Internet Archive, which hosts Open Library, Google Privacy Policy.
Readby talks to your server over HTTPS, except for an address on your local network (your router,
a Tailscale network) entered with http:// or no prefix: the app refuses any unencrypted
connection to the Internet.
6. Android permissions and their use
| Permission | Why |
|---|---|
| Audio files (and storage up to Android 12) | Find and play the audiobooks on your phone |
| Folders you choose (Android picker) | Import a folder, read its chapters (.cue, openbook.json) and, if you turn it on, save book state there |
| Internet, network and Wi-Fi state | The connections above; Wi-Fi-only downloads; Cast |
| Notifications | Playback controls and download progress |
| Foreground service (playback, data transfer), wake lock | Keep playing with the screen off; finish a download |
| Google Play billing | Buy Readby Premium |
| Device boot | Added by Android’s widget library, to reschedule its updates after a restart |
| Accelerometer (no permission) | Only if you turn on “shake to extend”, and only during the sleep timer’s last minute |
7. What JOLABS40 does not do
Readby uses none of the following:
- no analytics or crash reporting service (Google Analytics, Firebase, etc.);
- no advertising network or third-party tracker;
- no user account or advertising identifier;
- no payment handled by JOLABS40.
The Readby Premium purchase goes entirely through Google Play. JOLABS40 receives neither your name, nor your address, nor your payment method: Google Play processes the purchase under its own privacy policy. The app checks the purchase on the phone; nothing about it is sent to JOLABS40.
8. Data sharing
No data is sold, or shared for advertising. The only transmissions are those of section 5. If Android backup is turned on on your phone, Android may copy your library, progress and settings to your Google account, under Google’s policy; server tokens, the Premium purchase and downloaded books are excluded.
9. Your rights
Since JOLABS40 keeps no data about you, there is nothing on our side to access, rectify or erase.
You delete all local data by uninstalling the app or through Android settings (“Clear data”);
any .readby folders stay in your folders until you delete them. For any question:
contact@jolabs40.net.
10. Security
Your server tokens are encrypted at rest with the Android Keystore, and your password is never saved. While casting, files are only served on your local network, at an address that changes at every start and that only your Cast device knows.
11. Children
Readby is intended for a general audience and knowingly collects no data about children.
12. Changes
This policy may evolve with the app. The version in force is dated above. Any substantial change will be published on this page.
13. Contact
JOLABS40 — contact@jolabs40.net