Your data stays yours
Privacy Policy
NextChapter helps readers swap books in person. To do that we need a little information about you: who you are, roughly where you are, and what's on your shelf. This page explains exactly what we collect, why, and what you can do about it. The short version: no ads, no ad-tech, and we will never sell or trade your data.
Who we are
NextChapter is run by NextChapter Books LLC, based in Colorado. When this policy says "we" or "us," it means NextChapter Books LLC. Questions about your data go to nextchapterappsocial@gmail.com.
This policy covers the NextChapter mobile app for iOS and Android and this website, next-chapter.app.
What we collect in the app
Your account
- Email address. You sign in with a link we email you. There are no passwords.
- First and last name. Other readers see your first name. Your last name is not shown to them.
- Bio and profile photo, if you add them, plus the avatar color you pick. Other readers can see these.
- Settings, such as your search radius and which notifications you want.
- When you last signed in, so we can clean up sign-ups that were never finished.
Your location
NextChapter does not use your phone's GPS. Instead, you type in a home address, ZIP code, or neighborhood. We send that text to Google to turn it into a map point, and we store both the text you typed and that point. We use it to find readers, books, and activity within your chosen radius, and to suggest meeting spots. The app does not show your address to other readers. The less precise the place you enter, the less precise the point we store, so a ZIP code or neighborhood works fine.
Your books and swaps
- Your little library: the books you add, any notes and condition you record, and whether a book has been traded or received.
- Swap proposals: who asked for which book, what was offered, and how the swap went.
- Messages you send in a swap thread, including earlier versions of messages you edit.
- Meetups: the places and times you suggest, accept, or decline.
Wrap-ups and ratings
After a meetup you can record how it went: whether the swap happened, a thumbs up or down, a few traits, the condition of the book, and a private note. A wrap-up is only ever shown back to the person who wrote it. The person it is about never sees it. You can also give a thumbs up or down to a meeting place, which is shown to you and your swap partner when picking where to meet next.
Blocks
If you block someone, we store that so you stop seeing each other in the feed, the nearby list, and swaps.
Notifications
If you allow notifications, we store a push token for your device and whether it is an iPhone or Android phone, so we can tell you about new messages, meetup reminders, and swaps waiting on you.
Feedback and crash reports
If you send feedback in the app, we store your message along with the app version and platform. When the app or our server crashes, we may send an error report to our crash-reporting provider, Sentry. These reports describe the error, the device, and the app version, and are used only to fix bugs.
Things that stay on your phone
The camera is used only to scan a book's barcode, and the photo library only when you choose a profile photo. If you add a meetup to your calendar, the event is created on your phone. We don't receive your camera feed, your photo library, or your calendar.
Technical information
Like any online service, our servers see your IP address when the app connects. We use it to limit abuse, such as too many sign-in attempts. We don't use it to track you.
What other readers can see
NextChapter is a social app, so some of your information is visible to other signed-in readers near you:
- Your first name, profile photo, avatar color, bio, and the books in your little library.
- The neighborhood feed, which shows nearby readers when you add a book and when you complete a swap. A completed swap shows both first names, the books traded, and the meeting place.
- Your swap partner sees your messages, meetup suggestions, and place ratings for spots you're choosing between.
Your email, last name, address, and wrap-ups are not shown to other readers. People you have blocked, and people who have blocked you, can't see your profile or library.
How we use your information
- To sign you in and keep your account secure.
- To show you readers, books, and activity nearby, and help you arrange swaps.
- To suggest good, public places to meet.
- To send the sign-in emails and notifications you've asked for.
- To fix bugs, prevent abuse, and keep the app running.
We don't show ads. We don't use your data to build an advertising profile. We will never sell or trade your data.
Who helps us run NextChapter
We use a small number of service providers. They handle your data only to provide their service to us.
- Hosting and database: our servers and database run with cloud hosting providers, and profile photos are stored with Cloudflare.
- Email: an email delivery provider sends your sign-in links.
- Google Maps Platform: turns the location you type into a map point, finds nearby meeting places, and draws maps in the app. Google receives the location text you enter and the areas being searched.
- ISBNdb and Open Library: supply book titles, authors, covers, and descriptions. We send them the book's ISBN or your search terms, not your identity.
- Expo: delivers push notifications, through Apple and Google, to your device's push token.
- Sentry: receives crash and error reports.
We may also disclose information if the law requires it, or to protect someone's safety.
The waitlist on this website
If you join the waitlist on next-chapter.app, we collect your name, email address, and ZIP code, plus the time you signed up. They're stored in a Google Sheet through Google Apps Script. We use them only to tell you when NextChapter reaches your area. To be removed, email nextchapterappsocial@gmail.com.
This website doesn't use analytics or advertising cookies. It loads its font from Google Fonts, so your browser connects to Google to download it.
Deleting your account
You can delete your account anytime in the app under Profile, then Delete account. When you do:
- Your email, name, bio, profile photo, and location are removed. Your profile is shown as "Deleted User."
- The text of every message you sent is erased.
- Any pending or scheduled swaps are cancelled, and your partner is told the swap ended.
- Your little library is hidden from everyone.
- Your wrap-ups, the wrap-ups others wrote about you, and your place ratings are deleted.
Some records of past swaps stay in our database without your name or contact details attached, so the people you swapped with keep an accurate history. To ask us to remove anything else, email nextchapterappsocial@gmail.com.
Sign-ups that are started but never completed are removed automatically.
Your choices
- Edit your name, bio, photo, location, and radius in the app at any time.
- Turn individual notification types on or off in the app, or turn notifications off in your phone's settings.
- Block anyone, and unblock them later.
- Ask us for a copy of your data, or to correct or delete it, by emailing nextchapterappsocial@gmail.com.
Security
Connections to our servers are encrypted. Sign-in links expire after 15 minutes and are stored only in hashed form. No system is perfectly secure, but we collect as little as we can, which is the best protection there is.
Children
NextChapter is for people 18 and older, and we don't knowingly collect information from anyone younger. If you think someone under 18 has made an account, email nextchapterappsocial@gmail.com and we'll delete it.
Changes to this policy
If we change this policy, we'll update the date at the top. If a change affects how we use information you've already given us, we'll tell you in the app or by email before it takes effect.
Contact
Questions or requests about your privacy: nextchapterappsocial@gmail.com.