Privacy Policy

Last updated: 24 September 2026

Who we are

Bovels is a platform for reading, writing and publishing Arabic fiction. For any privacy question or request, use Settings → Help / Contact support inside the app.

What we collect and why

• Your account: email, username, display name, bio, profile photo, and your support link if you add one. Your password is stored hashed by our authentication provider; we cannot read it.
• Sign in with Google: if you choose it, Google shares your name, email and photo so we can create your account.
• What you publish: novels, chapters, comments, posts, ratings, likes and follows. These are public by nature, and an author can see who commented on, liked, rated or followed them.
• Private messages and groups: stored on our servers so only their participants can see them. We don't read them, except a message that is reported to us, to review the report. They are not end-to-end encrypted.
• Your reading: chapters you opened, your position, bookmarks, library and reading days. These are private. Authors see only aggregate counts (how many readers opened a chapter each day), never who read what.
• Notifications: if you enable them, we store your browser's push subscription to deliver them through your browser's push service.
• Reports and support: what you send us, the contact detail if you give one, and the app version you were using.
• Moderation: any violations or strikes on your account.
• Technical logs: our hosting providers keep short-lived request logs (such as IP address and browser type) for security and operations.

Stored on your device

The app keeps in your browser: your session, preferences (language, theme), backups of your drafts so an interrupted connection doesn't lose your writing, copies of chapters you've read for offline reading, the spelling dictionary, and the list of accounts you've used on this device. We use no advertising or tracking cookies.

What we don't do

• No ads and no third-party analytics or tracking.
• We don't sell, rent or share your data for marketing.
• We process no payments: “Support the author” opens a link or number the author provides (such as Qi, Zain Cash or Ko-fi), and money goes directly between you — we never see who donated or how much.

Who processes data for us

• Supabase: database, authentication and image storage, on servers in the European Union (Ireland).
• Cloudflare: website hosting and delivery.
• Brevo: account emails only (sign-up confirmation and password reset).
• Google: Sign in with Google if you use it, and the site's fonts, loaded from Google Fonts.
• Your browser's push service (Google, Mozilla or Apple depending on your device), if you enable notifications.

Deleting your account

Settings → Delete account permanently removes your account together with your profile, novels and chapters, comments, posts, likes, ratings and follows, your library and reading history, notifications and push subscription, and your uploaded images. Private messages you sent or received are deleted too, so they also disappear from the other person's conversation.

Kept after deletion, unlinked from any account: reports you filed, moderation records and support messages, which we need to handle abuse and protect the platform. Groups you created remain for their members. Deletion is permanent.

Age

Bovels is not directed at children under 13. Novels rated for adults are shown only after you confirm you are 18 or older, and you can hide them all in Settings.

Your rights

You can view and correct your data from your profile and delete it by deleting your account. For any other request about your data, contact us from inside the app.

Security

All connections are encrypted (HTTPS), and the database enforces that nobody reaches data they aren't entitled to. No system is perfectly secure, so please use a strong password you don't reuse elsewhere.

Changes

If we change this policy in a meaningful way, we'll announce it in the app and update the date above.