Privacy Policy

This privacy policy explains how iByte Apps Limited (“Developer”, “we”, “us”) handles personal information when you use our software applications for mobile devices, our website at aabigbook.app and our support services. It applies to the Android & Apple app provided by the name 'AA Big Book: Read & Listen' (earlier 'AA Big Book eBook + Audio'), including any change of name that might be applied in the future due to any reasons.

We have written this policy in plain English and based it on what the app and website actually do. If anything is unclear, please email us at info@aabigbook.app.

The short version

• You can read, listen and make notes without an account. Until you sign in, your notes, highlights and bookmarks stay on your device.
• An account is optional. It can back up and sync your notes, highlights, bookmarks and reading position. The app asks you first, and nothing you have written is sent to our server unless you say yes. Your notes and bookmark labels are encrypted on our server.
• Subscriptions are bought through the App Store or Google Play. We never see your card details.
• If you don't subscribe, you see ads from Google AdMob, and you choose whether they can be personalised.
• Crash reports go to Google Firebase Crashlytics without your name, email address or notes. Usage statistics are off unless you switch them on.
• We do not send marketing emails.
• You can download your data and delete your account in the app at any time.
• We do not sell your personal information.
• The app is for adults aged 18 and over.

Who we are

iByte Apps Limited (company number 09504342, registered office Barton Seagrave, Northamptonshire, NN15, England) is the controller of your personal information under the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018. We are registered with the Information Commissioner's Office under number ZB033543. You can contact us about privacy at any time by email at info@aabigbook.app.

Information we collect and how we use it

Using the app without an account

You do not need an account to read the Big Book and the other literature, listen to the audio, or make notes, highlights and bookmarks. Without an account, all of these stay on your device. The following are always kept only on your device and are never sent to our server:

• your sobriety date, if you enter one;
• your app lock PIN, which is stored only as a scrambled (hashed) value in your device's secure storage. If you unlock the app with Face ID, Touch ID or a fingerprint, your device does the check and we never receive biometric data;
• your reading settings and your reminders, which are notifications scheduled on your device.

Your account (optional)

If you create an account, we collect:

• Your email address, if you sign in by email. We send you an email with a link to tap and a one-time code; either signs you in. We store the link and the code only in scrambled (hashed) form, together with the IP address they were requested from. They expire after 10 minutes and work only once. The email also names the model of the phone that asked, so that you can tell it was you.
• Sign in with Apple (on iPhone and iPad) or Google sign-in: Apple or Google gives us a unique identifier for you, your email address and whether that address has been verified. If you use Apple's “Hide My Email”, we receive the private relay address Apple creates rather than your real address. The first time you sign in with Apple, Apple may also share your first name, which we use as your nickname. We never receive your Apple or Google password.
• Account details: an account number (shown in the app so you can quote it to support), an internal ID, an optional nickname, and when the account was created and when you last signed in.
• Signed-in devices: for each device you sign in on, its model name (for example “iPhone (iPhone15,2)”), whether it is iOS or Android, and when that sign-in was created, last used and expires. You can see this list, and sign out of any device, in Settings → Account → Signed-in devices.

We use this information to create and run your account, sign you in, keep your account secure, show you where you are signed in and help you when you contact us.

Notes, highlights, bookmarks and reading progress

When you are signed in and have agreed to it, the app backs up your notes, highlights, bookmarks (with any label you give them) and your reading position to our server, and keeps them the same on all your devices. For each item we store its place in the book, its colour, its text (for notes and bookmark labels), and when it was created, changed or deleted. Notes and bookmark labels are encrypted in our database. You can turn sync off in Settings → Account.

Notes you write in a recovery app may contain very personal details. We use them only to store and sync them for you. They are not used for advertising or analytics, and they are kept out of crash reports, usage statistics and our server logs.

Because what you write may reveal information about your health, the app sends it to our server only with your explicit consent. The first time you sign in, the app asks “Back up your notes?”, and nothing you have written in the app is sent to our server unless you answer yes; our server refuses it otherwise. If you answer “Keep them on this phone only”, they stay on your device. You can take your consent back at any time by switching sync off in Settings → Account, which stops any further backup. To remove what is already stored, delete those notes, highlights or bookmarks while sync is on, or delete your account. When you delete a note, a highlight or a bookmark, its text and colour are removed from our server at once; a marker that it was deleted (its place in the book and the time) stays until you delete your account, so that your other devices remove it too. We keep the date you gave your consent, and the date you took it back, with your account. (Notes you synced with older versions of the app are already in our older system and are copied across: see “Older versions of the app”.)

Subscriptions and purchases

Subscriptions are bought through Apple's App Store or Google Play, which take the payment. We never receive your card or bank details.

If you are signed in when you buy or restore a subscription, the app sends the store's record of the purchase to our server, and our server checks it directly with Apple (App Store Server API) or Google (Google Play Developer API). We store the store's name; the product (for example “annual”); the subscription's status; its start, renewal and expiry dates; whether it will renew; whether it came through Family Sharing; the store's transaction or order number; and, for Google Play, the purchase token. For each payment made under the subscription we also keep the amount and currency, the country of the store account that paid, the date, and whether it was refunded. With each purchase, the app also gives the store a random identifier for your account (not your name or email address), so that the store's messages about that subscription can be matched to your account. Apple and Google then notify our server when a subscription renews, is cancelled or refunded, or has a billing problem. If you buy without an account, Apple or Google still notify our server of the purchase. We keep the same subscription details, but nothing that says who you are: no name, email address or account, only the random identifier of the app installation it was bought on. If you sign in later, the app links that subscription to your account.

We use this information to give you the features you paid for, keep your subscription status correct and help you if you contact us about a purchase.

RevenueCat (older versions of the app)

Older versions of the app used RevenueCat, Inc. to manage subscriptions. The current version does not use RevenueCat for new purchases. While some people still use older versions, we do the following so that their subscriptions keep working:

• The notifications Apple sends our server about App Store subscriptions are passed on to RevenueCat unchanged. RevenueCat may also still receive Google Play's notifications about subscriptions directly from Google.
• Our server may ask RevenueCat about a subscription bought in an older version, using your account number. We also keep the subscription events RevenueCat sends us.
• RevenueCat still holds the purchase history and account numbers it received from older versions of the app.

We will stop passing information to RevenueCat once older versions are no longer in use, and no later than December 2028.

The app on your device, without an account

The first time the app starts, it registers the installation with our server so that we can send it notifications and answer support messages. This does not create an account and we do not ask who you are. For each installation we keep a random identifier; the device model (for example “iPhone (iPhone15,2)”); whether it is iOS or Android; the app and operating system versions; the device's time zone; when it registered and when it last contacted us; and, if you allow notifications, the push token described under “Push notifications and reminders”, whether you have the hourly Big Book quote switched on and the hours you chose for it. We do not keep your name, email address, location or advertising identifier with it. If you sign in, the installation is linked to your account until you sign out.

Support messages

If you contact us from the app (Settings → Help and support), your message and our replies are stored on our server as a conversation, so that you can read the reply in the app. We receive your message; the subject you chose; your email address, if you give one or are signed in; your account number if you are signed in; and your app version, device model and operating system version. A copy of each message is emailed to our support mailbox. When we reply, the reply is sent to your device as a notification and, if we have your email address, by email as well. If the app cannot reach our server, it opens your own email app instead. Please do not include personal recovery details in support messages. We use this information only to answer you.

Emails we send

We use your email address to send sign-in emails and codes that confirm a new email address, to reply to you, and to send important information about your account or this policy. We do not send marketing emails.

Crash reports

Release versions of the app send crash and error reports to Google Firebase Crashlytics so that we can find and fix problems. A report contains technical details such as the error, the device model, the operating system and app versions, and an identifier that Crashlytics creates for the app installation. Reports never include your name, email address, account ID or notes.

Usage statistics (optional)

Usage statistics are off unless you switch on “Share anonymous usage statistics” in Settings → Privacy and security. If you do, Google Firebase Analytics collects information about how the app is used, such as when it is opened and for how long, the app version, device model, operating system, language, and an approximate country or region worked out from your IP address, together with an identifier for the app installation. The app never gives Analytics your account ID, email address, notes or what you read, and it stops Analytics from collecting your device's advertising identifier. Switching the setting off stops collection and resets the analytics identifier on your device.

Advertising (free version)

If you don't have a subscription, the app shows ads from Google AdMob. Subscribers see no ads, and for them the app doesn't start the ad service at all. Where the law requires it (for example in the UK and the EEA), Google's consent form asks for your choice before any ads load. Where Google requires it, you can change your choice later in Settings → Privacy and security → Ad privacy choices. Google uses information such as your IP address, details about your device and the app, how you interact with ads and, if you allow it, your device's advertising identifier. It uses this to show, measure and limit ads and to prevent fraud. Ads are personalised only if you agree. On iPhone and iPad, the app can use the advertising identifier only if you allow tracking when Apple's App Tracking Transparency prompt asks. For more information, see How Google uses information from sites or apps that use its services.

Push notifications and reminders

Reminders to read are scheduled on your device and send us nothing. The hourly Big Book quote, replies to your support messages and occasional announcements are sent to your device through Google Firebase Cloud Messaging. To deliver them, Firebase gives the app installation a push token, and if you allow notifications the app sends that token to our server, together with your time zone and the hours you chose for the quote. Our server uses them only to send those notifications at the hours you asked for; everybody receives the same quote. If our server is not sending quotes, the app schedules them on your device instead. You can change the hours or switch the quote off in Settings, and turn all notifications off in your device settings.

Information our servers receive automatically

Whenever the app or the website connects to our servers (for example to sign in, sync, check for updated content or play audio), our servers receive your IP address and basic technical details of the request. We use these to deliver the service, to limit repeated attempts (for example too many sign-in codes for one email address or from one IP address) and to keep the service secure. Our application logs record events such as a sign-in or an error, together with your internal account ID and a request reference. Email addresses, codes, sign-in tokens and note text are removed from these logs. The recordings are delivered from our own servers (scripts.12stepapp.com and assets.ibyteweb.com), which receive your IP address and the name of the recording in the same way.

The app does not collect precise information about the location of your device.

Website analytics and cookies

On the AA Big Book website, the Google tag loads with analytics storage denied by default. If you choose “Accept analytics” in our cookie notice, Google Analytics 4 may set first-party cookies (including cookies beginning with _ga) and process information such as the pages you visit, browser and device details, approximate location derived from your IP address, and interactions with the website. If you decline, analytics storage remains denied and no Google Analytics cookies are set. Google Consent Mode may send limited, cookieless signals while consent is denied. We use permitted information in aggregate to understand website use and improve the service. Our Google Analytics measurement ID is G-S6743VY598.

Analytics is disabled by default until you consent. You may decline without losing access to the website and can change or withdraw your choice at any time through “Cookie settings” in the footer. Withdrawing consent disables further analytics collection on this website and removes its Google Analytics cookies where the browser permits. For more information about how Google processes information, see Google's Privacy Policy.

Our own server does not set any cookies on the website. Your analytics choice is saved in your browser's local storage, not in a cookie. The website's typefaces and pictures are served from our own server. The website links to the App Store, Google Play and our sister app Sober Today, which have their own privacy policies.

Our legal bases

UK GDPR requires a legal basis for each use of personal information. We rely on the following:

• Contract: to provide what you ask for, which includes your account, sign-in, sync, data export, replies to support requests and the subscriptions you buy. For the backup of what you write we also ask for your explicit consent (see below).
• Consent: for usage statistics in the app, analytics cookies on the website, and personalised ads (and Apple's tracking permission). You can withdraw consent at any time in the app, through “Cookie settings” on the website or in your device settings. Withdrawing consent does not affect what happened before.
• Explicit consent (UK GDPR Article 9(2)(a)): for keeping your notes, highlights and bookmarks on our server, because they may reveal information about your health. The app asks before it backs anything up, and you can withdraw this consent by switching sync off in Settings → Account.
• Legitimate interests: to keep the app and our servers secure and working (logs, limits on repeated attempts, crash reports); to confirm purchases with Apple and Google and keep the records we need to answer questions about them; to keep subscriptions from older versions of the app working; to show non-personalised ads that keep the free version free; and to bring your data from older versions of the app into the new one. You can object to these uses (see “Your rights and choices”).
• Legal obligation: to keep records the law requires, such as accounting records, and to respond to lawful requests.

Who we share information with

We share personal information only with the service providers that help us run the app and website, and only for the purposes in this policy:

• Fasthosts Internet Limited, our hosting provider, runs the server and database that hold your account and synced data, in the United Kingdom.
• Amazon Web Services: Amazon Simple Email Service sends sign-in emails and support messages by email, from the United States, and backups of our database are stored with Amazon Web Services.
• Google provides Google sign-in; Google Play purchases and subscription checks; Firebase Crashlytics, Firebase Analytics (only if you opt in) and Firebase Cloud Messaging; AdMob and its consent form (free version only); and Google Analytics on the website.
• Our email provider hosts our support mailbox.
• Apple provides Sign in with Apple, App Store purchases and subscription checks, and the tracking permission prompt.
• RevenueCat, during the transition described above.

Apple and Google also handle some of this information as independent companies under their own privacy policies, for example your Apple Account, your Google Account and your store purchases.

We may also disclose information:

• as required by law, such as to comply with a court order or similar legal process;
• when we believe in good faith that disclosure is necessary to protect our rights, protect your safety or the safety of others, investigate fraud, or respond to a government request;
• if Developer is involved in a merger, acquisition, or sale of all or a portion of its assets. In that case, we will notify you by email and/or a prominent notice on our website of any change in ownership or uses of this information, and of any choices you may have regarding this information.

We do not sell your personal information, and we do not share it with other companies for their own marketing.

International transfers

Your account and the notes, highlights and bookmarks you back up are stored in the United Kingdom. Some of our service providers, including Google, Apple, Amazon Web Services and RevenueCat, process information in the United States or other countries outside the UK. When information is transferred outside the UK, we rely on the safeguards UK law allows: UK adequacy regulations where they apply (such as the UK Extension to the EU–US Data Privacy Framework), and otherwise the UK International Data Transfer Addendum to the European Commission's standard contractual clauses, included in the providers' terms.

How long we keep information

• Your account, notes, highlights, bookmarks and reading progress are kept until you delete them or delete your account. The date you agreed to backup, and the date you took that back if you did, are kept with your account.
• One-time sign-in links and codes expire after 10 minutes, and the record is deleted within about two days after that.
• Sign-ins on a device expire after 60 days unless the app renews them, and expired ones are deleted within about two days. Signing out deletes a sign-in straight away.
• Subscription records are kept while your account exists. A record of a subscription that is not linked to an account (bought without one, or left running after its account was deleted) is deleted seven years after that subscription ended. The record of each payment (the store's order number, the amount, the country and the date) is kept for seven years for our accounting and then deleted; if you delete your account it is kept for that time without any link to you.
• Notifications from Apple and Google about subscriptions are kept for one year, or until you delete your account if that is sooner.
• Subscription events received from RevenueCat are kept for one year, or until you delete your account if that is sooner.
• Records of orders made in older versions of the app (Google Play orders from 2022 to 2024) are kept for seven years from the order for our accounting records, and then deleted. If you delete your account, they are kept for that time without any link to you.
• Our application logs are deleted after 14 days. Web server access logs are kept for no longer than 30 days.
• Background tasks that failed, which can contain an email address, are deleted after 30 days.
• Backups of our database are stored with Amazon Web Services. Deleted information disappears from them as older backups are replaced.
• Support conversations are deleted two years after the last message in them, or when you delete your account if that is sooner. The copies in our support mailbox are deleted after two years.
• The record of an app installation (see “The app on your device, without an account”) is kept while the app is in use. It is deleted once the installation has not contacted our server for 13 months and is no longer receiving the hourly quote, for example because the app was removed. If the app is opened again after that, it registers as a new installation.
• Records of what our staff did in our admin system (for example a complimentary subscription given to an account), which hold an account's internal number and no name or email address, are kept for two years.
• The record of each sign-in (date, method and whether it was on iOS or Android) is kept for 25 months, or until you delete your account if that is sooner.
• Crash reports are kept by Google for 90 days. Usage statistics and website analytics that are tied to an identifier are kept by Google for up to 14 months; totals that identify nobody may be kept for longer.

Your rights and choices

In the app you can:

• change your nickname and email address (we send a code to the new address to confirm it) in Settings → Account;
• see where you are signed in, and sign out of one or all devices, in Settings → Account;
• turn sync off in Settings → Account, which also takes back your consent to backup;
• download a copy of your data as a file in Settings → Account → Export my data. The file includes your account details, sign-in methods and sign-in history, notes, highlights, bookmarks, reading progress, subscription records, signed-in devices and their notification settings, your support conversations and orders from older versions;
• delete your account in Settings → Account → Delete account (see below);
• switch usage statistics on or off, and change your ad choices, in Settings → Privacy and security.

Under UK data protection law you also have the right to: ask for a copy of your personal information; have it corrected; have it deleted; restrict how we use it; object to how we use it where we rely on legitimate interests; receive it in a portable format; and withdraw consent at any time. We do not make decisions about you that are based solely on automated processing. To use any of these rights, email us at info@aabigbook.app. We may need to confirm your identity first, and we will reply within one month.

If you are unhappy with how we have handled your information, you can complain to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), the UK data protection regulator, at ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint. We would appreciate the chance to address your concerns first.

Deleting your account

You can delete your account at any time in Settings → Account → Delete account, by typing DELETE to confirm. If you cannot use the app, email us at info@aabigbook.app from the address on your account and we will delete it for you; we act only on a request that comes from that address. The steps are also at aabigbook.app/delete-account.

When you delete your account, we immediately and permanently delete:

• your account and email address;
• your Apple and Google sign-in links and all your signed-in devices;
• your notes, highlights, bookmarks and reading progress;
• your subscription records, your sign-in history and any pending sign-in links and codes;
• your support conversations;
• the Apple, Google and RevenueCat subscription notifications we hold about your account.

The app also removes your account's data from the device you delete it on. We keep only the following, none of it with your name, email address or anything else that says who you are: the record of each payment, and records of orders made in older versions of the app, for seven years, for our accounting; the record of the app installation on your device, which stays registered without an account (see “The app on your device, without an account”); any record of what our staff did on the account, for two years; and, if your account came from an older version, its old account number on its own, so that the account is not copied back from the older system. Copies in backups and logs disappear as those are replaced (see “How long we keep information”).

Deleting your account does not cancel a subscription. Subscriptions are managed by Apple or Google, so please cancel yours in your App Store or Google Play account settings. While a subscription is still running, Apple or Google keep notifying our server about it, and we then hold a record of that subscription with nothing that links it to you. Deleting your account also does not delete information that Apple, Google or RevenueCat hold under their own policies. If your account came from an older version of the app, a copy of it also remains in our older system while older versions are still in use; it is deleted when that system is retired.

Older versions of the app

Versions of the app before version 4 (version 1.x on iPhone and iPad, and version 3.x on Android) work differently. They keep accounts, notes, highlights and bookmarks in our older system. They also send Firebase Analytics data without asking first, show AdMob ads without the consent form described above, and use RevenueCat for subscriptions. Some protections in this policy, such as encrypting notes on our server and sign-ins that expire, apply only from version 4 onwards. We recommend updating to the latest version.

While older versions are still in use, we regularly copy accounts, notes, highlights, bookmarks and orders from the older system into the new one, so that your data is there when you update. When you first open version 4, it also moves the notes, highlights, bookmarks and settings (including any sobriety date and app lock PIN) that the older version kept on your device into the new app. This happens on your device, and the data is uploaded only if you sign in. Once you sign in on version 4, older versions can no longer read or change your account's data. We plan to retire the older system once few people still use older versions. When it is retired, its database will be deleted.

Children

The Application is for adults. You must be 18 or older to use it, and we do not knowingly collect information from anyone under 18. If you believe that somebody under 18 has given us information, please contact us at info@aabigbook.app and we will delete it.

Security

We are concerned about safeguarding the confidentiality of your information. We use physical, electronic and procedural safeguards, including:

• encryption in transit (HTTPS) for everything the app and website send to our servers;
• encryption of notes and bookmark labels in our database;
• sign-in links and codes stored only in hashed form and valid once, a limited number of attempts at a code, and a link that does nothing until you press the button on its page;
• sign-ins that expire, with the sign-in token kept in your device's secure storage (Keychain or Keystore);
• checking sign-ins and purchases directly with Apple and Google;
• logs that leave out email addresses, codes and note text;
• an optional app lock with a PIN or your device's biometrics.

We limit access to this information to people who need it to operate, develop or improve the app. Please be aware that, although we endeavour to provide reasonable security for information we process and maintain, no security system can prevent all potential security breaches.

Changes

This privacy policy may be updated from time to time. We will post the new version on this page and change the “Last modified” date at the top. If we make significant changes, we will also let you know in the app or by email where we can.

Contact us

If you have any questions regarding privacy while using the Application, or have questions about our practices, please contact us via email at info@aabigbook.app.

You can also write to us: iByte Apps Limited, Barton Seagrave, Northamptonshire, NN15, England.