NovelAura

Legal

Privacy Policy

This Privacy Policy describes how NovelAura ("the App", "we", "us", or "our") handles information when you use our mobile application. NovelAura is operated by the independent developer listed in Section 14 (Contact). By downloading, installing, or using the App, you agree to the practices described in this Policy.

1. Summary (plain-English)

• No account required. NovelAura does not ask for your name, email, phone number, or any login credentials.
• No advertising, no in-app purchases, no analytics, no tracking. The App contains no ad networks, no purchases, no analytics SDKs, no social-media trackers, and no cross-app identifiers.
• Your library is never sent to us. Your reading history, saved novels, downloaded chapters, and preferences are stored in the App's private storage on your device. The only way they leave it is through your own device backup (Section 3.1) or a backup file you choose to export.
• We receive only what you choose to send. If you use the in-app "Send Feedback" or "Report Issue" feature, the text you type, any optional contact info, and the App version and platform are transmitted to a private developer channel.
• Anonymous crash diagnostics. When the App crashes or encounters an unexpected error, a short technical report (stack trace, App version, platform) is automatically sent to the developer so we can fix bugs. No personal information or reading activity is included.
• Third-party novel sources are public websites. The App fetches novel pages from independent websites (Section 6). Those sites operate their own privacy practices, which we do not control.

2. Information We Do NOT Collect

The App does not collect, store, or transmit:

• Your real name, email address, phone number, postal address, or government identifier — unless you voluntarily include it in a feedback message (see Section 4).
• Your precise or approximate geolocation.
• Device contacts, call logs, SMS, microphone input, camera images, photos, or files outside the App's own sandboxed storage.
• Biometric data, health data, or financial/payment information.
• Advertising identifiers (Android Advertising ID / IDFA) or persistent device identifiers used for cross-app tracking.
• Social-media graph data or login tokens.
• Data about your browsing outside the App.
• Information from children under the age of digital consent in your jurisdiction (see Section 10).

3. Information Stored Locally on Your Device

The following information is created and stored on your device, in the App's private storage area. It is not accessible to us, and the App itself never transmits it anywhere (your operating system's own backup may copy it — see 3.1):

You can delete this data at any time by:

• Using Settings → Data → Clear Search History or Clear Cache.
• Using Library to remove individual novels or downloaded chapters.
• Clearing the App's storage in your device's system settings (Settings → Apps → NovelAura → Storage → Clear storage).
• Uninstalling the App, which removes all of the above from the device.

3.1 Device backups (Google and Apple)

Your phone's own backup service may copy the App's data, as it does for most apps. This is a feature of the operating system, under your control, and the copy goes to your account — never to us:

• Android: if Google backup is turned on (Settings → Google → Backup), Android Auto Backup may copy your library, reading progress, search history and settings to your own Google Drive backup, so they can be restored when you set up a new phone. Downloaded chapters and imported EPUB files are excluded from this cloud backup to keep it small. They can still be copied when you move to a new phone directly with a cable or Wi-Fi transfer.
• iOS: if iCloud Backup or a computer backup is turned on, iOS may include the App's data in that backup.

Turning off your device's backup stops this. We cannot see or access these backups.

Separately, Settings → Data → Back up library creates a backup file only when you ask, and saves or shares it wherever you choose.

4. Information You Voluntarily Send

NovelAura contains two optional features that transmit information off your device only when you tap "Submit":

4.1 "Send Feedback" (Settings → Send Feedback)

When you submit the feedback form, the App transmits:

• The free-text message you typed.
• The feedback category you selected (bug / feature request / general / review).
• The optional contact field you typed (may be an email, username, or anything you choose — leave blank to remain anonymous).
• The timestamp of submission.

4.2 "Report Issue" (chapter reader → flag icon)

When you report a broken chapter or missing content, the App transmits:

• The novel title, novel ID, chapter title, chapter ID, and source name of the item you reported.
• The category you selected (broken chapter / missing content / typo / bug / other).
• The description you typed.
• The timestamp.

Both submission types also include:

• The App version, your device platform (Android / iOS), and the App's runtime version.
• A random installation identifier — a value generated on your device the first time the App runs. It is not your device ID, advertising ID, or account, is not shared with anyone, and is used only so a follow-up about one report can be matched to the report it refers to. It is deleted when you uninstall the App (unless your device backup restores it, see 3.1). Automatic crash diagnostics (Section 5) do not include it.

These submissions are sent over HTTPS to a private Discord channel operated by the developer, relayed through a forwarding endpoint the developer also operates so that no messaging credentials are stored inside the App. Discord Inc. receives and stores the message as a routine part of its platform. Discord's privacy practices are described at discord.com/privacy. We process these submissions solely to improve the App and respond to issues.

Nothing from this section is sent unless you tap the submit button.

5. Automatic Crash Diagnostics

When the App encounters an unhandled error, a short technical report is automatically sent over HTTPS to a private Discord channel. Each report contains:

• A short description of the code path where the error occurred (e.g. "reader.loadChapter").
• The error message and up to 800 characters of the stack trace.
• The App version.
• The device platform (Android / iOS).
• The App's runtime version.

These reports are rate-limited (at most 10 per minute) and de-duplicated (identical errors within 30 seconds are suppressed) to prevent abuse.

Crash reports do not include your library, your reading activity, your search history, your location, device identifiers, your IP address beyond what HTTPS routing requires, or any information you have typed into the App.

You cannot currently opt out of crash diagnostics separately from uninstalling the App. We are evaluating adding an opt-out toggle in a future release.

6. Third-Party Novel Sources

NovelAura is a reader. It fetches publicly available novel pages from a curated list of independent web novel websites that make their content freely accessible to any browser.

When you browse, search, or read a novel, the App makes direct HTTPS requests to the relevant website, just as a standard web browser would. Those sites may log your IP address, request headers, and the pages you access in accordance with their own privacy policies. We do not control these sites and have no access to their server logs. The specific list of supported sources may change between App releases as sites change, add paywalls, or become unavailable.

6.1 Checking for new chapters

The App also contacts these websites without you opening a book, to see whether a novel you have finished has published new chapters. This happens at most once per app launch, only for novels you have saved to your library and read to the end, and never for novels the source marks as completed. Each novel is re-checked at most once every six hours, and no more than eight are checked in a single pass.

Because these are ordinary page requests, the site involved may log them as above. This means a source can observe that someone at your IP address has an interest in that particular novel, at app launch rather than only while you are reading. Nothing identifies you to the site beyond what any browser request would reveal, and no information about the rest of your library is sent.

NovelAura does not share your identity, library, search history, or preferences with these sites. The App does not send tracking parameters, does not create an account on these sites, and does not authenticate to them.

See our Terms of Use for information about third-party content and copyright (Section 11 of that document).

7. Cover Images

Novel cover images shown in search results and in your library are fetched directly from the third-party source that hosts the novel listing. The App caches thumbnails locally to reduce bandwidth and improve performance. You can clear this cache at any time from Settings → Data → Clear Cache.

8. Text-to-Speech (Audio Playback)

The audiobook feature uses your device's built-in text-to-speech engine (Android TextToSpeech, iOS AVSpeechSynthesizer). Chapter text is processed entirely on your device and is not sent to any external server, including ours, for synthesis. The list of available voices depends on which languages and voice packs your device's operating system provides.

9. Legal Bases for Processing (EU / UK / EEA)

If you are located in the European Union, United Kingdom, or European Economic Area, we rely on the following legal bases under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and UK GDPR:

• Legitimate interests (Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR): to provide and secure the App, to diagnose and fix crashes, and to triage user-submitted bug reports. Our legitimate interest does not override your rights when you have chosen not to submit feedback.
• Consent (Art. 6(1)(a) GDPR): when you choose to submit the feedback form or report-issue form, you are consenting to the transmission of that specific message.
• Contract necessity does not apply — there is no contract; the App is provided free of charge without registration.

You have the right to:

• Access the personal information we hold about you (typically none, unless you have submitted feedback with identifying contact info).
• Request correction or deletion of a feedback message you previously sent.
• Object to processing.
• Lodge a complaint with your local supervisory authority.

To exercise these rights, contact us using the details in Section 14. Because we do not operate user accounts, we will ask you to reference the approximate date and content of the feedback message so we can locate it.

10. Legal Bases and Rights (California — CCPA / CPRA)

If you are a California resident, you have the following rights under the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) and California Privacy Rights Act (CPRA):

• Right to know what personal information we have collected about you. In practice, this is typically nothing unless you voluntarily submitted feedback containing identifying info.
• Right to delete personal information we have collected.
• Right to correct inaccurate personal information.
• Right to opt out of sale or sharing. NovelAura does not sell or share personal information for cross-context behavioral advertising. We do not engage in "sharing" as defined by CPRA.
• Right of non-discrimination for exercising these rights.

To submit a request, use the contact details in Section 14.

11. Children's Privacy

NovelAura is rated for teens and is not directed to children under 13 (or the equivalent minimum age of digital consent in your jurisdiction). We do not knowingly collect personal information from children. If you believe a child has sent feedback that contains personal information, please contact us and we will delete the message.

Some third-party novel sources may host mature content. The App includes a "Hide Adult Content" toggle in Settings that hides novels marked adult, smut, ecchi, erotica, R18 and similar. It relies on how each website labels its novels, so it cannot catch everything. Parents and guardians are encouraged to enable this filter for minors.

12. Security

• On-device data is protected by the operating system's standard app-sandbox and, where available, file-level encryption provided by Android and iOS.
• All network requests from the App use HTTPS (TLS) where the remote endpoint supports it.
• Feedback and crash reports are transmitted over HTTPS to Discord and are accessible only to authorized maintainers of the developer channel.

No transmission or storage system is perfectly secure. While we take reasonable measures to protect information, we cannot guarantee absolute security.

13. International Data Transfers

Feedback messages and crash reports are transmitted via Discord webhooks to servers operated by Discord Inc. (United States). If you are located outside the United States, your data may be transferred to and processed in a country with different data-protection laws than your own. By voluntarily submitting a feedback message, you consent to this transfer.

14. Contact

For privacy questions, data-subject requests, or to withdraw consent for a previously submitted feedback message:

Email: halvenlabs@gmail.com
In-app: Settings → Send Feedback → category "General"

When contacting us about a past feedback submission, include the approximate date and a short excerpt of the message so we can locate it.

15. Data Retention

• Local on-device data is retained until you delete it or uninstall the App. Copies in your own device backups (Section 3.1) are kept by Google or Apple under your backup settings.
• Feedback messages are retained in the developer's Discord channel for up to 24 months, after which they may be deleted as part of routine channel housekeeping. You may request earlier deletion at any time.
• Crash reports are retained in the developer's Discord channel for up to 6 months and then rolled off.

16. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. When we do, we will:

• Update the "Last updated" date at the top of this document.
• Post the new version at the same public URL referenced in the Play Store listing.
• For material changes (for example, introducing analytics or a new third-party processor), include a notice in the "What's New" changelog of the next App update.

Your continued use of the App after the updated Policy takes effect constitutes acceptance of the changes.

17. Governing Law

This Policy and any dispute relating to it are governed by the laws of the United States and the State of California, without regard to conflict-of-law principles. This does not limit any mandatory consumer-protection rights you have under the laws of your country of residence.