Privacy Policy

Last updated: 2 October 2026

SpeakBook (“SpeakBook: Read Books Aloud” on the App Store) is a reading app for iPhone, iPad and Mac made by Ashton Miller (“we”, “us”). This policy explains what happens to your information when you use it.

What stays on your device

• Your books and articles, your notes, quotes, bookmarks and reading position, your voice notes and your reading statistics are stored only on your devices, in the app and in the SpeakBook folder you can see in the Files app (iPhone and iPad) or in your Documents folder (Mac).
• Voice notes to text. When you hold the microphone button, the app records a short clip and turns it into text using Apple’s speech recognition. It runs on your device whenever your device supports that. On devices that don’t, Apple may process the audio under Apple’s privacy policy. We never receive your recordings.
• Reading aloud. SpeakBook reads using Apple’s built-in voices or its “Natural” voice, which runs entirely on your device. The Mac app’s voices also run on your Mac. Your book text is not sent anywhere to be read aloud.
• Your own voice (optional). If you choose to record a short sample of your voice so your Mac can make a reading voice from it, the sample is kept on your devices and only copied to your own Mac through device sync (below). We never receive it.
• Snap and Scan Pages. Photos you take or pick to read aloud, and scanned pages, are processed on your device with Apple’s text recognition. They aren’t uploaded, and nothing is saved to your photo library.

Syncing between your devices

If you connect your own devices (for example your iPhone and your Mac) in Your Devices, they copy your books, notes, bookmarks and reading position directly to each other, encrypted, over your local Wi‑Fi or over an address you type in yourself (for example on your own private network). Devices only sync after you confirm the same 6-digit code on both screens. Nothing goes through our servers or any cloud service, and we can’t see it.

Information that leaves your device

1. Feedback you choose to send. When you tap the feedback button and press Send, we receive:

   • your message, and any pictures you attach;
   • a screenshot of the screen you were on (it may show text from your book or notes; you can see it and remove it before sending);
   • basic technical details: device model, system and app version, language and time zone, screen size, network type (Wi‑Fi or cellular), memory and free storage, and similar diagnostics;
   • a random ID created by the app, so we can tell that two messages came from the same person. It isn’t linked to your name, email or Apple ID.

   This is sent through a service we run on Cloudflare (Cloudflare Workers, including Cloudflare’s AI features, which may summarise suggestions and match them with existing ideas). It’s stored as an issue in our GitHub repository. Votes you cast on public ideas, and the anonymous random ID that groups your votes and reports, are sent the same way. Feature ideas may be summarised and shown, without your name or details, in the app’s list of planned ideas that other users can see and vote on. We use feedback only to answer you and improve the app. We don’t sell it, share it with advertisers or use it for tracking.

   A once-a-day check-in. Once a day the app tells our feedback service which app and system version it’s running and how the feedback button is set up, so we know which versions are still in use. It carries no name, account or identifier.

   Tips. If you leave a tip, Apple handles the payment. We receive Apple’s signed receipt for the tip so it can be counted — never your card or Apple ID details.

   Ask AI. SpeakBook never sends your books to an AI service by itself. The first time you use Ask AI, it asks your permission; after that it copies the passage you chose and opens the AI app you picked, under that app’s own privacy policy.

2. Voice downloads. The first time you choose the Natural voice, the app downloads the voice files (about 340 MB) from a public file host (GitHub). The Mac app similarly downloads its voice model files from public model hosts the first time you use them. Like any download, the host sees your device’s internet address. No other information is sent.

3. Tips. If you choose to leave a tip in the app, the purchase is handled entirely by Apple. We don’t receive your name, payment details or Apple ID. Tips unlock nothing; every feature is free.

4. Things you share yourself.

   • Ask AI: the ✨ button copies the passage you’re reading and opens the AI app or website you pick (for example ChatGPT, Claude or Gemini). Anything you then send there is covered by that service’s own privacy policy. SpeakBook itself doesn’t send it.
   • Sharing a web page to the app: the app downloads that page to save its text for you.

What we don’t do

• No accounts, no sign-in, no email collection.
• No advertising, no analytics SDKs, no tracking across apps or websites, no data brokers.
• We don’t sell or rent any information.

This website

This website is hosted on GitHub Pages. It uses no cookies, analytics or trackers. GitHub may log basic request details (such as your internet address) to run the service, under GitHub’s privacy statement.

Children

SpeakBook is suitable for all ages and doesn’t knowingly collect personal information from children. The only information we receive is feedback someone chooses to send.

Keeping and deleting your information

• Everything on your devices is deleted when you delete the app (and its SpeakBook folder).
• Feedback you sent is kept as long as it’s useful for improving the app. To have your feedback deleted, email us at the address below with roughly when you sent it and what it said, and we’ll delete it.

Your rights

Depending on where you live (for example under the GDPR or US state laws), you may have the right to ask what information we hold about you, and to have it corrected or deleted. Email us and we’ll help. We hold only feedback you’ve sent.

Changes

If this policy changes, we’ll update this page and the date at the top.

Contact

Ashton Miller · hello@ashcohq.com