Novel Route
Privacy policy
This policy explains what information the Novel Route app (“the app”) uses, where it goes, and the choices you have. Novel Route is developed by Nicholas Nelson, an individual developer in Australia (“we”, “us”).
The short version
- There are no accounts, ads or analytics, and we don't sell your data.
- Your location and visit history stay on your phone.
- To show libraries and the map, the app sends the approximate area you're looking at to the library data service and the map provider. It doesn't send your exact position.
- If the app crashes, a crash report (with no location and no IP address) is sent to our error-tracking service so we can fix it.
Location
With your permission, the app uses your device's precise location while it's open to:
- show where you are on the map;
- load the street libraries around you; and
- offer to log a visit when you're within about 100 metres of a library.
Your precise location is processed on your device and isn't sent to us or stored by us. The app doesn't use your location in the background. You can withdraw location permission at any time in your phone's settings; the map still works without it.
Visit history
The visits you log (which library, when, and whether you logged it from a nearby prompt) are stored only in the app's storage on your device. We can't see them. You can delete individual visits or a library's whole history in the app, and uninstalling the app or clearing its storage deletes all of it.
Information sent to other services
The app needs a few online services to work. These receive your device's IP address as part of any internet request.
| Service | What it receives | Why |
|---|---|---|
| The Novel Route server, run by us on Cloudflare | The map areas being loaded (grid squares about 5 km across, not your exact position) | To list the street libraries in those areas. Each area is refreshed at most once a day. Our server gets the library listings from Street Library Australia; your phone doesn't contact them. |
| Mapbox | Requests for the map tiles you view | To draw the map. Mapbox usage telemetry is turned off in the app. |
| Sentry (crash reporting, data stored in the EU) | Only when something goes wrong: the error and where it happened in our code, app version, device model and operating system version. Location data is removed on your phone before sending, and Sentry is set not to store IP addresses. | To find and fix bugs. Crash reports are kept for up to 90 days. |
| Your maps app (for example Google Maps) | The library's location, only when you tap “Navigate to library” | To give you directions. That app's own privacy policy applies. |
Our server doesn't store anything about you: no IP addresses, and no record of which areas anyone looked at. Cloudflare keeps short-lived request logs (including IP addresses) for running and protecting the service; we don't use them for anything else, and they're deleted within 7 days.
What we don't do
- We don't require or offer accounts.
- We don't include advertising or analytics. Crash reports are the only diagnostics we collect.
- We don't sell, rent or trade personal information.
- We don't collect information in the background.
Children
The app isn't directed at children under 13 and doesn't knowingly collect personal information from them.
Changes to this policy
If we change how the app handles information, we'll update this page and the effective date above. Significant changes will also be noted in the app's release notes.
Contact
Questions or requests about privacy: hello@novelroute.app.