Privacy Policy

Last updated: 27 September 2026

BooksAroundUs (booksaroundus.com) is a free app that lets residents of the same housing society list, lend and borrow books from each other. This policy explains what information we collect, why, who can see it, and the choices you have. Questions: goodbooksaround@gmail.com.

Information we collect

• Account details: your name, email address, phone number, flat number, and your society's name, city, state and PIN code. If you sign in with Google, we receive your name and email from Google.
• Books you list: title, author, genre, age group, description, ISBN and optional price.
• Borrowing activity: requests, approvals, pickup, due and return dates, ratings you give, waitlists you join, and messages exchanged in the in-app chat for a borrow.
• Preferences: vacation dates, whether you agreed to share your flat number or WhatsApp number with a borrowing partner, and whether you opted in to WhatsApp notifications (with the date you opted in).
• Notification and device information: a push-notification token if you enable phone notifications, and whether you use the installed app.
• Referral: if you joined through a neighbour's invite link, who invited you.
• Usage analytics: we use Google Analytics to understand how the site is used (pages visited, device and browser type, approximate location).

How we use it

• To run the service: show books available in your society, handle borrow requests and returns, and let you chat with your borrowing partner.
• To notify you about your own borrowing activity by in-app alerts, email, phone push notifications and, if you opt in, WhatsApp.
• To keep the community fair and safe, for example the rule that you list books before borrowing.
• To understand usage and improve the app.

We do not sell your information and we do not send advertising or promotional messages on WhatsApp.

WhatsApp notifications

WhatsApp notifications are off unless you tick “Send me book updates on WhatsApp” in your profile. If you do, we send transactional messages about your own activity to the phone number in your profile: a request for one of your books, an approval or decline of your request, a reminder that a borrowed book is due, and a confirmation that a book was returned. These are sent through the WhatsApp Business Platform provided by Meta. To stop them, untick the option in your profile at any time.

What other members can see

• Members of your society can see the books you list, but not your contact details.
• Your borrowing partner sees your name. They see your flat number only if you choose “Share Flat No.”, and can contact you on WhatsApp only if you both choose to enable it for that borrow.
• Messages in a borrow's chat are visible to you and your borrowing partner.

Service providers

We use trusted providers to run the app. They process data only to provide their service to us:

• Google (Firebase and Google Cloud): sign-in, database, server functions, push notifications and analytics. Data may be stored on servers outside India.
• Meta (WhatsApp Business Platform): delivery of WhatsApp notifications you opted in to.
• Email delivery service: sending notification emails.
• Google Books and Open Library: when you scan or search for a book, the ISBN or title you enter is sent to them to fill in book details. No personal information is sent.

How long we keep information

We keep your information while your account is active. Borrowing records are kept so that both members can see their history. If you ask us to delete your account, we delete or anonymise your personal information within 30 days, except where we must keep it by law.

Your choices and rights

• View and update your details any time in My Profile.
• Turn WhatsApp notifications and phone push notifications on or off.
• Remove books you have listed from My Books.
• Ask for a copy of your information, a correction, or deletion of your account by emailing goodbooksaround@gmail.com. We will respond within 30 days, in line with India's Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023.

Security

Data is sent over encrypted connections (HTTPS) and stored in Google's cloud infrastructure with access limited by security rules. No online service can be completely secure, so please do not put sensitive information in book descriptions or chat messages.

Children

BooksAroundUs is intended for adults, who may borrow children's books for their families. Children under 18 should not create an account.

Changes to this policy

If we change this policy, we will update the date at the top of this page. Significant changes will also be announced in the app.

Contact

Email goodbooksaround@gmail.com for any question about this policy or your information.