Bookfolk is operated by Bookfolk Ltd, a company registered in England and Wales (company number [00000000]) with its registered office at [address], London ("Bookfolk", "we", "us"). You can contact us at support@bookfolk.app, or at legal@bookfolk.app for anything about these Terms or your data.
2. Accepting these terms
By creating an account or using the Bookfolk apps and website (the "Service") you agree to these Terms, our Privacy Policy and, where they apply, the Membership & Subscription Terms and the Organiser Service Agreement. If you do not agree, do not use the Service.
3. Eligibility and accounts
You must be at least 18 years old. You are responsible for keeping your login details secure and for activity on your account. Tell us promptly at support@bookfolk.app if you think your account has been accessed without permission. One person, one account.
4. Clubs, organisers and members
Organisers create and run clubs. Members join clubs with the organiser’s approval. Organisers are independent users, not our employees or agents. We provide tools, payment processing and fulfilment; we do not supervise gatherings, and you attend any in-person event at your own discretion. Please meet in public or well-known venues when meeting people for the first time.
5. Your content
You keep ownership of what you post: notes in the Margins, highlights, comments, quote cards, photos, club charters and marks ("User Content"). You grant us a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free licence to host, store, display, reproduce and adapt User Content only to operate, improve and promote the Service (for example, showing a quote card you chose to share to the Commons). This licence ends when you delete the content, except where it has been shared with others and they have kept a copy, or where we must retain it by law.
Short quotations from books are shared under fair dealing for criticism and review. Do not post long extracts, whole chapters or scanned pages.
6. Acceptable use
You must not: harass, threaten or discriminate against anyone; post spoilers outside sealed rooms deliberately; share others’ personal information without consent; post unlawful, infringing, sexually explicit or hateful content; impersonate others; scrape, reverse engineer or overload the Service; use it to sell or advertise without our permission; or upload images you do not have rights to (including uploaded club marks). We may remove content or suspend accounts that break these rules.
7. AI features
Some features use AI to suggest books, draft charters, generate club marks or create discussion cards. Suggestions may be imperfect; review them before you rely on them. Do not enter sensitive personal information into AI prompts. Generated marks are licensed to your club for use with Bookfolk and its merchandise; we do not guarantee they are free from similarity to existing marks.
8. Purchases
Paid membership and boxes are governed by the Membership & Subscription Terms. Bookfolk is the merchant of record for all payments made through the Service.
9. Our intellectual property
The Service, its design, software, the Bookfolk name and logo are owned by us or our licensors. Book covers and metadata are provided by third parties and remain their property.
10. Availability and changes
We aim to keep the Service available but cannot promise it will be uninterrupted. We may change or withdraw features. If we make a material change to these Terms we will tell you at least 30 days before it takes effect.
11. Liability
Nothing in these Terms limits liability for death or personal injury caused by negligence, fraud, or anything that cannot be limited by law, including your statutory rights as a consumer. Otherwise, we are not liable for losses that were not foreseeable, for business losses, or for the conduct of other users at gatherings. Our total liability to you in any 12-month period is limited to the greater of £100 or the amount you paid us in that period.
12. Ending your account
You can delete your account at any time in You › Settings › Delete account. We may suspend or close accounts for serious or repeated breaches, with notice where reasonable.
13. Complaints and law
Please contact support@bookfolk.app first; we aim to resolve complaints within 14 days. These Terms are governed by the laws of England and Wales. If you live in Scotland or Northern Ireland you may also bring proceedings in your local courts.
Privacy Policy
Last updated 24 October 2026 · Version 1.0
This policy explains how Bookfolk Ltd ("we") collects and uses personal data when you use Bookfolk. We are the controller of your data under the UK GDPR, the EU GDPR (where it applies) and the Data Protection Act 2018. Our Data Protection contact is legal@bookfolk.app. Our EU representative is [name, address].
1. What we collect
Account: name, email, password hash or sign-in provider ID (Google, Apple), profile photo.
Reader Card: books you love, what you want from a club, availability, travel distance, format preference, neighbourhood.
Club activity: clubs joined, reading position, check-ins, notes, highlights, comments, votes, quote cards, messages to organisers.
Orders and delivery: shipping address, phone number for the courier, order history. Card details are collected and stored by Stripe, not by us.
Device and usage: app version, device type, push token, IP address, crash logs, and (with consent) analytics events.
Approximate location: the neighbourhood you enter; precise location only if you allow it to find nearby clubs.
2. Why we use it, and our lawful bases
To run the Service and your membership (contract): accounts, clubs, matching, reading features, payments, ordering and delivering boxes.
To keep the community safe (legitimate interests): moderation, fraud prevention, security.
To improve Bookfolk (consent for analytics cookies and SDKs; legitimate interests for aggregated service metrics).
To send messages: service emails and push notifications (contract); newsletters and marketing (consent, withdraw any time).
To meet legal obligations (legal obligation): tax, accounting, responding to lawful requests.
3. What other members see
When you ask to join a club, the organiser sees your Reader Card and your note. Club members see your name, photo, approximate reading position (unless you tuck yourself away), and what you post in that club. Quote cards shared to the Commons show your club’s name, not yours. Organisers see whether your payment succeeded, never the amount or card details.
4. Who we share it with
We use processors under contract: Stripe (payments), Ingram Content Group and other book distributors (book orders), product suppliers and fulfilment partners (box items, using only name and delivery address), couriers, Resend (email), OneSignal or Firebase Cloud Messaging and Apple Push Notification service (push), our cloud hosting provider (database and file storage, EU/UK region), PostHog (analytics, with consent), Sentry (error monitoring) and Anthropic (AI features; prompts are not used to train models). Book metadata is fetched from Google Books and Open Library without sending your personal data. We never sell your data.
5. International transfers
Some providers process data outside the UK/EEA (for example in the United States). Where they do, we rely on adequacy regulations, the UK International Data Transfer Addendum or EU Standard Contractual Clauses, plus additional safeguards where needed.
6. How long we keep it
Account data: for as long as your account is open, then deleted within 30 days of closure. Club posts: kept with the club while it exists, anonymised as "A former member" after you leave. Orders and payment records: 6 years for tax purposes. Analytics: 14 months. Backups roll off within 35 days.
7. Your rights
You can ask to access, correct, delete, restrict or port your data, and object to processing based on legitimate interests. Withdraw consent at any time in Settings or via Cookie preferences. Download your data from You › Settings › Export my data. Email legal@bookfolk.app for anything else; we reply within one month. You can complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ico.org.uk) or your local EU supervisory authority.
8. Security
Encryption in transit and at rest, hashed passwords, least-privilege access for staff, regular backups and audit logs. No system is perfectly secure; we will notify you and the regulator of a breach where the law requires.
9. Children
Bookfolk is for adults aged 18 and over. We do not knowingly collect data from children.
10. Changes
We will tell you about material changes by email or in the app before they take effect.
Cookie Policy
Last updated 24 October 2026 · Version 1.0
Cookies and similar technologies (local storage, SDKs in our apps) store small pieces of information on your device. Under the UK PECR and EU ePrivacy rules we only use non-essential cookies with your consent. You can change your choice any time using “Cookie preferences” in the footer, or in the app under Settings › Privacy.
Sign-in, security, fraud prevention, remembering your cookie choice. Always on.
Session to 12 months
Functional
bf-prefs
Region, reader settings, reduced motion.
12 months
Analytics
ph_* (PostHog, EU cloud)
Aggregated usage to improve Bookfolk. IPs are truncated.
12 months
Marketing
_fbp (Meta), _gcl_au (Google Ads)
Measure whether ads lead to sign-ups.
3 months
“Reject non-essential” is as easy as “Accept all”. We keep a record of your choice, its version and the date, and ask again when we add a new category or after 12 months.
Organiser Service Agreement
Last updated 24 October 2026 · Version 1.0
This agreement applies when you create or run a club on Bookfolk ("Organiser"). It sits alongside the Terms of Use.
1. Your role
You set your club’s Charter, seat limit (any number, or no limit), visibility, schedule and box tier; approve or decline join requests; choose or vote on each month’s book; curate the box from our catalogue; pack and distribute boxes where your club uses organiser packing; and host gatherings. You act in your own capacity, not as our agent or employee.
2. Our role
We are the merchant of record. We collect dues from members, handle retries and refunds, buy books and box items from our suppliers, arrange delivery to you or to members, and provide the app, Console and support.
3. Pricing, box curation and margin
You choose a member price within the range shown for your tier. The Console shows the cost of the book, items, packing, postage and fees, and the resulting margin per box. A box can only be locked when its margin is at least the minimum shown (currently 30%). Any amount above the minimum is shown as your club fund, which can be applied to future boxes, gathering costs or, where enabled, paid to you as an Organiser reward subject to our payout terms and identity checks.
4. Lock day and procurement
Each cycle has a lock day. After it, the pick and box contents are final, members are charged, and we place orders. Substitutions may be made if an item becomes unavailable; we will choose something of equal or greater value and tell you.
5. Packing and delivery
Where boxes are delivered to you for packing, you agree to store them safely, pack them within 7 days of arrival, and hand or post them to members. Postage costs for posting to members are covered where shown in the Console. Report damaged or missing items within 48 hours of delivery.
6. Member data
You may see members’ names, photos, Reader Cards, payment status (paid, skipping, retrying) and delivery addresses where you post boxes. Use this only to run your club. Do not export, sell or share it, and delete any copies when you stop organising. You are an independent controller for any data you collect outside Bookfolk.
7. Gatherings and safety
Choose accessible, appropriate venues; follow venue rules and local law; do not serve alcohol to anyone under 18; and report any safety concerns to support@bookfolk.app. You may remove members for serious breaches of the Terms; tell us so we can review.
8. Club marks and content
You confirm you have the rights to any club name, mark or image you upload. You license us to print your club mark on boxes, bookplates, pins and other club items you order.
9. Ending
You may close or hand over your club in the Console with 30 days’ notice to members. We may suspend organiser tools for breaches of this agreement. Cycles already locked will be fulfilled.
Membership & Subscription Terms
Last updated 24 October 2026 · Version 1.0
1. Dues
Membership is a monthly subscription at the price your club shows, including VAT where applicable. You are charged on lock day each cycle. Your first evening as a guest is free.
2. Skipping and cancelling
Skip any cycle before lock day and you will not be charged. Cancel any time in You › Membership; cancellation takes effect before the next lock day.
3. Your 14-day right to cancel
Under the Consumer Contracts Regulations you may cancel within 14 days of joining. If your first box has already been made up for you after lock day, you agree it is personalised (bookplate with your name), so we may deduct its cost; unopened books and items can still be returned within 14 days of delivery for a refund.
4. Failed payments
If a payment fails we retry privately over 7 days and tell only you. Your organiser sees “retrying”, never the reason or amount. If it still fails, your box for that cycle is not sent.
5. Faulty or missing items
Tell us within 30 days and we will replace or refund. This does not affect your statutory rights.
6. Price changes
Organisers may change the club price; you will be told at least 14 days before the next lock day and can skip or cancel.
