Privacy Policy

Last Updated: September 3, 2024

Welcome to NovelBike (referred to as “the App”, “we”, “us”, or “NovelBike”)! We operate the NovelBike mobile application (referred to as “the App”) and related services. We highly value your privacy and are committed to protecting your personal information. This Privacy Policy (referred to as “this Policy”) aims to clearly explain to you how we collect, use, store, share, and protect your personal information when you use our App and services, as well as the rights you have in relation thereto.
Please read this Policy carefully and understand its entirety before using the App. By downloading, installing, launching, browsing, registering for, logging into, or otherwise using the services provided by this App in any way, you signify that you have read, understood, and agreed to be bound by the terms of this Policy. If you do not agree with any part of this Policy, please immediately cease using our services.

1. Information We Collect

In order to provide and improve our services, ensure your account security, and optimize user experience, we collect the following types of information when you interact with our services:

1.1 Information You Actively Provide to Us:

Personal Identifiable Information:

Account Registration Information: When you register for a NovelBike account, we collect the username, email address, and encrypted password you provide. This information is necessary for creating and managing your account and providing login services.

Personal Profile Information (Optional): You may choose to provide a nickname, profile picture, and your reading preferences (e.g., preferred book genres). This information helps us provide you with more personalized services and recommendations.

User Inquiries and Feedback: When you contact us through the in-app feedback function, email, or other means to submit inquiries, report issues, or provide suggestions, we collect your contact information (such as email address) and the content of your communication with us.

1.2 Information We Automatically Collect During Your Use of the Service:

App Usage and Interaction Data:

Reading Data: Including your reading progress (specific chapter and location), reading history, list of books added to your library, and your book ratings and comments.

Search and Browsing History: The search terms you enter within the App and the books and categories you have browsed.

Operation Logs: Your interaction behaviors within the App, such as button clicks, page visit order, feature usage frequency, session duration, etc.

Device and Technical Information:

Device Attributes: Including your device model, operating system version, App version number, screen resolution, language settings.

Device Identifiers: We may collect unique device identifiers for your device, such as Android ID (where permissible under applicable laws and regulations, e.g., for statistical analysis, security risk control, and push notifications).

Network Information: Your IP address, network connection type (such as Wi-Fi, mobile data), network carrier information, network status.

App Performance and Crash Data: When the App crashes or encounters errors, we may collect relevant diagnostic information and logs to analyze the cause of the problem and improve App stability.

1.3 Information We Obtain from Third Parties:

Currently, NovelBike primarily obtains information through direct provision by you and automatic collection during your use of the service. If future business development necessitates obtaining your personal information indirectly from third parties, we will inform you in advance of the source, type, and scope of use of such personal information, or require the third party to confirm they have obtained your legal authorization, and ensure their actions comply with relevant laws and regulations.

1.4 App Permissions Explanation:

To implement the core functions of this App and provide better services, we may request the following device permissions when necessary. You can manage these permissions at any time in your device’s settings menu.

Network Access Permissions (INTERNET, ACCESS_NETWORK_STATE, ACCESS_WIFI_STATE):

Purpose: This permission is essential for core App functionality, used to connect to our servers to download book data, chapter content, synchronize your reading progress and library information, check for App updates, and send/receive necessary data related to the service.

Necessity: If this permission is denied, the App will be unable to connect to the network, and core reading and account functions will be unusable.

Storage Permissions (READ_EXTERNAL_STORAGE, WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE) (Optional, for specific features):

Purpose:

Offline Reading (Future Feature): If you choose to use the “Offline Download” feature (as mentioned in README.md as being under development), we will require this permission to cache book chapter content to your device’s local storage, allowing you to read without an internet connection.

Cache Data: Used to cache image resources, temporary data, etc., to improve the App’s loading speed and performance, and reduce network data consumption.

Necessity: If you do not enable this permission, you may be unable to use features that rely on local storage, such as offline download, but it will not affect your use of core functions like online reading. We will specifically ask for your consent before you first use related features.

We commit to only requesting relevant permissions when necessary for implementing specific features, and to clearly inform you of the purpose of the permission request through pop-ups or other means before requesting it.

2. Use of Information

We strictly abide by the provisions of laws and regulations and use the collected information for the following purposes:

To Provide, Maintain, and Improve Our Services:

Verify your identity, create and manage your user account.

Process your requests, such as displaying book information, providing reading content, synchronizing your reading progress and library.

Implement features such as search, category filtering, and rankings.

Develop new features, optimize existing ones, and enhance user experience.

Conduct data analysis and research to understand user preferences, improve our content recommendation algorithms and service design.

To Personalize Your Experience:

Recommend book content you might be interested in based on your reading history, preference settings, and in-app behavior.

Allow you to customize your reading interface, such as font size and background theme.

To Communicate with You:

Respond to your inquiries, requests, and feedback.

Send you service-related notifications, such as account security alerts, service updates, maintenance announcements, etc. (You can usually manage the receipt preferences for these notifications in the App settings, except for important security notifications).

With your explicit consent, send you marketing information such as promotional activities or new book recommendations you might be interested in. You can unsubscribe at any time.

To Ensure Security and Technical Support:

Monitor and analyze usage trends and activities to detect, prevent, and address security risks, fraudulent behavior, and violations of our terms of service.

Diagnose and fix technical issues to ensure the stable operation of the App.

To Comply with Legal Obligations:

Fulfill the requirements of applicable laws, regulations, court orders, or other legal processes.

3. Sharing and Disclosure of Information

3.1 Sharing

We highly value the protection of your personal information and will not sell, trade, or rent your personal information to any third party. We only share your information with trusted third parties under the following circumstances:

With Your Explicit Consent: We will share your information with specific third parties after obtaining your prior explicit authorization or consent.

With Service Providers: To provide and improve our services, we may share necessary personal information with certain trusted third-party service providers (e.g., cloud storage providers, data analytics service providers, technical support partners). These service providers will only process your information on our behalf for the purposes described in this Policy, and they are obligated to keep your information confidential and take appropriate security measures. We conduct strict due diligence on these service providers and sign data processing agreements with them.

Currently, the main third-party services/SDKs we use include (but are not limited to):

Network Requests and Data Transfer: Using libraries such as Retrofit, OkHttp for secure data interaction with our backend servers to obtain book information, user account data, synchronize reading progress, etc.

Image Loading and Caching: Using libraries such as Glide to efficiently load and display book covers and other images, and potentially cache images on your device.

UI and Interaction Components: Using libraries such as AndroidX RecyclerView, SwipeRefreshLayout, Google Material Components, FlexboxLayout to build the app interface and enhance user experience.

Asynchronous Processing: Using Kotlin Coroutines for efficient background task processing.

As our services expand, we may cooperate with more third-party service providers. At that time, we will update this Policy promptly and explain the relevant sharing situations.

Legal Requirements or Permitted by Law: When required by mandatory laws and regulations, or in response to legitimate and effective requests from government authorities (such as courts, regulatory agencies), we may share your personal information. We will conduct such sharing within the scope permitted by law and under the premise of protecting your personal information.

Business Transfers: In the event that NovelBike is involved in a merger, acquisition, sale of all or a portion of its assets, or a similar transaction, your personal information may be transferred as part of the transaction. In such changes, we will require the new company or organization holding your personal information to continue to be bound by this Privacy Policy, otherwise we will require the company or organization to seek your authorization and consent again. We will notify you before such transfer occurs.

3.2 Transfer

Except for the business transfer circumstances mentioned above, we will not actively transfer your personal information to any company, organization, or individual, unless we have obtained your explicit consent.

3.3 Public Disclosure

We will only publicly disclose your personal information under the following circumstances:

After obtaining your explicit consent.

Based on Legal Disclosure: When required by law, legal process, litigation, or mandatory requirements of government authorities, we may publicly disclose your personal information.

3.4 Exceptions to Sharing, Transfer, Public Disclosure Requiring Prior Authorization and Consent

According to relevant laws and regulations, in the following situations, sharing, transferring, or publicly disclosing your personal information does not require your prior authorization and consent:

Directly related to national security or defense security;

Directly related to public safety, public health, or significant public interest;

Directly related to criminal investigation, prosecution, trial, and execution of judgments;

For the purpose of protecting your or other individuals’ significant legitimate rights and interests, such as life or property, but it is difficult to obtain your consent;

Personal information that you have made public on your own;

Personal information collected from legally public sources, such as legal news reports, government information disclosure, etc.

4. Security

We highly value your information security and have implemented technical and organizational security measures that comply with industry standards to protect your personal information from unauthorized access, use, modification, disclosure, damage, or loss.
Technical Measures: We employ measures including, but not limited to, SSL/TLS protocol for data transmission encryption; encrypted storage for sensitive personal information (such as passwords); establishing strict data access control and multi-factor authentication technology; conducting regular security audits and vulnerability scans.
Organizational Measures: We have established internal data security management systems and operating procedures; provide data security and privacy protection training for employees who may access your information; restrict access to personal information, only allowing employees who need to know such information to access it.
Security Incident Emergency Response: We have formulated network security incident emergency response plans. Should a personal information security incident unfortunately occur, we will, in accordance with laws and regulations, promptly inform you of the basic circumstances and possible impact of the security incident, the measures we have taken or will take to handle the incident, suggestions for you to independently prevent and mitigate risks, and remedial measures for you. We will timely notify you of the relevant circumstances of the incident through in-app notifications, emails, SMS, etc. When it is difficult to notify individuals one by one, we will adopt reasonable and effective ways to issue announcements. At the same time, we will also proactively report the handling of personal information security incidents as required by regulatory authorities.
Although we take the above reasonable security measures, please understand that due to technological limitations and various malicious means that may exist, in the internet industry, even if we do our best to strengthen security measures, it is impossible to guarantee 100% security of information at all times. You need to understand that the systems and communication networks you use to access our services may experience problems due to factors outside our control. Therefore, we strongly recommend that you take active measures to protect the security of your personal information, such as setting strong passwords, regularly changing passwords, and not disclosing your account password or other personal information to others.

5. Cookies

To ensure the normal operation of the App, provide you with an easier access experience, and recommend content you may be interested in, we may store small data files called Cookies on your device or use other similar technologies (such as device identifiers, local storage, etc.).
Cookies: Typically contain identifiers, site names, and some numbers and characters. With the help of Cookies, the App can store your preferences (such as font size, language settings) or books in your library.
Similar Technologies: For example, in mobile applications, we may use technologies similar in function to Cookies to remember your user state, preference settings, or for statistical analysis.
We will not use Cookies and similar technologies for any purposes other than those described in this Policy. Most browsers or mobile device operating systems allow users to manage preferences for Cookies and similar technologies. You can clear all Cookies saved on your device, or configure your browser/device settings to refuse or restrict our use of these technologies. However, please note that if you disable Cookies or similar technologies, you may not enjoy the best service experience, and certain services may not function properly.

6. Links to Other Websites

We respect your rights over your personal information. Subject to applicable laws in your jurisdiction, you may have the following rights:
Right to Access: You have the right to access the personal information we hold about you. You can access your relevant information through the “Profile,” “Account Settings,” “My Library,” “Reading History,” and other functional modules within the App.
Right to Rectification: When you find that the personal information we process about you is incorrect or incomplete, you have the right to request us to make corrections or supplements. You can usually modify it yourself on the relevant feature pages.
Right to Erasure: In the following situations, you can request us to delete personal information:
If our processing of personal information violates laws and regulations;
If we collect and use your personal information without your explicit consent;
If our processing of personal information seriously violates our agreement with you;
If you no longer use our products or services, or you voluntarily cancel your account;
If we permanently cease providing you with products or services.
If we decide to respond to your deletion request, we will also notify entities that have obtained your personal information from us as much as possible at the same time, requiring them to delete it promptly, unless otherwise stipulated by laws and regulations, or these entities have obtained your independent authorization. Please note that after you delete information from our services, we may not immediately delete corresponding information from the backup system, but we will delete or anonymize this information during backup updates.
Right to Withdraw Consent: For personal information processed based on your consent, you can withdraw your consent at any time. For example, you can turn off device permissions we requested through your device’s settings. After you withdraw your consent, we will no longer process the corresponding personal information. However, your decision to withdraw consent will not affect the validity of personal information processing activities based on your authorization prior to the withdrawal.
Right to Account Cancellation: You have the right to cancel your NovelBike account. You can contact us through the account cancellation path provided within the App (e.g., “Account Settings” > “Cancel Account” option) or through the contact information provided in Section 11 of this Policy to apply for cancellation. After the account is cancelled, we will cease providing you with products or services and, according to your request and in compliance with legal requirements, delete or anonymize your personal information.
Right to Obtain a Copy of Your Personal Information: You have the right to obtain a copy of the basic data of your personal information.
Right to Restriction of Processing or Right to Object to Processing: Under the legal framework of certain jurisdictions, you may have the right to request us to restrict the processing of your personal information, or to object to our processing of your personal information for specific purposes (such as direct marketing).
Exercising Your Rights: You can operate directly using the in-app functions mentioned above, or contact us through the contact information provided in Section 11 “Contact Us” of this Policy to exercise your aforementioned rights. To ensure security, we may need to verify your identity before processing your request. We will process and respond to your request within a reasonable period after receiving your request and completing identity verification (usually within 15 working days, or a shorter period as required by applicable law).
For your reasonable requests, we generally do not charge a fee, but for multiple repetitive requests or requests that exceed a reasonable limit, we may charge a certain cost fee depending on the circumstances. We may refuse requests that are unreasonably repetitive, require excessive technical means (e.g., requiring the development of new systems or fundamental changes to existing practices), pose risks to the legitimate rights and interests of others, or are highly impractical.
Please note that in certain circumstances, such as to comply with legal obligations, resolve disputes, or enforce our agreements, we may not be able to fully satisfy all your requests.

7. Children’s Privacy

Our services are primarily directed to adults. We place special emphasis on the protection of personal information of minors. If you are a minor under the age of 18, please read this Policy with the guidance of your parents or other legal guardians, and ensure that you have obtained their consent to this Policy before using our services.

Specifically, if you are a child under the age of 14, before using our services, you and your guardian should carefully read our specifically formulated “NovelBike Children’s Privacy Protection Guidelines” (if applicable, and provide a link), and only after ensuring you have obtained the explicit consent of your guardian, can you use our services under their guidance.

We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under the age of 14 without obtaining verifiable consent from their parents or legal guardians. If we discover that we have collected personal information from a child under 14 without prior verifiable parental or legal guardian consent, we will endeavor to delete such data as soon as possible.

If you are the parent or guardian of a child and believe that we have improperly collected or processed the personal information of the child under your guardianship, please contact us through the contact information provided in this Policy.

8. International Data Transfers

Your personal information may be transferred to and stored or processed in jurisdictions outside of your country or region, which may have different data protection laws than your jurisdiction. For example, our servers may be located in the United States or other countries.
If we transfer your personal information to areas outside your jurisdiction, we will ensure that the transfer complies with applicable data protection laws and that appropriate safeguards are in place to protect the security of your personal information, such as by entering into standard contractual clauses, obtaining your explicit consent, or ensuring the recipient has passed relevant data protection certifications.
By using our services, you understand and agree that your information may be internationally transferred and processed in accordance with this Policy.

9. Changes to This Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our services and data processing practices, or to comply with legal requirements.
We will not reduce your rights under this Privacy Policy without your explicit consent. We will notify you of any updates to this Policy by posting a prominent notice within the App (e.g., a pop-up upon App launch, an announcement on the “Settings” page) or through the contact information you provide (such as email). For significant changes, we will provide more prominent notification.
“Significant changes” referred to in this Policy include, but are not limited to:
Significant changes in our service model, such as the purpose of processing personal information, the type of personal information processed, or how personal information is used;
Significant changes in our ownership structure, such as mergers, acquisitions, or reorganizations resulting in a change of ownership;
Changes in the primary recipients of personal information sharing, transfer, or public disclosure;
Significant changes in your rights related to personal information processing and how to exercise them;
Changes in the department responsible for processing personal information security, contact information, and complaint channels;
When the personal information security impact assessment report indicates a high risk.
We encourage you to review this Policy periodically to stay informed about our latest privacy practices. The updated version of this Policy will be effective upon posting. Your continued use of our services after the updated Policy becomes effective signifies that you have read, understood, and agreed to be bound by the terms of the updated Policy.
Previous versions of this Policy will be archived for your review.

10. Your Rights and Choices

Our services may contain links to websites, products, or services owned or operated by third parties. These third-party services are governed by their respective privacy policies, not this Policy. We encourage you to read their privacy policies carefully before interacting with such third parties or providing them with any personal information. We assume no responsibility for the information processing practices of these third parties.

11. Consent

By using our website, you acknowledge and agree to our privacy policy and its terms. Accepting the Cookie Statement signifies your consent to our Cookie Policy, limited to the scope outlined within the statement. You may withdraw your consent at any time. When you provide us with your personal information as described in the collection process, you consent to our storage and use of this information for the purposes detailed in the processing guidelines.

12. Contact Us

If you have any questions, comments, or suggestions regarding this Privacy Policy, or if you wish to exercise your privacy rights, or if you have any complaints or concerns related to your personal information, please contact us through the following means:

Email: [email protected]

In-App Feedback Channel: You can contact us through the “Settings” > “Help & Feedback” or similar path within the NovelBike App.

We will review the issue as soon as possible and respond within a reasonable period after verifying your user identity (usually within 15 working days, or a period specified by applicable law).

*This Site is affiliated with Monumetric (dba for The Blogger Network, LLC) for the purposes of placing advertising on the Site, and Monumetric will collect and use certain data for advertising purposes. To learn more about Monumetric’s data usage, click here: Publisher Advertising Privacy

Thank you for taking the time to read NovelBike’s Privacy Policy!