ReadablyWho is responsible
Readably (App Store name “Readably - Text to Speech”) is published by Izotz Cristobal Mota (Seize Apps), Basque Country, Spain, who is the data controller for the app (“we”, “us”). Contact for anything about your data: hello@seizeapps.com.
What stays on your iPhone
Your library is stored in the app’s private container: for each document its title, language, the full text split into paragraphs, your reading position, when you added and last opened it, and an optional voice you chose for it. Your preferences (appearance, text size, chosen voice, whether the lock screen shows text) live in the app’s settings, together with a cached copy of whether Readably Pro is active. Other files, all on the device: the voice files you download (kept out of backups), a cache of audio already rendered for sentences you have read (it may be emptied by iOS and is kept out of backups), and your pronunciation rules. When you save audio, a temporary file is written while it is rendered.
Readably does not use iCloud or CloudKit, does not sync your documents anywhere and has no server of its own: we cannot see your library. Like any app’s data, your documents can be included in your device backup (iCloud Backup or a computer backup) if you have backups turned on; those backups are between you and Apple. Deleting Readably deletes its data.
No cloud voices, no AI service
This version of Readably has no cloud voices and contacts no server of ours. Speech is generated on your iPhone, either by the open-source Kokoro-82M model that you download (run with the FluidAudio library) or by the voices built into iOS. Language detection and text recognition use Apple’s on-device frameworks. No text, document or audio is sent to an AI provider.
What Readably downloads, and from where
- On-device voices (Hugging Face). Only when you tap Download in the first-run welcome or in Settings › On-device voices, Readably downloads the Kokoro voice files (roughly 90 to 185 MB depending on the language) from Hugging Face (huggingface.co, Hugging Face, Inc.). It sends no text, no account and no identifier of ours; as with any download, Hugging Face sees your internet address and the details iOS adds to a request. After that the voices work offline, and you can delete them in Settings at any time. What Hugging Face keeps is described in its privacy policy.
- Read from a link (Readably Pro). When you paste a web address, your iPhone fetches that page directly (with a private session that keeps no cookies or cache, a 15 second limit and an 8 MB cap), sending your language preferences and a browser-style user agent. The site you named sees your internet address and those details. Only the article text is kept as a document; the address is not kept. Nothing goes through a server of ours.
- Purchases. Apple’s StoreKit talks to Apple for the catalogue, purchases, restore and entitlements.
Camera, lock screen and notifications
The only permission Readably ever asks for is the camera, and only when a Pro user (or trial) taps Scan text: the pages are read by Apple’s document scanner and turned into text on your iPhone with Apple’s text recognition; the pictures are not saved or sent anywhere. Readably never asks for the microphone, photos, location, contacts or notifications, and it sends no notifications. It plays audio in the background so that listening continues with the screen locked.
While Readably reads, the lock screen shows a Live Activity and Now Playing controls. By default they show the document title (cut to 80 characters) and the sentence being read (cut to 220), which anyone looking at your locked iPhone can see; Settings › Show text on the lock screen turns that off, leaving only the kind of text. The Live Activity extension has no network access and stores nothing.
Purchases
Readably’s core is free. Readably Pro is an optional one-time lifetime purchase (not a subscription), and the 30-day trial is a free item you can take once per Apple Account. Apple processes the payment; Readably checks your purchase with Apple’s StoreKit on the device, caches only whether Pro is paid and when a trial ends, and can restore purchases from Apple. We never receive your name, email or payment details from a purchase.
Purchase analytics (RevenueCat)
Readably includes the software library of RevenueCat, Inc. (United States), used for purchase bookkeeping only: Apple’s StoreKit still handles every purchase and Readably still decides on your device whether Pro is active. When Readably is open, the library creates a random anonymous ID for your install and sends RevenueCat that ID, your device’s vendor identifier (a number Apple gives the apps of one developer on one device; it is not the advertising identifier) and the App Store purchases you make in Readably (product, price, dates and Apple’s transaction data). Once per install it asks RevenueCat to read the existing purchase history from Apple, and it labels the install as a TestFlight or App Store build. Readably itself sends nothing else to RevenueCat: no screen or feature events. The library runs only in release builds on a real device. The library also adds the technical details such a library sends with its requests (for example the app and iOS version, device model, language and App Store country), and, like any server, RevenueCat sees the internet address of each request. We use this to keep a record of purchases and to count them. Readably never gives RevenueCat your documents, text, audio, name or email, and we do not enable any advertising integration: it is not used to track you.
RevenueCat is our processor. What it collects through its library, where and for how long it keeps it, and how it protects it are set out in its own privacy policy at revenuecat.com/privacy; we cannot see inside its systems and we do not promise a retention period for it. Deleting Readably does not delete what RevenueCat already holds: write to hello@seizeapps.com and we will ask it to delete the record.
Writing to us
Suggest an improvement, Report a problem and, for Pro owners, the feedback option open a draft in your own mail app addressed to hello@seizeapps.com. A Pro feedback draft can include the Readably version and build, iOS version and device model; you can read and change the draft first. Nothing is sent unless you send it, and we use your email only to read and answer it.
Deleting your data and how long it stays
Your documents and reading positions stay until you delete them: delete a document in the Library (its paragraphs go with it), delete downloaded voices per language in Settings › On-device voices, delete pronunciation rules one by one, or delete the app to remove everything stored on the device. The audio cache is size-limited and may be emptied by iOS at any time. There is no account and no server-side data to delete. To ask RevenueCat to delete its purchase record, write to hello@seizeapps.com.
Children
Readably is not directed at children and is not in the App Store’s Kids Category. It does not ask anyone for a name or email address.
Your rights
Under the GDPR you can ask for access to, correction or deletion of personal data, object to its use, or ask for a copy. Readably keeps your library only on your device, so it leaves with the app when you delete it, and we hold no personal data about you to produce. For what RevenueCat holds, or for an email you sent, write to us. To exercise any right, write to hello@seizeapps.com. The legal basis for the purchase records is the performance of the purchase and our legitimate interest in keeping track of sales. You can also complain to the Spanish Data Protection Agency (aepd.es) or to the authority where you live.
Changes
If this policy changes, the new version will be published on this page with a new date. Readably was built so that cloud voices can be added later; they are switched off in this version, and this page will be updated before any release that turns them on.