Your library stays yours.

1. The short version

Storyvale is a player and library for the books, audiobooks, comics, music, podcasts and video you already own or have the right to use. Your files stay on your device unless you choose to sync them through your own private iCloud account or send them to your own Apple TV over your home network. We do not sell your data. We do not run ads. We do not track you across other companies' apps or websites.

A small number of features send limited data to our servers or to service providers so they can work. This policy lists each one.

2. Who this applies to

This policy covers Storyvale for iPhone and iPad (including iPad apps running on Mac), Storyvale: Apple TV edition, and the Storyvale companion app for Apple Watch, all built and operated by Gromitron Industries, LLC. The Apple Watch app makes no network calls of its own.

3. What stays on your device

• Your imported books, audiobooks, comics, music and video files.
• Reading and listening progress, bookmarks, highlights and journal entries.
• Settings, playback preferences and library organization.
• The addresses and sign-in details for any IPTV, Plex or Jellyfin service you connect, as described below.
• Audiobook Theater captions. They are generated on your device using Apple's speech recognition. Storyvale does not upload your audio.

How your service sign-ins are kept:

• IPTV: kept on your device. If you use iCloud sync, they also travel through your private iCloud, with the password in an end-to-end encrypted field. They are never sent to Gromitron.
• Plex: you sign in through plex.tv, and Storyvale never sees your Plex password. The sign-in token is kept on your device and, if you use sync, in your private iCloud in an end-to-end encrypted field. It is never sent to Gromitron.
• Jellyfin: your password goes only to your own Jellyfin server. The sign-in token stays on that device and is not synced.
• OpenSubtitles (optional): if you sign in to your own OpenSubtitles account inside Storyvale to download subtitles, your username and password pass through our server to OpenSubtitles so the sign-in can work. We do not store or log them.

We do not have a copy of your media files. We do not host them and we cannot see them.

4. Your private iCloud, not us

If you use iCloud sync, Storyvale uses Apple's CloudKit to keep your library records, reading positions, watch progress, favorites, journal, Theater captions and settings in step across your own iPhone, iPad and Apple TV. That data lives in your private iCloud account under Apple's privacy terms. We cannot read it. Sync works whether or not you have Pro.

If you turn sync off, Storyvale stops updating your iCloud data. Turning sync off does not delete what is already in iCloud. You can manage or delete it in your iCloud settings.

5. Beam

Beam sends a book, comic or video between your iPhone or iPad and your own Apple TV over your home Wi-Fi network. It goes device to device. It does not pass through any Storyvale or Gromitron server, and it does not work over the internet.

6. What goes to our servers or to service providers

Storyvale does not require an account or sign-in. Where a feature needs our servers, requests are tied to a random identifier, never your name, email or Apple ID. Our servers pass requests to the providers below. Our vendor keys live on our servers, not in the app.

a. AI features, powered by Anthropic. Storyvale uses Anthropic's Claude AI for three things: AI Search, Recommendations ("For You"), and expressive tone in Speechify narration. For each of these, our server sends the text needed for the request to Anthropic's Claude API:

• AI Search: the words you type.
• Recommendations: titles in your library, with media type, whether you finished each and how far you are in it.
• Narration tone: the sentences being read aloud by a Speechify voice, so the voice can sound happier, sadder or more urgent where the text calls for it.

No name, email or account details are sent to Anthropic, and neither are your Apple ID, IP address or device identifiers. Under Anthropic's commercial terms, Anthropic does not use this content to train its models, and it normally deletes it within 30 days. It may keep content longer if its safety systems flag a request or if the law requires it. AI results can be wrong, so please check them before relying on them.

b. Speechify voices (optional, sold as minute packs). If you choose a Speechify voice, our server sends the passage of book text being read to Speechify's text-to-speech service to create the audio, which is then played back to you. Our server removes your IP address and our account headers before forwarding. We do not store or log the text. We keep counts: how many characters were read, which voice, and when, together with your Storyvale account number once you have one. Speechify has not published how long it keeps text sent through its service, so we cannot state a retention period. We do not send your name, email or account details with it. The voice is AI-generated and is not a human voice. Apple's built-in voices and Storyvale's on-device voices stay on your device.

c. Purchases and your Storyvale account number. Purchases are handled by Apple. We never see your payment card. When you buy Pro, or first use a Speechify minute pack, Storyvale creates a random Storyvale account number. A free user who buys nothing does not get one. The account number is kept in your iCloud Keychain and your private iCloud so your iPhone, iPad and Apple TV share it. It is also attached to pack purchases as Apple's account token. Our purchase service stores the account number with purchase details Apple provides (product, plan, purchase and expiry dates, transaction identifiers, whether it was bought or Family Shared) and your pack balance and usage. We verify Apple's signed receipts and do not store the receipts themselves. Separately, each device creates a random device purchase ID that is stored with the purchase record when a purchase is verified, on iPhone, iPad and Apple TV. You can see your account number in Settings as your Support ID.

d. Setup usage information (iPhone and iPad only). While you go through the setup screens, the app sends small events to a database we operate: which step you saw, whether you skipped it, the result of system permission prompts, the app version, your platform (iPhone or iPad), a random device identifier and a random session identifier for that run. The device identifier is kept for as long as the app stays installed and is not used after setup. It is not shared with advertisers or analytics companies and is not linked to your name, email or Apple ID. The Apple TV app does not send setup events. There is no other usage analytics in Storyvale.

e. Movie, show, ratings and podcast information. To show posters, descriptions, cast, ratings and trailers, Storyvale looks up titles with The Movie Database (TMDB) and OMDb through our server. The title, year or ID is sent, not your name or account. Poster and backdrop images load directly from TMDB's image servers, so TMDB can see your IP address as it would for any web image. For You covers for books may be fetched directly from Open Library using the book's title. Podcast search uses Apple's iTunes Search directly from your device and the Podcast Index through our server. Subtitle search uses OpenSubtitles through our server. The Reading Room fetches public-domain books from Project Gutenberg (through the Gutendex catalog) via our server. Each of these providers has its own privacy terms.

f. Connections you make yourself. When you connect an IPTV, Plex or Jellyfin service, or open a podcast feed, your device talks directly to that service and its own privacy policy applies. We do not operate those services and cannot see what you watch through them.

g. Trailers. On iPhone and iPad, tapping a trailer opens the YouTube app, or YouTube in your browser. On Apple TV it hands off to the YouTube app where available. YouTube's privacy policy applies from there. Storyvale also shows trailer thumbnails from YouTube's image servers.

h. Voice downloads. On-device voice models are downloaded from storage we operate. That request contains only the file being downloaded.

i. Camera and photos. If you scan text or pick a photo for cover art, Apple's standard pickers are used. The result stays on your device, and in your iCloud if sync is on. We do not receive it.

7. Downloads

Plex and Jellyfin downloads are personal offline copies kept inside the app for your own use. They are not exported, shared or sent to us. Live TV and IPTV cannot be downloaded or recorded in Storyvale.

8. No ads, no tracking, no selling

We do not show ads. We do not use advertising, analytics, tracking or crash-reporting SDKs in the app. The code libraries Storyvale does include are for media playback and on-device processing. We do not sell or rent personal information, and we do not share it with data brokers or advertisers. Storyvale does not track you as Apple defines tracking, and it does not ask for the advertising identifier.

9. Security

Data sent from the app to our servers uses HTTPS. Service keys for our vendors are kept on our servers and are not stored in the app. Your library and personal data are protected first by staying on your device and, if you use sync, by Apple's iCloud and CloudKit encryption. Connections to an IPTV, Plex or Jellyfin service you add go to the address you enter, and whether that connection is encrypted is up to that service.

10. Retention

• On your device and in your iCloud: for as long as you keep the app and your data.
• Setup events, purchase records and Speechify usage counts on our servers: we do not currently delete these on a schedule. We keep purchase and balance records for as long as you have an active purchase or unused Speechify time, and as needed for accounting and fraud prevention. Setup events and usage counts are kept until we no longer need them or you ask us to delete them.
• Request text for Speechify and AI features on our servers: not stored or logged by us. Providers keep it under their own terms (see Section 6).
• Podcast search: a daily counter built from a one-way hash of the day and your IP address. The address itself is never stored, and counters from earlier days are deleted.

11. Children

Storyvale is not directed at children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect their personal information. If we learn we have, we will delete it. If you are under 18, please use Storyvale with a parent or guardian. If you believe a child has given us information, contact us.

12. Your choices and requests

• Delete any item, or the whole library, inside the app.
• Turn off sync in Settings. To remove synced data, use your iCloud settings.
• Uninstalling removes local data from that device.
• To ask what we hold, or to request deletion of server-side records, email hello@gromitron.com. If you have bought Pro or Speechify minutes, include your Support ID from Settings. If you have no Support ID, tell us which Apple ID you purchased with and we will find your records from your purchase details. Deleting purchase records also removes your Pro status and any unused Speechify minutes, so we will confirm with you before we do it.
• Residents of some regions have additional rights, such as access, correction, deletion and objection. Email us and we will honor valid requests.

13. Changes

If we change this policy we will update the effective date above and note material changes in the app.

14. Contact