PrivateBooks does not collect or upload your books.

The short version

• The app creates no account and asks for no personal details.
• It has no background telemetry, cloud sync, crash upload, ads, or financial-data upload. Exact production candidates still require final network-denied and traffic-inspection release evidence.
• Your database, attached receipts, settings, and recovery data stay in a folder on your device.
• PrivateBooks operates no hosted bookkeeping-data service and cannot remotely inspect your books.
• Public help/IRS/release links connect only when you open them. An app store independently handles purchase, install, update, and store analytics under its own policy.

What the app does on your computer

PrivateBooks runs a small web server on a randomized address inside 127.0.0.0/8 — the loopback network on your own machine — and shows it in a desktop window. The interface uses that local connection to reach the bookkeeping engine; it is not bound to your LAN or the internet and requires a fresh per-launch token plus same-origin protections.

Statement files you import are parsed locally. PDF parsing runs in an isolated worker process with time and memory limits, because statement PDFs come from outside and are treated as untrusted input.

Where your data lives

Each folder holds the SQLite database, attached receipt files, settings, a local key used to sign the app's own session cookie, and local backup/restore recovery data. The data set is a folder, not one file.

What others process — not us

Some actions around the app can involve other companies. PrivateBooks does not send them your database or receipt files.

• Microsoft would handle purchase, install, updates, and Store analytics for a future Store edition under the Microsoft privacy statement. No Microsoft Store submission has occurred.
• Apple would handle those store services for a future Mac App Store edition under the Apple privacy policy.
• Public links and a future download host receive ordinary browser request data when you choose to open them. There is currently no verified public installer or approved direct-download destination.
• Cloudflare serves this website, under the Cloudflare privacy policy. This site sets no cookies, runs no analytics, and loads no third-party resources — the fonts are served from this domain.

Diagnostics you choose to share

The app can generate a local diagnostic ZIP. Before download, it previews the included version, platform, configuration, and redacted log fields. The bundle is designed and tested to exclude transactions, business names, amounts, receipts, account credentials, and access tokens. PrivateBooks does not transmit it; sharing happens only if you separately choose and review a destination.

Data you can delete

Deleting the data folder removes the app's local database, receipts, settings, and local recovery data. It cannot remove backup copies you saved elsewhere or files you voluntarily shared. PrivateBooks keeps no server-side copy it can restore for you, so make and test a full-data backup first.

Children

PrivateBooks is a business tool intended for adults and is not directed at children under 13. The app has no account or hosted personal-information collection flow.

Changes to this policy

If this policy changes materially, the updated date above changes and the revision is described in the release notes. Background collection or upload would require an explicit product-policy change, implementation review, and updated public disclosure; it cannot be introduced as silent polish.

Contact

No public privacy or private-security contact is active yet. Contact details will appear only after delivery, reply handling, privacy boundaries, and response ownership are independently verified. See support boundaries.

PrivateBooks is published by Arc & Ledger Accounting.