Privacy policy (Datenschutzerklärung)
Last updated: 27 September 2026
1. Controller
relevantive GmbH, Pappelallee 78/79, 10437 Berlin, Germany
Represented by Jan Mühlig · contact@relevantive.de
relevantive GmbH is the controller under the GDPR for all personal data processed by date-a-book. Otherland Buchhandlung is a cooperation partner and does not receive member data.
2. What we process, and why
| Data | Purpose | Legal basis |
|---|---|---|
| Account: email address, name shown to others, password (stored as a hash), login times | Creating and securing your account, login links by email | Art. 6 (1) b GDPR (contract) |
| Profile: photo, short bio, favourite bookshop, reading languages, your previous shown name for 30 days after a change. Your five (your chosen books) with your first name on a public page behind your personal link (“Share my five”), unless you switch that off in your settings | Showing you to other members | Art. 6 (1) b GDPR |
| Shelf: your books with the time you added them, notes, reading history, change log of your five | The core of the service: shelves, book rooms, finding members who share your books. A new book counts for others after one day. | Art. 6 (1) b GDPR |
| An import from Goodreads or StoryGraph: the export file you upload is read once and not kept; only the books you choose are added, with title, author, ISBN, reading status and the date you read them. Ratings and reviews are not taken over, except that your five-star books are suggested once for your five. The list of chosen books is deleted a day after the import. | Bringing your reading life along | Art. 6 (1) b GDPR |
| Messages in book rooms and direct chats, read status (only for your own unread counters; never shown to the sender) | Delivering conversations between members | Art. 6 (1) b GDPR |
| Shared books (which members share how many books with you) | The People list, and opening direct chats | Art. 6 (1) b GDPR |
| Shelf visits: which member looked at which shelf on which day | Showing you how many people looked at your shelf in the last week, never who, and only from two visitors on | Art. 6 (1) f GDPR (legitimate interest in letting members know their shelf is found) |
| Usage data: last visit, whether you use the iPhone app, the Android app or the browser, and the app version | Anonymous statistics for us: which platforms and app versions are in use | Art. 6 (1) f GDPR (legitimate interest in running and improving the service) |
| Blocks and reports, including the reported content | Safety and moderation | Art. 6 (1) f GDPR (legitimate interest in a safe service) |
| Share pages you create (book, first name, photo, note) | Public pages you choose to share outside the app | Art. 6 (1) a GDPR (consent, by creating the page) |
| Technical data: IP address, browser, time, requested page (server logs, up to 14 days) | Operating and securing the servers | Art. 6 (1) f GDPR |
3. Who sees what
- Your shelf, notes, profile and messages are visible to logged-in members only. Direct chats are visible only to the two of you.
- Share pages are public by design: they show the book, your first name, your photo and the note you wrote. You create them deliberately; the rest of your shelf is never public.
- Administrators can see reported content and the accounts involved, to act on reports.
4. Processors and third parties
- Hetzner Online GmbH, Gunzenhausen, Germany: hosting, database and email delivery. Servers are located in Germany; a data processing agreement is in place.
- Open Library (Internet Archive, USA) and ISBNdb (USA): when you search for a book, the search terms are sent by our server to these services to find it. Cover images are fetched once by our server and cached on it; your browser never contacts Open Library or ISBNdb and they do not see your IP address. No account data is transmitted. We keep a log of search terms together with your account so administrators can see what people look for and improve the catalogue.
- Photon (komoot GmbH, Germany; search over OpenStreetMap data): when you look for your favourite bookshop, the letters you type are sent by our server to Photon to find the place. Your browser never contacts Photon and it does not see your IP address. No account data is transmitted.
- Matomo (self-hosted by relevantive GmbH in Germany): anonymised, cookieless usage statistics. IP addresses are shortened before storage; no profiles, nothing shared.
- If you install the app through TestFlight (Apple) or as a download, the respective platform processes your data under its own terms. The app itself loads this website; no additional tracking is built in.
We do not sell data and do not use it for advertising.
4a. Notification e-mails
We send you one summary e-mail a week at most: new readers of your books, new posts in your book rooms, members who now share enough books with you to write, and how many people looked at your shelf. We also e-mail you when you receive a direct message (at most one e-mail per conversation until you have read it; the message text itself is never in the e-mail). Legal basis: Art. 6 (1) b GDPR. You can turn both off in Profile & settings or with the link in every e-mail. Tester feedback you send us (form under Feedback) is stored with what you wrote, the page you were on and your browser type, and — unless you choose “anonymous” — your account or the e-mail address you give us.
5. Cookies and local storage
We use a session cookie and, if you choose “Stay logged in”, a login cookie. Both are necessary to run the service and need no consent. There are no tracking or advertising cookies.
6. Retention
- Account, shelf, notes, shared-book connections and messages: as long as your account exists.
- Deleting your account (Profile & settings → Delete account) immediately removes your account, profile, photo, shelf, notes, reading history, share pages, blocks and notifications.
- Messages you wrote in book rooms and direct chats stay in place so conversations remain readable for the others, but they are no longer linked to you: they appear as “Deleted member” without name, photo or profile. If you want them removed as well, write to contact@relevantive.de and we delete them.
- Reports may be kept for up to 12 months after resolution to handle repeat abuse.
- Server logs: up to 14 days. Shelf visits: 30 days. Login links expire after 15 minutes.
7. Your rights
You have the right to access, rectification, erasure, restriction, data portability and objection (Art. 15–21 GDPR), and to withdraw consent at any time. Write to contact@relevantive.de. You may also complain to a supervisory authority, for us the Berliner Beauftragte für Datenschutz und Informationsfreiheit.
8. Age
date-a-book is for adults. You must be at least 18 to create an account.
9. Changes
We will update this policy when the service changes, for example when email or push notifications are introduced. The date at the top shows the current version.