Privacy Policy
Last updated 8 October 2026
Cadence collects nothing about you unless you sign in, and then only what your account needs, and, with Cadence Pro, what keeps your reading in sync. There are no analytics, advertising or tracking of any kind.
Cadence is made by Louis Sampson. This policy explains what the app keeps on your device, and the two places it connects to over the internet.
What Cadence Collects
If you don’t sign in, nothing: Cadence sends nothing about you to its developer. If you sign in, it keeps your account, which Signing In describes below. Unless you sync your reading with Cadence Pro, which Cadence Pro describes below, nothing about what you read is sent anywhere. Cadence contains no third-party analytics, advertising or crash-reporting code, and it doesn’t track you across other apps or websites.
nothing
Apple’s own reporting is separate from the app. If you’ve turned on Share With App Developers in your device’s settings, Apple may pass the developer crash reports and statistics about how Cadence is used. You can turn this off in Settings, under Privacy & Security, then Analytics & Improvements.
What Stays on Your Device
Everything Cadence keeps, it keeps on your iPhone or iPad, in the app’s own storage: the books in your library, how far you’ve read in each, the marks you make, your reading pace and other settings, and the book covers it has downloaded. Unless you sync it with Cadence Pro, Cadence never sends any of it anywhere. It leaves the app only when you export or share it yourself.
It’s yours to manage. Export Everything, in Storage and Export, saves your library as plain text files wherever you choose, and Remove Everything deletes your books, your places in them and your marks. Deleting Cadence deletes what it keeps in its own storage. If you’re signed in, your device’s keychain may keep the sign-in, so Cadence installed again can find you still signed in: sign out first to remove it.
If you back up your device to iCloud or to a computer, the backup includes Cadence’s data, as it does for most apps. Backups are made and kept by Apple or on your computer, and the developer can’t see them.
If you set a reading reminder, it’s a notification your device schedules for itself at the time you chose. Nothing is sent anywhere to set it, and turning it off in Settings removes it.
Signing In
You can sign in with Apple, or not. If you do, Apple gives Cadence an identifier that only Cadence uses and the email address you choose to share, which can be a private address that Apple forwards, and the first time, your name if you share it. Cadence keeps these as your account, with whether you asked to hear when Cadence Pro launched, if you were asked before it did.
When you sign in, Cadence also keeps your answers from when you first opened the app with your account: why you read, the kinds of books you picked, how long you mean to read each day and when to remind you, and how you set up your page, its font, size and background, with your reading speed. What you said makes reading harder isn’t among them: it stays on your device.
Your account is kept on Cadence’s server, which is run by Supabase in the United States, and a copy stays in your device’s keychain so you stay signed in. It’s used for your account and, with Cadence Pro, to keep your reading in sync between your devices. Your email is used to tell you about Cadence Pro only if you asked to hear when it launched.
If you rate a book, your rating is kept with your account, and counts, without your name, towards the rating everyone sees for that book.
Your account is kept until you delete it, and your ratings with it. Delete Account, on the You tab under Account, deletes it from the server and from your device. Signing out removes it from your device only. You can also stop using Sign in with Apple for Cadence in your device’s Settings, under your name: that signs you out on your device, but it doesn’t delete your account, which only Delete Account does.
Cadence Pro
If you subscribe to Cadence Pro, Apple handles the purchase, and Cadence never sees your payment details. The app reads Apple’s record of your subscription on your device to know that you have Pro, and doesn’t send it to Cadence’s server.
To show what’s left of the paced reading that’s free each month, Cadence counts on your device how long you’ve read with the words moving. Without Cadence Pro, it stays on your device, like the rest of your reading time.
With Cadence Pro, when you’re signed in, Cadence keeps your reading in sync between your devices. To do that, it keeps with your account on Cadence’s server: the books on your Reading List and whether you’ve finished them, your place in each, your highlights with the words you highlighted, and how long you read each day on each device. The books themselves aren’t sent: each device downloads its own copy.
Books you add yourself sync another way: through your own iCloud account, with your place in them and your highlights. They’re kept in your iCloud, where only your Apple Account can open them, and never go to Cadence’s server, so Cadence can’t see them. With iCloud turned off for Cadence on a device, they stay on it and don’t sync. Deleting your Cadence account doesn’t delete them from iCloud: you can do that in your device’s iCloud settings.
What’s synced is kept until you delete your account, which deletes it from the server. If Pro ends, syncing stops and nothing is deleted, so it’s there if you subscribe again. Signing out stops syncing on that device and leaves your reading on it.
When Cadence Goes Online
Cadence connects to two places, and with Cadence Pro a third. The first is gutenberg.org, the website of Project Gutenberg, where the books in its library come from: to download a book when you choose to read or keep it, and to fetch the covers of the books you see as you browse. The second is Cadence’s own server, run by Supabase: to show each book’s star rating, and if you sign in or write to us, to sign you in and out, keep you signed in, read and update your account, keep the ratings you give, delete your account, and pass on a message you send. The third is your own iCloud, through Apple, to keep the books you add yourself in sync between your devices.
If you write to us from Cadence, your message goes to Cadence’s server with the email address you give, if you give one, the app’s version, your device’s model and iOS version, and whether you have Cadence Pro. If you’re signed in, it’s linked to your account and deleted with it. The server passes it to the team through Slack, the messaging service the team uses, to be read and answered.
Each request is encrypted and names the app and its version. As with any website, Cadence’s server sees your device’s IP address and the ordinary details every web request carries, along with the account the request is for. To Project Gutenberg Cadence adds nothing about you, and its servers can see your device’s IP address, the ordinary details every web request carries, and which book or cover was asked for. Project Gutenberg’s privacy policy, at gutenberg.org/policy/privacy_policy.html, explains what it does with them.
Once a book is on your device, reading it needs no connection. Links to Project Gutenberg’s website, such as the credit on each book, open in your browser, outside Cadence.
Children
Cadence isn’t made for children under 13, and collects nothing from anyone who doesn’t sign in. If you believe a child has made an account, contact us and it will be deleted.
Changes to This Policy
If this policy changes, the new version will be here in the app, with a new date at the top.
Contact
Questions about privacy in Cadence are welcome at louissampson26@gmail.com.
Terms of Use
Last updated 5 October 2026
These terms cover your use of Cadence, the reading app made by Louis Sampson, called “the developer” below. By using Cadence you agree to them. If you don’t agree, please don’t use it.
Your Licence
Cadence is licensed to you, not sold. If you got it from the App Store, your licence to use it comes from Apple’s Licensed Application End User License Agreement, the Standard EULA, which you can read at apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula. These terms sit alongside it, and if the two ever disagree, the Standard EULA wins.
Cadence is free to download and to read with. Cadence Pro, a subscription, takes the monthly limit off paced reading, as Cadence Pro below describes.
Cadence Pro
Without Cadence Pro, a set amount of paced reading each month is free, and what’s left of it shows on the You tab. The full text of every book is always free. The amount may change from time to time.
Cadence Pro is an auto-renewing subscription, bought through the App Store, by the year or by the month. The yearly subscription may begin with a free trial, and you won’t be charged until it ends. Prices are shown in the App Store before you buy, and can differ from country to country.
Payment is taken by Apple, from your Apple Account, when you confirm the purchase or when a free trial ends. The subscription renews automatically for the same term unless it’s cancelled at least 24 hours before the end of the current one. You can change or cancel it at any time in your Apple Account settings, and it stays in force until the end of the period already paid for. Refunds are handled by Apple, under its own policies.
The Books
The books in Cadence’s library come from Project Gutenberg, which publishes them as works in the public domain in the United States. Copyright lasts longer in some countries than in others, so Cadence offers each book only in countries where, as far as we know, its copyright has run out, going by the country or region of your App Store account. If you think a book shouldn’t be offered where you are, please let us know.
The books are provided as they come from Project Gutenberg, and may contain mistakes. A book in the library today may not always be there to download: Project Gutenberg can change or withdraw its books at any time.
Project Gutenberg is a registered trademark of Project Gutenberg Trademark LLC. Cadence is independent, and isn’t affiliated with or endorsed by Project Gutenberg.
Using Cadence
Cadence is for your own reading. Please don’t copy, sell or redistribute the app, or try to reverse engineer it, except where the law allows. Don’t use it to break the law or anyone else’s rights, or in a way that could overload or disrupt Project Gutenberg’s service.
Anything you bring into Cadence yourself is your responsibility: make sure you have the right to use it.
No Guarantees
Cadence is made with care, but it’s provided as it is and as available. There’s no promise that it will always work as expected, be free of bugs, or suit your particular purpose.
Your library is kept only on your device, so keep a copy of anything that matters to you. Export Everything, in Storage and Export, makes one.
Limits on Liability
As far as the law allows, the developer isn’t liable for any loss or damage that comes from using Cadence, or from not being able to use it, including lost data.
Nothing in these terms limits any liability that the law says can’t be limited, or takes away rights you have as a consumer that can’t be taken away.
Changes to These Terms
Cadence will change over time, and so may these terms. The latest version will always be here in the app, with the date it last changed at the top. If you keep using Cadence after a change, you’re agreeing to the new terms. If you’d rather not, you can stop using it and delete it at any time.
Governing Law
These terms are governed by the law of South Korea. Any dispute about them will be dealt with by the courts of South Korea, unless the law where you live gives you the right to bring it in your local courts instead.
If any part of these terms turns out to be unenforceable, the rest still applies.
Contact
Questions about these terms are welcome at louissampson26@gmail.com.