BrightenBooks Privacy Policy

Last updated October 3, 2026

The short version

BrightenBooks keeps your books on your phone. If you turn on Sync (optional), a copy is also stored securely in Canada so your other devices, and the people you invite, see the same books. We don't sell your data, we have no ads and no tracking, and you can delete your online copy at any time from inside the app.

If you never turn on Sync

Everything stays on your iPhone: your account (name, email and a scrambled copy of your password, or your Apple or Google account ID), your jobs, receipts, photos, quotes, invoices, payments, crew, hours and daily safety copies. It is saved in the BrightenBooks folder in the Files app (On My iPhone › BrightenBooks). We never receive it. If you back up your iPhone with iCloud or a computer, Apple's backup may include this folder. That is controlled by your iPhone settings, not by us.

If you turn on Sync

When you create a sync account and start syncing a business, the following is copied to our online database and kept up to date:

• Your sync login: your email address and a scrambled (hashed) password. We never see your password.
• Your company name, the people in it and their roles (owner, partner or bookkeeper).
• The books you enter: jobs, receipts, payments, quotes, invoices, crew and hours, saved prices, your business settings and logo. This includes the details you type in about your customers and crew, such as names, addresses and phone numbers.
• The pictures you add: receipt photos, job photos and photos of cheques.

Your phone still keeps its own full copy and works with no signal. Changes are sent when you are online.

Where it is stored and who can see it

• Location: a database hosted in Canada (Supabase, on Amazon Web Services in Canada Central). Data is encrypted while it travels and while it is stored.
• You and the people you invite: everyone you add to your company sees the same books. The owner chooses each person's role and can remove anyone at any time. Removed people lose access immediately.
• Other companies: cannot see your data. The database enforces this itself.
• Us: we run the service and may access the database only to keep it working, fix problems or if the law requires it. We do not read, sell or share your books.
• Our service provider: Supabase hosts the database and logins for us. They process the data only to provide that service.

Sign in with Apple or Google

If you choose Sign in with Apple or Google, your phone asks Apple or Google to confirm who you are. They send back your account ID, and sometimes your name and email, which the app keeps. None of your business information is part of this.

Subscriptions

In the app, payments are handled entirely by Apple through the App Store, and we never see your card or payment details. If you pay on our website instead, Stripe handles the payment (see Our website below). If you join someone else's company, you use that company's plan.

Face ID

If you turn on the Face ID lock, your face is checked by your iPhone itself. The app never sees or stores your face data.

Camera and photos

The camera is used only when you take a receipt, cheque or job photo. When you pick existing photos, the app sees only the photos you choose. If Sync is on, those pictures are stored online with your books.

Crew hours links

If you send a crew member an hours link, it opens a simple web page where they log their hours. The link carries only your business name, their first name, your open job names and your phone number (so their text goes to you). Never any money, prices or customer details. The hours they enter stay in their phone's browser until they tap Send, which opens a normal text message to you. Our website only delivers the page.

Analytics and ads

BrightenBooks has no analytics, no tracking and no ads.

Deleting your data

• Online copy: Settings › Sync and team › Delete my online account and data. If you are the owner, this erases the whole company online for everyone in it: all books, pictures and people. If you are a member, it removes you and your sync account. For safety, Supabase keeps rolling daily backups for 7 days, so deleted data may remain in those backups for up to 7 days before it is permanently gone.
• On your phone: Settings › Delete my account erases your account and everything in the BrightenBooks folder. Deleting the app also removes the folder.
• You can also email us to ask for your data to be deleted or exported.

Children

BrightenBooks is a business tool for adults. You must be at least 18, or the age of majority where you live if that is higher, to create an account. We do not knowingly collect information from anyone younger. If you believe a young person has an account, email us and we will close it and delete its data.

Your privacy rights

You can ask us for access to the personal information we hold about you, ask us to correct it, ask us to delete it, or withdraw your consent to us holding it, by emailing brightenbooks26@gmail.com. We will answer within a reasonable time and as the law requires. If you are not happy with our answer, you can complain to the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada (priv.gc.ca).

How long we keep data

We keep your online data while your sync account exists. When you delete it, it is erased right away from the live database and, for up to 7 days, from rolling backups. We may keep a small record where the law requires it, such as a record of a subscription purchase.

Security

We use encryption in transit and at rest and access rules that keep each company's data separate. No system is perfectly secure. If a breach creates a real risk of significant harm to you, we will tell you and the Privacy Commissioner of Canada as the law requires.

Our website

The BrightenBooks website (brightenbooks.ca) has no advertising and no analytics or tracking cookies. If you sign in on the website, a sign-in token is kept in your browser so you stay signed in, and signing out removes it. When the web version of the app is open, your books are loaded from your online copy into your browser; signing out removes them from that browser. If you pay for a plan on our website, our payment provider Stripe handles your card and billing details. We do not see or store your card number, and we receive only your plan and its status.

Changes

If we change this policy in a way that matters, we will update the date above and tell you in the app.

Contact

Questions? Email us at brightenbooks26@gmail.com. See also our Terms of Service.