Terms of Service

Welcome to BookPal. These Terms of Service (“Terms”) govern your access to and use of the BookPal mobile application (“App”), operated by BookPal (“we,” “us,” or “our”). By downloading, installing, or using the App, you agree to be bound by these Terms.

If you do not agree to these Terms, do not use the App.

1. Eligibility

You must be at least 13 years old to use BookPal. If you are between 13 and 18 years old (or the age of majority in your jurisdiction), you may only use the App with the consent of a parent or legal guardian who agrees to be bound by these Terms. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If you are under 13, please do not use the App.

2. Account Registration

To use BookPal, you must create an account using either:

• Email and password, or
• Sign in with Apple

You agree to provide accurate, current, and complete information during registration and to keep your account information up to date. You are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of your login credentials and for all activity that occurs under your account. You must notify us immediately at tarek.kekhia@emeraldlake.io if you become aware of any unauthorized use of your account.

You may only maintain one account per person. Account sharing is not permitted.

3. Description of Service

BookPal is an AI-powered reading companion that provides:

• Book Library Management: Upload and organize your personal EPUB book collection.
• Book Catalog: Browse and add books from our curated catalog of public domain works to your personal library.
• In-App EPUB Reader: Read books directly within the App with customizable font sizes and themes.
• Reading Progress Tracking: Track your reading position, session history, and reading milestones.
• AI-Powered Summaries: Generate “Previously On...” summaries of content you have already read, powered by artificial intelligence.
• AI Chat: Ask questions about your books and receive AI-generated responses based on the content you have read so far.
• Action Insights: Receive AI-generated actionable takeaways and frameworks from your reading.
• Session Recaps: Get summaries of what you read in each reading session.

4. Subscriptions and Payments

4.1 Free and Premium Tiers

BookPal offers both free functionality and a premium subscription (“BookPal Unlimited”). Certain features, including AI-powered summaries, AI chat, and action insights, require an active BookPal Unlimited subscription.

4.2 Billing

Subscriptions are billed through Apple’s App Store or Google Play (collectively, “Platform Stores”). By subscribing, you authorize the applicable Platform Store to charge your chosen payment method at the then-current subscription price.

4.3 Auto-Renewal

You can manage or cancel your subscription at any time through your device’s subscription settings:

• iOS: Settings > Apple ID > Subscriptions
• Android: Google Play Store > Subscriptions

4.4 Free Trials

If we offer a free trial, you will not be charged during the trial period. At the end of the trial, your subscription will automatically convert to a paid subscription unless you cancel before the trial expires. Any unused portion of a free trial is forfeited when you purchase a subscription.

4.5 Refunds

All payments are processed by the applicable Platform Store. Refund requests must be directed to Apple or Google, as applicable:

• Apple: support.apple.com/en-us/HT204084
• Google Play: support.google.com/googleplay/answer/2479637

We do not process payments directly and cannot issue refunds.

4.6 Price Changes

We may change subscription prices from time to time. Any price change will be communicated in advance through the Platform Store, and you will have the opportunity to cancel before the new price takes effect.

5. User Content

5.1 Your Content

“User Content” refers to any materials you upload, submit, or transmit through the App, including EPUB files, reading progress data, chat messages, and any other content you provide.

You retain all ownership rights in your User Content. By uploading User Content to BookPal, you grant us a limited, non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free license to use, store, process, and analyze your User Content solely for the purpose of providing and improving the BookPal service. This includes:

• Parsing and extracting text from uploaded EPUB files
• Generating text embeddings for search and retrieval
• Sending text excerpts to our AI service provider for summarization, chat, and insight generation
• Storing your content in our cloud database and storage infrastructure
• Caching content locally on your device for offline access

This license terminates when you delete your account or remove the applicable content from the App, except as required by law or as described in Section 10.

5.2 Content Representations and Warranties

By uploading content to BookPal, you represent and warrant that:

• You own or have the legal right to upload and use the content.
• The content does not infringe upon the intellectual property rights, privacy rights, or any other rights of any third party.
• The content does not contain any illegal, harmful, or objectionable material.
• You have obtained all necessary permissions, licenses, or consents to upload and process the content.

5.3 Content Removal

We reserve the right to remove any User Content that we reasonably believe violates these Terms, infringes on third-party rights, or is otherwise objectionable, without prior notice.

6. Catalog Content

BookPal provides a catalog of books sourced from public domain collections. Catalog content is provided “as is” for your personal, non-commercial reading use. We do not guarantee the availability, accuracy, or completeness of any catalog content and reserve the right to add, modify, or remove titles at any time without notice.

When you add a catalog book to your library, you receive access to that book within the BookPal App. This does not transfer ownership of the underlying content.

7. AI-Generated Content

7.1 Nature of AI Content

BookPal uses artificial intelligence (powered by Google’s Gemini technology) to generate summaries, chat responses, action insights, and session recaps. AI-generated content is produced by machine learning models and may contain inaccuracies, errors, or omissions. You should not rely on AI-generated content as a sole source of information.

7.2 No Guarantee of Accuracy

We do not warrant the accuracy, reliability, completeness, or usefulness of any AI-generated content. AI outputs are provided for informational and entertainment purposes only and do not constitute professional advice of any kind.

7.3 Spoiler Prevention

Our AI features are designed to avoid revealing content beyond your current reading position. However, we cannot guarantee that spoiler-free operation will be perfect in all cases.

7.4 AI Data Processing

When you use AI-powered features, relevant excerpts of your book content (text chunks from sections you have already read) and your questions or prompts are sent to Google’s Gemini API for processing. Google processes this data in accordance with its Gemini API Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. We use the paid API tier, which means your data is not used by Google to train or improve their general AI models.

8. Copyright and DMCA Policy

8.1 Respect for Intellectual Property

BookPal respects the intellectual property rights of others and expects users to do the same. We comply with the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (“DMCA”) and respond to valid takedown notices.

8.2 Filing a DMCA Notice

If you believe that your copyrighted work has been uploaded to BookPal without authorization, you may submit a DMCA takedown notice to our designated Copyright Agent at:

Your notice must include:

1. A physical or electronic signature of the copyright owner or authorized agent.
2. Identification of the copyrighted work claimed to have been infringed.
3. Identification of the material that is claimed to be infringing and information reasonably sufficient to permit us to locate the material.
4. Your contact information (address, phone number, email).
5. A statement that you have a good faith belief that the use of the material is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law.
6. A statement, under penalty of perjury, that the information in the notice is accurate and that you are the copyright owner or authorized to act on the owner’s behalf.

8.3 Counter-Notification

If you believe your content was removed in error, you may submit a counter-notification with the required information under 17 U.S.C. § 512(g).

8.4 Repeat Infringer Policy

We will terminate the accounts of users who are determined to be repeat infringers of third-party copyrights.

9. Acceptable Use

You agree not to:

• Upload pirated, stolen, or unlawfully obtained content.
• Use the App in violation of any applicable law or regulation.
• Attempt to circumvent, disable, or interfere with any security features of the App, including subscription verification.
• Reverse-engineer, decompile, disassemble, or otherwise attempt to derive the source code of the App.
• Use automated scripts, bots, or other means to access or interact with the App.
• Attempt to manipulate, exploit, or abuse AI features (including prompt injection or attempts to extract system prompts).
• Use the App to generate or distribute harmful, abusive, or misleading content.
• Resell, redistribute, or sublicense access to the App or its features.
• Interfere with or disrupt the App’s servers, networks, or infrastructure.
• Impersonate any person or entity or misrepresent your affiliation with any person or entity.

10. Account Deletion

You may delete your account at any time through the App’s profile settings. When you delete your account:

• Your personal data, including your email, reading progress, conversations, chat history, summaries, action insights, AI usage logs, and subscription records, will be permanently deleted.
• Your user-book associations will be removed, meaning catalog books you added to your library will no longer be linked to you.
• Book files and their processed data (text chunks, embeddings, summaries) that are shared resources used by other users will not be deleted. These are not personally identifiable.
• Locally cached data on your device (SQLite database, downloaded EPUB files, cover images) will be cleared automatically when you sign out.
• Account deletion is irreversible. We cannot recover your data after deletion.

We will process your deletion request promptly. Certain data may be retained briefly in backups before being purged in accordance with our backup rotation schedule.

11. Intellectual Property

The App, including its design, features, code, branding, logos, and proprietary technology, is owned by BookPal and is protected by copyright, trademark, and other intellectual property laws. You may not copy, modify, distribute, sell, or lease any part of the App without our prior written consent.

12. Third-Party Services

BookPal relies on third-party services to provide its functionality. These include:

• Supabase (authentication, database, and file storage) — Terms | Privacy
• Google Gemini (AI text generation and embeddings) — Terms | Privacy
• RevenueCat (subscription management) — Terms | Privacy
• Apple App Store / Google Play (payment processing and app distribution)

We are not responsible for the availability, performance, or practices of third-party services. Your use of third-party services may be subject to their respective terms and privacy policies.

13. Disclaimers

14. Limitation of Liability

Some jurisdictions do not allow the exclusion or limitation of certain damages. In such jurisdictions, our liability shall be limited to the greatest extent permitted by law.

15. Indemnification

You agree to indemnify, defend, and hold harmless BookPal and its officers, directors, employees, and agents from and against any claims, liabilities, damages, losses, costs, and expenses (including reasonable attorneys’ fees) arising out of or related to:

• Your use of the App.
• Your User Content, including any claim that your uploaded content infringes third-party rights.
• Your violation of these Terms.
• Your violation of any applicable law, regulation, or third-party rights.

16. Dispute Resolution

16.1 Governing Law

These Terms are governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the State of Delaware, United States, without regard to conflict of law principles.

16.2 Informal Resolution

Before initiating any formal dispute resolution, you agree to first contact us at tarek.kekhia@emeraldlake.io and attempt to resolve the dispute informally for at least thirty (30) days.

16.3 Binding Arbitration

If we cannot resolve a dispute informally, you and BookPal agree to resolve any dispute, claim, or controversy arising out of or relating to these Terms or the App through binding arbitration administered by the American Arbitration Association (“AAA”) under its Consumer Arbitration Rules. Arbitration will take place via telephone or video conference, or at your election, in person at a mutually agreed location.

16.4 Class Action Waiver

16.5 Exceptions

Either party may bring claims in small claims court if the claim qualifies. Either party may seek injunctive or equitable relief in any court of competent jurisdiction to prevent the actual or threatened infringement of intellectual property rights.

16.6 Opt-Out

You may opt out of the arbitration and class action waiver provisions by sending written notice to tarek.kekhia@emeraldlake.io within thirty (30) days of first accepting these Terms. If you opt out, disputes will be resolved in the state or federal courts located in Delaware.

17. Modifications to Terms

We may update these Terms from time to time. When we make material changes, we will notify you by posting the updated Terms in the App and updating the “Last Updated” date. For significant changes, we may also provide notice through the App or via email.

Your continued use of the App after the effective date of any changes constitutes your acceptance of the updated Terms. If you do not agree to the updated Terms, you must stop using the App and delete your account.

18. Termination

18.1 By You

You may stop using the App and delete your account at any time through the App’s profile settings.

18.2 By Us

We may suspend or terminate your account and access to the App at any time, with or without cause and with or without notice, if we reasonably believe you have violated these Terms or if continued access poses a risk to us, other users, or third parties.

18.3 Effect of Termination

Upon termination, your right to use the App ceases immediately. Sections 5.2, 8, 11, 13, 14, 15, 16, and 19 survive termination.

If your account is terminated, we will handle your data in accordance with our Privacy Policy and Section 10 of these Terms.

19. General Provisions

19.1 Entire Agreement

These Terms, together with our Privacy Policy, constitute the entire agreement between you and BookPal regarding your use of the App and supersede all prior agreements.

19.2 Severability

If any provision of these Terms is found to be unenforceable, the remaining provisions will remain in full force and effect.

19.3 Waiver

Our failure to enforce any provision of these Terms does not constitute a waiver of that provision or any other provision.

19.4 Assignment

You may not assign or transfer your rights or obligations under these Terms without our prior written consent. We may assign our rights and obligations without restriction.

19.5 Force Majeure

We will not be liable for any failure or delay in performing our obligations due to causes beyond our reasonable control, including natural disasters, war, terrorism, labor disputes, government actions, internet or power failures, or failures of third-party services.

20. Contact Us

If you have any questions about these Terms, please contact us at: