Privacy Policy

Last updated: June 1, 2026

Overview

Absorb is a local-first reading app. The app is designed to help you read public domain books, your own imported documents, website or article text, and scanned pages without creating an Absorb account.

We do not sell personal information. We do not include advertising SDKs. We do not use your reading content for advertising. Absorb uses limited product analytics and attribution tools, described below, to understand onboarding, feature usage, purchases, app performance, and which marketing links lead to app installs.

Information stored on your device

Absorb stores the following information locally on your device so the app can work:

• Reading preferences such as speed, reading mode, font, theme, phrase chunking, and daily goal.
• Reading progress, reading time, and total words read.
• Saved vocabulary words and definitions.
• Downloaded public domain books and cached book files.
• Imported book metadata, imported book text, and imported book cover images when available.
• Imported website or article URLs, titles, metadata, and extracted text when available.
• Scanned page images if saved by the app, extracted page text, and related scan metadata when available.
• Purchase entitlement status cached by the purchase SDK, if purchases are enabled.

Imported EPUB, TXT, supported text-based PDF files, website text, article text, and scanned page text are processed and saved locally. Absorb does not intentionally upload imported book content, full imported website text, scanned page images, extracted scanned text, saved note text, saved vocabulary words, or saved definitions to an Absorb server. Limited reading-session metadata and product usage analytics may be sent to PostHog as described below. If you choose to use online dictionary lookup, the selected word is sent to the dictionary provider described below.

Local app data may be included in device backups depending on your device and operating system settings. Deleting the app or clearing app data may remove local data from the device.

Information processed by third parties

Absorb uses third-party services only where needed for app functionality:

• Apple and Google process App Store and Google Play downloads, in-app purchases, subscriptions, refunds, diagnostics, and crash reports according to your store account, device settings, and their policies.
• RevenueCat may process an anonymous app user ID, purchase history, product identifiers, transaction status, entitlement status, device and app information, IP address, and related technical logs so Absorb can unlock paid features, check subscription status, restore purchases, and present purchase management screens. Absorb does not receive your full payment card details.
• PostHog may process an anonymous analytics identifier, device and app information, app lifecycle events, screen views, selected touch interaction metadata, IP address, and technical logs so Absorb can understand app usage and improve the product. Absorb sends product analytics such as onboarding progress and answers, referral/source selections, notification choices, paywall and purchase-flow events, feature usage, book import/download/remove events, website import events, camera scan import events, reading session start/pause/completion events, reading speed, progress percentage, book type, book identifiers, titles, authors, imported file names, import source types, and word counts. Absorb does not intentionally send imported book text, full imported website text, scanned page images, extracted scanned text, saved note text, saved vocabulary words, saved definitions, or full payment card details to PostHog.
• ChottuLink may process app install attribution, deep-link click attribution, link resolution events, campaign and UTM parameters, clicked short links, destination URLs, an install or attribution identifier, device and app information, IP address, and related technical logs so Absorb can understand which marketing links, including social media links, lead to app downloads and app opens. Absorb may send ChottuLink attribution events to PostHog so marketing performance can be measured in one analytics view.
• Project Gutenberg or related public book sources may receive standard technical information, such as your IP address and user agent, when you choose to download a public domain book.
• Websites you import may receive standard technical information, such as your IP address and user agent, when your device fetches the page or article.
• Free Dictionary API at api.dictionaryapi.dev may receive the selected word and standard technical information, such as your IP address and user agent, when you choose to look up a word definition.

Absorb does not use these services to track you across apps or websites owned by other companies.

Store privacy disclosures

If RevenueCat purchases are enabled, the App Store privacy answers should disclose data collected by third-party partners for app functionality, including purchase information and an app user ID or device-related identifiers used to manage entitlements.

If PostHog analytics are enabled, the App Store privacy answers should disclose usage data and product interaction data collected for analytics and product improvement, along with any app identifiers, device information, diagnostics, or other technical information included in analytics events. The exact App Store Connect and Play Console answers must match the version of the app submitted and any third-party SDKs included in that build.

If ChottuLink attribution is enabled, store privacy answers should disclose data collected for analytics or attribution, including link interaction data, campaign/referrer information, app install attribution, app identifiers or device-related identifiers, IP address, diagnostics, and related technical information used to measure marketing link performance.

If a submitted build does not include RevenueCat, PostHog, or any other SDK that transmits data off-device, the store privacy answers may be different. You are responsible for keeping App Store Connect and Play Console privacy answers accurate whenever the app changes.

Analytics, ads, and tracking

Absorb uses PostHog for product analytics when analytics are configured in the app build. PostHog analytics help us understand onboarding drop-off, feature usage, reading-session behavior, purchase-flow performance, and app health so we can improve Absorb.

Absorb uses ChottuLink for deep links and install attribution when ChottuLink is configured in the app build. ChottuLink helps us understand whether links shared through channels such as TikTok or other social platforms lead to app downloads or app opens.

Absorb does not include advertising SDKs, does not sell analytics data, does not use analytics for third-party advertising, and does not request permission to track you across other companies' apps or websites. Absorb does not enable PostHog session replay in the current app configuration.

Data retention

Local reading data stays on your device until you delete it in the app, clear app data, or uninstall the app.

Purchase and subscription records are retained by Apple and RevenueCat as needed to provide purchases, restore access, prevent fraud, comply with legal obligations, and maintain business records. Retention by third-party services is governed by their own policies.

PostHog analytics records are retained according to the PostHog project settings and PostHog policies unless deleted earlier.

ChottuLink attribution and deep-link records are retained according to the ChottuLink dashboard settings and ChottuLink policies unless deleted earlier.

Your choices and deletion

You can remove imported books, imported websites or articles, scanned pages, downloaded books, saved vocabulary, and app settings from within the app where available, or by deleting the app from your device. Removing an imported item deletes Absorb's local copy, but not the original file, website, or physical page.

Subscriptions, refunds, and billing changes are managed through your App Store or Google Play account. You can cancel an auto-renewable subscription in your store subscription settings.

Deleting the app stops future analytics and attribution collection from that installation, but it may not automatically delete records already processed by PostHog or ChottuLink. Because Absorb does not require an account, privacy requests for analytics or attribution data may require information that helps locate the anonymous analytics or attribution identifier.

For privacy requests related to Absorb, contact the developer through the support channel listed on the App Store product page. For data held by Apple, Google, RevenueCat, PostHog, ChottuLink, or other third-party services, you may also need to use the privacy tools or support channels provided by those services.

Children

Absorb is not directed to children under 13. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13.

Security

Absorb relies on the security protections provided by your device operating system for local app data. No method of storage or transmission is completely secure, but we aim to limit data sharing by keeping reading content and reading activity local whenever possible.

International users

Third-party services used for purchases, analytics, attribution, diagnostics, and public book downloads may process information in countries other than your own. By using Absorb, you understand that information may be processed where those services operate.

Changes

We may update this policy when the app changes, including when subscriptions, analytics, sync, account features, or new third-party services are added. The updated policy will show a new last updated date.

Contact

For privacy questions, contact the developer through the support channel listed on the App Store product page.