Homeshelf Privacy Policy
Last updated September 29, 2026
Homeshelf is made by Elco Dev, LLC ("we"). It keeps a catalog of your family's books and your homeschool reading plans, and shares them between your family's devices. The short version: your library is stored so your family can share it, only people you invite can see it, and we don't sell or advertise with it.
No account, no email
Homeshelf doesn't ask for your email or a password. Each device signs in anonymously with a random ID (Google Firebase Authentication), and your household is linked to those IDs.
What your family library stores
So everyone in your household sees the same library, Homeshelf stores in Google Cloud Firestore: your household name and the names you give yourselves; your children's first names and grades; your books (titles, authors, ISBNs, covers, subjects, levels, shelves, tags, notes); reading plans, reading logs and terms; and lending records (who borrowed a book and when). Only devices that have joined your household with an invite code can read or change it. Invite codes expire after 48 hours.
Children
Homeshelf is used by parents. Children's first names and grades are entered by a parent to organise reading plans; children don't use accounts, and we don't knowingly collect information from children themselves. Parents can edit or delete this at any time.
Book lookups and the shared book cache
When you scan or search for a book, Homeshelf looks up its public details (title, author, cover) from Google Books and Open Library. To make scanning faster for everyone, the public details of a book (never who owns it) are cached by ISBN and shared between all Homeshelf users.
Camera
The camera is only used to read barcodes, on your device. No photos or video are saved or uploaded.
Purchases
Homeshelf Plus is sold through Google Play or the App Store. We use RevenueCat to confirm purchases for your household; it receives your household's random ID, purchase history, country and app version, not your name or payment details.
Anonymous usage statistics
Homeshelf sends anonymous usage events (such as "scanned a book" or "opened the upgrade screen") with a random ID so we can improve the app. They never include book titles, names or notes. You can turn them off in Family › Settings.
What we don't do
- No advertising or ad tracking.
- No selling or sharing of your data with data brokers.
- No third-party analytics SDKs.
Keeping and deleting your data
Your library is kept while your household uses Homeshelf. Leaving a household removes your device from it. To delete your household and everything in it, email hello@elcodev.com from the app's Support link and we'll erase it within 30 days. You can export your whole library at any time.
Changes
If this policy changes, we'll update the date above.
Contact
hello@elcodev.com · Elco Dev, LLC, Nashville, Tennessee