Legal

The privacy policy and terms of service for bookmoth. Plain language where the law allows it.

Last updated: 28 October 2026

Privacy Policy

Overview

bookmoth is a desktop application. Your projects, manuscripts, writing examples and brief are saved as files on your computer, or in a folder you choose to sync through your own cloud storage. bookmoth does not keep a server-side copy of your book.

When you use an AI feature, the relevant text is sent for processing through the connection you choose. This policy explains what leaves your device, who receives it and why.

What we collect

The desktop app does not send behavioural analytics from your device and requires no separate bookmoth account. We do not use your writing to train AI. When you use bookmoth ink, our relay processes your requests without logging or storing their prose, prompts or replies.

We hold the purchase and licence information needed to deliver and support your licence, including your email address and order references. LemonSqueezy is our payment processor and seller of record, and handles the billing and payment details you provide under its own privacy policy. Licence validation and ink also use device, balance and usage records, as described below.

Your own AI connection

With a Lifetime licence, you can use your own AI provider key instead of bookmoth ink. Your key is saved on your device; bookmoth does not receive it. When you use your own key, AI requests go directly from your device to your chosen provider, without passing through our relay. The provider handles the text under its own data policies.

bookmoth ink and the AI models we use

bookmoth ink uses Claude models from Anthropic, with no separate Anthropic account or API key needed. Your AI requests pass through our relay, hosted on Cloudflare, on their way to Anthropic. The relay checks your licence and deducts the cost from your ink balance.

The relay keeps licence and device-validation information, ink balances, purchase and credit records, and usage records such as the model, time and cost of requests. It does not log or store your prose, prompts or the AI's replies. Anthropic processes those requests under its own data handling terms, including its retention policies.

We also use these ink service records in private reporting to understand usage, trial activity and whether allowances are sufficient. Reporting links a pseudonymous licence reference to its merchant order. We use the customer name supplied by Lemon Squeezy to label that order in the private owner dashboard. Reporting records request dates, models, ink consumed, remaining balances, pack credits and requests blocked by insufficient ink or service limits. For new ink requests, it also records numeric counts of visible reply words and provider-reported input, output and cache tokens, the priced request cost, and whether the provider reply completed, reached a length limit or was interrupted. Supported app versions label the ink request as drafting, editing, analysis or other work; older or unidentified requests remain unclassified. Word counts describe reply text observed by the relay, not words saved or kept in a manuscript. Daily usage aggregates and numeric response records are kept for up to 365 days; cumulative usage totals and balance records remain with the licence ledger. Reporting does not contain manuscript text, prompts, AI replies, raw licence keys, email addresses or payment details. This service reporting is separate from optional website tracking. It observes ink requests, not manual writing or use through your own AI connection.

In Settings, Best quality uses Claude Opus 4.6, Balanced uses Claude Sonnet 4.6, and Fastest uses Claude Haiku 4.5. Drafting and the Editor use Balanced by default; planning, summaries and quick edits use Fastest. Your writing profile and book context guide drafting and revision.

Nuanced drafting uses Claude Opus 4.8 for chapter drafts, in place of your Drafting choice. It is off unless you turn it on, and works with ink or your own Anthropic key. It uses more ink or provider credit: estimated ink per chapter is about 680, compared with about 500 on Best quality and 300 on Balanced. Estimates vary with chapter length and context. Polish and your writing profile still use your Drafting choice.

What AI features send

AI features send the text needed for the task, which may include relevant manuscript passages, writing examples, your writing profile, brief, plan and codex entries. With ink or your own Anthropic key, this goes to Anthropic. Other cloud connections send it to the provider you select. Anthropic does not train on API inputs or outputs under its commercial terms; other providers have their own processing, retention and training policies.

In local-only mode, with a model running on your own computer, AI requests stay on that computer. A custom or network-hosted endpoint sends requests to that endpoint. If you choose a hybrid connection, some tasks use the cloud provider configured for that mode.

Imported manuscripts

Imported manuscripts are parsed on your device and saved as part of your project. AI-assisted import tasks, such as chapter summaries and codex extraction, send relevant text through your selected AI connection, following the same rules as other AI features.

Licence validation

When you activate bookmoth, your licence key and a generated device identifier are used to verify your licence with LemonSqueezy and register the device. Ink requests also use licence and device validation through our relay. These checks do not include your manuscript or project content.

Updates

The app periodically checks a public file on bookmoth.app to see whether a newer version is available. This is a simple file fetch and includes no identifying information beyond standard request headers.

Cookies on bookmoth.app

Optional website services stay off until you accept them in Cookie choices. Our private website stats measure pages, visible time, feature use, trial-button visibility and progress to checkout, trials and sales. Google Analytics and Ahrefs also measure visits, Meta measures advertising, and Lemon Squeezy affiliate tracking attributes referred purchases. If accepted, these services may receive your IP address, browser and device details, and pages visited, and may use cookies or similar technologies under their own privacy policies. Choose Reject to leave them off. You can reopen Cookie choices on any page and withdraw consent; turning services off after acceptance refreshes the page, so save any text first. We store your choice in browser storage for up to six months, with an essential rejection cookie as a fallback. Before acceptance, optional services stay off if your choice cannot be saved. If you withdraw while other pages are open, save any text and refresh those pages too to fully stop services already loaded there. Requested checkout services still work. This website tracking is separate from the ink service reporting described above; the desktop app does not send behavioural analytics from your device.

Our own journey measurement uses a random visit reference after you accept. It lives in tab storage, expires after 30 minutes of inactivity or at most 24 hours, and can be passed to Lemon Squeezy as checkout reference data so we can match a confirmed order or subscription to that visit. It is pseudonymous measurement, not session recording. We keep visit summaries and attribution for up to 90 days, with no stored IP addresses, device fingerprints, names, emails, writing samples, AI results or payment-card details in these stats. Only fixed page, offer, source, social-platform, campaign and device categories are accepted. Social-platform labels come from recognised referring sites or tagged links; full referring URLs are not retained. If you accept the additional country and attention measurements, we also keep approximate country and first-level region from Cloudflare’s incoming network metadata, estimated section viewing and mouse-hover time, keyboard focus time, click and scroll thresholds, video positions reached, page-speed samples and generic error categories. We do not collect precise location, city, postcode, GPS data, pointer trails, typed content, error messages, filenames or stack traces. Country and region may be inaccurate when networks or VPNs route traffic elsewhere. These additional observations use the same 90-day retention and withdrawal process. Earlier basic measurement choices do not enable these additions until you choose Accept against the updated explanation; Keep current choice preserves your existing basic choice. Unsupported browser measurements are absent, not recorded as zero. Browser privacy signals can prevent measurement, so these figures are not a complete count of people.

Rejecting or withdrawing consent stops new browser measurement and removes the current tab's visit reference. Where the withdrawal request reaches our service, it also removes that visit's stored summary and checkout attribution. The hosted payment form is not reloaded. A checkout already opened without measurement remains usable but may be unattributed. Minimal verified billing references, plan states, currency and amounts are kept separately for reconciliation and duplicate prevention, without copying customer contact or payment details into the stats. These billing records do not establish an individual browsing history.

bookmoth companion (iOS)

The bookmoth companion app for iPhone and iPad works the same way. It reads and writes files inside a folder you choose in your own iCloud Drive, the same folder your desktop app syncs to. There is no bookmoth server in this exchange: your device talks directly to Apple's iCloud, and the desktop app on your Mac talks directly to the same folder. We never see, store, or have access to your manuscripts through this sync.

The companion app collects no analytics and requires no separate bookmoth account. Its AI features use the connection selected in Settings: bookmoth ink requests pass through our relay to Anthropic; your own Anthropic or OpenRouter key sends requests directly to that provider. Relevant book context, including your writing profile and passages needed for the task, is sent with the request. Connection credentials are kept in the iOS Keychain. Cloud-folder sync and the AI connection are separate.

Contact

If you have questions about how bookmoth handles your data, email us.

Last updated: 24 October 2026

Terms and Conditions

These Terms and Conditions govern your use of bookmoth, a desktop application that helps novelists plan, draft, and develop their work in their own voice. bookmoth is operated as a sole trader registered in England and Wales (referred to in these terms as "we", "us", "our"). For correspondence, including the trader's geographical address, please contact us.

By purchasing or using bookmoth, you agree to the terms below.

1. Licence

The terms below cover Lifetime, Plus and bookmoth ink.

Upon purchase, you are granted a personal, non-transferable licence to install and use bookmoth on one device that you own. If you need to move your licence to a different device, for example after replacing your computer, you can deactivate it on the old device from within the app, or contact us for assistance. You may not resell, sublicense, or distribute the software.

Lifetime is a one-time $99 licence with free app updates. It lets you choose your own supported AI provider or local model, or use separately purchased bookmoth ink. AI usage is paid separately. Plus is a subscription at $12.99 a month or $129.99 a year, with app access while subscribed and an included monthly ink allowance. Plus uses bookmoth ink; personal API keys and local models are Lifetime options. Existing $11.99 subscribers retain their original app access and own-provider connection while their subscription remains active. Their original plan includes no Plus monthly ink or Lifetime welcome ink. No existing subscription price or connection changes automatically.

2. Acceptable use

You agree to use bookmoth lawfully and in accordance with the terms of any third-party services it connects to, including the Anthropic API. You are responsible for the content you create with the app and for ensuring that your use of AI-generated material complies with applicable law and the policies of any platform where you publish it.

3. Refunds, trials, and cancellation

Every lifetime licence comes with a 7-day money-back guarantee, no questions asked. If bookmoth isn't right for you, contact our support email within 7 days of purchase for a full refund of your licence payment. Include your order number or the email address used for your purchase so we can find your order. You do not need to explain your decision or complete troubleshooting to receive a refund.

The guarantee covers your bookmoth lifetime licence payment. Separately purchased AI usage or credits, including bookmoth ink, are not covered. We aim to respond within five working days. Your request qualifies based on when you contact us within the seven-day period, not when we reply.

Plus starts with a 7-day free trial, with payment details required at signup and 2,250 trial ink. Cancel before the trial ends to avoid the first payment. Otherwise the selected monthly or yearly price is charged when the trial ends, then renews at that interval until cancelled. The yearly price is paid upfront. Checkout shows the selected price, billing interval, trial and any applicable tax before you start. You can cancel future renewals through the link in your receipt or the Lemon Squeezy customer portal. Paid access continues until the displayed end of the current paid period. Payments for past subscription periods are generally not refunded under the voluntary offer.

Paid Plus includes 6,000 ink each calendar month, on either billing option. Monthly ink refreshes on the first of each month at 00:00 UTC, not on your billing anniversary, and does not roll over. Annual billing does not supply a year's ink upfront. A trial crossing a month boundary does not receive a second trial grant. Trial ink already used in the first paid calendar month counts towards that month's 6,000-ink total. Separately bought ink does not expire, but does not extend Plus app access beyond the subscription period.

Ink packs are outside the voluntary refund offer. If the store issues a pack refund, its ink entitlement is reduced in proportion to that refund. A full Plus invoice refund stops the allowance associated with that payment; a partial refund that leaves a positive paid amount does not remove the monthly allowance. Contact support about billing errors, missing ink or any consumer rights that apply to your purchase.

This clause does not affect your statutory rights as a consumer under applicable law.

4. AI-generated content

bookmoth uses AI to assist with planning, drafting, editorial feedback, and revision. Plus uses bookmoth ink. Lifetime and the original $11.99 own-provider plan also let you use a supported cloud provider key or local model. Writing your own words uses no ink. Cloud requests are processed by the relevant provider under its own terms; ink requests pass through our relay to Anthropic as described in the privacy policy. We do not control or guarantee the output of the AI, and you are solely responsible for reviewing, editing, and deciding how to use any text the app produces. AI-generated content may contain errors, inaccuracies, or material that does not reflect your intent, and should always be reviewed before publication or distribution.

5. Your work

You retain full ownership of everything you write in bookmoth, including any text generated with the assistance of the AI features, subject to the terms of the AI provider you use. We claim no rights over your manuscripts, briefs, writing examples, or any other content you create or import.

6. Disclaimer of warranties

bookmoth is provided "as is" without warranties of any kind, express or implied. We do not warrant that the software will be uninterrupted, error-free, or compatible with every system configuration. You use the app at your own risk.

7. Limitation of liability

To the fullest extent permitted by law, we are not liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or punitive damages arising from your use of bookmoth, including but not limited to loss of data, loss of work, corruption of project files, loss of profit, or any other damage resulting from software errors, bugs, unexpected behaviour, crashes, failed operations, or interruptions in service. This includes any loss arising from interactions between bookmoth and third-party AI providers or local system conditions.

You are solely responsible for maintaining backups of your manuscripts, project files, and any other data stored within bookmoth. We strongly recommend keeping independent copies of all important work outside the application.

Our total liability in connection with the software is limited to the amount you paid for your licence.

8. Third-party services

bookmoth relies on third-party services, principally Anthropic for AI processing and LemonSqueezy for payments and licence delivery. Your use of these services is governed by their own terms and policies. We are not responsible for outages, changes, or actions taken by these providers.

9. Changes to these terms

We may update these terms from time to time. Material changes will be reflected in the "Last updated" date at the top of this page. Continued use of bookmoth after a change constitutes acceptance of the revised terms.

10. Governing law

These terms are governed by the laws of England and Wales, and any disputes will be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of England and Wales.

11. Contact

For any questions about these terms, or to obtain the trader's geographical address for correspondence, please email us.