Privacy Policy

This privacy policy applies to the Orient Reader app (referred to below as "the app" and "the Service"), built by Damian Sowa and provided at no cost, for use as is.

This page explains what happens to your information when you use the app. In short: your books and everything you do in the app stay on your phone. The only text that leaves your phone is the text being read aloud, and only when you choose a voice that is made on a server.

If you choose to use the Service, you agree to the handling of information described in this policy. The terms used here have the same meanings as in the Terms and Conditions, which are available in the app, unless defined otherwise here.

What stays on your phone

  • The books and documents you import, their covers and pictures.
  • Your library, collections, reading progress, bookmarks, listening statistics and settings.
  • Audio the app has already made for your books, kept so a book can play again without a connection.
  • A diagnostics log of app events (for example "a paragraph could not be loaded"). It never contains the text of your books — only counts, timings and anonymous identifiers — and it never leaves your phone unless you export and share it yourself from Settings → Diagnostics.

I do not operate servers that receive this data, there are no user accounts, and the app contains no advertising, analytics or tracking.

Text sent to voice services

To read a book aloud, the app turns its text into speech. Where that happens depends on the voice you choose:

  • Cloud voices (the Gold and Silver voices in the app) are made by Microsoft's speech services. While you listen, the text of the passage being read, the language and the chosen voice are sent to Microsoft, which returns the audio. Microsoft handles this data under its own privacy statement.
  • Voices on your phone are made by the text-to-speech engine of your device: on iPhone, Apple's built-in voices, which work entirely on the phone; on Android, the engine you have installed (for example Google, Samsung or SherpaTTS). Most Android voices work entirely on the phone; some marked as needing a connection are made on the engine maker's servers, under that company's privacy policy.
  • AI voices are downloaded once and then run entirely on your phone. Nothing you read with them leaves the device.

Downloads

When you listen to a sample of an AI voice or download one, the app fetches it from GitHub, where the voice's authors publish it. As with any download, GitHub receives your IP address and the request.

Third-party services

Links to the privacy policies of the third parties the app relies on:

Permissions

  • Internet — for cloud voices and voice downloads.
  • Android: Notifications — only to show playback controls on the lock screen and in the notification shade.
  • Android: Foreground service and wake lock — so a book keeps playing with the screen off.
  • iPhone: the app asks for no permissions. It plays in the background as an audio app, with controls on the lock screen.

Cookies

The app does not use cookies.

Security

Your data is kept in the app's private storage on your phone, which other apps cannot read. Connections to voice services are encrypted (HTTPS / WSS). No method of storage or transmission is 100% secure, and I cannot guarantee absolute security.

Data Retention

  • Everything the app stores stays on your device until you remove the book, clear the app's audio from Settings, clear the app's storage, or uninstall the app.
  • Text sent to Microsoft or to a phone voice engine's servers is retained by them according to their own policies.
  • If you contact me directly (for support, feedback, or to report an issue), I keep that communication only as long as needed to respond, and no longer than 24 months, unless a longer period is required by law.

Data Deletion

  • Remove a single book from its settings, clear saved audio from Settings, or delete everything by clearing the app's storage or uninstalling it — no request to me is needed.
  • To delete any message you have sent me directly, contact hello@mffn.pl and I will delete it within 30 days of a verified request.
  • There is no user account system, so there is no other stored profile to delete.

Children's Privacy

The Service does not address anyone under the age of 13. I do not knowingly collect personally identifiable information from children under 13. If I discover that a child under 13 has sent me personal information, I will delete it immediately. If you are a parent or guardian and you are aware that your child has sent me personal information, please contact me so that I can take the necessary action.

Changes to This Privacy Policy

I may update this Privacy Policy from time to time, and will post any new version on this page. You are advised to review it periodically.

This policy is effective as of 2026-10-08

Contact Us

If you have any questions or suggestions about this Privacy Policy, do not hesitate to contact me at hello@mffn.pl.