Privacy Policy

Last updated: 6 September 2026

BetterLinks is a read-it-later app built to keep your data yours. Your library lives in your own Google account and on your own devices — we operate no backend that stores or has access to it. The one exception is a small relay used only during browser-extension sign-in, described under "Third parties" below. This policy explains exactly what is stored, where, and who can see it.

Who controls your data

You do. BetterLinks stores all of your content in the private appDataFolder of your personal Google Drive. This is a hidden, app-scoped folder that only the BetterLinks app, signed in as you, can read or write. We never receive, see, or store a copy of it.

What we store, and where

In your Google Drive appDataFolder:

Saved links and their metadata (title, description, domain, image URL, read / starred / archived state, reading progress, tags).
Tags and link↔tag associations.
Highlights, highlight notes, and highlight colours.
RSS/Atom feed subscriptions.
Your preferences (theme, accent, reader font, speech rate, AI provider choice, summary language).
Extracted article content (bl-article-<id>.html) and cached article images, so articles are readable offline and across your devices.

On your device only:

A local SQLite cache mirroring the above for offline use.
Cached article images and imported PDF/EPUB documents in the app's private storage.
Your authentication tokens and your AI provider API key, kept in the device's secure storage (Android Keystore / iOS Keychain). Your API key is never sent to us; it is used only to call the AI provider you chose.
Notification preferences (whether the daily reading reminder is on, and at what time).

Permissions we request

Google Drive (drive.appdata scope) — to store and sync your library in the private app folder described above. We request no access to the rest of your Drive.
Google account email & profile (openid email profile) — to show which account you are signed in as.
Notifications (optional) — only if you turn on the daily reading reminder or new-article alerts. Reminders are generated and scheduled locally on your device.

Third parties

Google processes your sign-in and hosts your Drive data under Google's Privacy Policy.
AI providers (optional) — if you enable AI summaries or Q&A, the text of the article you act on, plus your request, is sent directly from your device to the provider you selected (Google Gemini, Groq, OpenAI, Anthropic, Moonshot/Kimi, or DeepSeek) using your own API key. Their handling of that data is governed by their respective privacy policies. If you do not enable AI, nothing is sent.
Article extraction fallback (optional) — when on-device extraction fails, the article URL may be sent to a public reader proxy (r.jina.ai) to retrieve readable text. This happens only as a last resort.
Browser extension sign-in relay — the browser extension's Google sign-in passes a one-time authorization code (or refresh token) through a small relay we operate, which forwards it to Google's own token servers and returns the result. It does not log, store, or inspect the tokens or your account data — it exists solely because a browser extension cannot securely hold the credential needed to complete this exchange directly. Nothing else about your library passes through it.
Google Play (purchases) — if you buy BetterLinks Pro, the payment is handled entirely by Google Play under Google's Privacy Policy. We never see or store your payment details, and no server of ours is involved. Your device asks Google Play whether the purchase exists and caches only the answer — a yes/no flag — locally. Nothing about the purchase is written to your Drive or sent anywhere else.

We do not use analytics SDKs, advertising SDKs, or third-party trackers, and we do not sell or share your personal data.

Deleting your data

You can erase everything at any time from Settings → Delete All Data in the app. This removes your BetterLinks files from your Google Drive appDataFolder, wipes the local cache and cached files on your device, cancels any scheduled reminders, and signs you out. Because there is no server-side copy, this deletion is complete.

You may also revoke BetterLinks' access entirely from your Google Account permissions.

Children

BetterLinks is not directed at children under 13 and does not knowingly collect data from them.

Changes

We may update this policy as the app evolves. Material changes will be reflected by the "Last updated" date above.

Contact

Questions or requests? Email utilsandmore@gmail.com.