Privacy Policy

What this policy covers

This policy covers Brisk, the reading app for iPhone and iPad, and this website. “We” and “us” mean Naser Harif, who makes Brisk.

What we collect

Nothing. Brisk collects no personal data, and no data about what or how you read. It has no servers or accounts of its own, and it contains no code for advertising, analytics, crash reporting or tracking, ours or anyone else’s.

It never tracks you across other companies’ apps or websites. We don’t sell, rent or share anything about you, because we don’t have it.

What stays on your device

Brisk keeps these on your iPhone or iPad, so it can show them to you:

• your library: the text of the articles, books, PDFs and other texts you add, with their titles and covers, and where you stopped in each;
• your sources: the websites you’ve added, and their newest articles;
• your reading settings, such as the font, the colour of the focus letter, your pace and the background sound;
• Kokoro’s voice, if you’ve downloaded it;
• what websites keep in Brisk’s browser, such as cookies, as they would in Safari;
• pages and text you share to Brisk from other apps, until Brisk adds them to your library.

When you open a PDF or an EPUB, Brisk reads its text into your library and keeps no copy of the file. Deleting Brisk deletes everything it kept on your device.

Your library and iCloud

If you’re signed in to iCloud, Brisk also keeps your library in your own iCloud account, so it’s on your other devices and comes back on a new one. That is:

• the text of what you’ve added, with its title, author, link and cover: for a scan or a photo, a small picture of its first page;
• where you stopped in each, and when you last read it;
• your sources: the websites you’ve added;
• your reading settings and your pace.

It’s kept with Apple’s iCloud, under your Apple Account, and Apple’s privacy policy covers it. We have no access to it. If you’re not signed in to iCloud, or you turn iCloud off for Brisk, your library stays on your device.

The newest articles from your sources aren’t kept in iCloud: each device asks the websites for them itself.

Websites you read in Brisk

Brisk’s browser opens websites straight from your device, as Safari does. The sites you visit see what they would see from Safari, such as your IP address, and their own privacy policies cover what they do with it. They may keep cookies in Brisk’s browser, each for its own site. A site’s cookie notice is the site’s to ask and yours to answer: Brisk never answers it for you.

When you tap Read, Brisk takes the article’s text from the page, on your device. Reading from the browser keeps nothing: the article isn’t added to your library. A link you paste or share to Brisk is added to your library, and Brisk fetches the article from its website, from your device.

Your sources

When you add a website as a source, Brisk asks that website, from your device, for its list of newest articles, its icon and the pictures it names for its articles, and checks back for new ones from time to time. If you’ve accepted the website’s cookies in Brisk’s browser, those cookies go with these requests to that same website, as they would in a browser. Brisk never adds or suggests websites by itself.

Camera, photos and the clipboard

Scan Text uses the camera, with your permission, only while you’re scanning, through Apple’s document scanner. Text from a Photo sees only the photos you pick. In both, the text is recognized on your device, and kept in your library with a small picture of the first page as its cover. Nothing is sent anywhere.

Brisk can tell whether the clipboard holds a link or some text, to offer it, without reading it. It reads the clipboard only when you tap Paste.

Reading aloud

Brisk reads aloud with the voices on your iPhone or iPad or, in English, with Kokoro, a natural voice that also runs on your device. Nothing it reads is sent anywhere.

Kokoro’s voice is a one-time download of about 145 MB, only if you ask for it. It comes from Hugging Face, where the voice is published. As with any download, Hugging Face’s servers see your device’s IP address and the files it asks for, and Hugging Face’s privacy policy covers that. Nothing else is sent.

What Apple may share with us

If you’ve chosen to share analytics with app developers, Apple may give us crash reports and statistics about how Brisk runs. Apple also tells developers how many people find, download and use their apps, in anonymous totals. None of this identifies you, and Apple’s privacy policy covers it. You can stop sharing at any time in Settings › Privacy & Security › Analytics & Improvements, by turning off Share With App Developers.

You get Brisk from the App Store, and Apple handles any payment, subscriptions included. We see sales only as totals, such as how many people subscribed in each country, never who bought or how they paid.

Third parties

We share no data with anyone, because we collect none. The only outside services Brisk connects to are:

• Apple: iCloud, for your library, and the App Store;
• the websites you choose to read or add as sources;
• Hugging Face, once, if you download Kokoro’s voice.

Each runs its service under its own privacy policy. There are no advertising networks, analytics services or tracking code in Brisk.

Keeping and deleting your data

We keep nothing, so there’s nothing of yours on our side to delete. What Brisk keeps for you stays until you delete it:

• In Brisk: delete something from your library, or remove a source, and it’s gone from all your devices.
• On your device: deleting Brisk deletes everything it kept there, Kokoro’s voice and what websites kept in its browser included.
• In iCloud: deleting Brisk leaves your library in iCloud, so it comes back if you install Brisk again. To delete it, open Settings, tap your name, then iCloud, and manage your storage: choose Brisk and delete its data.

Your choices

• Keep your library on this device: turn iCloud off for Brisk, in Settings › your name › iCloud.
• Camera: allow it, or take it back, at any time in Settings › Apps › Brisk.
• Reading aloud: you don’t need Kokoro’s voice; without it, Brisk reads aloud with your device’s own voices.
• Analytics: turn off Share With App Developers in Settings › Privacy & Security › Analytics & Improvements.

Your rights

Depending on where you live, privacy laws such as the GDPR in the European Union and the United Kingdom, or California’s privacy laws, give you rights over your personal data: to see it, correct it, delete it, or object to its use. We hold no personal data about you, so there’s nothing for us to hand over, correct or delete, but you’re welcome to ask us anything. For data Apple holds, such as your iCloud data, visit privacy.apple.com. For what a website keeps about you, ask that website.

Children

Brisk collects no personal data from anyone, children included, and shows no ads. Its browser opens whichever websites you choose, as Safari does.

Security

What Brisk keeps on your device is protected by your device and its passcode, and your library in iCloud is kept by Apple and protected by your Apple Account. Brisk talks to websites, Apple and Hugging Face over encrypted connections. This website is served over a secure connection and keeps nothing about you.

This website

This website sets no cookies, uses no analytics, and loads no fonts, scripts or anything else from other sites. The service that hosts it may keep standard access logs, such as IP addresses and the pages requested, for a short time to keep the site running and secure. We don’t use them to identify you.

Changes to this policy

If Brisk ever handles any other data, we’ll update this policy and the app’s privacy details on the App Store before that version is released, and ask for your permission in the app wherever it’s needed. The date at the top shows when this policy last changed.

Contact

Questions about privacy, or anything in this policy? Write to n.harif@outlook.com.