Bright Passages - Privacy Policy

Last updated: July 2026

Bright Passages is a personal reading tool. The whole point is that your notes, passages, and thoughts belong to you. This policy explains exactly what data the app collects, where it goes, and what we do with it.

What Bright Passages collects

Content you create The books you add, passages you capture, notes you write, and categories you assign are your data. This content is stored on your device and synced to your iCloud account if you have iCloud enabled. We do not have access to your content — it lives in your iCloud, not on our servers.

Photos When you photograph a book page, the image is processed on your device to extract the text. The photo is stored locally as part of the passage record and synced to iCloud along with your other data. Photos are not transmitted to any external server for processing — all OCR happens on-device using Apple’s Vision framework.

Photos library (optional) Bright Passages can interact with your Photos library in two ways:

1. Reading: When you choose an existing photo from your library as a book cover, Bright Passages reads that photo to use as the cover image. It accesses only the specific photo you select — it does not browse your library or access any other photos.

2. Writing: If you enable “Save page photos to Apple Photos” in Settings, Bright Passages saves copies of captured page photos and book cover images into a “Bright Passages” folder in your Photos library, organized into per-book albums.

Both features require Photos permission, which iOS will ask for the first time you use either one. You can revoke this permission at any time in iOS Settings → Privacy → Photos. Turning off the “Save page photos” toggle in Bright Passages’ Settings stops new photos from being saved; it does not delete photos already saved to your library.

Reader-type quiz (anonymous) The first time you open Bright Passages, you’re asked a one-time, optional question about what kind of reader you are (student, book club member, fiction reader, nonfiction reader, or religious study), used to set helpful defaults for your category names. If you answer this question, your answer alone is sent to Apple’s CloudKit. We do not attach any identifier of our own to it, and access to this data is restricted so that no one — including other users of the app — can read it back or connect it to you. We use it only in aggregate, to understand what kinds of readers use the app. If you skip the question, nothing is sent. This is the only data of this kind the app collects.

Usage data Beyond the anonymous reader-type answer described above, we do not collect analytics, crash reports, or behavioral tracking data.

What Bright Passages does not collect

- We do not sell your data to anyone

- We do not share your reading content with third parties

- We do not use your passages or notes to train AI models

- We do not track your location

- We do not serve ads

- We do not have user accounts — your content belongs to you and Apple, and the one anonymous data point described above cannot be read back or connected to you

iCloud sync

Bright Passages uses Apple’s iCloud to sync your data across your devices. This means your books, passages, and notes are stored in your personal iCloud account, not on Bright Passages’ servers. We have no access to your iCloud data. You can read Apple’s iCloud privacy policy at apple.com/legal/privacy.

If you have iCloud disabled on your device, your data stays local only and does not sync.

Readwise integration (optional)

If you choose to connect Bright Passages to Readwise, your passage text, book titles, author names, page numbers, and personal notes are sent to Readwise’s servers when you sync. This data is governed by Readwise’s own privacy policy at readwise.io/privacy. Bright Passages sends only the content you’ve captured — nothing else.

Readwise sync is entirely opt-in. To enable it, you must enter your personal Readwise API token in Settings → Readwise. To disconnect, remove your token from Settings — no further data will be sent. Readwise does not share your data back to Bright Passages.

Your rights

Access: You can export all your data at any time from Settings → Export.

Deletion: To delete all your Bright Passages data, delete the app from your device. To also remove it from iCloud, go to iOS Settings → your name → iCloud → Manage Account Storage → Bright Passages → Delete Data.

Portability: The Export function produces either a CSV or Excel (XLSX) file. Your data is never locked in a proprietary format.

Children’s privacy

Bright Passages is not directed at children under 13 and we do not knowingly collect data from children under 13.

Changes to this policy

If we make material changes to this policy, we’ll note the updated date at the top. We won’t make changes that reduce your privacy rights without notice.

Contact

Questions about this policy? Email nathan@idratherberight.com or visit idratherberight.com.

Bright Passages is published by Nathan, I’d Rather Be Right.