Gess Technologies Ltd ("we," "us," "our," "Gess Technologies") operates the Lumae mobile and desktop application ("Lumae," "the App"). This Privacy Policy explains what information Lumae handles, how it's used, and the choices you have.
In short: Lumae has no user accounts, no advertising, no analytics, and no data sale. Your library — the books, quotes, notes, and reading history you enter — lives on your own device, and, only if you choose to turn on iCloud sync as a Pro feature, in your own private iCloud account. We never see it.
Everything in your Lumae library is entered by you, directly on your device:
None of this is transmitted to Gess Technologies Ltd, and we do not operate any server that receives it.
Lumae requests camera access to:
Lumae requests photo library access only when you choose to pick an existing photo as a book cover, for the same purpose described above.
When you search for a book (by title, author, or barcode/ISBN), Lumae sends that search text to book data providers to retrieve metadata and cover images. There are three, and they are not all reached in the same way:
api.gesstechnologies.com. Google requires an API key, and a key included in a downloadable app can be extracted from it, so the key is held on our server instead: your device asks our service, and our service asks Google.That lookup service receives only the search text or ISBN, together with your device's IP address, which is an unavoidable part of any internet request. It does not receive your name, your library, your reading history, or any account information, because Lumae has no accounts.
What it does with what it receives:
The effect is that we cannot identify you, cannot see what you have searched for, and cannot build any picture of your reading interests. The service runs on a server located in Manchester, United Kingdom.
Once a request reaches a provider, that provider's own privacy policy governs how they handle it. We don't control, and aren't responsible for, their practices.
If you subscribe to Lumae Pro and enable iCloud sync, your library is stored in your own private iCloud database, encrypted and managed entirely by Apple's infrastructure, so the same library appears across your own devices signed into that iCloud account. Gess Technologies Ltd has no access to this data, no ability to view it, and no copy of it. Apple's own privacy policy governs iCloud.
Lumae Pro also offers automated backups to your own iCloud Drive (a "Lumae" folder under Files), for the same reason and with the same lack of access on our part.
Lumae offers two auto-renewing annual subscriptions ("Core" and "Pro"), both processed entirely through Apple's App Store using StoreKit. Your payment details (card number, billing address, Apple ID) are handled by Apple — Gess Technologies Ltd never receives, sees, or stores them. We only receive confirmation from Apple that a purchase or subscription is active, which Lumae uses on-device to unlock the relevant features.
If you use Lumae's Home Screen widgets or the Reading Timer Live Activity (Pro features), a small summary of your currently-reading book (title, author, cover thumbnail, progress) is written to a private, on-device storage area shared only between the Lumae app and its widget so the widget can display it. This data never leaves your device.
Lumae lets you export your entire library to a single backup file at any time, and choose where it goes (Files, email, AirDrop, or anywhere else via the share sheet). That file, and its contents, are entirely under your control once created — we never receive a copy.
Lumae also lets you import your library from a CSV file (including exports from services like Goodreads) and export your library back out to a CSV file at any time, in both cases using the standard iOS/macOS file picker and share sheet. As with the backup file, these CSV files are created and stored entirely on your own device (or wherever you choose to save or send them) — Gess Technologies Ltd never receives a copy of anything you import or export.
Lumae is not directed at children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. Since Lumae has no accounts and no data collection by us in the first place, this is a low-risk area, but if you believe a child has provided us with personal information, contact us using the details below.
Because Gess Technologies Ltd doesn't collect or store your library data on any server, most privacy rights (access, correction, deletion, portability) are already exercised directly within the app, instantly, without needing to contact us. If you're in the UK or EU, you also have the right to lodge a complaint with your local data protection authority (in the UK, the Information Commissioner's Office).
Your library data stays on your own device, or in your own Apple iCloud account if you enable sync — Gess Technologies Ltd does not transfer it across borders, since we never receive it.
Our own book-lookup service (Section 3) runs on a server in the United Kingdom. Requests it forwards to Google Books, and searches your device sends directly to Open Library and Apple, are processed by those providers, which operate internationally and under their own policies.
We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. Material changes will be reflected by updating the "Last updated" date above, and, where appropriate, an in-app notice.
Gess Technologies Ltd
63 Edgwick Road, Coventry, CV6 5FP
Company Number: 17350731
Registered in England and Wales
Email: privacy@gesstechnologies.com