ComfyReader

Privacy Policy

Effective date: October 8, 2026

ComfyReader is a reading and listening app for iPhone, iPhone Duo and iPad, published by Lane Fries, an individual developer ("we", "us"). It is designed to keep your books and reading on your devices. This policy explains what data the app handles, when anything leaves your device, and the choices you have.

The short version

Data stored on your devices

The following is stored on your device and is not sent to us: books you download from the catalog, EPUB and PDF files you import, reading positions, bookmarks, and reader and scene settings. Downloaded Premium Audio narration is stored on your device too (see Premium Audio narration below for the copy we keep). Read Aloud with Apple's voices is spoken on your device, and no text leaves it. You can delete books, narration and scenes at any time from the Library or from Settings > Storage. Deleting the app removes this data from that device.

iCloud sync

ComfyReader syncs your library list, reading progress (book and audiobook position), imported EPUB and PDF files, reader settings and bookmarks across your devices using iCloud in your own Apple Account (CloudKit private database and iCloud Drive). This data is stored in your private iCloud; we cannot access it, and no separate account is needed. Imported files stay on your devices and in your private iCloud, apart from book text sent for Premium Audio narration. You can turn sync off in iOS Settings > Apple Account > iCloud. Data in iCloud is governed by Apple's Privacy Policy.

Premium Audio narration

Premium Audio ("Narrate This Book") is optional. Before you buy, the app sends our server only fingerprints (one-way hashes) of the book's chapters, their word and character counts, the book's stated language and your narrator voice choice, so it can set the price. No text is sent at this step.

After you buy, the app sends the text of the book to our server, which runs on Cloudflare. The server checks that the book is in English, stores the text of each chapter still to be narrated in our private storage on Cloudflare R2, and deletes it as soon as that chapter has been narrated, or if it can't be narrated. The text is never written to our logs.

The narration is made by our own voice software running on GPU servers we rent from RunPod. Each server fetches a chapter's text from our storage through a short-lived link, narrates it and uploads the audio and word timings back to our storage. The text is not sent to any other AI or text-to-speech company and is not used to train voice models.

The finished audio and word timings of your own book are kept privately for your purchase in our storage on Cloudflare R2, so you can download them on your other devices or after reinstalling the app with Restore Purchases. They are never shared with other readers, and they are deleted if Apple refunds or revokes the purchase. Narration of catalog books, which are in the public domain, is kept in a shared library that every reader of that book downloads.

Purchases

The Extra Comfy subscription and Premium Audio are bought through Apple's In-App Purchase and billed by Apple. We never see your name, email address, Apple Account or payment details.

The Extra Comfy subscription is checked on your device with Apple's StoreKit. Nothing about it is sent to our server.

For Premium Audio, the app sends our server Apple's signed transaction information, which our server verifies with Apple's certificates. Because there are no accounts, our server keeps a record of each purchase so that Restore Purchases can bring your narration back: Apple's transaction and original transaction identifiers, the product, whether it was a real App Store purchase or a test one, the book's and chapters' fingerprints and narration status, the chapter you started from, the language and word count, and the dates. This record contains no name or contact details and is not linked to your identity. When you use Restore Purchases, the app sends the signed transactions Apple lists on your device so our server can find your orders.

Apple tells our server when a purchase is refunded or revoked, and the app reports a refund it sees on your device; our server then closes that order and deletes its private narration. When Apple asks for consumption information about a refund request, our server acknowledges the request and sends nothing back, so no information about your use of the app is shared with Apple for refund decisions. Apple's handling of your data is described in Apple's Privacy Policy.

Network requests

Browsing and downloading catalog books, downloading reader scenes and narration, and Premium Audio narration require an internet connection. Catalog books, their narration, and scene videos and sounds are downloaded from our storage on Cloudflare R2, and our server runs on Cloudflare (Cloudflare's Privacy Policy). As with any internet request, the servers involved, including Cloudflare, see your device's IP address and basic request information as part of delivering the content. We use this only to deliver the content you asked for and to keep the service secure and working, and we do not use it to identify or profile you.

Notifications and Live Activities

While a book's Premium Audio is being narrated, the app shows its progress in a Live Activity and, if you allow notifications, tells you when the narration is finished or couldn't be completed. So that this works while the app is closed, the app sends our server this device's push token, the Live Activity's push token and the book's title for each order still being narrated. Our server stores them with the order, together with each chapter's title (never its text), and uses them only to send that order's updates through Apple Push Notification service. The book and chapter titles are deleted if the purchase is refunded or revoked. If the app learns about the ending itself, it may show the notification locally instead. Notification permission can be changed at any time in iOS Settings.

Diagnostics

We do not include any third-party crash reporting or analytics SDKs. If you have chosen to share analytics with app developers, Apple may provide us with crash and usage data through App Store Connect. This is opt-in and controlled by you in iOS Settings > Privacy & Security > Analytics & Improvements.

Contacting support

The in-app "Report a Problem" and "Contact Support" actions open a mail draft addressed to support@comfyreader.com, with the app version filled in, and for a PDF problem the PDF's file name and page. Nothing is attached and nothing is sent to our server: you see the message and decide whether to send it. If you email us, we receive your email address and whatever you choose to include in the message. Mail to support@comfyreader.com is received by Resend and forwarded through our website host, Netlify, to the mailbox we read; attachments are not forwarded. We use it only to help you and fix problems, and we keep it only as long as needed for that.

Children

ComfyReader is not directed at children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If you believe a child has sent us personal information, contact us and we will delete it.

Your rights

Because we do not keep accounts or personal profiles, most of your data exists only on your devices and in your private iCloud, where you control it. If you have a question about data we may hold, such as support emails or Premium Audio purchase records, or want it deleted, contact us at the address below and we will respond within 30 days.

Changes to this policy

If we change this policy, we will update it on this page and change the effective date above. If a change affects how book text or purchase information is handled, we will also tell you in the app before it takes effect.

Contact

Questions about privacy: support@comfyreader.com