Terms of Use and Sale

• Service: the myShelf mobile app (iOS and Android), the myshelfapp.app website and the features they offer.
• Publisher, “we”: Bryan Houblon, sole trader (EI), who operates the Service.
• Member, “you”: anyone who holds an account.
• Content: anything a member posts or saves in the Service (reviews, notebook, photo, bio, shelf names and descriptions, reports…).
• Premium: the paid offer that unlocks additional features.
• Store: Apple’s App Store or Google Play, through which the app is downloaded and purchases are paid for.

The Service is only available to people aged 15 or over. By creating an account, you confirm that you meet this condition.

The Service is free. Some features are reserved for Premium (section 9) and the free offer may have limits, shown in the app. Using the Service requires a compatible device and an Internet connection, the costs of which you bear.

We do our best to keep the Service available at all times, without being able to guarantee it: it may be interrupted for maintenance, updates, technical incidents or force majeure. Some app updates may be required to keep using it.

• You create your account with an email address and a password, which you confirm by following the link sent to you by email, or with your Apple or Google account.
• An account is personal: one person, one account. The information you provide must be accurate, and your email address kept up to date.
• Your username is public and unique. It must not impersonate a person or a brand, nor be offensive or misleading. If it breaks these rules, we may ask you to change it, or change it ourselves after letting you know.
• You are responsible for keeping your credentials confidential and for the activity on your account. Tell us immediately at contact@myshelfapp.app if you notice any unauthorised use.
• Your account may not be sold, transferred or lent.

You can delete your account at any time, from the app (your profile, settings menu, “Delete account”) or by writing to us. Deletion is permanent and removes your Content, as described in the privacy policy. It does not cancel a Premium subscription, which is cancelled from the Store (section 9.5).

myShelf is a reading journal and a social network for readers. In particular, it lets you:

• track your reading: statuses, progress, dates, timed sessions, goals, statistics and badges;
• organise your library: shelves, bedside table, wishlist and a collection of the books you own;
• rate books, review them and keep a private notebook;
• follow other readers and authors, browse a feed, like reviews, recommend books and receive notifications;
• scan a book’s barcode, import a library from Goodreads, StoryGraph or Babelio, and create share cards;
• have a public profile page on the web, if your profile is public.

The estimated value of your collection is based on published list prices. It is purely indicative and is neither an appraisal nor an offer to buy.

Features may change as described in section 16.

• Your username, display name, photo, bio, badges, Premium status and follower and following counts are always visible.
• Your reviews are public and remain displayed on book pages whatever your settings. Only you can see your notebook.
• You choose who sees the rest of your profile (public or private) and each of its sections. A private account approves its followers.
• If your profile is public, your page myshelfapp.app/user/your-username is open to everyone and may be indexed by search engines.
• Premium members can see which signed-in members viewed their profile in the last 90 days.
• You can block a member: you no longer see their Content and they no longer see yours.

Details are in the privacy policy.

Ownership and licence

You remain the owner of your Content. So that the Service can work, you grant us, for each piece of Content and for as long as it is on the Service, a non-exclusive, free, worldwide licence to host, reproduce, technically adapt (format, size) and display it in the Service according to the visibility settings you chose, including on your web profile page and in the share cards you generate. This licence ends when you delete the Content or your account, subject to technical deletion delays. We do not reuse your Content outside the Service, for example in an advertisement, without your prior consent.

Your commitments

You warrant that you hold the necessary rights to your Content and that it complies with the law and these Terms. Quotations from works must be short, credit the author and source, and serve your point (Article L. 122-5 of the French Intellectual Property Code); reproducing long passages or full texts is prohibited.

How reviews are published and ranked

In accordance with Article L. 111-7-2 of the French Consumer Code:

• Reviews are written by registered members. They are neither solicited nor paid for in any form, and no review can be promoted in exchange for payment.
• They are published immediately, without prior checks. We do not verify that their author has read the book.
• A review may be removed after publication if it breaks the law or these Terms, in particular following a report (section 8): illegal, abusive or hateful content, spam or advertising, off-topic content, third-party personal data, undisclosed conflict of interest. Its author is informed, with the reasons for the decision.
• Every review is dated. They are shown in this order: yours, then those of the members you follow, then those written in your language, then from newest to oldest (date last modified). A member’s Premium status has no effect on this ranking.
• A review stays published as long as its author does not delete it and their account exists. You can edit or delete your review at any time.
• If you have a connection with a book (author, publisher, translator, relative of the author…), say so in your review.

You agree to use the Service fairly and with respect for other members. In particular, you must not:

• post illegal content: incitement to hatred, violence or discrimination, glorification of crimes or terrorism, harassment, threats, defamation, insults;
• post pornographic or sexually explicit content, let alone any content involving minors;
• reproduce protected works without permission (long extracts, full texts, links to illegal copies) or infringe the rights of others (trademarks, image, privacy);
• share someone else’s personal data without their consent;
• post advertising, spam, commercial links or chain messages;
• impersonate anyone or create fake accounts, in particular to manipulate ratings, reviews, badges or follows;
• spread misleading content, viruses or malware;
• collect data from the Service automatically (scraping, bots), extract all or a substantial part of its databases, circumvent its security measures, access its systems without authorisation or try to disrupt it;
• decompile or reverse engineer the app, except where the law allows it;
• resell accounts, Premium access or promo codes, or use the Service commercially without our consent;
• misuse the reporting tool.

Out of respect for other readers, give a warning before revealing a book’s plot.

myShelf hosts its members’ Content. In accordance with the French law on confidence in the digital economy and Regulation (EU) 2022/2065 on digital services, we do not check it before publication, but we act promptly when illegal Content, or Content contrary to these Terms, is reported to us.

Reporting content

Use the “Report” button on profiles, reviews and book pages, or write to contact@myshelfapp.app. To be handled effectively, your report should state: the Content concerned (link, or its author’s username and the book concerned), why you believe it is illegal or contrary to the Terms, your name and email address (except for child sexual abuse material), and a statement confirming your good faith.

How we handle reports

• We review each report diligently, objectively and in a non-arbitrary way, and let its author know the outcome.
• Decisions are made by a person: we use no automated moderation.
• Depending on the severity, we may remove or hide the Content, issue a warning, restrict some features, suspend the account temporarily or delete it permanently, in particular for serious or repeated breaches.
• The member concerned receives a clear explanation of the decision, its reasons and the available remedies, unless the law or an authority prevents it.
• Where Content gives rise to a suspicion of an offence threatening people’s life or safety, we inform the competent authorities.
• After a warning, we may suspend the handling of reports from someone who repeatedly submits manifestly unfounded ones.

Challenging a decision

You can challenge a moderation decision, whether it concerns your Content or your report, by replying to the message announcing it or by writing to contact@myshelfapp.app, within six months. Your request is reviewed by a person, and the decision is reversed if it was not justified. You may still go to court (section 19).

Points of contact

Single point of contact for authorities and members (Articles 11 and 12 of the Digital Services Act): contact@myshelfapp.app, in French or English.

To report illegal content to the French authorities: internet-signalement.gouv.fr (PHAROS platform). Victims or witnesses of cyberbullying in France can call 3018, a free, anonymous and confidential national helpline.

9.1 Plans

• monthly or yearly subscription, renewing automatically;
• where offered, a free trial for a first subscription, whose length is shown before purchase;
• “lifetime” access, paid once, offered as a limited series while places remain (the number of places left is shown in the app);
• access granted through a promo code, for the period it states.

9.2 What Premium includes

Premium unlocks the features described in the app at the time of purchase, for example: unlimited library, advanced statistics, detailed reading session history, list of your profile’s visitors, customisation of share card appearance. If Premium ends, your data is kept: only the features reserved for Premium become unavailable again.

9.3 Prices

Prices are shown in the app before purchase, including all taxes, in your Store’s currency; they may vary from one country to another. The applicable price is the one shown when you order. We may change our prices for the future: a price increase for an ongoing subscription only applies from the next renewal, after prior notice from the Store and, where its rules require it, with your consent; without your consent, the subscription does not renew.

9.4 Order and payment

Purchases are made and paid for in the app, through your Store account and under its terms: Apple or Google collects the payment, sends you the receipt and handles billing. We neither receive nor store your payment details. Before you confirm, the purchase screen sums up the plan, its length, its price and its automatic renewal. Premium is activated as soon as the Store confirms payment.

9.5 Term, renewal and cancellation

• Subscriptions renew automatically for the same length, at the price then in force, unless cancelled.
• On iPhone and iPad, cancel at least 24 hours before the end of the current period; on Android, before the renewal date. You cancel from your Store settings, not in the myShelf app: see Subscriptions and refunds.
• A free trial turns into a paid subscription when it ends, unless cancelled within the same time limits.
• After cancellation, Premium stays active until the end of the period already paid for, and you are not charged again. The current period is not refunded pro rata, subject to sections 10, 11 and 16.
• Deleting the app or your myShelf account does not cancel the subscription.

9.6 Lifetime access

“Lifetime” access unlocks Premium with no time limit, for your myShelf account, for as long as the Service is operated. It is personal and cannot be assigned or transferred to another account. As places are limited, a place freed up by a refund returns to the pool, and the corresponding Premium access is removed. If the Service is shut down for good, section 16 applies.

9.7 Promo codes

A promo code unlocks Premium for the period it states, with no payment and no automatic renewal. Unless stated otherwise, it can be used once and must be redeemed before its expiry date; it cannot be exchanged, refunded or converted into cash. We may revoke a code, or the access it granted, in the event of fraud or unlawful acquisition, for example through resale.

9.8 Changing device

On a new device, use the app’s restore purchases feature, with the same Store account and the same myShelf account, to get Premium back.

If you are a consumer, you have 14 days to withdraw, without giving any reason, from the initial subscription or the purchase of lifetime access (Articles L. 221-18 et seq. of the French Consumer Code). This right does not apply to automatic renewals.

Premium is a digital service supplied as soon as you buy it, at your request. The law then allows us to keep an amount corresponding to the service already supplied (Article L. 221-25): we waive this and refund the full price paid.

For an App Store purchase, you withdraw through Apple; for a Google Play purchase, through Google within 48 hours, then through us. The steps and the model withdrawal form are on the Subscriptions and refunds page.

You benefit from the legal guarantee of conformity for digital content and services and from the guarantee against hidden defects. To use them, write to contact@myshelfapp.app describing the defect.

The Service and its components (myShelf name and logo, interface, texts, illustrations, code, databases) are protected and belong to the publisher or its licensors. Any unauthorised reproduction, representation or extraction is prohibited (Articles L. 122-4 and L. 342-1 of the French Intellectual Property Code).

We grant you a personal, non-exclusive, non-transferable and revocable licence to use the app, on devices you control, for private and non-commercial purposes, in accordance with the Store rules.

If you downloaded the app from the App Store, Apple’s standard Licensed Application End User License Agreement also applies. Apple is not a party to these Terms and is responsible neither for the Service nor for its support.

Information about books and authors comes from external sources (Google Books, Open Library, Bibliothèque nationale de France, ISBNdb, Inventaire, Wikidata, Wikipedia, Wikimedia Commons), completed and corrected by the publisher. Covers belong to their publishers and rights holders. Biographies taken from Wikipedia are shared under the CC BY-SA licence with a link to the source article, and portraits from Wikimedia Commons with their author and licence.

Despite our care, this information may be incomplete or inaccurate: report an error from the book page.

The Service relies on third-party services (Stores, sign-in with Apple or Google, sharing to other apps), whose use is governed by their own terms.

We have a best-efforts obligation in providing the Service. We cannot be held liable for:

• interruptions due to maintenance, force majeure or the failure of a third party beyond our control (network operator, Store, hosting provider);
• Content posted by members, which we merely host: we can only be held liable if, having been informed that it is manifestly illegal, we did not act promptly to remove it;
• inaccuracies in bibliographic data or in the estimated value of your collection;
• use of the Service contrary to these Terms.

Nothing in these Terms limits our liability for gross negligence, wilful misconduct or personal injury, nor the rights you hold under mandatory provisions of consumer law.

You are responsible for the Content you post and for how you use the Service.

You can stop using the Service at any time by deleting your account.

If you breach these Terms, we may suspend or delete your account, after asking you by email to remedy the breach where its nature allows, or immediately in the event of a serious breach (manifestly illegal Content, harassment, fraud, security attacks, repeated breaches). The decision is reasoned and can be challenged (section 8).

If we delete your account without a serious breach on your part, we refund the unused part of the Premium period you paid for.

Accounts with no sign-in for 3 years are deleted after a warning sent by email one month in advance, unless they have ongoing Premium access.

We develop the Service to improve it, to adapt it to technical and legal changes, or for security reasons: features may be added, modified or removed, at no extra cost to you.

If a change has a more than minor negative impact on your access to or use of Premium, we inform you in advance by email, with its date and characteristics. You may then terminate the contract free of charge within 30 days of that notice, or of the change if it happens later; the part of the price corresponding to the remaining period is refunded.

We may also decide to shut the Service down for good. We will then give you at least 60 days’ notice, let you retrieve your data, and refund the unused part of ongoing subscriptions. Lifetime access ends with the Service.

We may change these Terms, in particular to reflect changes to the Service or the law. For a significant change, we notify you in the app or by email at least 30 days before it takes effect. If you do not accept the new Terms, you can delete your account before that date and cancel your subscription if you have one; otherwise, they will apply. A change never alters the price or length of a Premium period already paid for.

How we process your data is described in our privacy policy and our cookies and trackers policy.

These Terms are governed by French law. If you live in another European Union country, you keep the benefit of the mandatory provisions of the law of your country of residence.

If you run into a problem, write to us first at contact@myshelfapp.app: most issues are solved this way.

Failing an amicable solution, the dispute will be brought before the competent courts. If you are a consumer, you may choose either a court with territorial jurisdiction under the French Code of Civil Procedure or the court of the place where you lived when the contract was concluded or when the harmful event occurred (Article R. 631-3 of the French Consumer Code).

For any question about these Terms: contact@myshelfapp.app, or by post to Bryan Houblon (EI), Les Pavillons sous bois.