Privacy Policy

Introduction

This privacy policy (“Policy”) describes how SuperLab Ventures (“Company,” “we,” and “our”) collects, uses, and shares personal data when you use our apps or this website, including any future use of artificial intelligence (AI) or machine learning. Please read it carefully.

This Policy covers SuperLab Ventures apps and superlabventures.com, on every platform where those apps are offered, including Google Play and Apple’s App Store.

Some of our apps let you follow an audiobook with other people. That includes showing the book you already have open, someone’s pace in that book, and a note that waits until they reach the moment you chose. The app does not replace your audiobook player. Listening can come from Audible, Libby, Google Books, or Spotify. We are not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Audible, Amazon, Libby, OverDrive, Google, or Spotify.

SuperLab Games is a separate studio. Games and superlabgames.com are covered by the SuperLab Games privacy policy, not this one.

Purposes of processing

What is personal data?

We collect information about you in a range of forms, including personal data. In this Policy, “personal data” has the meaning given in the General Data Protection Regulation: any information which, alone or combined with other information we process, identifies you as an individual. Examples include your name, email address, and account username.

Why do we need your personal data?

We process personal data only in line with applicable data protection and privacy laws. We need certain information to run our apps: to create your account and, where an app offers it, to show what you are listening to and to share progress and notes with the people you choose.

Where we rely on consent, you can withdraw it at any time. If you do not agree with this Policy, do not use the app.

Information we collect

Information you give us

This includes:

• account details you provide when you register, such as your name or display name, email address, username, and password or sign-in credentials;
• notes or other content you submit, including, in an audiobook app, the moment or chapter a note is attached to;
• the people you connect with, including friend requests you send or accept;
• the listening sources you choose to connect, which can be Audible, Libby, Google Books, or Spotify;
• information you provide when you report a problem or ask for support;
• information you provide if you make a purchase in an app; and
• information you send when you email us or write to us through the app.

Listening sources

Playback stays in the audiobook app you already use. Where one of our apps offers it, you can connect these listening sources:

• Audible, an Amazon company;
• Libby, made by OverDrive, including a title borrowed from your library;
• Google Books; and
• Spotify.

When you connect one of those sources, or a book is playing there, the app receives what it needs to show the session: which service it is, the book, cover, chapter, and progress or time remaining. The connection may include an account identifier or access token that the service provides so the app can keep reading the book you have open. We use that only to maintain the connection.

We do not collect your password for Audible, Libby, Google Books, Spotify, or Amazon, and we do not ask you to enter a library card number into our apps. We do not use a connection to collect unrelated account data, such as Spotify listening outside the audiobook you have open, a full Libby borrowing history, Audible purchases, or other data in a Google account. We do not post to those accounts or change your library.

When you connect a source, that company can see that you authorized our app. Their privacy policy covers that account:

• Audible, under the Amazon Privacy Notice;
• Libby, under the Libby Privacy Statement and OverDrive’s privacy policy;
• Google Books, under Google’s privacy policy; and
• Spotify, under Spotify’s privacy policy.

If you disconnect a listening source, we stop collecting new listening activity from it. Activity already stored stays until you delete it or delete your account, as described under Retention.

Listening activity

When you listen with a friend, we use the book and progress from the connected source to show who is ahead and to send the moments that matter: catching up, pulling ahead, starting, and finishing.

A note you leave on the current moment, or at the end of a chapter, is stored until the recipient reaches that point. It is not delivered before then. Progress and notes are shared with the friends you connect with in that book. They are not posted publicly, and they are not sent to Audible, Libby, Google Books, or Spotify.

Sign-in providers

If you sign in with a third-party account, such as Google, we receive the account details that provider shares based on your settings there, typically your name and email address. We use that information to create and secure your SuperLab Ventures account. We do not post to that account on your behalf. Signing in is separate from connecting Google Books, Spotify, Audible, or Libby as a listening source.

Information collected automatically

When you use an app, we log technical information about your device and how you use the product. That can include the operating system name and version, manufacturer and model, app version, language, the screens you open, features you use, timestamps, and an advertising identifier (such as the Android advertising ID or, on iOS, the Identifier for Advertisers). On this website, we may log browser type, pages viewed, and similar server data.

We use Google Firebase for authentication, storage, and related infrastructure. Firebase may process device and usage data as our service provider. Simul also uses Google Analytics to measure how the app is used, as described under Analytics. Google’s privacy policy is at policies.google.com/privacy.

Automated decision-making

We do not use your personal data for automated decision-making that produces legal or similarly significant effects. If the law later requires that kind of processing, we will tell you and give you a way to object.

Artificial intelligence

We may later use artificial intelligence or machine learning to:

• suggest features or organize what you are listening to;
• study aggregated use so we can improve the app; or
• help answer common support questions.

We do not use AI to write notes, rank the people you listen with, or decide what you hear. If we add an AI feature that changes an app in a meaningful way, we will:

• tell you before it is turned on;
• explain what data it uses and why; and
• offer an opt-out of AI personalization where that is feasible.

If an automated decision affects you directly, you can ask what logic was involved, ask for a person to review it, and ask us to correct inaccurate personal data the system relied on.

Cookies and similar technologies

This website may use cookies, which are small files stored on your computer or phone. A session cookie expires when you close the browser. A persistent cookie stays until you delete it. We use first-party cookies, set by us, to remember this site. We do not use third-party advertising cookies on superlabventures.com.

If cookies are used, they fall into these groups:

• Essential. Required to deliver a page you asked for, such as keeping a session or loading the site. The site does not work the same way without them.
• Functional. Remember a choice you made, such as a display preference, so you do not have to set it again.

The mobile apps are not websites, so they do not rely on browser cookies. They may store data on the device and use software kits from service providers, including Firebase, for sign-in, sync, and diagnostics. Simul uses Google Analytics, described under Analytics. Advertising partners use their own kits to recognize the device, measure an ad, and limit how often you see the same one.

You can refuse cookies in your browser settings. If you do, some parts of the website may not remember you. App permissions can be changed in your device settings.

Analytics

Simul uses Google Analytics 4 to understand how the app is used. Google Analytics collects information about your device and your activity in the app. That can include:

• the screens you open and the features you use;
• how often you open Simul, and how long a session lasts;
• the app version, device type, operating system, and language;
• a coarse location, such as country or region; and
• an identifier for that installation, so one install can be recognized across sessions.

We use that information to see which parts of Simul people use and to improve the app. Reports are usually aggregated. The same data can still be connected to an installation and, if you are signed in, to your account.

Google processes this data for us. Google Analytics may store an identifier on the device, or use a similar technology. You can read how Google uses cookies at policies.google.com/technologies/cookies, how Google uses information from apps that use its services at policies.google.com/technologies/partner-sites, and Google’s privacy policy at policies.google.com/privacy.

We do not sell this data. We do not send your notes, your friend list, or the book and chapter you are listening to to Google Analytics so an advertisement can be chosen from them. Ads in the app are described under Advertising.

On a website, Google’s browser add-on can opt that browser out of Google Analytics: tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout. That add-on does not control the Simul app. On your phone, you can limit the advertising identifier in system settings, as described under Advertising. You can also ask us to delete your account and the personal data we hold, as described under Data deletion requests.

Advertising

Our apps may be supported by advertising. We work with advertising partners, including Google AdMob, to show ads. Those companies, and others we may add, can collect and use an advertising identifier, device type, coarse location such as country or region, the time of the ad, and whether you tap or scroll an ad. They use that information to show ads, measure them, and limit repetition. Their own privacy policies cover how they use it. Google’s is at policies.google.com/privacy. How Google uses data in ads is described at policies.google.com/technologies/ads.

We do not give advertising partners your notes, your friend list, or the book and chapter you are listening to. Listening activity is used to run that feature with the people you choose, not to pick ads.

We do not sell personal data for money. Sharing an advertising identifier with an ad partner so they can show personalized ads can count as “sharing” under California law. You can opt out of that:

• Android. In system settings, delete your advertising ID or turn off ad personalization. Ads can still appear. They are less tied to activity in other apps.
• iOS. We ask permission through Apple’s App Tracking Transparency prompt before tracking you across other companies’ apps and websites. If you choose “Ask App Not to Track,” we do not share the Identifier for Advertisers (IDFA). Ads can still appear.
• By email. Write to hello@superlabventures.com and ask to opt out of personalized advertising. Include the email address on your account.

You can also manage Google ad settings at adssettings.google.com.

How we use personal data

We use personal data to:

• operate, maintain, and improve our apps, website, and services;
• show the book, chapter, and progress from Audible, Libby, Google Books, or Spotify when you connect that source;
• share pace and timed notes with friends you have connected with;
• manage your account and write to you about it;
• answer questions and provide support;
• send technical notices, security alerts, and administrative messages;
• send product news, if you have agreed to hear from us (you can opt out of those messages; account and service emails may still be sent);
• process a payment you make in an app;
• show, measure, and limit ads in the app, including through advertising partners;
• comply with law, respond to lawful requests, enforce this Policy, and protect the rights, privacy, safety, or property of SuperLab Ventures, you, or others; and
• understand how the product is used, including through Google Analytics in Simul, as described under Analytics.

How we share personal data

We share personal data in these cases:

• People you choose. Where an app lets you follow a book with someone else, that person can see that you are in the same book, your relative pace, and the start, catch-up, pass, and finish moments. They receive a note when they reach the moment or chapter you attached it to. They do not receive your login, library card, or account identifier for Audible, Libby, Google Books, or Spotify.
• Service providers. Companies that host our apps, authenticate accounts, store data, deliver email, process payments, measure how an app is used, or help us run support. They may use the data only to perform those services. Google Firebase is one of those providers. Google Analytics is another, for Simul, as described under Analytics.
• Advertising partners. Companies that serve ads in our apps, including Google AdMob. They receive the advertising and device data described under Advertising. They do not receive your notes, friend list, or listening position.
• Other parties you direct. When you ask us to share information with someone else, or you connect a service that requires it.
• Legal and safety reasons. When we believe sharing is required by law, legal process, or to protect rights, safety, and property.

Audible, Libby, Google Books, and Spotify are separate companies. This Policy does not cover their apps or accounts. The same is true of any other site the app or website links to. Read their policies before you connect an account or give them information.

We do not sell personal data for money. Advertising identifiers may still be shared with ad partners as described above.

Notes and other content you submit

A note you leave for someone is visible to that person, at the point in the book you chose. It is not a public post. Do not put information in a note that you would not want that person to read.

If you send us feedback, we may use it to improve the product. We will not attach your name to a public quote unless you agree.

International transfers

We are based in the San Francisco Bay Area, in the United States. Personal data may be stored and processed in the United States and in other countries where we or our service providers operate. Those countries may not offer the same privacy protections as your own. We take reasonable steps to protect the data in line with this Policy. By using the app, you understand that this transfer can happen.

Security

We use reasonable organizational, technical, and administrative measures to protect personal data. No transmission or storage system is completely secure. If you believe your account is no longer secure, email hello@superlabventures.com.

Retention

We keep personal data for as long as you have an account and we need it to provide the app, unless a longer period is required or allowed by law (for example, tax, accounting, or security records). When data is no longer needed, we delete it or anonymize it.

Listening progress is kept so you and your friends can see the shared book. Notes are kept until they have been delivered and for as long as the account they belong to remains open, unless you delete them sooner. If you delete your account, we delete this data as described below.

Data deletion requests

You can ask us to delete your personal data and, where you have one, your account. This is the mechanism we provide for Apple App Store and Google Play policies.

How to submit a request

Email hello@superlabventures.com with:

• the email address or username on the account;
• the app the request is about; and
• whether you want specific data deleted, or the entire account.

Where an app includes account deletion in settings, you can start the request there. Those requests follow the same process.

Processing time

• Acknowledgement. We confirm receipt within 5 business days.
• Completion. We delete the data and confirm within 30 calendar days of a verifiable request. Where the law allows a longer period (for example, up to 45 days under the California Consumer Privacy Act), we follow that deadline.
• Complex requests. If a request is unusually complex, or you send several at once, we may take up to 60 additional days. We will tell you about the extension, and why, within the first 30 days.

Deletion is not always instant. Some records have to be removed from more than one system. We email you when it is done.

Identity verification

We may need to confirm that the request comes from the account holder. We act on requests tied to the email address or account used to contact us. This keeps someone else from deleting your data.

What we delete and what we may keep

When a request is approved, we delete personal data from our active systems, including your profile, listening activity, notes, and friend connections, unless the law requires or allows us to keep a record. We may retain:

• information needed for legal, tax, or regulatory duties;
• records needed to resolve a dispute, enforce our terms, or prevent fraud and abuse; and
• aggregated or anonymized data that no longer identifies you.

Data held by a service provider, such as a payment processor or Firebase, follows that provider’s retention rules. We instruct providers to delete your data where we can.

Children

Our apps are not directed to children under 13 (or the higher age required where you live). We do not knowingly collect personal information from children. If you are a parent or guardian and you believe we have information from your child, email hello@superlabventures.com. We will delete it as soon as we reasonably can.

In the United States we follow the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA). In the European Economic Area we follow the age rules under the GDPR. We do not knowingly show interest-based ads to children.

Your rights

Depending on where you live, you may have the right to:

• Opt out of marketing email, of personalized advertising, of any automated decision-making, of new uses of your data beyond the purpose we collected it for, and of a transfer outside the European Economic Area. Ads may still appear after you opt out of personalization. Some other features may stop working if you opt out of data the feature needs.
• Access the personal data we hold about you, in the app where it is shown, or by asking us.
• Correct inaccurate personal data.
• Port personal data you provided, so you can take it to another service where the law gives you that right.
• Delete personal data, as described in Data deletion requests.

California residents may also request the categories of personal information we collect and whether we sell or share them. We do not sell personal information for money. We may share device and advertising identifiers with advertising partners for cross-context behavioral advertising. You can opt out in your device settings or by emailing us, as described under Advertising.

To use any of these rights, email hello@superlabventures.com. Say what data is involved and which right you want to use. We may need to verify your identity, and we may only act on data linked to the email address you write from. We respond as soon as we reasonably can, and within one month, unless a statute sets a different clock. We may keep information needed for records or to finish a transaction you already started.

Disclaimer

Information in the app may contain errors. To the maximum extent allowed by law, the app and its content are provided “as is,” without warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose, and SuperLab Ventures is not liable for indirect, incidental, consequential, special, or punitive damages arising out of your use of the app. If a particular limitation is not allowed where you live, it does not apply to you.

Indemnification

You agree to indemnify and hold harmless SuperLab Ventures and its managers, directors, employees, and agents from claims, losses, and expenses (including reasonable attorneys’ fees) arising out of your use of the app, your violation of applicable terms, your violation of someone else’s rights, or your violation of the law. We may assume the defense of a claim, and you will cooperate with that defense.

Complaints

If you have a complaint about this Policy or how we handle personal data, email hello@superlabventures.com. We reply as soon as we can, and within 30 days. If you are not satisfied, you can contact your local data protection authority.

Contact

Questions about this Policy can be sent to:

SuperLab Ventures
San Francisco Bay Area
hello@superlabventures.com

Store privacy disclosures

For Apple’s privacy labels and Google Play’s Data safety section, our apps may collect these categories:

• Contact information. Name or display name, and email address, when you create an account.
• User content. Notes you write, and the place in the book they are attached to.
• App activity. Features you use. In Simul, Google Analytics also receives usage events such as screens you open and how long a session lasts, as described under Analytics. If you connect a listening source (Audible, Libby, Google Books, or Spotify), the audiobook, chapter, and progress needed to show that session. People you choose to listen with can see the shared book and pace. Those listening services do not receive your notes or friend list. Google Analytics does not receive your notes, friend list, or listening position for advertising.
• Device and advertising identifiers. Device type, operating system version, identifiers needed to run and secure the app, and an advertising ID used to show and measure ads. The advertising ID is shared with advertising partners.
• Approximate location. A coarse region, such as country, if the device or an advertising partner supplies it for ads or for the app to function. We do not ask for precise GPS location.
• Ads you interact with. Whether an ad was shown and whether you tapped it, so ads can be measured and capped.

The listing on Google Play, or the App Store if an iOS version is released, is the store-facing summary of the same practices.

Platform-specific practices

Google Play

When you install one of our apps from Google Play, we follow the Google Play Developer Program Policies and the Developer Distribution Agreement, including Google’s privacy requirements.

Apple App Store

If you install one of our apps from the App Store:

• we request App Tracking Transparency permission before any cross-app tracking;
• we do not use Sign in with Apple to build an advertising profile;
• data collected through an Apple framework is used only for the feature that framework is there to provide, and is not shared with third parties for advertising; and
• an App Clip, if we ship one, collects only what that clip needs.

Data minimization

We collect what the app needs to work, and we:

• ask only for device permissions the feature requires;
• explain in the app why a permission is needed; and
• let you revoke permissions in system settings.

We keep personal data only while your account is open and the data is needed for the service, unless the law requires a longer period. After that, we delete it or anonymize it.