Terms of Service

Effective date: July 3, 2026

These are the house rules for BookLoop. They're written to be read — please do. By creating an account or using BookLoop, you agree to them.

1. The agreement

These Terms of Service ("Terms") are an agreement between you and BookLoop ("we," "us," "our") governing your use of the BookLoop mobile application and the website bookloop.app (together, the "Service"). Our Privacy Policy describes how we handle your information and is part of the deal. If you don't agree with these Terms, please don't use the Service.

2. Who can use BookLoop

  • You must be at least 13 years old (or the higher minimum digital-consent age where you live).
  • You must be able to form a binding contract with us and not be barred from using the Service under applicable law.
  • If you use BookLoop on behalf of someone else (say, a school book club), you confirm you have the authority to bind them to these Terms.

3. Your account

  • Give us accurate information and keep your email current — it's how we reach you about your account.
  • Keep your password to yourself. You're responsible for activity that happens under your account; tell us right away at hello@bookloop.app if you suspect unauthorized use.
  • One person, one account. Don't impersonate others, squat usernames, or create accounts to evade a suspension.
  • Usernames that are offensive, misleading, or infringe someone's rights may be reclaimed.

4. Your content and our license

Everything you post — shelves, notes, reviews, club messages, reactions ("User Content") — belongs to you. So that the Service can work, you grant us a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free license to host, store, reproduce, display, and distribute your User Content solely to operate, improve, and promote the Service (for example, showing your review to your club, or syncing your shelf across your devices). This license ends when you delete your content or your account, except (a) where content has been shared with others and they haven't deleted it, (b) for de-identified content inseparable from shared conversations, and (c) for reasonable backup periods.

You promise that you have the rights to what you post, and that your User Content doesn't violate the law or these Terms. We don't claim ownership of your reading life — ever.

5. Community rules — zero tolerance

BookLoop has zero tolerance for objectionable content and abusive users. By creating an account you agree to these Terms, including this section. Content that is hateful, harassing, threatening, sexually explicit, or otherwise objectionable will be removed, and accounts that post it — or that abuse other readers — will be suspended or permanently banned, without prior warning where the conduct is severe.

To keep the room safe we do the following:

  • Filtering. Posts, messages, club names, and profiles are screened automatically; text containing hateful slurs is refused before it is published.
  • Reporting. Every post, message, and reader can be reported from inside the app (the "…" menu). We review reports and act on them within 24 hours.
  • Blocking. You can block any reader at any time. A blocked reader cannot see your content, message you, or send you friend requests, and you will not see theirs.
  • Removal. We remove objectionable content and eject the users responsible — promptly, and permanently for serious or repeated abuse.

When you participate in clubs, threads, messages, or any shared space, you agree to these rules:

  • Be kind, full stop. BookLoop is a positive-only space. Critique books all you like — never people. No harassment, bullying, hate speech, threats, or dogpiling.
  • No spoiler griefing. Deliberately circumventing spoiler locks — putting spoilers in titles, usernames, out-of-context threads, or anywhere the lock system can't shield them — is a bannable offense. Ruining endings on purpose is the one unforgivable sin here.
  • No sexual content involving minors, ever. Immediate ban and report to authorities.
  • No spam or scams. No unsolicited promotion, link farming, phishing, or manipulation of streaks/XP through automation.
  • No illegal content, including pirated books or links to infringing copies.
  • Respect privacy. Don't post other people's personal information.

We will remove content and suspend or ban accounts that break these rules. You can report anything that feels wrong from within the app (tap "…" on any post, message, or profile) or by emailing hello@bookloop.app; reports are reviewed within 24 hours.

6. Acceptable use of the Service

  • Don't probe, scan, or breach the Service's security, or access data that isn't yours.
  • Don't scrape, harvest, or bulk-download content or user data.
  • Don't reverse engineer, decompile, or create derivative works of the app, except where the law expressly permits it.
  • Don't interfere with the Service's operation (rate abuse, denial of service, exploiting bugs — please report bugs instead; we're grateful and friendly).

7. Our stuff

The Service — including the BookLoop name, wordmark, logo, design, and software — is owned by us or our licensors and is protected by copyright, trademark, and other laws. We grant you a personal, non-exclusive, non-transferable, revocable license to use the app on your devices in accordance with these Terms (and any applicable app store rules). Book metadata and cover art may belong to their respective rights holders.

8. Copyright complaints

If you believe content on the Service infringes your copyright, send a notice to hello@bookloop.app with: your contact information, identification of the work, the location of the allegedly infringing material, a statement of good-faith belief, a statement of accuracy under penalty of perjury, and your physical or electronic signature. We respond to valid notices consistent with the DMCA and will terminate repeat infringers.

9. Termination

  • By you: delete your account any time in Settings → Account → Delete account, or by emailing us. Deletion is handled as described in the Privacy Policy.
  • By us: we may suspend or terminate your account if you materially or repeatedly violate these Terms, if required by law, or if the Service is discontinued. Except where safety or law prevents it, we'll tell you why and, for less serious violations, give you a chance to fix things first.

Sections that by their nature should survive termination (your content license wind-down, disclaimers, liability limits, governing law) survive.

10. The Service may change

BookLoop is young and growing. Features may be added, changed, or retired, and the Service may occasionally be unavailable while we tend to it. If we make a change that materially reduces core functionality you rely on, we'll give reasonable notice where practicable.

11. Disclaimers

Affiliate links and third-party stores. The Service may display links to purchase books from third-party retailers (for example Amazon, Bookshop.org, or Libro.fm). BookLoop may earn a commission on qualifying purchases made through those links, at no additional cost to you. Retailers are independent of BookLoop: your purchase is solely between you and the retailer and subject to the retailer's terms, and we are not responsible for retailer websites, pricing, availability, fulfillment, or products.

THE SERVICE IS PROVIDED "AS IS" AND "AS AVAILABLE," WITHOUT WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, TITLE, AND NON-INFRINGEMENT. WE DO NOT WARRANT THAT THE SERVICE WILL BE UNINTERRUPTED, ERROR-FREE, OR THAT SPOILER LOCKS WILL CATCH EVERY SPOILER (THOUGH WE TRY VERY HARD). SOME JURISDICTIONS DO NOT ALLOW CERTAIN WARRANTY EXCLUSIONS, SO SOME OF THE ABOVE MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU.

12. Limitation of liability

TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, BOOKLOOP AND ITS OFFICERS, EMPLOYEES, AND AGENTS WILL NOT BE LIABLE FOR ANY INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES, OR ANY LOSS OF DATA, GOODWILL, OR PROFITS, ARISING FROM OR RELATING TO YOUR USE OF THE SERVICE. OUR TOTAL LIABILITY FOR ALL CLAIMS RELATING TO THE SERVICE WILL NOT EXCEED THE GREATER OF (A) THE AMOUNTS YOU PAID US IN THE TWELVE MONTHS BEFORE THE CLAIM AROSE, OR (B) FIFTY US DOLLARS (US $50). THESE LIMITS DO NOT APPLY WHERE PROHIBITED BY LAW, AND NOTHING IN THESE TERMS LIMITS LIABILITY FOR GROSS NEGLIGENCE, WILLFUL MISCONDUCT, OR ANY LIABILITY THAT CANNOT LAWFULLY BE LIMITED.

13. Indemnity

If you use the Service in violation of these Terms or the law and it results in a third-party claim against us, you agree to indemnify us for the resulting losses, costs, and reasonable attorneys' fees, to the extent permitted by applicable law.

14. Governing law and disputes

These Terms are governed by the laws of the State of Wisconsin, USA, without regard to conflict-of-law principles. Courts located in Wisconsin have exclusive jurisdiction over disputes arising from these Terms or the Service, and each party consents to their jurisdiction — except that either party may bring qualifying claims in small-claims court, and nothing here deprives consumers of mandatory protections of the law of their place of residence.

15. Changes to these Terms

We may update these Terms as the Service evolves. For material changes we will give you at least 14 days' notice in the app or by email before they take effect. Continuing to use BookLoop after the effective date means you accept the updated Terms; if you don't, you may delete your account.

16. The boring-but-important bits

  • If any provision of these Terms is found unenforceable, the rest remain in effect.
  • Our failure to enforce a provision is not a waiver of it.
  • You may not assign these Terms; we may assign them as part of a merger, acquisition, or sale of assets, with notice to you.
  • These Terms (with the Privacy Policy) are the entire agreement between you and us regarding the Service.

17. Contact

Questions about these Terms? Write to hello@bookloop.app. We answer like people, not like Section 12.