Privacy Policy

Last updated: May 3, 2026

Manga Vault ("we," "our," or "us") is committed to protecting your privacy. This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, disclose, and safeguard your information when you use our mobile application.

1. Information We Collect

Information You Provide

  • Account Information: When you create an account, we collect your email address and password.
  • Date of Birth: Required at signup to verify you meet the App Store's 17+ age requirement and applicable global child-safety regulations. See Section 7 for how we use this information.
  • Profile Information: You may choose to provide a display name, avatar image, and other profile details.
  • Collection Data: Information about manga volumes you add to your collection, including titles, ISBNs, reading status, condition, and personal notes.
  • Social Features: Friend connections, friend codes, and interactions with other users.

Information Collected Automatically

  • Device Information: Device type, operating system version, and unique device identifiers.
  • Usage Data: App features used, actions taken, time spent in the app, and crash reports.
  • Camera Data: When you use barcode scanning, camera access is required. We do not store photos or video; we only process barcode data to identify manga volumes.

2. How We Use Your Information

We use your information to:

  • Provide, maintain, and improve the Manga Vault app
  • Process and sync your manga collection across devices
  • Enable social features like friend connections and collection sharing
  • Send important notifications about your account or the service
  • Analyze usage patterns to improve user experience
  • Respond to your requests and support inquiries
  • Protect against fraudulent or unauthorized activity

3. Data Storage and Security

Your data is stored securely using Amazon Web Services (AWS):

  • Authentication: AWS Cognito for secure user authentication
  • Database: AWS DynamoDB for collection and profile data
  • File Storage: AWS S3 for avatar images

We implement industry-standard security measures including encryption in transit (TLS/SSL) and at rest. However, no method of electronic transmission or storage is 100% secure.

4. Data Sharing

We do not sell your personal information. We may share data in the following circumstances:

  • With Your Consent: When you choose to share your collection or profile with friends.
  • Service Providers: Third-party services that help us operate the app (e.g., AWS, analytics providers).
  • Legal Requirements: When required by law or to protect our rights.
  • Business Transfers: In connection with a merger, acquisition, or sale of assets.

5. Your Privacy Controls

Manga Vault provides privacy settings that let you control:

  • Whether friends can see your collection statistics
  • Whether friends can see your collection value
  • Whether friends can see your top series
  • Whether friends can see your achievements
  • Whether friends can view your full collection

You can adjust these settings at any time in the app's Settings menu.

6. Data Retention and Deletion

We retain your data for as long as your account is active. You can delete your account and all associated data at any time through the app's Settings menu. Upon account deletion:

  • Your profile and collection data will be permanently deleted from our servers
  • Your authentication credentials will be removed
  • Any avatar images will be deleted from our storage

Some data may be retained in backups for a limited period or as required by law.

7. Age Verification and Children's Privacy

Manga Vault is rated 17+ on the App Store. We do not allow users under 17 to create accounts.

Date of Birth Collection

We collect a date of birth from every account at signup, regardless of whether you sign up with email and password, Sign in with Apple, or Continue with Google. Date of birth is used solely to verify age and is stored securely on the user's account record. Once set, the date of birth is immutable; changing it requires a re-verification process. We do not share date of birth with third parties.

Age verification is enforced server-side. For email/password sign-ups, our authentication infrastructure validates the date of birth before account creation completes; sign-up attempts that result in a computed age below 17 are rejected at that stage and no account is created. For Apple and Google sign-in, where the provider does not pass a date of birth to us, we collect the date of birth in a one-step screen immediately after authentication completes; if the resulting age is below 17, the account is automatically deleted from our authentication system before any further data is collected.

This approach complies with the App Store's 17+ age-rating requirement and the following global child-safety regulations: the U.K. Age Appropriate Design Code (Children's Code), the EU General Data Protection Regulation Article 8, the California Age-Appropriate Design Code Act, and Australia's restrictions on under-16 access to social-media-style services.

Children Under 13

We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. Our 17+ age gate prevents account creation by anyone reporting an age below 17. If you are a parent or guardian and believe a child has provided us with personal information, please contact us at privacy@mangavault.app and we will promptly delete the associated account and data.

Mature Content Tracking

Some manga titles in our catalog are flagged as adult content (for example, titles published under adult-only imprints such as Seven Seas Ghost Ship or Fantagraphics' adult line). To track these titles, users 18 years of age or older may opt into the "Show mature content" toggle in Settings. To enable the toggle:

  1. The user must have a date of birth on file showing they are 18 or older. Users without a date of birth on file, or under 18, do not see the toggle.
  2. The user must explicitly acknowledge "I am 18 years of age or older" via an in-app modal on first enable.
  3. Our server independently re-validates date-of-birth-derived age before accepting the change.

Even when this toggle is enabled, cover art for adult-flagged titles is replaced with a generic placeholder image on our servers. Real cover imagery for adult-flagged titles is never delivered to the Manga Vault app. The toggle controls visibility of metadata (title, publisher, volume number, ISBN) only; the actual cover art remains placeholder-only at all times.

When viewing another user's public profile (at u.mangavault.app/<username>), adult-flagged items in the profile owner's collection are filtered based on the viewer's preference, not the owner's. Anonymous viewers and viewers without the toggle enabled never see adult-flagged items in another user's collection.

8. Third-Party Services

Our app may use third-party services for:

  • ISBN/Metadata Lookup: ISBNdb, Google Books API, and Open Library to retrieve manga information
  • Analytics: To understand app usage and improve our service

These services have their own privacy policies governing their use of your data.

9. International Data Transfers

Your data may be transferred to and processed in countries other than your own, including the United States where our servers are located. We ensure appropriate safeguards are in place for such transfers.

10. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. We will notify you of any changes by posting the new policy in the app and updating the "Last updated" date. Your continued use of the app after changes constitutes acceptance of the updated policy.

11. Contact Us

If you have questions about this Privacy Policy or our data practices, please contact us at:

Email: privacy@mangavault.app