Security and your data
How we keep your words safe
A book can take years. Here is, in plain words, how Author Sweets looks after the work while you write it: where it is saved, how it is backed up, who can see it, and how to take it with you or delete it.
Saved as you type, even offline
The first copy of your work is the one closest to you.
- Every word saves as you type, and keeps saving when the connection drops. Your changes sync when it returns.
- Your browser keeps a copy of the books you have opened, so they keep working with no connection at all.
- A few actions need a connection because they check your plan: creating a book, copying one, and bringing one back from the trash.
Every draft, kept
Mistakes happen while revising. Going back should be easy.
- Automatic versions are taken as you write, on every plan, and you can compare any two word by word.
- Saving a version yourself and restoring any version come with Scribe and above.
- A deleted book goes to the trash, where you can restore it for 30 days before it is removed.
Backed up behind the scenes
If something goes wrong on our side, we can recover.
- The database that holds your books is backed up every day, and each backup is kept for seven days.
- We can also recover the database as it was at any minute of the last seven days, and it is protected against being deleted by mistake.
- Backups are encrypted and kept only to recover from a fault. They are never used to bring back an account you deleted.
- We rehearse restoring a backup into a separate database and check its contents against the live one.
Take everything with you
No software should be the only copy of your book, ours included.
- Download my data, in Account, gives you every book as JSON plus the files you uploaded, on every plan. You can do it three times a day.
- Markdown, plain text and web page exports work on every plan, and nothing is deleted when a paid plan ends.
- We suggest keeping your own copy now and then: the terms ask the same, because no single place should hold the only one.
Delete means delete
Leaving should be as easy as arriving.
- Delete account, in Account, removes your books, files and account record and cancels any subscription at once. You are asked to sign in again first, so that it is really you asking.
- Deleted data may stay in the encrypted database backups for up to seven days, after which those backups expire on their own.
- Billing records are kept for as long as tax and accounting law requires, even after an account closes.
Who can see your work
Your books are private until you choose to share them.
- Access to your data is enforced by security rules on the server, not by the screens of the app, and any change to those rules is tested before it is deployed.
- Traffic is encrypted in transit, and the credentials our servers use are kept in Google Secret Manager, not in the app.
- We do not read your manuscript, except when you ask us to help with a specific problem and give us permission to look.
- Share links are read-only. You can set an expiry, turn comments off and revoke a link at any time.
Keeping out scripts and abuse
Limits keep the service fair and fast for everyone writing in it.
- Firebase App Check, built on Google reCAPTCHA Enterprise, checks that requests come from the real app and not from a script that would create accounts or guess passwords.
- Heavy actions have limits on every plan: at most 20 book exports an hour, 5 print and e-book previews a minute and 30 an hour, and 3 data downloads a day. Reaching one loses nothing; try again once the window has passed.
- The website sends strict security headers, including a content security policy and HTTPS-only (HSTS), and refuses to be framed by other sites.
Payments, handled by Stripe
We never see your card number.
- Checkout is run by Stripe, and paid plans are sold through Link, Stripe’s merchant-of-record service, which charges you, handles sales tax, VAT and GST and sends your receipts.
- Card numbers are handled by Stripe and never reach our servers or your browser’s storage. We receive your subscription’s status, not your card number.
Where your data lives
Mainly in the United States, with named providers.
- Your account, books and files are stored with Google Firebase, in Google Cloud’s United States regions.
- The website is served from a server on Oracle Cloud in the United States, and every request passes through Cloudflare, encrypted, from the data centre nearest you.
- For transfers out of the UK or the EEA we rely on the providers’ Standard Contractual Clauses and the UK Addendum.
What we do not promise
No service is immune to failure or attack, and we will not pretend otherwise. We do not promise a particular uptime, and we may take the service down briefly for maintenance. If a breach affects your data, we will tell you and the relevant regulator as the law requires.
Found a vulnerability? Please write to [email protected]. The privacy notice and the terms of use have the full detail of everything on this page.
Write knowing it is kept
Start with one book, free, with no card. Everything you write saves as you type, and you can take all of it with you whenever you like.