Terms & Conditions

Operator: The Vaulted Studio LLC
Service: The Vaulted Spine
Public support contact: support@vaultedstudio.com
Effective date: October 12, 2026
Last updated: October 12, 2026

1. Agreement to these Terms

These Terms govern access to and use of The Vaulted Spine application and related services operated by The Vaulted Studio LLC (collectively, the “Service”). A reader must agree to the current applicable version of these Terms when agreement is required to create or continue an account.

The Privacy Policy explains how personal information is handled. Acknowledging the Privacy Policy is separate from agreeing to optional processing such as marketing or research participation.

2. Eligibility and age

The Vaulted Spine is intended for account holders age 16 and older. A date of birth is required during registration so the Service can determine age eligibility and apply age-appropriate protections. Date of birth is private account information and is not displayed to other readers by default.

A person under 16 may not create or maintain an account. Readers who are 16 or 17 may use the Service subject to additional privacy and safety protections. When a protected reader turns 18, age-based restrictions may expire, but existing privacy choices will not automatically be changed to less-private settings.

Where the law of a reader's place of residence imposes additional requirements for minors or young people, those requirements may also apply.

3. Accounts and account security

Readers must provide accurate registration information and are responsible for safeguarding credentials and activity under their account. If the Service offers sign-in through an external identity provider, use of that provider does not bypass The Vaulted Spine eligibility, legal-acceptance, privacy, or onboarding requirements.

The Vaulted Studio may take reasonable steps to protect account security, investigate suspicious access, require verification, revoke sessions, or restrict access when necessary.

4. The personal library and private records

The Vaulted Spine is designed to let readers maintain personal collection and reading records. Personal Library/TBR information, private journal material, private notes and annotations, reading records, private edition information, and reader-uploaded edition photography are treated as private except where the reader deliberately uses a sharing feature or a clearly selected privacy setting makes particular information visible.

A reader's Edition records and reader-uploaded Edition media are private records and are not part of the Public Reader Profile unless The Vaulted Spine later provides a separate sharing control that the reader deliberately chooses.

5. Reader-created content and ownership

Readers retain ownership of original content they create and upload to the Service, subject to rights that may belong to third parties in underlying works.

By providing content to The Vaulted Spine, a reader grants The Vaulted Studio a limited, non-exclusive license to host, store, process, reproduce technically necessary copies, resize/crop/optimize media, create thumbnails, transmit, back up, and display that content only as reasonably necessary to operate, secure, moderate, and provide the features the reader has chosen and to comply with law.

The Vaulted Studio does not claim ownership of reader-uploaded Edition photographs merely because they are uploaded. The Vaulted Studio does not sell those photographs as The Vaulted Studio's own photographic assets. Edition photographs may be processed into smaller thumbnails or other technical derivatives to identify and represent the reader's particular Edition within the Service.

Readers must have the rights or permission reasonably necessary to upload content and allow the Service to process it as described in these Terms.

6. Community content and Book Clubs

Content intentionally posted into a shared Book Club or other community surface is visible according to that surface's audience and membership rules. Readers should understand that shared contributions are different from private Library or Journal records.

Club Owners and designated Club Moderators may exercise Club-level moderation authority through the tools provided by the Service. Depending on implemented permissions, this may include enforcing Club rules, managing participation, moderating Club discussions or replies, and reporting suspected harassment, abuse, threats, spam, impersonation, illegal activity, or other violations to The Vaulted Studio.

Club Owners and Moderators act within their Club permissions and do not act on behalf of The Vaulted Studio LLC. They cannot make final platform-level account decisions unless separately authorized as The Vaulted Studio personnel.

A report is information for review and does not by itself establish that the reported reader or content violated these Terms.

7. Platform moderation and enforcement

The Vaulted Studio retains final authority over platform accounts and use of the Service. Depending on the nature, severity, history, and urgency of a matter, The Vaulted Studio may use proportionate measures including warnings, content moderation, feature or participation restrictions, suspension, Club-related action, or account termination.

The Vaulted Studio may act without advance notice when reasonably necessary for safety, security, fraud prevention, serious harassment or abuse, legal compliance, protection of others, or other circumstances in which advance notice would be inappropriate or could increase risk.

The Service may provide a support or appeal path for significant platform enforcement decisions. An appeal provides an opportunity for review and does not guarantee reversal.

8. Prohibited conduct

Readers may not use the Service to violate law or the rights of others; harass, threaten, exploit, impersonate, defraud, or abuse others; distribute malware or interfere with Service security; spam or manipulate community systems; evade legitimate account restrictions; upload content they do not have sufficient rights to provide; or use the Service in another manner that materially threatens readers, the Service, or third parties.

Additional Community Guidelines may describe these expectations in more detail and may be incorporated into the Service rules.

9. Shared content after account deletion

Permanent account deletion removes or anonymizes personal account data according to the Privacy Policy and applicable retention requirements. Content deliberately contributed to a shared community conversation, such as certain Book Club discussions or replies, may remain where appropriate so that other readers' conversations are not destroyed. Where retained after deletion, the Service may disassociate or anonymize the contribution, for example by identifying the author as “Deleted Reader.”

Private Library, TBR, Edition, Edition-media, Journal, and comparable personal records are not converted into anonymous community content merely because an account is deleted.

10. Collection exports

The Service may provide tools for readers to export eligible collection and account information. The categories available in a product export may vary by the export options provided in the Service.

A Collection Inventory or similar report is a record assembled from information available in the reader's account. It is not an appraisal, insurance valuation, authenticity certification, guarantee of ownership, or guarantee that an insurer or other third party will accept the record for a particular purpose.

Formal rights to access or receive personal information under applicable privacy law may extend beyond the convenience export described here and are handled separately.

11. Book, catalog, and third-party information

The Vaulted Spine may display book titles, authors, ISBNs, publication information, descriptions, cover images, publisher information, vendor/provider information, and other catalog data originating from third-party services, publishers, rights holders, users, or other sources. Applicable rights remain with their respective owners.

Catalog information may be incomplete, duplicated, outdated, or inaccurate. The Service may provide ways to report incorrect information or rights concerns.

11A. Retailer links and affiliate relationships

The Service may provide reader-initiated links to third-party retailers. The Vaulted Spine may earn a commission from qualifying purchases made through retailer links, at no additional cost to the reader.

Opening a retailer link takes the reader to a third-party service. Purchases, payment processing, shipping, returns, refunds, inventory, taxes, and the retailer's or affiliate network's privacy and cookie practices are governed by the applicable third party.

Affiliate status does not determine whether a retailer may be shown to readers, and display of a retailer does not by itself mean that retailer sponsors or endorses The Vaulted Spine. Affiliate links are reader-initiated and may include limited attribution information required by the applicable affiliate program.

12. Logos, trademarks, and brand identification

The Vaulted Spine may display logos, names, or other brand identifiers of publishers, retailers, book-subscription/book-box companies, vendors, or other organizations to help readers identify the company or provider associated with a record, subscription, Edition, order, or other feature.

Unless expressly stated, such identification does not mean the third party sponsors, endorses, partners with, or is affiliated with The Vaulted Spine or The Vaulted Studio LLC.

The Vaulted Studio maintains records of permissions and usage restrictions where permission is obtained. A rights holder who believes a logo, trademark, image, or other protected material should not appear in the Service may contact support@vaultedstudio.com for review. A request initiates review and does not by itself determine infringement or require a particular outcome where applicable law permits continued use.

13. Copyright and other rights complaints

The Vaulted Studio accepts reports concerning copyright, trademark, and other intellectual-property concerns through the support contact listed in these Terms and may request information reasonably necessary to evaluate a report.

The Vaulted Studio may remove or restrict access to material while reviewing a rights complaint and may take action against repeated or serious violations as permitted or required by law.

14. Subscriptions and paid features

The Vaulted Spine may offer free and paid features. When a paid subscription is offered through an application marketplace, the applicable marketplace purchase screen provides the price, billing period, renewal terms, and other purchase information before confirmation.

Where a subscription automatically renews, it continues until canceled in accordance with the applicable marketplace and disclosed purchase terms. Canceling a subscription ordinarily prevents a future renewal and does not by itself deactivate or delete a Vaulted Spine account. Access to paid benefits may continue through the period already purchased, subject to applicable marketplace rules and law.

Marketplace purchases and refunds may also be governed by the applicable marketplace's terms, processes, and mandatory consumer law. The Vaulted Studio does not waive non-waivable consumer rights.

The Vaulted Spine may use supported application marketplaces or other authorized purchase channels where permitted.

Free, Premium, and Founder membership may change feature access and usage limits, but membership status does not reduce baseline privacy, safety, legal, account-recovery, or reader-data-access protections.

15. Service changes and availability

The Vaulted Studio may maintain, update, add, modify, or discontinue features as the Service develops. Changes affecting paid services will be handled subject to applicable law and the commitments made for the applicable purchase period. The Vaulted Studio does not promise uninterrupted or error-free availability.

16. Deactivation and permanent deletion

A reader may deactivate an account. The recovery period is 90 days. During that period the account is inactive and appropriate public presence is hidden, while account data is retained for potential reactivation. A valid sign-in during the recovery period reactivates the account and cancels pending automatic deletion. If the account remains deactivated through the recovery period, permanent deletion is finalized.

A reader may instead request permanent deletion directly from Account Settings. Access ends immediately and deletion is scheduled seven days after the request. Deleting a Vaulted Spine account does not itself cancel an App Store or Google Play subscription; marketplace subscriptions must be managed through the applicable marketplace account.

Permanent deletion removes the account and associated personal data subject to the limited retention exceptions described in the Privacy Policy, including information reasonably required for legal, security, fraud-prevention, financial, dispute, or moderation purposes and temporary residual backups.

17. Privacy and data use

The Privacy Policy describes the information The Vaulted Spine processes and the purposes for which it is used. The Vaulted Studio's product policy is not to sell reader personal data or reader-uploaded images as its own assets, not to use private reading activity for targeted behavioral advertising, and not to use private journals, notes, quotes, Edition photographs, or comparable private reader content to train general-purpose AI models.

The Service may use necessary operational/security telemetry and appropriately aggregated or de-identified information to operate, secure, understand, and improve the Service, subject to the Privacy Policy and applicable law.

18. Suspension, termination, and retained evidence

Account termination does not require The Vaulted Studio to erase information that it is legally required or legitimately permitted to retain for a defined purpose. Retained moderation/safety evidence should be limited to what is reasonably necessary for the relevant purpose rather than preserving unrelated private account content.

19. Changes to these Terms

The Terms are versioned. The Vaulted Studio may update them as the Service, law, or business practices change. Readers will receive appropriate notice of material changes, and renewed affirmative acceptance may be required where appropriate or legally required. Acceptance history may be retained as described in the Privacy Policy.

20. Governing law and disputes

These Terms are governed by applicable law. Nothing in these Terms limits consumer rights that cannot lawfully be waived or restricted.

If a dispute cannot be resolved through support, either party may use a court or other dispute-resolution process that has jurisdiction under applicable law. The parties remain responsible for any rights or obligations that applicable law requires regardless of these Terms.

21. Contact

Questions about The Vaulted Spine may be sent to:

The Vaulted Studio LLC
The Vaulted Spine Support
support@vaultedstudio.com

The Vaulted Studio's separate administrative business address is admin@thevaultedstudio.dev and is not intended to replace the reader-facing support route.