Privacy
Nobody at Thread & Bound can read your chat.
Your messages are yours. We built Thread & Bound so the only way into your book is the private link you get when you start. We don’t keep a copy of that link, so we can’t open your book, and neither could anyone who got hold of our stored files.
The short version
- The zip stays on your device. Only the chat’s text and the photos your book uses are sent.
- They’re locked before they leave. Your browser locks them with a key that only exists in your private link.
- No staff read-through. There’s no admin screen for your chat or drafts. You’re the only editor.
- Deleted when you’re done. Delete everything yourself at any time, or we delete it automatically.
How the lock works
When you start a book, you get a private link. The end of that link, after the #, is a key. Your browser never sends that part to any website, and we don’t save it. Before your chat or photos are uploaded, your browser locks them with that key, using AES-256 encryption.
To write your book, our system needs to read the chat. It can only do that while your link is in use: the key is used in memory, for that job, then forgotten. Everything it saves, from the chapter drafts to the photos, is locked again with the same key.
Who sees what
You
Everything: your chat, photos, drafts and the finished book, through your private link.
Thread & Bound
Your order: name, email, phone, delivery address and how far along the book is. Not your chat, your photos, your drafts or the finished book.
Anthropic (Claude)
The chat’s text and small copies of photos, while the book is being written. Anthropic doesn’t train its AI on this and deletes it within 30 days. Anything its safety systems flag can be kept for up to 2 years.
Lulu, our printer
The finished book you approved, plus your name, address, phone and email, to print and post it.
Stripe
Your card and billing details. We never see your card.
Vercel, our host
Stores the locked files. Without your link they’re unreadable.
Our email provider
Your email address and your link, to send it to you once when you start.
Straight to the printer
When you approve your book, we make the print file: the finished book, exactly as you approved it. It goes straight to Lulu, our printer, without anyone here opening it. Lulu downloads it from a private link that expires, and we delete our copy as soon as they have it.
How long we keep it
- Delete everything from your book’s page, whenever you like.
- If you don’t order, the book is deleted 30 days after you last used it.
- If you do, our copy of the print file is deleted as soon as the printer has it, and everything else 30 days after your book ships, in case a copy arrives damaged.
- Order details (name, address, payment) are kept as long as the law requires for accounts.
If you lose your link
We email it to you once, when you start. Keep that email. We can’t send you a new link, because without the key nobody can open your book, including us.
The other people in your chat
A chat belongs to everyone in it. You can take out any message, photo or person before the book prints. If someone wouldn’t want to be in a book, leave them out, or ask them first.
Questions
Email hello@threadandbound.com. We never train AI on your chat and never sell it.