What shelf keeps, where, and who sees it. Updated 19 October 2026.
The short version
shelf keeps your shelf on your phone, or in your browser if you use the web app. There is no account. We do not sell data, show ads or track you.
What stays on your device
Everything you save, your notes, your lists, your pictures and your location if you allow it. It is in one file on your phone, or in your browser's storage on the web. Delete the app, or clear the site's data, and it is gone.
What we send to our server, and why
When you save a link, a caption or a screenshot, it goes to our server once so shelf can work out what it is: a book, a restaurant, a film. The server sends the answer back and does not keep what you saved. It does keep the facts it looked up, for example a film's year and director, so the next lookup of that film is faster; those facts are not linked to you. Our host keeps short request logs for running the service; a log line can include the link you saved.
Who else sees it
To read what you saved, the server can ask: Anthropic (an AI model that reads the caption or the picture), The Movie Database, Open Library, Google Places, OpenStreetMap, Wikidata, Foursquare, and the web page itself. They get the words or the picture of that one save. They do not get your name, because we do not have it.
When you share
If you make a share link for a shelf, a list or one thing, a copy of just that is stored on our server so the link works. Anyone with the link can see it. Turn the link off in the app and that copy is deleted.
The browser extension
It sends the address of the page you save, and the text you selected, to the shelf web app. It does not read pages, does not see your history and makes no other request.
Children
shelf is not made for children under 13 and does not knowingly collect anything from them.
Changes and questions
If this changes, this page changes, with the date. Questions: [email protected].