Pikeworks
Terms of use
Last updated 5 October 2026.
The short version: the app is free and has no adverts, there's a tip jar if you'd like to use it and a tip unlocks nothing, your library lives on your phone, and an account and Social are optional.
The agreement
Book Vault is an app made by Pikeworks, a sole trader in Northern Ireland. By installing it you agree to these terms. If you don't, please uninstall it.
What you get
The whole app is free to use. There's no subscription and nothing is locked. You can use it on any device you own. You can't sell it, take it apart to pass off as your own, or use it to break the law.
Tips
The tip jar in Settings takes an optional one-off tip through Google Play or the App Store. A tip is a thank you: it unlocks nothing, and the app works the same whether you leave one or not. The store takes the payment and its own terms apply to it. Refunds are the store's to give, and your rights as a consumer are unaffected.
Book details
Titles, authors, page counts, descriptions, editions and covers come from Open Library, Libris and Google Books, and series and their numbers from Wikidata. They're usually right and sometimes aren't. If you own the rights to something shown from Google Books and want it removed, write to bookvault@pikeworks.co.uk. Everything about a book in your library can be changed with Edit details, and a cover can be swapped for a photo of your own copy.
Your library
Everything you add is kept on your phone. Settings has Back up to a file, Restore from a backup, Export a spreadsheet and Import from Goodreads or StoryGraph, and all of them are free and always will be. Charging someone to get their own records out would be a poor way to behave.
Your Pikeworks account
You don't need an account to use Book Vault. If you make one, it's one sign-in for every Vault app, and it isn't for anyone under 13. Keep your way of signing in to yourself: don't share your password or a sign-in code, and sign out of the app when you finish on a phone you share. You can delete the account at any time, in the app or from the delete page, and your library on your phone stays where it is.
An account used to get round a block or a suspension, to pretend to be someone else, or to attack or overload the service can be closed.
Social, if you sign in
Social needs a Pikeworks account, and the app works fully without it. The community rules are part of these terms. The app asks you to agree to them before you choose a handle, and again whenever they change. They say what isn't allowed, how Block and Report work, what happens when something breaks them, and how to ask for a second look.
What you share stays yours. By sharing it you let Pikeworks store it and show it to whoever you've chosen can see your books, which is anyone signed in if you are public, for as long as it's shared, and only to run Social. You can delete anything you've shared at any time.
If something you share breaks the rules, it can be taken down, and friends can be switched off for your account for 7 days, 30 days or for good. Your own library, and the rest of the app, aren't touched. If you think a decision was wrong, the rules say how to ask for it to be looked at again, and you keep your right to take it to court.
Availability and liability
The app is provided as it is. Searching and covers come from these catalogues, which can be slow or unavailable, and your library carries on working without them. Nothing in these terms limits liability that can't be limited by law, and your statutory rights as a consumer aren't affected. Beyond that, and as far as the law allows, Pikeworks isn't liable for indirect or consequential loss, lost data or lost records, and any liability is limited to what you've paid in tips in the twelve months before the claim.
Law
These terms are governed by the law of Northern Ireland, and its courts have jurisdiction. If you live elsewhere in the United Kingdom or in the EU, you keep the protections of your own local law.
Getting in touch
Email bookvault@pikeworks.co.uk.