Last updated: 6 September 2026

These terms apply to the BookGate iPhone app and to this website at bookgate.app. Using either means you accept them. If you do not accept them, do not use them.

What BookGate is not

This section comes first because it matters more than the rest.

BookGate is a habit tool. It is not a security product, a parental control, a medical device or a safety system. In particular:

The alarm may not ring. It depends on iOS, on the device being switched on and charged, and on permissions you are free to withdraw. Never use BookGate as your only alarm for anything that matters.
The app blocking can be ended by you at any moment, by design. It is a gate you agreed to, not a lock. It is not parental control, and it is not a restriction anyone else can impose on you or that you can impose on another person.
App shielding depends on Apple’s Screen Time and Family Controls frameworks, which Apple can change or withdraw without notice. A future iOS release may change what shielding does, or stop it working.
It is not treatment. If phone use, sleep or attention is causing you real distress, please speak to a professional. An app is not a substitute for that.

Who these terms are with

BookGate is made and published by Collin Arumai Harinath Mendons Jeyaseelan, an independent developer based in Switzerland (“I”, “me”, “my”). Contact: hello@bookgate.app.

Apple distributes BookGate through the App Store. Apple is not a party to these terms, is not responsible for BookGate, and has no obligation to provide any support or maintenance for it. Apple and its subsidiaries are third-party beneficiaries of these terms and may enforce them against you.

What you need to run it

BookGate requires an iPhone running iOS 26 or later, an Apple Account able to make purchases, and — for the app-shielding feature only — Screen Time authorisation. Declining any permission disables the feature that needs it and nothing else.

Licence

Your use of BookGate is licensed to you, not sold. The licence is governed by Apple’s Licensed Application End User Licence Agreement (the “standard EULA”), which applies in full, together with the additional BookGate-specific terms on this page. Where this page and the standard EULA genuinely conflict, the standard EULA wins.

That licence is personal, non-transferable and non-exclusive, and covers Apple devices you own or control. You agree not to reverse-engineer, decompile, resell, redistribute or sublicense the app, and not to use it in a way that breaks the law where you are.

Subscriptions, trial and billing

Eligible new subscribers get a three-day free trial, once. If you have already used a trial in this subscription group you are not offered another, and the app will not claim otherwise.
After the trial, BookGate requires a paid subscription. There is no permanently free tier.
Monthly and yearly plans are available. The price displayed by the App Store in your local currency, including applicable taxes, is the price that applies. You see it before confirming the subscription.
The subscription renews automatically unless you cancel at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. Your Apple Account is charged within 24 hours before each renewal.
Cancel at least 24 hours before the free trial ends and you are not charged. Cancelling inside that final 24 hours may not stop the first payment, because Apple begins processing it before the trial is up.
Cancel in your Apple Account subscription settings. Deleting the app does not cancel the subscription. Cancelling stops the next charge; it does not shorten a period you have paid for.
Refunds are handled by Apple under its own policy. I am not the merchant of record, cannot issue a refund and cannot refuse one. Requests go to Apple.
I may change prices. A change never applies to a period already paid for, and Apple will tell you before it takes effect.
If the subscription lapses, nothing on your device is deleted — your books, journal photos, recordings and streak stay exactly where they are. But BookGate is not usable without an active subscription: a paywall covers the app until you resubscribe, so that content is kept rather than reachable. Resubscribing restores access to all of it. A session or an alarm already in progress is never interrupted by the paywall.

Your content

The photographs, recordings, books and notes you create in BookGate are yours. They stay on your device. I never receive them, cannot access them, and claim no rights over them. The anonymous usage statistics described in the privacy policy never include any of it.

You are responsible for what you record and for backing up your device. Because I never hold a copy, I cannot recover anything you lose. If you delete the app or lose the device, recovery depends entirely on whether the content is included in your own device backup.

Acceptable use

Do not resell or redistribute the app, share a subscription outside Apple’s own Family Sharing rules, circumvent the subscription, or use BookGate to restrict another person’s device.

Age

You must be old enough to enter a contract where you live, or have an adult manage the subscription for you. BookGate is not directed at children.

Availability

BookGate is provided “as is” and “as available”, to the fullest extent the law where you live allows. I do not warrant that it will be uninterrupted, error-free, or compatible with every future version of iOS. I may change, suspend or discontinue features — including where Apple changes a framework BookGate depends on.

Nothing here removes rights you have as a consumer that cannot be removed by agreement.

The website

The site’s text, design and images are mine or used with permission. You may quote and link to them with attribution. You may not republish them wholesale or present them as your own.

Any comparison of other apps reflects my understanding at the date shown. Other companies’ names and trade marks belong to them, and mentioning a product is neither an endorsement nor a partnership.

Ending these terms

You can stop using BookGate at any time. Deleting the app does not cancel the subscription, so cancel it separately in your Apple Account settings if you do not want it to renew. Your licence may end if you breach these terms or the standard EULA. Anything already paid for remains subject to Apple’s refund policy.

Limitation of liability

To the fullest extent the law allows, I am not liable for any indirect, incidental or consequential loss arising from your use of BookGate — including a missed alarm, a reading session that did not start, a shielded app you needed, or any content you lost. Where liability cannot be excluded, it is limited to the amount you paid for BookGate in the twelve months before the claim.

Nothing here limits liability for death or personal injury caused by negligence, for fraud, or for anything else that cannot be limited by law.

If part of these terms fails

If any part of these terms is found unenforceable, the rest stays in force. Not enforcing a term on one occasion does not waive it. You may not transfer these terms to anyone else; I may transfer them if BookGate changes hands, and your rights are unaffected.

Governing law

These terms are governed by Swiss law, and the ordinary courts at my domicile in Switzerland have jurisdiction.

If you are a consumer in the EU or the UK, this does not take away the protection of the mandatory consumer law of the country you live in, and you may bring a claim in your own local courts.

Changes to these terms

If these terms change, the date at the top changes. Where required, material changes will receive additional notice or require your acceptance before they take effect.

Contact

hello@bookgate.app