Terms of Use
The short version: SideShelf is free, open-source software that you run against your own Audiobookshelf server. We don't operate a service, host your data, or supply any audiobooks. The app is provided as-is, with no warranty. Use it, fork it, or uninstall it — it's yours to do with as you like under the MIT licence.
1. What you're agreeing to
These terms apply to the SideShelf mobile app for iOS and Android, and to this website. By installing or using the app, you accept them. If you don't, don't install it — and if you've already installed it, uninstalling ends the arrangement completely.
This is a licence for a piece of software, not a contract for a service. SideShelf has no servers, no accounts, and no hosted component. There is no uptime to promise you, because there is nothing running on our end.
2. Licence
SideShelf is open-source software released under the MIT Licence. The full text and complete source code are available in the project repository. That licence governs your rights to use, copy, modify, and redistribute the software, and it grants you considerably more freedom than a typical app's terms would.
Where these terms and the MIT Licence differ on your rights to the software itself, the MIT Licence controls. These terms exist mainly to cover the things a source licence doesn't: your server, your content, and the app-store distribution channel.
3. You need your own server
SideShelf is a client for Audiobookshelf, which you must run and maintain yourself. The app does nothing useful without one.
We don't provide, host, configure, or support an Audiobookshelf server, and we're not responsible for one going down, losing data, or behaving unexpectedly. SideShelf is an independent project and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or supported by the Audiobookshelf project. Questions about the server belong with that project, not with us.
4. Your content is your responsibility
SideShelf ships with no audiobooks, podcasts, or other media, and provides no means of obtaining any. Everything you see in the app comes from a server you control.
You are solely responsible for the content on that server, including having the legal right to store and listen to it. Don't use SideShelf to infringe anyone's copyright. We have no ability to see, moderate, or remove your content, and we accept no responsibility for it.
5. No warranty
The app is provided "as is", without warranty of any kind, express or implied, including but not limited to the warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, and non-infringement. We don't warrant that it will be uninterrupted, error-free, or compatible with any particular server version or device.
Audiobookshelf's own API may change in ways that break the app. Operating systems change. This is a volunteer-maintained project, and things sometimes break.
6. Limitation of liability
To the fullest extent permitted by law, the authors and copyright holders of SideShelf shall not be liable for any claim, damages, or other liability — whether in contract, tort, or otherwise — arising from or in connection with the software or its use. This includes any loss of data, loss of listening progress, storage consumed by downloads, or the cost of substitute software.
Some jurisdictions don't allow the exclusion of certain warranties or liabilities, so parts of the two sections above may not apply to you.
7. Support
There is no support obligation and no service-level commitment. Bug reports and feature requests are welcome as GitHub issues, and are handled on a best-effort basis by people doing this in their spare time.
8. Updates and changes
The app may receive updates automatically, including over-the-air updates delivered outside the app stores. Features may be added, changed, or removed over time, and we may discontinue the project entirely. Because the source is MIT-licensed, you or anyone else can fork and continue it if that happens.
9. Privacy
Our handling of data is described in the Privacy Policy. In brief: we collect nothing, because we operate nothing that could collect it.
10. Apple App Store
If you obtained SideShelf from the Apple App Store, the following applies. This agreement is between you and us alone, not with Apple. Apple is not responsible for the app or its content, and has no obligation to provide maintenance or support for it. If the app fails to conform to any applicable warranty, you may notify Apple, and Apple will refund the purchase price if any — beyond that, Apple has no other warranty obligation whatsoever. Apple is not responsible for addressing any claim by you or a third party relating to the app. Apple and its subsidiaries are third-party beneficiaries of these terms and may enforce them against you.
11. Age
SideShelf is not directed at children under 13, and you should be at least 13 to use it.
12. Changes to these terms
If these terms change, the revised version will be posted here with an updated date. The full revision history is public in the website repository. Continuing to use the app after a change means you accept the revised terms.
13. Contact
Questions about these terms can be raised as an issue on our GitHub repository.