Privacy and Troubleshooting

Bindle has no servers, no accounts, and no analytics. What you save stays on your own devices. This chapter says exactly what Bindle connects to and why, then how to fix the problems people run into most.

What Stays on Your Devices

Your library. Links, notes, highlights, tags, collections, reminders, reading places, and Ask conversations are stored on each of your devices and sync only between devices you paired. That traffic is encrypted, and each device proves who it is first. No server or cloud service holds a copy, and iCloud is not used.
What Bindle works out. The search index, search by meaning, text read from images, summaries, tag ideas, and Ask answers are all made on your devices, by models that run on them. Summaries, tag ideas, and Ask use Apple's on-device model. Nothing you type or save is sent anywhere to be processed.
Nothing about you. The developer never receives your links, notes, highlights, reading history, or anything about you or your devices. Bindle has no analytics, advertising, tracking, or crash-reporting code.

What Bindle Connects To

The pages you save. Bindle fetches each page, its images, and its icon, title, and preview so you can read it offline. These requests go straight to the site, with no cookies and no referrer. The site sees them as it would any visit from your device. You can turn off icons and titles with "Fetch site icons and titles" in Settings > Privacy & Debug > Site info. A page's own scripts run only when Bindle cannot find the article without them.
Videos. For a YouTube link, Bindle makes the same kind of request to YouTube's player and caption track for the transcript. While the video is open in the reader, its player loads YouTube's privacy-enhanced embed (youtube-nocookie.com), whose cookies and storage are deleted when it closes.
Sites you sign in to. If you sign in to a site in Settings > Saving & Storage > Site Logins, that site's cookies are kept on this device and sent only to that site. A saved username and password stay in this device's Keychain. None of it syncs, and signing out deletes it.
The welcome link. A new library starts with one Wikipedia article, fetched from en.wikipedia.org like any page you save.
Apple Maps. Searching for a place, or choosing Look Up on an address found in a page, sends the text you typed or the address to Apple Maps. The maps in Nearby and the place editor load Apple Maps tiles while they are shown. Your location itself is never sent.
Model downloads. A natural voice is downloaded once, when you install it, from Hugging Face and GitHub. The search by meaning model (about 23 MB) is downloaded once from Hugging Face while Search by Meaning is on. Bindle also asks the system for Apple's English language models, which the natural voice uses; Apple serves them. Nothing about you or your library is sent with those downloads.
E-readers. With E-Readers on, one of your devices answers your CrossPoint readers on your local network, never over cellular, and announces the readers' name there. Nothing goes beyond your local network.
Your other devices. Sync, handoff, and copies shared between your devices go only between devices in your circle, over your local network or Bluetooth. When you open a link with no copy here, Bindle asks them for theirs before going to the site.
Browser extensions. The Safari and Chrome extensions make no requests. A tab's address goes only to Bindle on the same device.

A link you choose to open, such as Open Website or a link in an article, opens in your browser like any other link.

Permissions

Bindle asks for each of these only when a feature needs it, and uses it only on the device.

Permission	What it is for
Local Network	Finding your other devices on the network and syncing with them, and answering your e-readers when E-Readers is on.
Bluetooth	Syncing with your devices nearby when you share no network, and knowing when one is in range for handoff.
Camera	Scanning a pairing code or a link's QR code, and, only if you turn it on, noticing when you look away so hands-free scrolling can pause. Nothing is recorded.
Microphone	Hearing the pairing sound from your other device, and links sent by sound. Only while you are listening for one.
Location	Showing saved links near you, finding places, and reminders for arriving at or leaving a place. Your location is read on the device and no history is kept.
Motion	Tilt scrolling in the reader, only if you turn it on. On iPhone, telling when you are in a car, only if Simple player is set to While Driving. The shine on book covers follows how you tilt the device, with no permission needed.
Notifications	Ringing reminders, and telling you when a nearby device sent you a link.

Devices Not Syncing

Work through these in order:

Open Bindle on both devices. iPhone and iPad sync in the background only when the system allows it.
Put them on the same network, or close together with Bluetooth on. Some guest and office networks keep devices from seeing each other; Bluetooth still works within range.
Allow Local Network and Bluetooth. If you declined either, turn it on for Bindle in the system's Settings (on the Mac, System Settings) under Privacy & Security. When Local Network is off, Settings shows "No Local Network access" with an Open Settings button, and Bindle says so once over the library. Bindle tries a few more times, then waits; once you allow it, come back to Bindle and it looks for your devices again.
Choose Restart Sync in Settings > Personal circle. It looks for your devices afresh without quitting Bindle.
Check the device's row in Personal circle. "Update Bindle on this device" or "Update Bindle on" another device means one of them needs the newest version before they can sync.
Check for Dormant. A device not heard from for longer than "Mark dormant after" shows Dormant. Choose Keep Waiting if you still use it. When it comes back in reach, it catches up on its own.
Check for the removed banner. If Settings shows "Removed from your circle", this device was removed and will not sync again. To rejoin, delete Bindle, install it again, and pair with a device in the circle.

See Your Devices for more.

Pairing Fails

Use the same network. Pairing happens over your local network, so both devices must be on the same one, with Local Network allowed.
Be quick. A pairing code works once and expires after two minutes. Choose Try Again, then Show Pairing Code for a fresh one.
"Could not reach the other device." The new device could not find the one showing the code. Check the network, then try again.
Pairing by sound. Allow the microphone, and hold the devices close. If it does not work, use the code or paste the link instead.
Scanning. If camera access is off, Bindle says so. Turn it on in the system's Settings, or paste the pairing link.
Codes differ. If the two six-digit codes do not match, choose Codes Differ and start again. Do not pair.

An Offline Copy Is Missing

Open Downloads in Settings > Saving & Storage > Offline reading. It shows whether saving is paused, waiting for Wi-Fi, waiting for power, or has failed.
Paused or waiting for power. Turn off "Pause automatic saving", or choose Download Now. By default, offline copies wait for power; change that in Settings > Device & Circle > Battery.
Failed. The page's row says why. Choose Retry, or Retry All. For a page that is no longer retried, choose Save Offline in the link's details.
Skipped for space. Raise "Space for offline copies", or choose Save on the page.
Only part of the article. The site may need you to sign in. Choose Sign In to This Site from the reader's More menu.
Cellular. Automatic downloads use Wi-Fi only, unless "Also download on cellular" is on. Low Data Mode pauses them.

When you open a link with no copy here, Bindle asks your other devices first, then downloads it. If both fail, choose Open Website.

Reminders Don't Ring

Check "Ring Reminders on This Device" in Settings > Reminders & Places > Reminders. Reminders sync to every device but ring only on the devices where this is on. By default that is your iPhone.
Notifications off. If notifications are off for Bindle, Settings says "Notifications are off for Bindle". Choose Open Notification Settings and allow them.
Place reminders also need location access set to Always.

The Natural Voice Won't Download

Go to Settings > Listening > Voices.

"Waiting to download…" usually means it is waiting for Wi-Fi. Join Wi-Fi, or turn on "Also download on cellular".
If a download failed, the reason is shown. Choose Download, or Retry on a voice, to try again.
Make sure the device has room for the download size shown.

Until the natural voice is ready, Listen uses the system's voices.

Ask Can't Answer Here

Ask's answers are written by Apple Intelligence. On a device without it, or with it turned off, your questions are saved as "Waiting for a device that can answer". A device of yours with Apple Intelligence, such as your Mac, answers them the next time it syncs.

If Ask says "Nothing in your library covers this", no saved article answers the question. Answers come only from offline copies, so a link without one cannot help. If the library is still being indexed, Ask says so; answers get better once indexing finishes, which happens while devices are plugged in.

A Book Won't Import

Bindle reads EPUB books. When one can't be imported, Bindle says why:

Message	What it means
the book is larger than 200 MB	The file is over the size limit.
the file is not an EPUB book	The file is not an EPUB, or is damaged at its start.
the book is protected with DRM	The book is locked to another app or store. Bindle can't open it.
fixed-layout books are not supported yet	The book has fixed pages, such as many comics and picture books.
the book has no chapters	Bindle found nothing to read in it.
the book has too many chapters	The book has more chapters than Bindle can handle.

Books must be on, in Settings > Reading > Books. See Books.

The Debug Screen

The Debug screen shows what Bindle is doing behind the scenes, such as sync logs, the circle, search, link checks, and handoff. It is meant for diagnosing problems, for example when someone helping you asks what it says. You don't need it day to day.

To show it, turn on "Show Debug screen" in Settings > Privacy & Debug > Site info. A Debug row then appears at the end of Settings > Privacy & Debug.

iPhone and iPad: You can also tap the ID in Settings > Device & Circle > This device five times to show or hide it.

Can't Find a Setting

Settings is organized into categories, such as Reading and Saving & Storage, so a setting may not be where an older note or screenshot shows it. The Settings Reference lists every category and the settings on its page.