Why your flipbook should not track your readers

Most document tools measure everything they can. Who opened it, from where, on what device, how many times, and which sentences they lingered on. It is usually sold as insight. It is also a record of people who never agreed to be watched.

We took a different view when we built FlipbookIQ, and it is worth explaining, because it affects what you can promise your own readers.

What we count

By default, one thing: how many times each flipbook was opened, by the hour. That is the whole record. We do not store a reader's IP address, browser, device or location, we set no analytics or advertising cookies, and we cannot tell you who read a flipbook.

What you can switch on

If you want to know which pages get read, you can switch on page attention. It is off until you do, and readers see a small note saying it is on.

It works like this. While a reader has the flipbook open, their own browser keeps running totals of how long each page was in front of them, how many times it was zoomed, and which cells of a coarse grid were tapped. When they leave, the browser sends those totals once, and we add them into a sum for that page on that day. No name, email, IP address or cookie is sent or stored, and there is no row that is one person.

You see the result only after ten visits. That minimum matters: a number about three people is a number about those three people. Below ten, you are told how many more visits are needed and shown nothing else.

What we refuse to do

We do not offer heatmaps tied to a person, lead scores built from how someone reads, or watermarks that identify each reader. Those are the features that turn a document into surveillance, and once readers suspect it, they stop trusting what you send.

Where a reader is asked for something

There are a few things a reader can choose to do, each of which you switch on and each of which tells the reader what you will see before they send anything:

• Give an email to open a flipbook, if you use the email gate.
• Report a problem on a page, with an email only if they want a reply.
• Confirm they have read a document, with their name and email.

In every case it is a deliberate act with the facts on the screen. A reader who does none of those is never recorded.

Why this is good for you

• It is easier to explain. Your privacy notice for a flipbook can be short, because there is little to disclose.
• It is easier to approve. A flipbook with no reader tracking passes a procurement or legal review that a tracking tool would stall in.
• It keeps trust. The people reading your handbook or your price list are customers and colleagues. They notice when a document watches them.

You still learn what you need: how often it is opened, which pages hold attention, where readers get confused because they tell you, and who has confirmed they read the policy. You just learn it without watching anyone.

Read the exact wording in our privacy notice.