Kobo Books

Is the Kobo app safe?

Yes, for reading. The Kobo Books app sells you eBooks and audiobooks and runs the Kobo Plus subscription, with no chat, no friend lists and no strangers who can reach you. Rakuten Kobo says it has no known data breach, and Apple's privacy label is short. We score it 68/100, a point above Amazon's Kindle (67) and well below the library app Libby (82).

What holds it back is account security, which is basic, and a privacy policy that allows more than the label suggests.

The label is short, the policy is not

Apple's App Store label has no "Data Used to Track You" section. Only four kinds of data are linked to you: your email address, user ID, product interaction and other user content. Search history and crash data are collected without being tied to you.

The privacy policy, updated in October 2026, describes a wider operation. Kobo tracks your reading activity to sync progress and build reading statistics, and it may use what it collects to infer your "preferences, characteristics, predispositions" for recommendations and advertising. Subject to consent or opt-out, it may share your email address with third parties to show you Kobo ads on other sites, and receive data about your activity elsewhere from partners and ad providers. Google Play agrees that app interactions are shared with other companies for advertising.

Kobo also works with retailer partners, including Fnac in France, Spain and Portugal, Bol.com in the Netherlands, Feltrinelli in Italy and Booktopia in Australia. If you came to Kobo through one of them, the policy says the two companies may exchange data about your purchases for marketing, which you can switch off in your account settings. Under our rules, when the policy discloses more than the label, we score the policy, so privacy gets 60.

Users in Canada, the US, the UK, Europe and Brazil control ad and partner sharing at kobo.com/privacy, and Kobo says it honours the Global Privacy Control signal from browsers. Elsewhere, the setting is in the app under "Help Improve our App".

Account security

Kobo's help centre says plainly that "there are no known data breaches on Rakuten Kobo", and Have I Been Pwned lists none. The rest of the picture is thin. We found no two-step login: the help centre gives password tips and says Kobo emails you to change your password when it sees suspicious activity. You can sign up with Google or Facebook instead, which brings their two-step protection.

Kobo has a vulnerability disclosure policy, but reports go to an email address and Kobo "does not offer monetary rewards". It does publish advisories: in July 2026 it warned that older Windows installers for its desktop app could load a malicious file, a flaw that did not affect the phone apps.

What you buy, and what you can delete

As at Amazon, a Kobo purchase is a licence. The privacy policy says you do not own the content and cannot copy or transfer it. On Android you can delete your account from the app's profile screen. Kobo warns this removes every eBook, audiobook, credit and subscription for good, even books bought through partner shops. The policy adds that simply deactivating an account keeps your data, and full deletion needs a request to Kobo.

Inactive accounts can disappear on their own. Kobo deletes accounts with no purchases or connections for over three years, though not those holding paid books or credits.

What readers can find in the store

The App Store rates the app 16+, listing infrequent sexual content, violence, horror and drug references, and the privacy policy sets the same minimum age for an account. There is no chat, so the risk is content rather than contact.

Self-published books are the weak spot, as on every big e-book store. The Bookseller reported in June 2026 that Kobo rejected 45% of submissions to its platform in 2025 after a wave of AI-generated books. Check the author and publisher before you rely on a practical guide.

How to use Kobo more safely

1. Sign in with a Google account protected by two-step verificationTwo-factor authenticationSigning in with a second proof of identity on top of your password, such as a code from an app, a security key or a passkey.More in the glossary, or use a long, unique password.
2. Open kobo.com/privacy and switch off personalised advertising and partner data sharing.
3. Outside those markets, turn off "Help Improve our App" in the app's settings.
4. Sign in at least once every three years if your account holds no purchases you want to keep.
5. Do not delete your account to clear data unless you are ready to lose every book in it.

How we scored it

The regulatory record (85) is Kobo's strongest factor, with no fine or order naming the app. Scams and harmful content (76) is solid because there is no messaging. Privacy (60) is the weakest, since the policy allows ad and partner sharing beyond the short label, and security (66) and transparency and control (66) are held back by the lack of two-step login and of easy deletion on every platform.