Contact
Email is Alcove's public support route.
alcove@gradientslabs.comBefore you write
It helps to include what happened, what you expected, the Alcove app version and build, and your iOS version.
Please do not send saved addresses, article titles, Library contents, PDFs, screenshots, logs, account details, Recovery Kits, OAuth credentials, tokens, or other private diagnostics.
What happens to support email
If you email us, Gradients Labs receives your sender address, message, standard email delivery information, and any version, build, iOS version, or other information you choose to include. We use it to respond to and troubleshoot your request. Your email provider and ours carry and store the message under their own terms.
There is no fixed support-email retention period. You can ask us to delete a support conversation at alcove@gradientslabs.com. Copies controlled by your email provider, or retained where required for security or legal reasons, may remain.
Local Library and offline reading
Alcove works locally on this iPhone without an Alcove account. It retrieves saved pages directly from their publishers, so availability and content can depend on those sites. Downloaded articles can be read offline after Alcove reports them ready.
Owned PDFs remain in the Library when you clear Downloads. Deleting a Library item removes that item's local content and reading state.
Back up your Library
Open Settings, choose Export beside Library, then Export backup. The first time, save your Recovery Kit and choose the saved kit to check it. You can then save the encrypted backup through Files.
Choose On My iPhone for a local copy, iCloud Drive if enabled, or a connected storage service. To use Google Drive, install and sign in to its iPhone app, then enable it under Files → Browse → More → Edit. Alcove does not ask you to connect a Google account itself. Your storage provider may ask you to sign in again.
If you choose cloud storage, check Files or your provider's app to confirm the upload has finished. A copy kept only on this phone will not protect you if the phone is lost. Files in Alcove's local folder are removed if you delete Alcove.
Keep your Recovery Kit
You need the matching Recovery Kit to open an encrypted backup when the local key is unavailable. Anyone with both the kit and backup can read the contents. Keep the kit private and, where possible, separate from the backup. You choose where to save it; a cloud provider receives the kit if you save it there.
If Alcove still has the local key, Backup & recovery lets you save another kit copy. If all copies of the matching kit and key are lost, we cannot decrypt that backup.
Restore and readable exports
Choose Restore backup from Import Library, select the file and provide its Recovery Kit if asked. Review the confirmation before restoring. Missing items are added; matching details and reading progress can be replaced. Items deleted after the backup can return. Existing other Library items are not removed.
Backups include saved links, Collections, reading state and original PDFs. Downloaded web articles are not included; they may need to be retrieved from their publishers again. A backup is a manual snapshot, not automatic sync.
Export readable copy creates a complete JSON file without Alcove encryption. Its protection depends on where you store it. Alcove never silently substitutes a readable export or omits PDFs to make an encrypted backup fit. If an export exceeds its supported limit, no partial backup is created.
Older direct-Google backups are hidden from Files. Keep your old Recovery Kit and contact support before removing access if you still need one of those backups. Do not delete app data in Google Drive as a recovery step.
Deleting items
For one item, choose Delete from Library in that item’s menu. For several items, choose Select Items, select the items, then use the Delete action showing the selected count.
Deleting items also removes those items’ downloads and local reading history from this iPhone.