Carrel

Support

When something in Carrel isn't doing what it should, the answer is usually on a screen the app already has. This page says which one, and how to write to us when it isn't enough.

Last updated 21 September 2026

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Writing to us

Email code@roydsantiago.com.

Carrel has no account, so there is nothing on our side to look you up by. What you write is all we have to go on. It helps to say which iPhone or iPad you use, which version of iOS, and which version of Carrel, which is on the small pill at the very foot of Settings. If the trouble is the block, a screenshot of the Health screen says more than a paragraph could.

The block isn't holding

1. Open Carrel. It checks the block every time it opens, and puts back any shield that should be there. It can't check while it is closed.
2. Look at Health. Open Settings (the gear at the top of Library) and tap Health, under Blocking. The screen has four rows, Permission, Shield, Schedule and Clock and settings, each marked Pass, Check or Fail. When something has failed, the headline reads Nothing is being blocked, and the fix is the first button beneath it. Run a check now, below The record near the foot of the screen, checks again and restarts the schedule if it has stopped.
3. Check the Screen Time permission. If Permission reads Permission not granted, Allow Screen Time asks for it. If iOS doesn't show its sheet, write to us. If it reads Permission revoked, it goes back on in iOS Settings › Screen Time › Apps with Screen Time Access.

Some states look like a failure and are the block doing as it was set. The Shield row says so in words: nothing is blocked while a window is open, after reading or an emergency unlock; outside the hours you chose; while a Focus is letting the apps through; or while blocking is switched off.

Your library isn't on your other device

Carrel keeps your library in step through your own iCloud account. It has no sync switch of its own, so both devices need to be signed in to iCloud with the same Apple Account. The iCloud row in Settings, under Books, says what iCloud last told Carrel: On means it can sync, and anything else comes with a sentence saying why. A new device can take a few minutes to bring a library down, so give it time with Carrel open.

The records travel, and the book files don't. Titles and covers, your place in each book, your highlights, notes and bookmarks, your collections and your reading history all sync. The books' own files stay on the device that has them, so on another device a book can sit on the shelf marked Not on this device. Tap it, and its page offers the way back: Download it again for a free book taken from Discover, or Choose the file for any other, from Files. The classics that come with Carrel put themselves back. Either way, your marks and your place stay with the book.

Restoring a purchase

A purchase belongs to your Apple Account, not to Carrel, which has no account to keep it in. On a new device, or after reinstalling, open Settings and find Purchases, under Carrel. It reads Restore when this device holds nothing: tap it, and Carrel asks the App Store. The same Restore sits at the foot of the sheet that opens when you tap something paid, beside Terms and Privacy.

If the App Store has no purchase of Carrel on the Apple Account it was asked about, Carrel says so. Check that the App Store is signed in with the account that made the purchase. Once it is back, the row reads Lifetime for Carrel+ bought once, or Yearly or Monthly for a subscription, and for a subscription the same row opens Apple's own page for managing or cancelling it.

A book won't open

Carrel reads EPUB, PDF, plain text and CBZ comics. It can't read books with copy protection (DRM), such as those bought from the Kindle or Apple Books stores, and it doesn't yet say so when one is added. It also can't open a PDF locked with a password. For other books that won't open, Carrel says why, under the words This one won't open.

If it says the file isn't on this device, the book's page can put it back, as above. If it says the file is damaged or unusual, the trouble is in the file itself, and a fresh copy from wherever the book came from is the usual cure. A plain text file Carrel can't make sense of will usually open once it is saved again as UTF-8. If none of that helps, write to us, and say where the book came from.

Privacy

What Carrel keeps, where it keeps it, and the few moments it uses the network are set out in the privacy policy.