How to turn off statistics?

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by rcentros

It looks like it might have happened at release 4.19. So obviously it's not that big of a deal to me or I would have noticed it sooner. I don't normally "finish" my books or mark them "finished." I usually ignore the blurbs at the end of the books, so that may be why I don't see the popups much.

I find that a bit weird. I don't really read the end-matter, except probably the About the author for a new author, but, I still flip through it or navigate to the end so that the book is marked as read. That gets it off the reading filter and the home page.

[rcentros]

Originally Posted by davidfor

I find that a bit weird. I don't really read the end-matter, except probably the About the author for a new author, but, I still flip through it or navigate to the end so that the book is marked as read. That gets it off the reading filter and the home page.

I do the same on the Tolinos (which also want to mark my books "finished." I guess I don't like devices "deciding" what state my book is in. I know I've read the book, I don't need confirmation from my eReader. (Maybe I'm afraid it's going to take my book and shred it or something, saying to itself "this one is no longer needed.") Honestly I don't why, I just don't like marking my books "finished."

[4691mls]

Kobo often prompts me to mark a book finished before I've actually reached the end, which I find really annoying.

I've noticed that if I don't mark a library book finished before I return it, then Kobo will send me a promotional email trying to sell me that book so I can finish reading it. Therefore, I usually do mark library books as finished to avoid those emails.

[rcentros]

Originally Posted by 4691mls

Kobo often prompts me to mark a book finished before I've actually reached the end, which I find really annoying.

I've noticed that if I don't mark a library book finished before I return it, then Kobo will send me a promotional email trying to sell me that book so I can finish reading it. Therefore, I usually do mark library books as finished to avoid those emails.

That might be why I get "preview" copies of returned library books in my Kobo Books. So maybe I will mark library books "finished" now. Thanks.

[Alastair_S]

In the file "Kobo eReader.conf" within the section headed "[OneStoreServices]" I found the following line: kobo_privacyCentre_url=https://www.kobo.com/privacy

I deleted the line, rebooted my Kobo, and the tick box in the privacy settings returned. Since I only discovered this within the past hour I cannot tell if deleting the line will cause any problems, or if the line will return when you sync your device. So if you do decide to delete the line make sure that you backup "Kobo eReader.conf" first.

[Sirtel]

I delete all the fluff at the end (excerpts, ads, the author's other books) in the calibre editor. So I can finish the book without having to page forward just to reach to the end. Besides, I hate that stuff. I'm perfectly capable of finding other books by the author myself and reading the excerpts, if I want to. I don't need the stuff to clog my books. Off it goes the instant I get my hands on it.

As to the reading stats in e-mails, I don't get them, but that may be because all my books are sideloaded.

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by 4691mls

Kobo often prompts me to mark a book finished before I've actually reached the end, which I find really annoying.

That happens when you close a book and are near the end. I'm not sure of the exact percentage, but, it is at least 80%. It's for all those cases, where people finish the text of a book but don't want to read the back-matter. I thought there was an option to turn if off somewhere, but, I can't see it.

[4691mls]

Originally Posted by rcentros

That might be why I get "preview" copies of returned library books in my Kobo Books. So maybe I will mark library books "finished" now. Thanks.

Of course if it's a book in a series and you mark it finished, Kobo will then send you an email offering you the next book(s) in the series....

[4691mls]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

I delete all the fluff at the end (excerpts, ads, the author's other books) in the calibre editor. So I can finish the book without having to page forward just to reach to the end. Besides, I hate that stuff. I'm perfectly capable of finding other books by the author myself and reading the excerpts, if I want to. I don't need the stuff to clog my books. Off it goes the instant I get my hands on it.

As to the reading stats in e-mails, I don't get them, but that may be because all my books are sideloaded.

I don't use Calibre and besides, the vast majority of my reading is library books so I wouldn't mess with them in any case.

[rcentros]

Originally Posted by Alastair_S

In the file "Kobo eReader.conf" within the section headed "[OneStoreServices]" I found the following line: kobo_privacyCentre_url=https://www.kobo.com/privacy

I deleted the line, rebooted my Kobo, and the tick box in the privacy settings returned. Since I only discovered this within the past hour I cannot tell if deleting the line will cause any problems, or if the line will return when you sync your device. So if you do decide to delete the line make sure that you backup "Kobo eReader.conf" first.

Thanks! I just put a hash tag (#) in front of that line and the tick box came back (after rebooting as instructed) and I was able to uncheck it.

The

Under the Reading Life section it looks like this before putting in the hash tag...

[ReadingLife]
LastReadingLifeSyncTime=@Variant(\0\0\0\x10\0%\x87x\x1\x31H\xd7\x2)
LastSocialAnnotationsSyncTime=@Variant(\0\0\0\x10\0%\x87x\x1\x30\xb9\x39\x2)

After "hash tagging" the line...

[ReadingLife]
LastReadingLifeSyncTime=@Variant(\0\0\0\x10\0%\x87x\x1\x31H\xd7\x2)
LastSocialAnnotationsSyncTime=@Variant(\0\0\0\x10\0%\x87x\x1\x30\xb9\x39\x2)
StatsTrackingEnabled=false

So it looks like this re-enables the old option.

EDIT: Only until you sync, after that the option to "untick" goes away and this line comes back. kobo_privacyCentre_url=https://www.kobo.com/privacy

But the final line in the Reading Life section remains...

StatsTrackingEnabled=false

So you could probably just enter that line at the end of the Reading Life section and get the same result. I don't know if it actually changes anything, however.

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by rcentros

Thanks! I just put a hash tag (#) in front of that line and the tick box came back (after rebooting as instructed) and I was able to uncheck it.

The

Under the Reading Life section it looks like this before putting in the hash tag...

[ReadingLife]
LastReadingLifeSyncTime=@Variant(\0\0\0\x10\0%\x87x\x1\x31H\xd7\x2)
LastSocialAnnotationsSyncTime=@Variant(\0\0\0\x10\0%\x87x\x1\x30\xb9\x39\x2)

After "hash tagging" the line...

[ReadingLife]
LastReadingLifeSyncTime=@Variant(\0\0\0\x10\0%\x87x\x1\x31H\xd7\x2)
LastSocialAnnotationsSyncTime=@Variant(\0\0\0\x10\0%\x87x\x1\x30\xb9\x39\x2)
StatsTrackingEnabled=false

So it looks like this re-enables the old option.

EDIT: Only until you sync, after that the option to "untick" goes away and this line comes back. kobo_privacyCentre_url=https://www.kobo.com/privacy

But the final line in the Reading Life section remains...

StatsTrackingEnabled=false

So you could probably just enter that line at the end of the Reading Life section and get the same result. I don't know if it actually changes anything, however.

You don't actually know if that is working. That the line is still there just means that nothing wiped it out. The other parts are as likely to override this.

And don't forget, the fact this option is not there is not Kobo fault. As stated above, some jurisdictions require the other privacy options. As you are registered in one of those, Kobo has to follow those rules for you.

And of course that stats tracking option is about usage of the device, not about the reading stats. The title of the section it is in is "Help improve our app". That is the type of data should be blocking, not how many pages of a book you have read. There is an overlap, which includes the page turns, but, the stats behind this option would also be about how you use the non-reading parts of the device.