The short version
- BudgetSafe has no accounts and no server of ours. Your accounts, transactions, bills and budgets are stored only on your phone, in an encrypted database.
- We can’t see your financial data. It leaves your phone only if you choose: inside an encrypted backup you turn on, or in a file you export and share.
- No ads, no analytics, no tracking. We don’t sell data or share it for marketing.
- A few features use the internet: Premium, optional backup, optional crash reports, and a monthly download of UK bank holidays. Each one is explained below.
Features marked Later update are described now so this policy is complete for the first release. Until they arrive, BudgetSafe doesn’t do what they describe.
What stays on your phone
Everything you put into BudgetSafe stays on your phone:
| Data | Examples |
|---|---|
| Accounts | Names, account types, opening balances |
| Transactions | Amounts, dates, descriptions, notes, categories |
| Bills and regular payments | Names, amounts, schedules, reminder settings |
| Pay cycle and budgets | Payday schedule, expected income, budget amounts, savings goals |
| Imported statements | The transactions you keep, plus a one-way fingerprint of the file name (never the name itself) so we can warn you about duplicates |
| Settings | App lock, display choices, the cached bank-holiday list |
The database is encrypted with a key held in your phone’s secure storage (the iOS Keychain or Android Keystore). It is excluded from iCloud and Google device backups, so it can’t leave your phone that way either.
Because this information never reaches us, we don’t collect or hold it, and we can’t see it. The app uses it on your phone only to give you the features you use, and you control it completely.
BudgetSafe never asks for your name, email address, phone number, location, contacts or photos, and contains no advertising identifiers.
When data leaves your phone
UK bank holidays: GOV.UK
So that paydays and bills move correctly around bank holidays, BudgetSafe downloads the public list of UK bank holidays from www.gov.uk about once a month. The request carries nothing about you or your budget. As with any website, GOV.UK’s servers see your IP address when your phone connects; see the GOV.UK privacy notice.
Premium subscriptions: RevenueCat Later update
You buy Premium through the App Store or Google Play. Apple or Google take the payment, and we never see your card or payment details.
To check whether you have Premium, the app uses RevenueCat, Inc. (USA), which processes this on our behalf. It receives:
- a random app user ID created on your phone, not linked to your name or email;
- the purchase receipt from Apple or Google;
- technical details such as the app version and device platform, and your IP address when the app connects.
It receives no budgeting data at all. We use this to give you the Premium features you paid for, so where the GDPR applies, the lawful basis is performance of a contract. Monthly plans check in at least once every 30 days.
Encrypted backup: your iCloud or Google Drive Later update
A backup is encrypted on your phone, with a passphrase only you know, before it goes anywhere.
- Manual backup (free): you choose where to save the file.
- Automatic backup (Premium): the file is saved to your own iCloud Drive, or to a hidden app folder in your own Google Drive. On Android you sign in with Google once to allow this. BudgetSafe can reach only that hidden folder, and it doesn’t keep your Google email or profile.
We never receive a copy. Apple and Google store the file, but they can’t read it. If you lose both your passphrase and your recovery key, nobody can restore the backup, including us.
Crash reports: Sentry Later update
Crash reports are off unless you turn them on. If you do, a report about a crash goes to Functional Software, Inc. (Sentry), stored in its EU data region. A report contains technical details: the error, where it happened in the code, the app version, device model and operating system. Reports are scrubbed so they never contain amounts, descriptions, notes or account names, and we ask Sentry not to store IP addresses.
Where the GDPR applies, the lawful basis is your consent. You can switch reports off at any time in Settings. Reports are deleted automatically within 90 days.
Exporting a file Later update
You can export your transactions as a CSV file and share it where you like. The app warns you first: an exported file isn’t encrypted, and anyone you give it to can read it.
Permissions BudgetSafe asks for
| Permission | Why | When it’s asked |
|---|---|---|
| Face ID or fingerprint | To unlock the app | Only if you turn on app lock. Your phone checks your face or fingerprint; BudgetSafe never sees it. |
| Notifications | Bill reminders | The first time you set a reminder. Reminders are scheduled on your phone and never show a bill’s name or amount. |
| Internet | The features in the section above | Granted at install on Android; nothing is sent unless a feature above needs it |
Deleting your data
- Everything on your phone: Settings → Delete all data, then type DELETE. This removes the database, its encryption key and scheduled reminders. Uninstalling the app also removes its data.
- Automatic backups: the delete step offers to remove your cloud backups too. You can also delete them from your iCloud or Google Drive settings.
- Premium records: RevenueCat keeps an anonymous record of purchases. To have it deleted, email us and we’ll arrange it.
Children
BudgetSafe is made for adults. It isn’t aimed at anyone under 18, and we don’t knowingly collect personal data from children under 13, or the higher age set by law where they live. If you think a child has sent us personal data, email us and we’ll delete it.
International transfers
RevenueCat is based in the USA. Sentry is a US company, but BudgetSafe’s crash reports are stored in the EU. When personal data moves between countries, we rely on the safeguards the law requires, such as the European Commission’s Standard Contractual Clauses with the UK International Data Transfer Addendum, or the EU–US Data Privacy Framework and its UK Extension where a provider is certified under them.
What we never do
- Sell or rent your data, or share it for advertising.
- Build profiles of you or make automated decisions about you.
- Read your financial data. The app is built so that we can’t.
Who is responsible for your data
BudgetSafe is made by Lucky Jeagun, trading as CommonApps. Under data protection laws such as the UK GDPR and the EU GDPR, we are the “controller” of the small amount of personal data described in this policy.
Contact us about privacy at [email protected].
When you email us
If you write to us, we receive your email address and whatever you put in the message, and our email provider stores it for us. We use it only to reply and to fix the problem you tell us about. Where the GDPR applies, the lawful basis is our legitimate interest in supporting the people who use our apps. We keep support emails for up to two years, then delete them. Please don’t send us your budget, health or workout details: we don’t need them to help.
Your rights
Depending on where you live, including the UK, the European Union, California and other US states, Canada, Australia and Brazil, you may have the right to:
- know what personal data we hold about you, and get a copy;
- have it corrected if it’s wrong, or deleted;
- restrict or object to how we use it;
- receive it in a portable format;
- withdraw consent at any time, where we rely on it (for example, crash reports);
- not be treated differently for using any of these rights.
We give these rights to everyone, wherever you live. Most of your data never reaches us, so you can see, export or delete it yourself in the app. For anything we or our providers hold, email [email protected]. Because our apps have no accounts, we may ask for a detail only you would have, such as the date you emailed us, to make sure we’re dealing with the right person. You can also ask someone to make a request for you, if you confirm you’ve authorised them. We’ll reply within one month and won’t charge you.
Notice for US residents
Some US state laws, such as the California Consumer Privacy Act, ask for the following details. In the last 12 months we may have received these categories of personal information:
- Identifiers: your email address if you write to us; a random app ID used for purchases; your IP address when an app connects to a service described above.
- Commercial information: records of Premium purchases, from Apple or Google.
- Technical information: crash reports, only if you switch them on.
They come from you and your device, and are used only for the purposes in this policy. We share them only with the service providers named here, who may use them only to provide their service to us. We do not sell or share personal information for cross-context behavioural advertising, have not done so in the last 12 months, and do not use sensitive personal information to infer anything about you. Because nothing is sold or shared, there is nothing to opt out of; if your browser or device sends a Global Privacy Control signal, we treat it as a request to opt out anyway.
Complaints
If you’re unhappy with how we’ve handled your data, please tell us first so we can put it right. You can also complain to the data protection authority where you live or work. For example:
- UK: the Information Commissioner’s Office, ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint.
- European Union: your national authority, listed by the European Data Protection Board.
- United States: your state attorney general or privacy agency, such as the California Privacy Protection Agency.
Changes to this policy
If we change what BudgetSafe does with data, we’ll update this page and the date at the top before the change takes effect. If a change affects data already on your phone, the app will tell you before it happens. We will never use data already collected in a materially different way without asking you first.