Privacy Policy

Simple Finance ("we," "our," or "the app") is a personal finance app designed to help you track spending, manage budgets, monitor net worth, and reach financial goals. We take your privacy seriously — especially because you're trusting us with sensitive financial information.

This policy explains exactly what data we collect, where it lives, and how it is (and is not) used. Simple Finance is built on a local-first principle: your financial data lives on your devices and in your own iCloud account, never on Simple Finance servers. The only things that ever reach us are messages you choose to send to support, described below.

All financial data you enter is stored on your device and is not transmitted to Simple Finance servers. This includes:

• Transactions (date, merchant, amount, category, notes)
• Budget categories and spending limits
• Net worth accounts, balances, and historical snapshots
• Savings and debt payoff goals
• Stock and crypto holdings (ticker symbols, share counts, cached prices)
• Mortgage and loan details
• Recurring bill and income templates
• Tags, groups, trips, and the city a purchase was made in (if you turn on Places)
• Receipt photos, statement files, and other attachments you add
• Messages in your household chat
• App preferences (accent color, notification settings, display name)

This data is stored using Apple's SwiftData framework in an encrypted on-device database protected by your device passcode and the iOS data-protection APIs.

If you are signed into iCloud and iCloud Sync is on in Simple Finance, your data syncs automatically between your own Apple devices using Apple's CloudKit private database, and that copy is also your backup. iCloud Sync is on by default for new installs (since version 2.10); if you set the app up earlier, it stays as you left it. This sync:

• Occurs only between devices signed into the same Apple ID
• Is encrypted in transit and at rest by Apple
• Is managed entirely by Apple — Simple Finance never sees your data in transit or at rest in iCloud
• Can be disabled at any time in Simple Finance → Settings → iCloud Sync, or in iOS Settings → [Your Name] → iCloud → Simple Finance

No Simple Finance employee or server can access your iCloud data.

Simple Finance lets you share with other people using Apple's CloudKit sharing. Every kind of sharing is opt-in, and it only ever reaches people you invite yourself.

What each kind of sharing shows:
• Partner: full two-way sync. You and your partner both see and edit the same shared accounts, transactions, budgets and goals. Anything you mark private stays on your side only.
• Family: a read-only summary you control per person, down to the categories you pick.
• Friends: only the numbers you choose to compare (for example savings rate or budget used), never your transactions or balances.

How it works:
• You send an iCloud share invitation from the Sharing screen (by Messages, Mail, or a link). The other person must accept it in Simple Finance.
• Shared data and household chat messages live in that shared iCloud space, readable only by the people in it. Simple Finance does not operate its own sharing server.
• To show a chat notification on the other person's device, the app saves a short-lived notification record in the app's iCloud public database. It holds only your first name and anonymous hashed identifiers, never message text or amounts, and it is deleted within minutes.
• If you add a payment handle (for example Venmo, Cash App or PayPal) so someone can pay you back, it is shared with that household. Tapping Pay opens that service's own app or website, where its own privacy policy applies. No payment is processed inside Simple Finance.

What Simple Finance does NOT collect for sharing:
• No email address or account is required on Simple Finance's end
• No financial data or chat message passes through Simple Finance servers at any point
• Apple handles the encryption, authentication and delivery of shared data

You can remove a person, stop sharing, or leave a household at any time from the Sharing screen.

Places is off until you turn on Remember Where I Spend (Settings → Transactions) or start a trip. Only then does Simple Finance ask for location permission, and only "While Using the App".

• Location is read only while you are adding a transaction, to note the city you paid in
• Your device asks Apple's geocoding service to turn the position into a city name; Simple Finance keeps the city and region and an approximate point (rounded to about 1 km), never your exact position
• The city is saved with that transaction on your device and in your own iCloud, like the rest of your data
• Simple Finance never tracks you in the background and never sends your location to us or to anyone else

You can turn Places off, or revoke location permission in iOS Settings → Privacy & Security → Location Services, at any time. Places you already saved stay until you edit or delete them.

Simple Finance asks for these permissions only when you use a feature that needs them:

• Camera and Photos: to scan or attach a receipt, statement, paystub or document. Text in the image is read on your device. The photo is saved with that item on your device and in your own iCloud.
• Microphone and Speech Recognition: to talk to Fin, dictate a transaction, or record a voice note for support. Speech is turned into text by Apple's speech recognition, which may run on your device or on Apple's servers under Apple's privacy policy. Voice notes for support are transcribed on your device only.
• Face ID: see the section below.

Simple Finance never records in the background and never sends photos or audio to us, except a photo or voice note you attach to a support message yourself.

When you contact us from inside the app (Talk to the Developer, Report a Problem, or Suggest a feature), we receive what you choose to send:

• Your message, and any screenshot, photo, file or voice note you attach
• Basic diagnostics: app version, device model, operating system version, and region. If you leave "Add my settings and counts" (or "Attach device info") on, also counts such as how many accounts or transactions you have and which features are on (such as sync or sharing), never names or amounts

These messages are end-to-end encrypted on your device so that only Simple Finance support can read them, and they travel through Apple's iCloud (CloudKit). We use them only to answer you and to fix problems, never for advertising, and we never sell or share them. You can ask us to delete your support conversation at any time.

Contacting support is always optional. If you never send a message, nothing is sent to us.

Simple Finance can optionally require Face ID, Touch ID, or your device passcode before displaying your financial data. This authentication is handled entirely by Apple's LocalAuthentication framework on your device.

• Simple Finance never receives, stores, or transmits your biometric data
• Your Face ID or fingerprint data never leaves your device's Secure Enclave
• If biometric authentication is unavailable, your device passcode is used as a fallback

Biometric data is not collected by Simple Finance under any circumstances.

Simple Finance includes Fin, an AI-powered money assistant. Fin uses Apple's on-device Foundation Models framework, which runs entirely on your device.

• No conversation data, financial context, or queries sent to Fin are transmitted to Apple, Simple Finance, or any third party
• Fin's AI processing occurs locally on your device using Apple Intelligence
• If you speak to Fin instead of typing, your words are turned into text by Apple's speech recognition first (see Camera, Photos, Microphone, and Speech)
• Fin is only available on supported Apple devices running iOS 26 or later with Apple Intelligence enabled
• No data from Fin conversations is retained after you close the conversation or clear chat history

Because Fin runs on-device, your financial questions and answers stay completely private.

If you add stock or cryptocurrency holdings to your portfolio, Simple Finance fetches current market prices from third-party public market-data services — Yahoo Finance (stock quotes) and CoinGecko (cryptocurrency prices). These requests:

• Are made by your device directly to those services over an encrypted connection (HTTPS)
• Include only publicly traded ticker symbols (e.g., "AAPL", "BTC") — never your balances, share counts, name, or any personal details
• Carry no tracking identifiers, and are subject to those services' own privacy policies

Simple Finance does not operate its own price feed server. If no holdings are added, no market data requests are made at all.

Simple Finance may send local push notifications for:

• Budget alerts (when a category approaches or exceeds its limit)
• Bill reminders (before a scheduled recurring expense)
• Goal milestone celebrations
• Smart money alerts (unusual spending, low balance, month-end summaries)
• A weekly "Fin Check-In" tip (optional, based on your top insight)

Reminders and alerts are generated and scheduled locally on your device. If you use household chat or contact support, new messages can also arrive as push notifications delivered by Apple through iCloud; they show the sender's first name, not your financial data. No notification content is routed through Simple Finance servers. You can enable or disable individual notification types in Settings → Notifications, or revoke notification permission entirely in iOS Settings → Simple Finance → Notifications.

Simple Finance does not use any third-party analytics SDKs (such as Firebase Analytics, Mixpanel, or Amplitude). No behavioral telemetry, screen-view tracking, or usage statistics are collected or sent to Simple Finance or any analytics provider.

Crash reports are the one exception, and they come from Apple rather than from anything inside this app. If you have turned on iOS Settings → Privacy & Security → Analytics & Improvements → Share With App Developers, Apple may send us a report when Simple Finance crashes. Beta builds installed through TestFlight share crash reports under TestFlight's own agreement. These reports are produced and delivered entirely by Apple — Simple Finance contains no crash-reporting code of its own.

A crash report describes what the code was doing when it stopped: the sequence of functions that were running, the device model, and the iOS and app versions. It is not a copy of your data. Your accounts, transactions, balances, budgets and goals are not included, and Apple does not tell us your name or Apple Account.

You can stop this at any time by turning off Share With App Developers in iOS Settings. Nothing else about how you use the app is reported. If Simple Finance ever adds a crash reporter of its own, this policy will be updated first and the change announced in the app's What's New; any such reporter will be configured to exclude all financial data.

Financial information is among the most sensitive categories of personal data. Simple Finance treats it accordingly:

• Financial data is never sold, rented, or licensed to any third party — ever
• Financial data is never used for advertising targeting or profiling
• Data shared via household sync is visible only to members of that household through Apple's CloudKit infrastructure; Simple Finance employees do not access individual user financial records
• The only data that ever reaches Simple Finance is what you choose to send to support
• We will notify you promptly if we become aware of a security incident that affects your financial information
• We participate in Apple's App Privacy framework and maintain accurate privacy nutrition labels in the App Store

Simple Finance lets you export your data as CSV files, PDF reports, or image summaries via the iOS share sheet. Once you share a file using the iOS share sheet, that data is governed by the privacy policy of the destination app or service (e.g., Mail, AirDrop, Google Drive). Simple Finance is not responsible for data once it leaves the app via your explicit export action.

You have full control over your data at all times:

Delete all data — Settings → Data & Backup → Clear All Data. This permanently removes all transactions, accounts, budgets, goals and snapshots from your device and, when iCloud Sync is on, from your iCloud copy too.

Export your data — Settings → Data & Backup → Export (CSV or report). You can take your data with you at any time.

Opt out of iCloud sync — Simple Finance → Settings → iCloud Sync → toggle off, or iOS Settings → [Your Name] → iCloud → toggle off Simple Finance.

Disable sharing — the Sharing screen → remove a person, stop sharing, or leave the household.

Turn off Places — Settings → Transactions → Remember Where I Spend, or revoke location permission in iOS Settings.

Delete support messages — ask us from the support chat or by email and we will delete your conversation.

Revoke notifications — iOS Settings → Simple Finance → Notifications → toggle off.

If you are located in the European Economic Area (EEA), United Kingdom, or California, you have additional rights under GDPR, UK GDPR, or the CCPA respectively, including the right to access, correct, and delete your personal data. To exercise these rights, contact us using the information below.

Simple Finance is not directed to children under the age of 13. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If you are a parent or guardian and believe your child has provided personal information through the app, please contact us at the address below and we will promptly delete it.

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. When we do:

• The "Effective Date" at the top of this policy will be updated
• If changes are material (for example, if we begin collecting a new category of data), we will say so in the app's What's New for that version
• Continued use of Simple Finance after the effective date constitutes acceptance of the revised policy

We encourage you to review this policy periodically.

If you have questions, concerns, or requests regarding this Privacy Policy or your personal data, please contact us:

Simple Finance Support
Email: support@getsimplefinance.com

We aim to respond to all privacy inquiries within 5 business days.