Privacy Policy

Last updated: January 29, 2026

Smart Budget ("we", "our", or "us") is committed to protecting your privacy. This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, and safeguard your information when you use our mobile application ("App").

1. Information We Collect

We collect the following types of information to provide our services:

1.1 Financial Data

Transactions: Amounts, categories, dates, notes, merchant names, and currency information you enter or import into the App.
Recurring Transactions: Frequency, start and end dates, and template data for transactions you set to repeat automatically.
Budgets: Monthly budget amounts and special budgets with custom date ranges.

1.2 Receipt and Document Data

Receipt Images: Photos of receipts you capture or select are uploaded to our cloud storage (Firebase Storage) for processing and stored as JPEG files (up to 5 MB each). Images are accessible only to members of your household.
Bank Statements: PDF and CSV files you import are processed by our AI service to extract transaction data. The file content is sent to our AI provider for parsing and is not retained after processing.

1.3 Account Information

Authentication: When you sign in with Apple, we receive your email address (or an Apple-provided relay address) and display name. We store a unique user identifier (Firebase UID) linked to your account.
Household Data: If you create or join a household, we store a household identifier and membership information.

1.4 Voice and Speech Data

Voice Input: When you use the voice input feature, audio is processed on-device by Apple's Speech Recognition framework to convert speech to text. The resulting text is then sent to our AI service to parse it into a structured transaction. We do not store audio recordings.

1.5 Usage Data

Analytics: With your consent, we collect anonymous analytics data (via Firebase Analytics) such as feature usage, session metrics, and app interaction events. You can opt out of analytics in the App's settings.
Crash Reports: With your consent, crash data is collected via Firebase Crashlytics to help us identify and fix issues. Crash reporting is gated on your analytics preference.

2. How We Use Your Information

We use your information to:

Provide, maintain, and improve the Smart Budget service
Process, categorize, and display your transactions and budgets
Automatically generate recurring transactions based on your templates
Process receipt images and bank statements using AI to extract transaction data
Generate personalized financial insights, tips, and AI chat responses
Convert and display amounts in your preferred currency using live exchange rates
Sync your data across devices and with household members in real time
Display budget summaries and spending data in home screen widgets
Diagnose technical problems and improve app stability

3. Data Storage and Security

3.1 Cloud Storage

When you sign in, your financial data (transactions, budgets, recurring templates, and household information) is stored in Google Firebase Firestore hosted in Zurich, Switzerland (europe-west6 region). Receipt images are stored in Firebase Storage. All data is:

Encrypted in transit using TLS/HTTPS
Encrypted at rest using Google-managed server-side encryption
Protected by Firebase security rules that enforce per-household access control
Accessible only to authenticated members of your household

Note: This is not end-to-end encryption. Your data is encrypted during transmission and while stored on Firebase servers, but it is accessible to the server infrastructure. This is the same security model used by most banking and fintech applications.

3.2 Local Storage

The App also stores data locally on your device:

A local database (Core Data) for offline access and performance
Shared data (via App Groups) to power home screen widgets
Automatic backup files (JSON) in your device's Documents folder, refreshed every 12 hours
Settings and preferences in local storage

3.3 Data Protection

We do not sell, trade, or rent your personal information to third parties. Access to your cloud data requires a valid Firebase authentication token. Receipt images are restricted to household members via server-side security rules.

4. AI Processing

Smart Budget uses AI (powered by OpenAI) for the following features:

Receipt Scanning: Receipt images are sent (as base64-encoded data) to OpenAI's GPT-4o vision model via our server to extract merchant, date, amount, currency, and category information.
AI Financial Chat: Your recent spending summaries and messages are sent to OpenAI to generate personalized financial advice.
AI Tips: Aggregated spending data is sent to OpenAI to generate saving recommendations.
Voice Input Parsing: Transcribed text from voice input is sent to OpenAI to parse it into structured transaction data.
Bank Statement Import: Content from PDF or CSV bank statements is sent to OpenAI to extract and categorize transactions.

All AI requests are routed through our Firebase Cloud Functions (server-side proxy). Your OpenAI API key is never exposed to the client app. AI processing is subject to rate limits (20 requests per minute per user). OpenAI does not use your data to train its models under our agreement.

5. Third-Party Services

We use the following third-party services:

Firebase (Google): Authentication (Apple Sign-In provider), Firestore (cloud database), Storage (receipt images), Cloud Functions (server-side AI proxy), Analytics (usage tracking), and Crashlytics (crash reporting).
OpenAI: AI processing for receipt scanning, financial chat, tips, voice input parsing, and bank statement import. Data is processed in real time and not retained by OpenAI after processing.
Frankfurter.app: Live exchange rate data sourced from the European Central Bank (ECB), used to convert and display amounts in your preferred currency. No personal data is sent to this service.
Apple Services: Sign in with Apple (authentication), StoreKit 2 (subscription management), and on-device Speech Recognition (voice input).

6. Home Screen Widgets

Smart Budget offers home screen widgets that display your budget progress and spending summaries. Widget data is shared between the main app and widget extension via a shared App Group container on your device. No additional cloud services are involved in widget data delivery.

7. Your Rights

You have the right to:

Access: View all your personal data within the App
Export: Export your data at any time in CSV, PDF, or JSON format
Delete: Delete your account and all associated cloud data (Firestore documents, receipt images, and user profile). Local data remains on your device until the App is uninstalled.
Opt out: Disable analytics and crash reporting in the App's settings
Backup: Create and restore manual backups of your data via iCloud Drive or the Files app

8. Data Retention

Account data: Retained as long as your account is active. Deleted upon account deletion request.
Transaction and budget data: Retained in Firestore as long as your account is active.
Receipt images: Retained in Firebase Storage as long as the associated transaction exists.
Analytics data: Retained per Firebase's standard data retention policies.
Local backups: Stored on your device; automatic backups are overwritten every 12 hours.

9. Children's Privacy

Smart Budget is not intended for children under 13. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If we learn that we have collected data from a child under 13, we will delete it promptly.

10. International Data

Smart Budget supports over 30 currencies and 5 languages (English, French, German, Spanish, and Ukrainian). Your data may be processed on servers located outside your country of residence (Firebase infrastructure and OpenAI servers). By using the App, you consent to this transfer of data.

11. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. We will notify you of any changes by posting the new policy on this page and updating the "Last updated" date. For significant changes, we may also notify you through the App.

12. Contact Us

If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy, please contact us: