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Privacy Policy

Last updated: June 2026

The short version

  • We don't store your financial data on our servers.
  • Your expense data lives in your own Google Drive spreadsheet.
  • We don't sell data. We don't show ads. We never will.
  • We only access Google Drive files that Spend-Circle creates.
  • You can export, delete or disconnect your data at any time.

What we collect

When you sign in with Google, we receive your name, email address and profile picture to display in the app. We do not store this on a central server beyond a short-lived session cookie.

Your expenses, budgets, group data and all financial information are written directly to your Google Sheets spreadsheet in your Google Drive. We do not have a copy.

Google Drive permissions

Spend-Circle requests two Google OAuth scopes:

  • drive.file — allows Spend-Circle to create and update only the files it created. We cannot read your other Drive files.
  • spreadsheets — allows reading and writing within those specific spreadsheet files.

These scopes are the narrowest possible for the product to work. We will never request broader Drive access.

Local device storage

Spend-Circle stores a local copy of your data in your browser's IndexedDB to enable offline use and fast loading. This data is stored only on your device and is not transmitted to our servers. You can clear it from the Settings page at any time.

No ads, no data selling

Spend-Circle does not and will never show advertisements or sell user data to third parties. Our optional revenue comes from voluntary supporter donations and add-on features (AI receipt scanning, live FX rates). These are never required for core functionality.

AI receipt scanning (optional)

If you choose to use AI receipt scanning, a photo or image of your receipt is sent to a third-party OCR provider. You will always see an explicit consent notice before any image is uploaded. Manual receipt entry remains free forever.

Notifications

Recurring expense reminders are generated locally on your device. We do not send sensitive amounts or names in push notifications.

Deleting your data

To remove your data:

  1. Go to Settings and tap Clear local data to remove the on-device cache.
  2. Tap Open in Google Sheets and delete the spreadsheet file from your own Google Drive.
  3. Go to your Google account permissions page and revoke Spend-Circle access.

Contact

Questions about privacy? Reach us at [email protected].