Privacy policy

Last updated: 22 October 2026

This policy explains what information BudgetBuddy ("we", "us") collects when you use the BudgetBuddy apps and this website, how we use it, and the choices you have. We collect only what we need to run the service, and we do not sell your personal information.

Information we collect

Account information. Your email address, username and a securely hashed password. If you sign in with Google, we receive your email address and Google account identifier from Google. You may optionally upload a profile picture.

Financial information. When you connect a bank account, our banking partners (Plaid or Flinks) give us account names, types, balances, institution details and transaction history (amounts, dates, merchant and category information, and where available, transaction location and payment details), and for investment accounts, your holdings. We never see or store your online banking username or password - you enter those directly with Plaid or Flinks - and BudgetBuddy can only read your accounts, never move money.

Statements and receipts you upload. If you add a bank manually, we process the CSV or PDF statements you upload to extract transactions. Receipt photos you add are stored with the transaction they belong to.

Content you create. Categories, rules, tags, notes, budgets, bills, savings goals, debts, assets you track, credit scores you log, subscriptions, challenges, settings, conversations with the AI assistant, and feedback you send us (feature requests, bug reports, comments and votes).

Sharing. If you create or join a household, the members you share with can see your combined balances and spending while sharing is on. If you split expenses with friends, we store the names (and optional email addresses) you enter for them.

Purchases and rewards. If you subscribe through Google Play, we receive purchase tokens and subscription status to confirm your entitlement - we do not receive your payment card details. If you watch a rewarded ad, we receive a confirmation from Google AdMob to credit your reward.

Devices and technical information. If you allow notifications, a push token for your device. Basic server logs and request metrics (such as which endpoints were called and how long they took) used to keep the service reliable and secure.

How we use your information

• To create and secure your account, including email verification and password resets.
• To sync your accounts and show balances, transactions, budgets, goals, forecasts and insights.
• To send the notifications and emails you've chosen, such as bill reminders, budget alerts and monthly recaps.
• To provide the AI features you use (see below).
• To provide subscriptions, rewards and customer support.
• To monitor, troubleshoot, and prevent fraud and abuse of the service.

We do not sell your personal information or use your financial data for advertising.

AI features

When you use an AI feature - the assistant, categorizing transactions, reading a receipt, a monthly recap, budget suggestions and the like - the information needed for that request (for example the relevant transactions, totals, budgets or the receipt image) is sent to Anthropic, which provides the Claude AI models, to generate the answer. Your name, email address and bank login details are not sent. Under Anthropic's commercial terms, this data is not used to train their models. AI features are optional; if you don't use them, nothing is sent.

How we share information

We share information only with service providers that help us run BudgetBuddy:

• Plaid and Flinks, to connect to your financial institutions. Your use of Plaid is also subject to the Plaid End User Privacy Policy.
• Anthropic, for the AI features described above.
• Google, for Google sign-in, Google Play billing, Firebase push notifications and AdMob rewarded ads in the mobile app. AdMob may collect device identifiers to serve ads under Google's own privacy policy.
• Email delivery providers, to send service emails.
• Exchange rates are fetched from a public service (the European Central Bank's reference rates); no personal information is sent.
• GitHub, where feature requests are tracked. The title and description you submit for a feature request may be publicly visible, so please don't include personal or financial details in them.

We may also disclose information if required by law, or to protect the rights, safety and security of our users and the service.

Data security and retention

Data is sent over encrypted connections, passwords are hashed, and access to production systems is restricted. The app can be locked with your fingerprint, face or device PIN. No system is perfectly secure, but we work to protect your information.

We keep your information for as long as your account is active. When you delete your account, your account and the data linked to it are deleted from our systems (see how). Limited records may be kept where required by law.

Your choices and rights

• View and update your username, email and password in Settings.
• Disconnect any bank at any time from the Banks page.
• Choose which notifications and emails you get, and turn off scheduled bank syncing, in Settings.
• Export your data to CSV or JSON from the app.
• Delete your account and its data from Settings.

Depending on where you live, you may have additional rights to access, correct, delete or export your data. Contact us using the details below to make a request.

Children

BudgetBuddy is not intended for children under 13 (or the minimum age in your country), and we do not knowingly collect their personal information.

Changes to this policy

We may update this policy from time to time. If we make material changes, we will update the date above and, where appropriate, notify you in the app.

Contact us

Questions or requests about your privacy? Email yskudilov@gmail.com, or use Feedback in the app's Settings.