Privacy Policy

01What we collect

We collect only what Purse needs to work:

• Your account: your email address, and when you signed up and last signed in. If you sign in with Google or link a Google account, also the name, email address and profile picture Google shares with us. If you use Sign in with Apple (iPhone), the email address Apple shares with us, which is a private relay address if you choose Hide My Email.
• Your profile: a name, birthday and gender, only if you choose to add them. All three are optional and you can remove them at any time.
• What you add to Purse: transactions, pockets, cards, accounts and fixed deposits, payment reminders, and your currency and language preferences.
• Text for the AI to read: the text of a voice entry, and, if you turn on bank SMS import, the redacted text of new bank transaction messages. Both are described below.
• Your plan: whether you are on Free or Purse Pro, and a history of your subscription, described under Subscriptions.
• App and device details: whether your phone is an iPhone or an Android phone, the version of Purse installed, a random ID for that install, and whether each permission Purse uses is allowed or not.
• Usage counts: how many AI entries you have used each month (to apply your plan's limits), and how many times you have skipped an optional app update.
• How the app is used: which features and screens are used, without what is in your records, through Google Analytics for Firebase. This is not linked to your Purse account, and is described under Usage analytics.

A card is only a label: a nickname, the issuer, the network and at most its last 4 digits. An account can carry the last 4 digits of its number so bank SMS can be matched to it. We never ask for or store a full card number, expiry date, CVV, bank login or full account number.

Purse does not collect your precise location, contacts, photos or files, and it contains no advertising.

02Permissions Purse asks for

Purse asks your phone for a permission only when a feature needs it. Each one is optional, and you can review them all in Settings > Permissions:

• Microphone: to hear you during voice entry, only while the voice screen is open and listening.
• Speech recognition (iPhone): to turn what you say into text.
• Notifications: for payment reminders; for money alerts, such as a pocket nearing its limit, a card payment coming due or a fixed deposit maturing, and, on Purse Pro, the daily and weekly spending summaries you turn on; and to show what bank SMS import saved, with Undo.
• Alarms & reminders (Android): so a reminder arrives at the exact time you chose. Purse also restarts your scheduled reminders after your phone reboots.
• SMS (Android, Purse Pro only): to receive new messages for bank SMS import. Purse asks for it only when you turn that feature on, and it can never read messages already in your inbox or send messages.

On iPhone, bank SMS import uses an automation you create in Apple's Shortcuts app, not a permission. Purse also uses your internet connection to sync your data.

Purse saves the status of each permission (allowed, not allowed or blocked) to your account, together with the app and device details above, so that we can see why voice entry, reminders or bank SMS import is not working when you ask us for help. Refusing a permission only switches off the feature that needs it.

03How voice entry works

Speech is converted to text by the speech recognition service your phone provides (Apple's on iPhone, Google's on Android). Depending on your phone and its settings, that service may send audio to Apple or Google to recognise it, under their own privacy policies. Purse itself never records, stores or uploads your audio.

The text is turned into a draft by a third-party AI service, so before your first voice entry Purse asks your permission to send it. If you choose Not now, voice entry stays closed and you can still type entries; Purse asks again the next time you try.

Anything that looks like a card number is removed from the text before it leaves your device. Only the resulting text, the date and your default currency are sent, through our secure server, to that AI service, which turns it into a draft transaction. Nothing is saved until you review and confirm the draft.

04Bank SMS import

Bank SMS import is an optional Purse Pro feature on Android and on iPhone (iOS 17 or later). It is off until you turn it on in Settings, after we explain what it does. Purse only receives new messages that arrive after you turn it on; it never reads your existing inbox.

How a message reaches Purse depends on your phone:

• Android: you grant Android's permission to receive SMS, and Purse receives each new message as it arrives.
• iPhone: no app can read your messages. Instead, you create an automation in Apple's Shortcuts app that passes the text of new messages containing a word you choose (such as "debited") to Purse. Purse receives only the messages your automation sends, and only their text, not who sent them.

Each message is checked on your device. One-time passwords (OTPs) and anything without an amount and a payment are ignored and never leave your phone; on Android, so are messages from personal numbers. For a message that looks like a bank transaction, card numbers are removed and account numbers are cut to their last 4 digits, and only that redacted text is sent, through our secure server, to a third-party AI service that turns it into a transaction. We do not keep the message on our servers; only the resulting transaction is saved to your account.

If a bank message cannot be imported straight away (for example, you are offline), it waits on your phone only, for up to 7 days, and is removed once it is imported or when you turn import off.

Each imported transaction shows a notification with Undo, and you can edit or delete it like any other entry. You can turn import off at any time in Settings. You can also stop it from your phone: remove the SMS permission in your phone's settings on Android, or delete the automation in Shortcuts on iPhone. It also turns off when you sign out. We use SMS data only to create your transactions: never for advertising, and we never share it except with the providers listed below to run this feature.

05How we use your data

We use your data only to run and improve Purse: signing you in, saving and showing your transactions, calculating totals and pocket progress, parsing voice entries and bank SMS you choose to import, managing your plan and its limits, telling you about app updates, and helping you when you contact support. We also look at how Purse is used, as counts across all users (for example, how many people use each feature or reach a Free plan limit), to keep it working well and decide what to improve; see Usage analytics. We do not sell your data, we do not show ads, and we do not track you across other apps or websites.

06Usage analytics

To learn which parts of Purse are used and where people get stuck, the app uses Google Analytics for Firebase, a service from Google. It tells us things like how many people add an expense by voice, open the Pro screen or turn on bank SMS import. It never tells us what is in your records.

What the app sends:

• Actions: that something happened, such as finishing the intro, signing in, up or out, linking a Google account, adding or deleting a transaction, creating a pocket, adding a card or account, creating or paying a reminder, starting a voice entry, turning bank SMS import on or off, undoing an import, opening the Pro screen, starting, cancelling, failing or restoring a purchase, changing the language or currency, and deleting your account.
• A few fixed details about an action, each from a short list: whether a transaction is an expense or income, and whether it was typed, spoken or imported; whether a card is credit or debit, or an account a fixed deposit; how often a reminder repeats; whether you sign in with email, Google or Apple; which Free plan limit led to the Pro screen; whether you allowed notifications; the code of a language or currency you switch to (such as "en" or "USD"); and, when the AI reads a voice entry or bank message, whether it worked, why it failed in broad terms (such as no connection) and how long it took.
• Screens: the name of each screen you open once signed in, such as Home or Settings.

Google Analytics also records some things itself: when the app is first opened, updated or (on Android) removed; sessions and time spent in the app; the app version; your phone's model, operating system and language; your approximate location (country, region and city), which Google works out from your IP address; and Pro purchases and renewals made through the App Store or Google Play, with the product, price and currency. To count users, it uses a random ID it creates for Purse on your phone, and on iPhone also the identifier Apple gives to apps from the same developer.

The app never sends amounts, balances, categories, descriptions, merchants, card or account names or numbers, the text of voice entries or bank messages, or your name, email address, phone number or Purse account ID, and it checks every event before sending it so that such data cannot slip in. Because we do not give Google Analytics your account ID, what it records is not linked to your Purse account.

Purse shows no ads, and Google Analytics is set up without advertising features: the app does not collect your phone's advertising ID, and the data is not used for advertising, ad personalisation or to track you across other apps or websites. Google keeps the detailed data for a limited period that we set, after which only totals remain in our reports. Deleting and reinstalling Purse gives it a new random analytics ID.

07Service providers

We rely on a small number of providers to run Purse. They process data only on our behalf:

• Supabase: our database, sign-in and server functions.
• Resend: delivers the email with your sign-in code. It receives your email address and the code.
• A third-party AI service: turns the text of a voice entry, or a redacted bank SMS you chose to import, into a transaction. It receives only that text, the date and your default currency: never a recording, and not your name, email or account ID.
• Google Sign-In: only if you choose to sign in with Google or link a Google account.
• Sign in with Apple: only if you choose to sign in with Apple on iPhone.
• RevenueCat, Apple App Store and Google Play: process Purse Pro subscriptions. RevenueCat receives your Purse account ID (a random identifier, not your email) so a purchase can be matched to your account.
• Google Analytics for Firebase: counts how the app is used, as described under Usage analytics. It never receives your Purse account ID, email or the content of your records.
• Your phone's speech recognition service (Apple or Google) converts speech to text.

These providers may process data in countries other than your own. This website loads its fonts from Google Fonts and uses no cookies or analytics.

08Subscriptions and payments

Purse Pro is bought through the App Store or Google Play. Payment is handled entirely by Apple or Google; we never see or store your payment card or billing details.

So we can unlock Pro and answer billing questions, we receive and keep a record of your subscription, linked to your Purse account: the product, the store it was bought from, its status (active, in a billing grace period or expired), whether it will renew, the dates it was bought, renewed and expires, the price and currency, the store's transaction reference, and events such as a renewal, a cancellation or a billing problem, with the reason the store gives.

09Storage and security

Your data is stored in a managed database with access rules that stop any other Purse user from reading or changing your records, and it is encrypted in transit. A copy is kept on your device so Purse works offline; it is cleared when you sign out.

Reminders and money alerts are worked out and scheduled on your device and do not pass through our servers. Sign-in uses a one-time code sent to your email, or your Google or Apple account, so there is no Purse password to leak.

Our server logs record technical events, such as an error or a subscription update, with your account ID. They do not record the text of your voice entries or bank messages.

10Who at Purse can see your data

A small number of authorised members of the Purse team can reach account data through an internal admin tool, to support you, fix problems and keep the service running:

• Support staff can see your email address, sign-in dates, profile, plan, subscription history and how much you use Purse (counts only, not what you spent money on).
• Administrators can also view your records and, where needed to fix a problem, correct or delete one.

Every time a team member views or changes a user's records, or exports a list to a file, it is written to an audit log with who did it and when.

11Your choices

You can edit or delete any transaction, pocket, card, account or reminder at any time, edit or remove your profile details, change your currency and language in Settings, choose which money alerts and summaries you get in Settings > Notifications, turn bank SMS import on or off, allow or refuse any permission in Settings > Permissions or your phone's settings, turn notifications off, and sign out whenever you like.

You can also ask us for a copy of your data, or to correct it, by contacting us at the address below. Usage analytics are not linked to your account, so they are not part of that copy; deleting and reinstalling Purse starts them under a new random ID.

13Children

Purse is not directed to children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect their data. If you believe a child has given us data, contact us and we will delete it.

14Changes and contact

We may update this policy as Purse changes. The date above shows the latest version. Questions? Reach us through Settings > Contact Support in the app, or at [email protected].