Privacy Policy for Balance Buddy
Effective: September 29, 2026
At a glance
• Your financial records stay on your phone. There's no Balance Buddy account and no Balance Buddy server.
• The app sends anonymous usage statistics to Google Analytics for Firebase. It never sends your transactions, amounts, account names or receipt photos.
• We don't sell your information, and the app shows no ads.
• Backups and exports go only where you choose to save them.
1. Who we are
Balance Buddy is made by Shift Logic, based in Canada (“Shift Logic”, “we”, “us”). This policy explains what information the Balance Buddy Android app handles, where it goes, and the choices you have.
2. Information stored on your device
Everything you put into Balance Buddy is kept in the app's private storage on your phone:
• Financial records you enter or import: accounts, transactions (payee, amount, date, category, memo and tags), budgets, savings goals and recurring transactions.
• Receipt photos you take, linked to the transactions they belong to.
• Your settings and in-app progress, such as levels, streaks and badges.
We can't see any of this. It isn't sent to us, and we don't run any server that could receive it.
3. Features that work on your device
• Receipt scanning: Google ML Kit reads the text in a receipt photo on your phone. The photo isn't uploaded. ML Kit may contact Google to download model updates and may send Google anonymous statistics about how the feature performs.
• Fingerprint or face unlock: Android handles this. The app only learns whether unlocking succeeded and never sees your biometric data.
• Dashboard greeting: If you allow the Contacts permission, the app reads the name on your own profile card so it can greet you by name. It doesn't read anyone else's contact details, and it doesn't store or send your name.
4. Information that leaves your device
• Google Analytics for Firebase: The app uses Firebase to count how it's used. Firebase automatically collects events such as installs, app opens, sessions, screens viewed and app updates, along with your device model, Android version, app version, language, approximate country or region, and a random app-instance ID. It doesn't receive your financial records, receipt photos or name, and the app doesn't collect your advertising ID. Elite subscribers can turn on Incognito Mode in Settings, which also switches analytics off. Google processes this data under its own privacy policy and may store it outside Canada, including in the United States.
• Google Play Billing: If you subscribe, Google Play handles the payment. The app only learns which subscription is active. We never see your card or payment details.
• Encrypted backups (Elite): A backup is encrypted on your phone with a passphrase you choose (AES-256-GCM, with the key derived from your passphrase using PBKDF2), then saved wherever you pick in Android's file picker, such as Google Drive, Dropbox or your phone's storage. We can't read your backups, and we can't recover a forgotten passphrase.
• Exports: CSV files and reports you export are saved as ordinary, unencrypted files wherever you choose. Keep them somewhere safe.
• Android device backup: Depending on your phone's backup settings, Android may include the app's data in your device backup to your Google account. Google manages that backup, and you can turn it off in Android's settings.
5. What can appear on your screen
Home-screen widgets and notifications (such as reminders and alerts) can show balances and amounts to anyone who can see your phone. You can remove widgets or turn off notifications at any time.
6. Permissions the app asks for
• Camera: to take receipt photos. Optional.
• Notifications: for reminders and alerts. Optional.
• Contacts: only to read the name on your own profile for the greeting. Optional.
• Biometrics: to lock the app with your fingerprint or face. Optional.
• Internet and network state: for Google Play Billing, Firebase Analytics and ML Kit updates.
• Run at startup and keep awake: so reminders and recurring transactions still run after your phone restarts.
• Storage: on older Android versions only, to import and export files.
7. Keeping and deleting your data
• Data on your device stays there until you delete it.
• Wipe All Data (in Settings, under Data Management) deletes all of your records and saved receipt photos from the app.
• Uninstalling the app removes everything it stored on your phone.
• Backups and exports you saved elsewhere stay there until you delete them.
• Analytics data is kept by Google for the retention period set for the app's Firebase project, then deleted automatically.
8. Your rights
Under Canada's Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA), you can ask what personal information we hold about you, ask us to correct it, and withdraw your consent. Because your records live only on your phone, you can view, change or delete them in the app at any time. Analytics data isn't linked to your name, so we usually can't look it up by who you are, but contact us and we'll help where we can.
If you're not satisfied with our response, you can complain to the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada at priv.gc.ca.
9. Children
Balance Buddy isn't directed at children under 13, and we don't knowingly collect information from them.
10. Security
Your records are protected by your phone's own security. Use a screen lock, and consider turning on the app's biometric lock. No method of storage is completely secure, so we can't guarantee absolute security.
11. Changes to this policy
If this policy changes, we'll update the date at the top and publish the new version in the app and on this page.
12. Contact us
Questions or requests about your privacy: balancebuddy@tdot-o.com