FinBuddy Privacy Policy

FinBuddy (“the App”) is a personal finance and shared expense management mobile application developed and operated by SaakarKaro (“we”, “us”, “our”). This privacy policy explains what information we collect when you use FinBuddy, how we use it, where it is stored, and the choices you have.

For any privacy-related question, contact us at tech.support@saakarkaro.com.

We collect only the information needed to operate the App’s features. Specifically:

• Account information — when you sign in with Google, we receive your name, email address, profile photo URL, and a Google account identifier. This is used only to create and authenticate your FinBuddy account.
• Profile information — any optional details you provide during onboarding (such as monthly income, savings goals, preferred currency, or notification preferences).
• Financial data you enter — transactions, categories, recurring entries, budgets, expense pools, pool memberships, settlements, and statement imports that you manually create or import inside the App.
• Device and usage signals — basic technical information sent automatically by Firebase (app version, operating system, anonymous installation identifier, crash logs). We do not collect precise location, contacts, SMS, or call logs.
• Referral codes — if you enter a referral code, the relationship between the two accounts is stored to award points.

• Authenticate you and keep you signed in across devices.
• Sync your transactions, pools, and settings across your devices.
• Send you reminders and notifications you have opted into (for example: bill reminders, recurring transactions, pool updates).
• Diagnose crashes and improve the App’s reliability.
• Prevent abuse, fraud, and misuse of the service.

We do not sell your personal information. We do not use your financial data for advertising or share it with advertisers.

FinBuddy requests the following device permissions. Each permission is requested only at the moment its feature is used, and you can decline or revoke them at any time from your device settings.

• Camera — used to scan QR codes when joining a shared expense pool. The camera feed is processed on your device only; no images are stored or uploaded.
• Microphone — used by optional voice features inside the App. Audio is processed on your device only and is not recorded or uploaded.
• Notifications — used to deliver reminders and pool updates that you choose to enable.
• Exact alarms / scheduled alarms — used to deliver reminders at the precise time you scheduled them.
• Run on device boot — used to re-arm your scheduled reminders after the device restarts.
• Biometrics (fingerprint / Face ID) — used only to unlock the App if you enable App Lock. Biometric data never leaves your device and is handled entirely by your operating system.
• Photo library — used only when you choose to pick an image (for example for your profile picture).

Your account information and the financial data you enter are stored in Google Firebase (Firestore, Firebase Authentication, and Firebase Storage), operated by Google LLC. Firebase servers are hosted on Google Cloud infrastructure. Some features rely on our backend service hosted at mvp.saakarkaro.com, which is used solely to process requests on your behalf (for example, parsing imported bank statements).

FinBuddy relies on the following third-party services to function. Each provider has its own privacy practices.

• Firebase Authentication & Firestore (Google LLC) — account login, sync, and database storage. Firebase privacy.
• Google Sign-In (Google LLC) — used as the authentication provider. Google Privacy Policy.
• Shorebird — delivers in-app code updates so the App can be patched without a full Play Store release. Shorebird receives only anonymous version-check requests.

We share your information only in these limited cases:

• With other members of an expense pool you join: your name, profile photo, and the transactions you add to that pool become visible to the other members of that pool. No other personal data is exposed.
• With service providers (Firebase, our backend) strictly to operate the App on your behalf.
• When required by law, regulation, or legal process, or to protect the rights, safety, or property of users or SaakarKaro.

We retain your data for as long as your account exists. You may request deletion of your account and all associated data at any time by emailing tech.support@saakarkaro.com from the email address linked to your account. We will permanently delete your account, transactions, pools you own, and personal profile within 30 days of receiving the request, except where we are required to retain certain records by law. Anonymized, aggregated statistics (with no link to you) may be retained indefinitely.

We use industry-standard safeguards including encryption in transit (HTTPS/TLS), Firebase Security Rules to restrict data access to the owning user, and Google Cloud’s underlying infrastructure security. No system can be guaranteed to be 100% secure, but we work to protect your information from unauthorized access, alteration, or loss.

FinBuddy is not directed to children under the age of 13, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If you believe a child has provided us with personal information, please contact us at tech.support@saakarkaro.com and we will delete it.

Depending on the laws applicable to you (for example, India’s Digital Personal Data Protection Act, the EU GDPR, or the California CCPA), you may have the right to access, correct, port, or delete your personal information, and to object to or restrict certain processing. To exercise these rights, contact us at tech.support@saakarkaro.com.

We may update this privacy policy from time to time. When we do, we will update the “Effective date” at the top of this page. Material changes will be communicated inside the App. Your continued use of FinBuddy after a change becomes effective constitutes acceptance of the updated policy.

For any questions, requests, or complaints about this policy or your data:

SaakarKaro
Email: tech.support@saakarkaro.com