Privacy policy
Short version: Kittle has no ads, no analytics and no tracking. Without an account, everything stays on your phone. With an account, your households are stored in Google Firebase so you and the people you invite can see them. We never sell or share your data.
Without an account
Your expenses, categories, payment methods and settings are stored only on your phone. Nothing is sent to us. Android cloud backup is turned off for Kittle, so this data doesn't leave the phone that way either. Uninstalling the app or "Reset all data" deletes it.
With an account
If you sign in (with Google, or with your email address and a password), we store:
- Your account: your email address, and the name and profile photo your Google account provides. You can change the name in the app. If you use a password, Firebase Authentication keeps only a secure hash of it; we never see it.
- Your households: their name, emoji, currency and month start day; who is in them (name and photo) and their role.
- What you add: expenses (amount, date, an optional time, category, an optional note, who paid, and the payment method), categories, payment methods, optional monthly budgets, and recurring expenses (the same details as an expense, plus how often it repeats and when it's next due). A payment method is a nickname you choose plus, optionally, the last 4 digits of a card or account. Kittle never asks for or stores a full card or account number, and refuses nicknames that look like one.
- The household's invite link, if you create one: a random code and the household's name, so the person invited can see what they're joining.
Everyone in a household can see that household's expenses and members. Nobody else can: access is checked by our server rules on every request.
Payments from bank SMS (Android, optional)
If you turn on Payments from SMS, Kittle reads the SMS on your phone to find payments from your bank or UPI app that you haven't added yet, when you open the app. This happens only on your phone. Kittle keeps just the amount, date and time, who was paid and the last 4 digits of the card or account. It never stores the message itself, never reads other messages for any other purpose, and never sends any of it to us or anyone else. To suggest a category and card next time, it remembers your choices, also only on your phone. An expense you add from an SMS is a normal expense (it syncs if you have an account). Turn it off any time in Household → Payments from SMS, or remove the SMS permission in your phone's settings. Uninstalling Kittle deletes all of it.
Where it's stored, and who processes it
Account data is handled by Firebase Authentication, and household data is stored in Cloud Firestore in Google's Delhi region (asia-south2). Both are Google Cloud services that process the data on our behalf (see Firebase's privacy information). Data is encrypted in transit (HTTPS) and at rest. A copy is also kept on your phone so the app works offline.
To protect the service from abuse, the app asks Google Play Integrity (Firebase App Check) to confirm requests come from the genuine Kittle app. This doesn't share your expenses.
What we don't do
- No advertising, no analytics, no crash-reporting services, no tracking across apps or websites.
- We don't sell, rent or share your data with anyone.
- No receipt photos, contacts or location. SMS only if you turn on Payments from SMS, and only on your phone (above). Notifications (an optional daily reminder) are created on your phone.
Keeping and deleting your data
Your data is kept until you delete it. In the app, Household → Delete account deletes your account, your profile and the households only you are in. You leave households you share with others: the expenses you added there stay with that household (under your name), because they're part of its shared records. See how to delete your account, including without the app.
You can export your expenses at any time (Reports → Export CSV).
Children
Kittle is meant for adults (18 and over). It is not directed at children, and we don't knowingly collect their data.
Changes
If this policy changes, we'll update this page and its date. Significant changes will also be shown in the app.
Contact
Questions or requests: smallsuco@gmail.com.