Expense Diary privacy policy

Last updated: 10 October 2026

Expense Diary is made by BrightScale Labs Limited, a company registered in England and Wales (company number 16990009), registered office 8 Flay Field, Tithebarn, Exeter, EX1 3YA. Contact: contact@brightscalelabs.com.

This policy covers the Expense Diary app for iPhone, iPad and Android. Our website has its own privacy notice.

Everything you enter stays on your device. We run no servers that hold your diary, and we cannot see it. The only data that leaves your phone is the advertising identifier used by Google AdMob for the adverts in the free version, and support messages you choose to send.

Your entries, accounts, categories, bills, budgets, savings goals, settings and receipt photos are stored in the app's private storage on your device. Nothing is sent to us.

Backups you make. "Back up to file" writes one file you choose where to keep, for example iCloud Drive, Google Drive, Dropbox or a folder on your computer. It contains your entries, settings and receipt photos. You control that file.

Back up to a folder. You can pick a folder once, on any storage provider your phone can show, and the app writes the same backup file there automatically whenever your data changes. The app keeps access only to that one folder, reads nothing else in it, and we never see it.

iCloud backup (iPhone and iPad). If you turn it on, a copy of your data is kept in your own iCloud account under your Apple ID. It is stored by Apple under Apple's terms, and we have no access to it.

Android Auto Backup. Android may include the app's data in the device backup kept in your Google account. This is controlled by your Android settings, not by us.

Deleting the app deletes the data on the device. Backups you made elsewhere remain until you delete them.

When you photograph a receipt or a bank statement, the text is read on your device using Apple Vision on iOS or Google ML Kit on Android. The photo is never uploaded. Receipt photos you attach to an entry are kept in the app's own storage on your phone.

The free version shows adverts from Google AdMob in three places, and nowhere else:

• A small banner above the tab bar.
• A full-screen advert when you open the Net worth report, at most once an hour. It can be closed after a few seconds.
• Rewarded adverts you choose to watch, from Settings, in return for a short ad-free period or temporary access to the PDF and CSV exports. These never play unless you start them.

Adverts never appear between your entries, inside the entry sheet, or while you are scanning a receipt or statement.

You choose between personalised and non-personalised ads the first time the app runs, and can change the choice at any time in Settings under Ads.

• With personalised ads, Google uses your device's advertising identifier to pick ads. Google's use of it is described in Google's privacy policy at policies.google.com/privacy.
• With non-personalised ads, the advertising identifier is not used for personalisation.

In the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom and Switzerland the app shows Google's consent form and follows the choice you make there. Nothing you enter in the app, no amounts, merchants, balances or categories, is shared with Google or any advertiser.

The ad-free subscription removes all three kinds of advert, and the app then makes no advertising requests.

The optional subscription (ad-free with PDF and CSV export) is sold and managed by Apple through the App Store or by Google through Google Play. They handle payment and receipts under their own terms. We never receive your payment details. Whether you are subscribed is recorded on your device so the app knows to hide ads.

The app has a built-in "Help & support" screen. If you send a message, we receive what you typed together with the app version, platform, operating system version, your currency and whether you are ad-free. No account is created and no contact details are included unless you choose to add an email address for a reply.

Two optional reports include a little more, and in each case you see the text before it is sent:

• Report a misread statement includes the rows the scanner read from the statement table, with account numbers, sort codes, IBANs, card numbers, postcodes and email addresses masked, and everything above the table, such as your name and address, removed. The bank name is included when it is printed on the page.
• Send error report includes the error text only.

Support messages are kept so we can reply and fix problems. You can ask for a ticket to be deleted from within the ticket or by email.

• Camera and photo library: only when you scan a receipt or statement or attach a photo. Processing happens on the device.
• Notifications: for bill and payday reminders you set up. Reminders are scheduled locally on your phone.
• Face ID, Touch ID, fingerprint or passcode: only if you turn on the app lock. The check is done by your phone; we never see biometric data.
• App Tracking Transparency (iOS): shown only if you choose personalised ads, because Google's advertising identifier counts as tracking under Apple's rules. Declining keeps ads non-personalised.

Expense Diary is not directed at children under 13 and we do not knowingly collect information from them.

Because your data stays on your device, you exercise most rights yourself: view, change, export and delete everything from within the app. For support messages, email contact@brightscalelabs.com to ask what we hold, to correct it, or to have it deleted. Under UK and EU data protection law you also have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner's Office (ico.org.uk) or your local supervisory authority.

If we change this policy we will update the date at the top and, for anything material, tell you in the app. Older versions are available on request.

BrightScale Labs Limited, 8 Flay Field, Tithebarn, Exeter, EX1 3YA, United Kingdom. contact@brightscalelabs.com