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Privacy Policy

Last updated: 2 November 2026

AutoBudget is a personal budget tracker that turns your bank and e-wallet payment notifications into an automatic, categorized spending log. Everything you enter stays on your device. The app performs no network requests — it cannot upload, transmit, or sync anything. Its bundled offline map renderer declares network permissions, but no app code path uses them.

This policy explains what information the app handles, how it is used and protected, and your control over it. It applies to the AutoBudget Android app made available on Google Play.

Who we are

AutoBudget is developed and maintained by zharif zakaria. You can reach us at app-dev@zharif.my for any privacy question or request.

Information the app handles

AutoBudget only ever reads data you choose to share with it, and only from sources you enable.

What Source How it is used Stored / sent
Payment notification text The bank and e-wallet apps you explicitly enable Parse amounts, merchants, and account references into transactions Stored encrypted on device; never transmitted or shared. Card/account numbers are masked to the last 4 digits before storage.
Device location (optional) Your device, only if you opt in Attach a location snapshot to captured transactions so you can see where you spent Stored encrypted on device; never transmitted. Not tracked continuously. A user-run export writes it into the exported file you save.
Files you attach Files you pick, and receipt photos taken through your phone's camera app Attach to a transaction Stored on device in the app's private storage; never uploaded. Tapping Open hands that one file to a viewer app with temporary read access. Max 10 MB per file.
Entries you make You Budgets, categories, notes, exchange rates, settings, manually added transactions Stored on device.

AutoBudget does not collect or handle: your email or account, your name, your contacts, your SMS, your call logs, a device advertising identifier, or any analytics or crash logs.

How your information is used

Your information is used only to build and display your spending log and reports to you (for example, monthly snapshots, budgets, and charts). It is never used for advertising, marketing, profiling, or any other purpose.

Sharing

We do not collect, upload, sell, or share your information with anyone.

  • There is no party with whom your data is shared, except when you choose Open on a non-image attachment: that one file is handed to a viewer app on your device with temporary read access, and that app handles it under its own privacy policy. Nothing is uploaded by AutoBudget, and no copy is kept by the app.
  • No app code path performs a network request, so nothing is transmitted. The bundled offline map renderer's declared network permissions are unused.
  • The app contains no ads, no analytics, no trackers, and no telemetry SDK. The only third-party runtime SDK is the offline map renderer, which makes no request in this app.

Permissions the app may request

AutoBudget requests these capabilities only for the functionality described:

  • Notification access — required for the core feature: reading the payment notifications of the bank and e-wallet apps you enable, so they can be turned into transactions.
  • Location — optional, only for recording where a transaction happened. For background capture you may be asked for Android's "Allow all the time" setting. AutoBudget does not continuously track your location.
  • Notifications — to show a silent "transaction captured" notification if you choose to turn that feature on.

How your information is protected

  • Encrypted storage — your data is stored in a database encrypted with SQLCipher. The encryption key is held in your device's hardware-backed Android Keystore and never leaves the device.
  • No backups or device transfer — android:allowBackup="false" plus the shipped data_extraction_rules.xml and backup_rules.xml exclude every storage domain (root, files, database, shared preferences, external) from cloud backup and from device-to-device transfer, so neither the database nor attachment files can be copied to another device. The restored database would not open anyway: its Keystore key is not transferable.
  • App lock — optional PIN and biometric lock protects access to the app on your device.
  • Masking — card and account numbers are masked to their last 4 digits before anything is stored, including numbers written with spaces, dashes or dots and in non-Latin digit scripts. Amounts are never masked, so masking cannot change a transaction value.
  • Only enabled apps — notification text is read only for the bank and e-wallet packages you enabled. Untracked notifications are skipped before their text is extracted, including during replay.
  • Capture notification — the optional "transaction captured" notification is off by default, private on the lock screen, and never shows an amount or merchant in its public version.

Retention and deletion

Your data is kept on your device for as long as you keep the app.

  • You can delete everything from Settings → Backup & data → Delete all data.
  • Uninstalling the app removes all stored data.
  • Because the database is encrypted with a key that cannot be recovered, clearing the app's data or uninstalling permanently and irreversibly deletes your history. Export first (Settings → Backup & data → Export) if you want a copy.

Children

AutoBudget is not directed at children and does not knowingly collect any information from children.

International transfer

No information ever leaves your device, so there is no international transfer of your data by AutoBudget.

Changes to this policy

We may update this policy from time to time. When we do, we will revise the "Last updated" date at the top of this page. Material changes will be noted in the app's release notes.

Contact

Questions about this policy or your data: app-dev@zharif.my.