Privacy Policy — Clearly Budget

The short version

Clearly Budget does not collect, transmit to us, sell, or share any of your personal or financial data. Everything you enter — accounts, balances, transactions, categories, budgets, and settings — is stored in a database on your own device, and, if you're signed in to iCloud, mirrored to your own private iCloud account so it's available on your other devices. There is no account to create, no server operated by us, no analytics, and no advertising in this app.

Information We Collect

None. Clearly Budget does not require you to create an account with us, and does not collect your name, email address, financial information, location, or device identifiers. There is no backend server of ours for the app to send data to.

iCloud Sync

If your device is signed in to iCloud, Clearly Budget uses Apple's CloudKit to keep your budget in sync across your devices. Some specifics worth being clear about:

Your data is stored in the private database of your own iCloud account. It is tied to your Apple ID, not to any account with us.
The developer of Clearly Budget cannot see, access, or retrieve your synced data. We have no ability to read your private iCloud database.
Syncing is handled entirely by Apple. While your data is in iCloud it is covered by Apple's Privacy Policy and iCloud terms, including Apple's encryption of data in transit and at rest.
If you are not signed in to iCloud, the app simply works locally on that device — nothing is synced, and no functionality is lost apart from sync itself.
To stop syncing, sign out of iCloud or turn off iCloud Drive for Clearly Budget in your device's Settings. Deleting the app's iCloud data from Settings removes what has already synced.

Data You Explicitly Share

Some features let you choose to share data using your device's built-in share sheet. This only happens when you take a specific action, and you control the destination:

CSV Export — exporting transactions creates a file that you choose where to send (e.g. Mail, Files, AirDrop).
Backup & Restore — creating a backup file works the same way: you decide where it's saved, and only you can use it to restore your data.

In both cases, the file goes directly from your device to the destination you pick. Clearly Budget and its developer never receive a copy.

Face ID and Touch ID

If you turn on the optional app lock, authentication is performed by iOS using Apple's LocalAuthentication framework. Clearly Budget only ever receives a yes-or-no result. Your face or fingerprint data never leaves the Secure Enclave on your device, is never accessible to the app, and is never transmitted anywhere.

Notifications

Bill reminders are scheduled entirely on your device using Apple's local notification system. No reminder content is sent to, or generated by, any external service.

Widgets and Siri

The Home Screen widgets read your budget from the same storage the app uses, and the "Log an expense" Siri shortcut writes to it. Neither sends data to us or to any third party. Siri request handling itself is subject to Apple's Privacy Policy.

Third Parties

Clearly Budget does not integrate any third-party analytics, advertising, or tracking software of any kind. The only external service involved is Apple's own iCloud, described above.

Children's Privacy

Clearly Budget does not knowingly collect any information from anyone, including children, because it does not collect information at all.

Data Security

On your device, your data's security depends on your device's own protections — your passcode, iOS's built-in encryption, and optionally Clearly Budget's Face ID lock. In iCloud, your data is protected by Apple's encryption and by the security of your Apple ID; turning on two-factor authentication for your Apple ID is strongly recommended.

Changes to This Policy

If this policy changes, this page will be updated with a new effective date and the change will be described here.

Updated July 30, 2026: the app added iCloud sync, Home Screen widgets, a Siri shortcut, and a Face ID app lock. The iCloud Sync section above is new — earlier versions stored data only on the device and never synced it anywhere.

Contact Us

Clearly Budget is developed by Clearside Apps. Questions about this policy can be sent to clearsideapps@gmail.com.