Privacy Policy

Effective date: 2026-11-04

Application: Budget Mole
Contact: [email protected]

Summary

Budget Mole is a local-first personal budget application. Your financial data stays on your device by default. The only situations in which anything leaves your device are the two you explicitly opt in to: the Google Drive Sync feature (your budget data, to your own Google Drive) and error reports (technical crash data, never your budget data, to a crash-reporting service).

Data we store locally

The following data is stored on your device only:

• Budget transactions, categories, tags, accounts, and other domain data you enter or import
• Application preferences (language, theme, view state)
• A random installation identifier used to distinguish this install from other installs if you use Google Drive Sync with multiple devices

None of this data is transmitted to Budget Mole servers. Budget Mole does not operate any application servers.

Data you may choose to transmit

If you enable Google Drive Sync:

• Your entire budget dataset is packaged as a JSON file and uploaded to your own Google Drive account in the invisible “app-data” folder reserved for Budget Mole
• The scope requested is limited to drive.appdata — Budget Mole cannot access any other file or folder in your Drive
• Uploads occur on the schedule you configure or when you tap “Backup now”
• Downloads occur on the schedule you configure or when you tap “Restore now”

You can revoke Budget Mole’s access to your Google Drive at any time via https://myaccount.google.com/permissions.

Error reports (optional)

Budget Mole can send a short report to the developer when something goes wrong in the app. This is off until you turn it on: the app asks you once, and you can change the answer at any time in Application Preferences → “Send error reports”.

If you turn it on, a report contains only:

• The kind of error and a cleaned-up error message. Before anything leaves the device the message is stripped of amounts, numbers of five or more digits, web addresses, e-mail addresses and the values of any database statement.
• Code positions (the position of the error inside the app’s code, as numbers; not the code itself)
• Which screen of the app the error happened on (the screen’s name, never what was shown on it)
• The app version and build number

A report never contains your budget data: no transactions, amounts, account, category or tag names, no backup contents, no device identifier, no installation identifier, no account or e-mail, no location, no IP address.

Reports are sent to Sentry (Functional Software, Inc.), a crash-reporting service, processed on behalf of Budget Mole and stored in the European Union. Sentry acts as a service provider and does not use the reports for its own purposes. Reports are kept for 30 days and then deleted. The same reports are also kept on your device in the Error journal (More → Advanced tools), where you can read, share or delete them.

Data we do not collect

Budget Mole does not:

• Include analytics or telemetry SDKs
• Include advertising SDKs
• Send crash or error reports unless you turn error reports on (see above); the crash-reporting library is configured so that it collects nothing on its own — no sessions, no performance data, no device profile, no activity trail
• Collect device identifiers beyond the random install-scoped UUID, which is never included in an error report
• Access your camera, location, contacts, microphone, or photos
• Send any data to third parties other than Google (only when Google Drive Sync is enabled by you) and Sentry (only when error reports are enabled by you)

Permissions requested

Budget Mole requests only:

• Internet access — required for Google Drive Sync and for error reports, each only when you enable it
• External storage access — required for backup export and restore file selection
• Vibration — used for haptic feedback on UI interactions
• Notifications (POST_NOTIFICATIONS) — used to show a system notification with the result of a background Google Drive backup while the app is closed; off until you allow it, and you can turn it off in Application Preferences → Notifications or in the system settings

System notifications are created on your device by the app itself. Budget Mole does not use push notifications and no notification content is sent to or received from any server. The notifications library the app uses bundles the Firebase Cloud Messaging client library and the Google Play Install Referrer client library; Budget Mole does not use either of them — it has no Firebase configuration, receives no push messages, and the permissions those libraries would request (push message receipt and install referrer access) are removed from the app.

Backup files

When you use the local backup feature (“Create backup” in Data Management), the app creates a backup file with all your budget data. The file is not encrypted. You choose what happens to it:

• Save to a folder — the app writes the file into a folder on your device that you pick, then reads it back to check it. Nothing else keeps a copy.
• Share — the file is created in the app’s cache directory and handed to the system share sheet; you choose where to send it. The cache copy is deleted the next time you create a backup or the next time the app starts; you can also remove it with Wipe all data.

A backup file you pick for a restore is copied to the app’s cache while it is read and deleted as soon as the restore finishes or is cancelled. Backups sent to Google Drive are built in memory and leave no copy in the cache.

Budget Mole does not automatically upload local backup files anywhere.

Deleting your data

• In the app: More → Data Management → Wipe all data deletes everything the app stores on this device: your budget data, your settings, the app’s cached files and its Google sign-in. Before it deletes anything, it offers to save a backup file to a folder you pick. Some settings belong to the device and are not kept in a backup file, so they are gone after a wipe even if you restore it: the Google Drive Sync setup, the app lock, the exchange-rate feed settings, “Hide amounts” and your answer to “Send error reports”.
• Error reports: turning “Send error reports” off stops new reports at once. Reports already sent are deleted by Sentry after 30 days; to have them deleted sooner, email the contact address below. The Error journal on your device is deleted by Wipe all data, or by its own Clear action in Advanced tools.
• Backups on Google Drive: a wipe does not delete them. They stay in the hidden app-data folder of your Google Drive until you delete them in the app (Google Drive Sync → delete all backups) or remove Budget Mole’s app data from your Google account (Google Drive settings → Manage apps).
• Revoking access: you can revoke Budget Mole’s access to your Google Drive at any time via https://myaccount.google.com/permissions.
• Backup files you saved or shared are yours: delete them where you put them.
• Uninstalling the app removes everything it stored on the device, except backup files you saved to your own folders.

Children’s privacy

Budget Mole does not knowingly collect data from children under 13. The application does not include age-gated functionality or sign-up flows.

Changes to this policy

We may update this policy from time to time. The “Effective date” at the top of this page will reflect the most recent revision. Material changes will be surfaced in-app at the next application update.

Contact

Questions? Email [email protected].