The short version
- Stored on your phoneYour expenses, budgets, accounts, notes and receipts are saved in the app on your iPhone or Android phone.
- No accountThere's no sign-up, no phone number, no email and no OTP.
- No Sanchay serversWe don't run a server that stores your data, so we never receive it.
- Off unless you say soUsage analytics and crash reports are off by default, and never include amounts, names or merchants.
Sanchay is made by Karthik Kumar, an independent developer based in Bengaluru, India ("we", "us"). If anything here is unclear, write to support@sanchaymoney.com.
What stays on your phone
Everything you put into Sanchay is saved in the app's private storage on your phone:
- accounts (just the names, types, colours and, if you add them, the last 4 digits of a card),
- expenses and income, with their amounts, titles, dates, times, categories, tags and notes,
- receipt photos and PDFs you attach,
- budgets, your Bachat Streak and your settings, including the name you can type on the Profile screen.
Other apps can't read it.
On iPhone, like any app's data, it's included in the backups your iPhone itself makes to iCloud or to your computer, if you have those turned on. Those backups are handled by Apple and by you, not by us.
On Android, Sanchay is left out of Android's own backup, so your data isn't copied to your Google account. It stays on that phone.
No account, no servers
You don't sign up for Sanchay and we don't ask for your phone number, email or bank login. Accounts in the app are labels you name yourself: Sanchay never connects to your bank, and it never reads balances.
We don't operate any server that receives your financial data. The only times the app connects to the internet are the optional usage analytics and crash reports described below, and only after you turn them on.
Automatic logging
Sanchay can log an expense from a bank message or a payment receipt, but only if you set it up. It's off until you do, and every message and image is read on your phone.
On iPhone
Bank messages. iOS doesn't let apps read your messages. When a Shortcuts automation you created runs, iOS hands that one message to Sanchay. Sanchay reads it with built-in rules and, for messages the rules can't read, with Apple's on-device model (Apple Intelligence). It never uses Apple's Private Cloud Compute, so the message isn't sent off your phone, to us or to Apple.
Receipts and screenshots. When you share a receipt or screenshot to Sanchay, the text in the image is read on your iPhone with Apple's Vision framework.
On Android
Notifications. If you give Sanchay notification access in Android Settings, it reads the notifications of a fixed list of apps only: Google Messages, Samsung Messages, Google Pay, PhonePe, Paytm, CRED and BHIM. Notifications from every other app are ignored. They're read with built-in rules on your phone; no AI model is used for them.
To avoid logging the same notification twice, Sanchay keeps a one-way fingerprint (a hash) of the last 50 notification texts it read. The text itself can't be recovered from it. You can take notification access away at any time in Android Settings.
Shared messages and receipts. When you share a message, receipt or screenshot to "Log to Sanchay", text in an image is read on your phone with Google's on-device text recognition (ML Kit), which is built into the app.
On both
- Only the first 1,000 characters of a message are read, and the message or image itself is never saved or logged.
- What's saved is the expense it describes: amount, merchant or payee, date and time, and the account or card it came from.
- Messages that aren't a completed spend, like OTPs, credits or failed payments, are ignored.
Siri, Ask and suggestions
Quick log with Siri (iPhone). When you say something like "50 rupees chai cash", Siri turns your voice into text, under Apple's own privacy policy for Siri. Sanchay then reads that text on your iPhone.
Ask. Questions you ask about your spending are answered on your phone, from your own entries: with Apple's on-device model on iPhone, and with Gemini Nano on Android phones that have it. Both run on the phone itself. Questions aren't saved: each visit starts fresh.
Category suggestions. Sanchay suggests a category from what you've logged before and, when that doesn't help, with the same on-device model (or, on Android phones without Gemini Nano, with built-in keyword rules). Titles never leave your phone.
Permissions and notifications
Sanchay asks for the camera or your photos only when you attach a receipt to an expense, and copies just the photo you pick into the app. You can turn either permission off in your phone's Settings at any time.
On Android, notification access is only asked for if you set up automatic logging, as described above.
Sanchay's own notifications, such as "Expense added" and the daily reminder, are created on your phone. They're never sent from a server, and they never show card digits. The daily reminder never shows amounts. On Android 13 and later, the app asks for permission before showing them.
Widgets
The widgets show your current budget: what's left, what you've spent and the days to go. The app saves just those figures where the widgets can read them on your phone, never your transactions or notes. On iPhone, iOS hides the amounts while your phone is locked.
App lock
App lock is off until you turn it on. It uses your phone's own Face ID, fingerprint, face unlock, PIN or passcode check: Sanchay only learns whether you unlocked, and never sees your face, fingerprint or passcode.
iCloud backup (iPhone)
iCloud backup is off until you turn it on in Profile › Security & backup. When it's on, Sanchay keeps one backup copy of your data in a private area of your iCloud account that only the Sanchay app on your devices can open. It isn't shown in iCloud Drive, and we have no way to read it. Receipts are only included if you choose that.
The backup is stored by Apple under your Apple Account, and Apple's iCloud terms and privacy policy apply to it. You can delete it in iOS Settings under your Apple Account › iCloud › Manage Storage. Sanchay on Android has no backup.
Usage analytics (optional)
Usage analytics help us see which features people use. They're off by default and sent only with your consent. The app asks once, after your first expense, and you can change your answer at any time in Profile › Privacy & data.
If you turn them on, the app sends short events from a fixed list, such as "the app was opened", "an expense was added (by hand or by a shortcut)", "a budget was created (monthly)" or the type of screen opened. Every detail is one of a few fixed words.
- Never sent: amounts, merchants, titles, notes, tags, dates, account or category names, card digits, message or receipt contents, your questions to Ask, or your name.
- Sent with each event: a random ID made on your phone (not linked to you, and replaced when you turn analytics off), and basic device details: the app version, phone model, operating system and version, screen size, language and time zone.
- Who receives it: PostHog, Inc., which stores it for us on servers in the United States. We've turned off location lookup and person profiles.
Turning analytics off stops sending at once and deletes any events not yet sent.
Crash reports (optional)
Crash reports help us fix bugs. They're also off by default, sent only with your consent, and controlled in the same place.
If you turn them on and the app crashes, it sends a report with the error, where in the code it happened, basic device details (app version, phone model, operating system and version), and the types of the last few screens you opened. Before it's sent, numbers and quoted text in the error are hidden. Reports never include screenshots, your data or anything that identifies you. They're received by Functional Software, Inc. (Sentry), on servers in the United States.
Your choices and rights
- Turn usage analytics or crash reports on or off in Profile › Privacy & data.
- Erase everything in the app with Delete all data on the same screen. Deleting the app also deletes its data from your phone.
- On iPhone, delete your iCloud backup from iOS Settings, as above.
- On Android, take away notification access in Android Settings at any time.
Because your data stays with you, we don't hold a copy we could show, correct or delete for you. Wherever you live, you can ask us about the analytics or crash data described above, ask us to delete it, or withdraw your consent, and you can complain to your local data protection authority (in India, under the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023). Write to support@sanchaymoney.com.
This website
This website uses no cookies, trackers or analytics, and loads nothing from other companies: even its fonts are served from here. If you switch between light and dark mode, that choice is saved in your own browser.
The site is hosted by Cloudflare, which handles each request to deliver the page and protect it from attacks, and may keep standard request logs, such as your IP address and browser, for that purpose.
Children
Sanchay isn't directed at children, and we don't knowingly collect anything from anyone. Since your data stays on your device, there's nothing we hold about a child either.
Changes and contact
If this policy changes, we'll update this page and the date at the top. If a change affects what leaves your phone, we'll say so in the app's release notes.
Questions or concerns: support@sanchaymoney.com.