BetterBudget Privacy Policy
Effective date: October 2026
Last updated: October 2026
BetterBudget is a budgeting app for iPhone (and a test version for Android). This policy explains what information the app handles, where it is kept, who can see it, and how you can delete it. We have tried to write it in plain English.
The short version:
- Most of your budget lives only on your phone.
- If you sign in and share a budget with your household, the shared budget is stored on our cloud database so every member’s phone stays in sync.
- We do not sell your information, show ads, or track you across other apps or websites.
- You can delete your account and its cloud data at any time from inside the app.
1. Who we are
BetterBudget is published by Scorecard Coach LLC, a Washington State limited liability company (“we,” “us,” “our”).
- Email: support@scorecardcoach.net
2. Two ways to use BetterBudget
Without an account (on-device only). You can use BetterBudget without signing in. Your budget is stored in a database on your phone. It is not sent to us.
With an account (Family Budget / household sharing). If you choose to sign in (Settings > Family Budget), you can create or join a household and share one budget with the other members. The shared parts of your budget are then stored on our cloud database (see section 4).
3. Information we collect and why
3.1 Account information (only if you sign in)
| What | Why |
|---|---|
| Email address and password | To create your account and sign you in. Your password is handled by our authentication provider (Supabase Auth) and stored in hashed form; we never see it in plain text. |
| An account ID (a random identifier) | To link your account to your household and your shared budget. |
| Display name you choose | Shown to the other members of your household. |
We do not offer “Sign in with Apple,” Google, or Facebook sign-in, so we receive no information from those services.
3.2 Shared household budget (only if you create or join a household)
When you are signed in and linked to a household, these items are stored in the cloud and shared with every member of that household:
- Household name, invite code, and the list of members (display name and role: owner or member).
- Budget settings: opening balance and its start date, safety buffer, primary pay cadence, Emergency Fund target and planned contribution, and the decimals preference.
- Income sources: name, amount, frequency, pay date, notes, and skip settings.
- Bills: name, amount, frequency, due day or date, end date, category, essential/priority flags, autopay flag, the “payment account” label you type, and notes.
- One-time income and expenses you enter by hand: title, amount, date, category, and notes.
- Payday edits (amount changes, split payments, skips) and “paid” check-offs.
- Inbox comments you post, and any files you attach to them (JPG, PNG, or PDF, up to 8 MB each).
- Which member last edited each item, and when.
- When you last read the household Inbox (used for unread badges; visible only to you).
We use this information only to provide the shared budget: keeping every member’s phone in sync and showing Inbox comments.
Tip: The “payment account” and notes fields are free text and are shared with your household. Please don’t type full bank account or card numbers into them.
3.3 Information that stays on your phone
These are stored only in the app’s on-device database or files and are not sent to us:
- Your full transaction list, including anything you import from a bank CSV or PDF statement. Statements are read and processed on your phone; the files and their contents are not uploaded.
- Suggested recurring bills found in imported statements.
- Savings goals and Emergency Fund set-asides.
- The budget change log (“Recent changes”).
- On-phone backups made with Settings > Backup > Back Up Now (the app keeps the 10 most recent).
- Preferences such as text size, Home and Settings layout, the setup guide, payday-estimator tax percentages, and bill-reminder settings.
- A saved copy of the Money News headlines.
- If you use household sharing, a local copy of the shared budget, Inbox comments, and attachments, so the app works offline.
If you use your phone’s own backup (for example, iCloud Backup or a computer backup), that backup may include BetterBudget’s on-device data. That is controlled by your phone settings and Apple, not by us.
3.4 Backup files you export
Settings > Backup > Export Backup File creates a .json file of your budget and opens your phone’s share sheet. CSV and PDF reports work the same way. You choose where the file goes (for example, the Files app, AirDrop, or email). We do not receive these files, and once you share them, they are controlled by wherever you saved or sent them.
3.5 Feedback you send us
Settings > Send Feedback lets you send us a note, and optionally one screenshot or one short video (up to 20 seconds) chosen from your photo library. Along with your note, the app sends the app version, the platform (iOS or Android), and your operating-system version.
Feedback is sent without your account ID or email address attached, and we use it only to fix problems and improve the app. If you include personal details in the message or screenshot, we will receive them, so please avoid sharing sensitive information there. We keep feedback for up to 24 months, then delete it. Because feedback is not linked to an account, deleting your account does not delete feedback you sent earlier (see section 8).
The app asks for photo-library access only when you choose to attach a screenshot or video, and it reads only the item you pick.
3.6 Notifications
- Bill reminders are scheduled locally on your phone. They are not sent through our servers.
- Inbox alerts: if you are signed in to a household and allow notifications, the app registers a push token (an identifier that lets a notification reach your phone) and stores it with your account. When another member posts an Inbox comment, the app uses that token to send you a short alert (“A new comment has been posted to BetterBudget.”) with an unread count. The comment text itself is not included in the alert.
You can turn notifications off at any time in your phone’s Settings.
3.7 Money News
The Home screen’s Money News card shows recent headlines from public sources (currently Federal Reserve press releases). Our server collects those headlines on its own schedule; the app then reads the stored headlines. The app does not send anything about you, your budget, or your interests to get the news. When you tap a story, it opens in an in-app browser, and the publisher’s website receives your request the same way it would from any web browser.
3.8 Technical information
Like any internet service, our cloud provider automatically receives technical details such as your IP address and request times when the app connects (for example, to sign in, sync, or load news). These are used to run and secure the service and are kept according to our provider’s standard log retention.
3.9 What we do not collect
BetterBudget does not include analytics, advertising, or crash-reporting tools. We do not collect your location, contacts, browsing history, health information, or advertising identifier (IDFA). We do not connect to your bank in the current version (see section 12 for a planned optional feature).
4. Where your information is stored, and our service providers
We use a small number of providers to run BetterBudget. They process information on our behalf and only to provide their service to us:
| Provider | What it does | What it handles |
|---|---|---|
| Supabase | Cloud database, sign-in, file storage, and server functions | Account info, shared household budget, Inbox comments and files, push tokens, feedback, technical logs. Data is hosted in the United States (Amazon Web Services, US East region). |
| Expo (push notification service), Apple Push Notification service, and for the Android test version Google Firebase Cloud Messaging | Delivering Inbox alerts to your phone | Your push token and the short alert text and unread count |
| Apple | App Store distribution (and, in the future, subscriptions; see section 12) | Governed by Apple’s own privacy policy |
The Money News sources (such as the Federal Reserve) do not receive any information about you from us.
We may also disclose information if required by law, to protect the rights and safety of our users or others, or as part of a sale or reorganization of our business (in which case this policy would continue to apply to your information).
5. Household sharing: what other members can see
If you join or create a household, every member of that household can see and edit the shared budget described in section 3.2, see your display name and role, read Inbox comments and open attachments, and see who last changed an item.
Other members cannot see your email address, your password, your push token, when you last read the Inbox, or anything that stays only on your phone (section 3.3), such as imported bank transactions or savings goals.
Only share your invite code with people you want to have access to your household budget.
6. No selling, no ads, no tracking
- We do not sell or rent your personal information.
- We do not share your personal information for targeted or cross-context behavioral advertising.
- BetterBudget shows no ads.
- We do not track you across other companies’ apps or websites, and we do not use your device’s advertising identifier.
7. How long we keep information
- On-device data stays on your phone until you delete it, use Delete Account, or delete the app.
- Account and shared household data is kept while your account exists.
- Items you delete inside a shared household (such as a bill, an income source, or an Inbox comment) are hidden from every member right away, but they are not erased immediately. They stay in our cloud database, marked as deleted, until the household itself is deleted or, for comments and files you wrote, until you delete your account (section 8). This lets the members’ phones sync deletions reliably.
- Push tokens are kept until you delete your account.
- Feedback is kept for up to 24 months after you send it, and then deleted.
- Technical logs are kept according to our cloud provider’s standard log retention.
8. Deleting your account and data
You can delete your account inside the app: Settings > Account > Delete Account. You will be asked to type DELETE and confirm.
When you delete your account:
- If you are the only member of your household, the household and its entire shared budget, Inbox comments, attached files, and membership are permanently deleted from the cloud.
- If other members remain, the shared household budget stays for them. Your membership, Inbox comments, and the files you attached are deleted, and your name is removed from the “last edited by” field on shared items. If you were the owner, ownership passes to another member.
- In every case, your profile, display name, push tokens, Inbox read marker, and sign-in account are permanently deleted.
- The app then signs out and erases all BetterBudget data on that phone, including on-phone backups, and cancels scheduled bill reminders.
What is not deleted: backup files you exported and saved elsewhere (section 3.4), the public news headlines, and feedback you sent, which is not linked to your account. If you want earlier feedback deleted, email us at support@scorecardcoach.net and describe it (for example, the date and topic) so we can find it.
If you are not signed in, all of your data is on your phone. You can erase it with Settings > Reset Everything or by deleting the app.
You can also ask us to delete your data by emailing support@scorecardcoach.net.
9. Security
We use reasonable safeguards to protect your information. Connections between the app and our servers are encrypted (HTTPS). Cloud access rules make sure that only members of a household can read or change that household’s data, and Inbox files are kept in private storage that only household members can open. Server keys are never placed in the app. No method of storage or transmission is 100% secure, so we cannot guarantee absolute security. Keep your password private and use a passcode on your phone.
10. Children
BetterBudget is intended for people 13 and older. It is not directed to children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If you believe a child under 13 has given us personal information, contact us at support@scorecardcoach.net and we will delete it.
11. Your privacy rights
Depending on where you live, including several US states, you may have the right to ask what personal information we hold about you, to get a copy of it, to correct it, or to delete it, and to opt out of the sale of personal information or targeted advertising. We do not sell personal information or use it for targeted advertising.
Much of this you can do yourself in the app: edit your budget and display name, export a backup, or delete your account. For anything else, email support@scorecardcoach.net. We may need to verify your request before acting on it, and we will not discriminate against you for exercising your rights. If we decline a request, you may appeal by replying to our decision.
12. Planned features (not yet available)
This section describes features we plan to add. It will be updated before they launch.
Subscriptions. BetterBudget plans to offer paid subscriptions (Basic and Premium, with a free trial) through Apple’s In-App Purchase. Apple processes payments; we do not receive your card or payment details. If a younger user is part of an Apple Family Sharing group, Apple’s Ask to Buy settings let a parent approve purchases. We would receive information from Apple about your subscription status (for example, which plan is active and when it renews) to unlock features. (Update when built: say whether subscription status is stored on our server with your account.)
Optional bank connection (Premium). We plan to offer optional bank syncing for Premium subscribers through Plaid Inc. If you choose to connect a bank, you would sign in to your bank through Plaid, and Plaid would share account and transaction information with us so the app can update your budget. Plaid’s handling of your information is described in the Plaid End User Privacy Policy. We will update this policy with details, including what is stored, where, who in your household can see it, and how to disconnect, before this feature launches.
13. Changes to this policy
We may update this policy as the app changes. We will post the new version at this address and change the “Last updated” date. If a change materially affects how we use your information, we will let you know in the app or by email before it takes effect.
14. Contact us
Questions or requests: email support@scorecardcoach.net.
Scorecard Coach LLC, Washington State, USA