Privacy Policy

Introduction

Forem Innovations Limited ("we," "our," or "us") built the Spend Wisely app ("the App") as a personal finance and expense management application. This Privacy Policy explains how we handle your information when you use our App.

Information You Provide

The App allows you to enter and store the following types of information locally on your device:

• Financial Data — Expenses, income, account details (bank name, account name, card type, balances), categories, budgets, recurring transactions, debts, savings goals, and wishlist items.
• Profile Information — Your name and profile photo (optional).
• Receipt Images — You may capture or select receipt photos to attach to expenses. These images are stored locally in the app's directory on your device.
• Notes and Tags — Any notes, tags, or labels you attach to transactions.

Optional Cloud Backup

The App offers an opt-in cloud backup feature. It is disabled by default and is only used if you explicitly enable it:

• On Android, backups are uploaded to your own Google Drive account. You must sign in with Google to enable this. The App requests only the limited drive.file permission, which allows it to access files it creates (your backups) and nothing else in your Drive.
• On iOS, backups are saved to your own iCloud account using your device's iCloud sign-in.

When you create a cloud backup, a backup file containing your App data (expenses, accounts, categories, debts, recurring transactions, savings goals, wishlist items, and quick-add templates) is uploaded to your personal cloud storage account. We never receive, see, or have access to your backups — they exist only on your device and in your own Google Drive or iCloud account.

Backup files are protected in transit and at rest by Google's and Apple's standard encryption, but they are not additionally encrypted by the App before upload. Your use of Google Drive or iCloud is governed by Google's Privacy Policy and Apple's Privacy Policy respectively.

You can delete cloud backups at any time from within the App, or directly from your Google Drive or iCloud account.

Voice Expense Entry (Speech Recognition)

The App lets you add expenses by voice. When you use this feature, speech recognition is performed by your device's operating system (Google speech services on Android, Apple speech services on iOS). Depending on your device settings, audio may be processed on-device or sent to Google or Apple servers for recognition, as governed by their privacy policies.

The App itself only receives the recognized text and uses it locally to fill in the expense amount and description. The App never records, stores, or transmits audio to our servers, and the microphone is only active while you are actively using voice input.

Device Permissions

The App may request the following permissions:

• Camera — To capture receipt photos and update your profile picture.
• Photo Library — To select images from your photo gallery for receipts or profile pictures.
• Microphone & Speech Recognition — To let you add expenses by voice (see above).
• Storage — To create and restore backup files that you choose to export or import.
• Notifications — To send local reminders for bills, budgets, spending insights, and recurring transactions. All notifications are generated and scheduled locally on your device — we do not use push notification servers.
• Biometric Authentication — To secure app access using your device's fingerprint or face recognition. Biometric data is handled entirely by your device's operating system and is never accessed or stored by the App.
• Internet — Used only for the optional cloud backup feature and for checking app updates.

App Updates, Reviews, and Home Screen Widget

• To notify you of new versions, the App may check for updates through Google Play (Android) or by querying Apple's public iTunes lookup service (iOS). Only the App's public bundle identifier is sent in this check — none of your personal data.
• The App may occasionally invite you to rate it using the native Google Play / App Store review prompt. This is handled by your device's operating system; the App sends no personal data.
• If you add the optional home screen widget, your spending summary (such as today's spend, monthly totals, and budget remaining) is stored locally on your device for the widget to display. This data is never transmitted anywhere.

Data We Do NOT Collect

• We do not collect analytics or usage data.
• We do not use third-party tracking or advertising SDKs.
• We do not transmit your financial data to our servers — we don't operate any.
• We do not use crash reporting services that collect device data.
• We do not sell, share, or rent your personal information to third parties.
• We do not require you to create an account.

Data Backup and Export

The App provides options to export your data as JSON backups, CSV files, or PDF reports. When you use these features, the exported files are saved to your device or shared through your device's sharing functionality.

You may optionally protect local JSON backups with a password, in which case the backup is encrypted with AES-256 before it is saved. You are responsible for the security of any exported files and for remembering your backup password — we cannot recover it.

Data Security

Your data is protected by the following measures:

• All data is stored locally in an embedded database on your device.
• App settings and security preferences are stored in an AES-256 encrypted database, with the encryption key kept in your device's secure keystore (Android Keystore / iOS Keychain).
• Optional app lock with PIN code protection. Your PIN is never stored in plain text — it is hashed using SHA-256 with a random salt, and repeated failed attempts trigger a temporary lockout.
• Optional biometric authentication (fingerprint or face recognition), handled entirely by your device's operating system.
• Optional password-encrypted backups (AES-256).

While we implement these safeguards, no method of electronic storage is 100% secure. We encourage you to enable the app lock features and keep your device secured with a passcode.

Data Retention and Deletion

Your data remains on your device until you delete it. You can delete individual transactions, accounts, and other records within the App at any time. Uninstalling the App permanently removes all locally stored data.

Cloud backups, if you created any, remain in your Google Drive or iCloud account until you delete them from within the App or from your cloud storage directly.

Third-Party Services

The App interacts with the following third-party services only in the circumstances described above:

• Google Drive (optional cloud backup, Android) — Google Privacy Policy
• Apple iCloud (optional cloud backup, iOS) — Apple Privacy Policy
• Google / Apple speech recognition (optional voice expense entry)
• Google Play / Apple App Store (update checks and review prompts)

Children's Privacy

The App does not knowingly collect personal information from children under the age of 13. The App stores all data locally and does not transmit any data to our servers.

Changes to This Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. We will notify you of any changes by updating the "Last Updated" date at the top of this policy. You are advised to review this Privacy Policy periodically for any changes.

Contact Us

If you have any questions or concerns about this Privacy Policy, please contact us at:

Forem Innovations Limited
Email: support@foremsoft.com
Website: www.foremsoft.com