Privacy Policy

About this policy

This Privacy Policy describes how Bow (also called Bow Budget), a personal budgeting app provided by Daniel Baeza (“we,” “us,” or “the developer”), handles information in the current version of the app. Contact us at hello@bowbudget.com with privacy questions.

The short version

Bow stores and processes your budget on your iPhone and, when you use iCloud, keeps it in your private iCloud storage so it appears on your other devices. No Bow account or registration is required, and your budget is not uploaded to a server operated by the developer. Bow does not display ads or include analytics or tracking SDKs. We do not sell your personal information. Apple Intelligence features run on your iPhone, and Bow does not send your budget, receipts, or voice to a third-party AI service.

Some features contact other services: iCloud sync uses Apple’s iCloud, and optional bank sync uses SimpleFIN. Device backups, Siri, links you open, files you share, and messages you send to support can also involve information leaving your device, as described below.

Information stored on your device

Bow uses the information you enter or import to calculate budgets, balances, spending, schedules, and forecasts. This includes your budget name, accounts, balances, groups, envelopes, allocations, transactions, payees, notes, schedules, reconciliation records, imported bank details, transaction photos, and custom images. Preferences are also saved on your device.

YNAB exports and Bow backups you select are processed on your device. Bow does not upload those files to the developer. Your file or photo provider may download a selected item from its own cloud storage.

You can keep up to 10 photos with a transaction, such as a receipt. When you take one with the camera or choose one with the system photo picker, Bow stores a resized copy with the transaction until you remove the photo or delete the transaction. Bow receives only the photos you choose and does not request access to your entire photo library. Bow does not upload photos to the developer.

Camera, microphone, and Apple Intelligence

Bow asks for camera access only when you tap Scan Receipt or Take Photo, and microphone and speech recognition access only when you tap Speak. A scanned receipt or a photo you pick is read on your iPhone to fill in a transaction, and the image is kept as one of the transaction’s photos. You can remove it before or after you save. Speech is turned into text on your iPhone, and your voice isn’t recorded, saved, or sent anywhere. You can change these permissions at any time in the Settings app.

When Apple Intelligence is available and turned on in Bow, Bow uses Apple’s on-device model to read receipts, photos, your words, and bank notifications; suggest transaction details, targets, and envelopes to cover overspending; clean up payee names; search your spending; and answer questions you ask about your budget. To do this, Bow gives the model the relevant parts of your budget, such as payee and envelope names, amounts, and dates. This processing happens on your iPhone. Bow does not send this information to the developer or to a third-party AI provider. You can turn these features off in Settings › Apple Intelligence.

Shared receipts and bank notifications

When you share a receipt, screenshot, or PDF to Bow from another app, or set up a Shortcuts automation with the Send to Bow for Review action, Bow saves a copy of the image or the notification’s text on your iPhone, along with what Bow read from it, until you add it as a transaction or delete it. Notifications that don’t look like a purchase, deposit, or refund, such as sign-in codes, statements, and offers, are discarded without being saved. Waiting items are not synced to iCloud or sent to the developer. When you add a shared receipt, screenshot, or PDF as a transaction, its image is kept as one of the transaction’s photos.

An automation runs only if you create it in the Shortcuts app, and you can turn it off or delete it there at any time.

Optional SimpleFIN bank sync

Connecting a bank requires a separate SimpleFIN Bridge account. You authorize access through that service and give Bow a setup token. Bow exchanges it directly with SimpleFIN for an access credential, stored in your device’s Keychain. Bow does not receive your bank login password.

Bow uses the credential to request account and institution details, balances, and transaction history, including descriptions, dates, amounts, pending status, and other details supplied by the bank. Downloaded information is stored in your local budget. Bow does not send your manually entered budget, envelope assignments, or notes to SimpleFIN. These requests reveal network information such as your IP address and request times to the service. No bank data passes through a server operated by the developer.

With Automatic sync enabled, requests can occur while you use Bow and during background refresh when iOS permits. Turn it off in Settings › SimpleFIN Bank Sync to stop automatic requests; Sync now remains available. Disconnect removes Bow’s saved credential and stops future sync, but keeps previously imported budget data. To revoke provider access, delete provider data, or cancel its service, use SimpleFIN’s own controls. SimpleFIN, its bank connection providers, and your financial institution handle information under their own policies.

• SimpleFIN Privacy Policy

Apple services and external links

When you are signed in to iCloud, Bow keeps your budget, including imported bank details, transaction photos, and custom images, in the private iCloud database of your Apple Account, so it syncs to your devices signed in to the same account. The developer cannot read that database. Changes and deletions you make on one device, including restoring a backup, apply on your other devices. Sync happens in the background and may be delayed; changes that haven’t finished uploading stay on the device that made them. Your SimpleFIN credential is not synced, so each device connects to SimpleFIN separately. Demo data and preferences stay on each device. To stop syncing, turn off iCloud for Bow in the Settings app.

Depending on your device backup settings, Bow’s local data may also be included in iCloud or computer backups. Apple handles its services under its own terms and privacy policy.

If you use Siri or Shortcuts, Bow makes account and envelope names available for selection, uses the transaction details you supply, and returns transaction confirmations or envelope balances to the system. Apple handles Siri requests under its own privacy practices; other actions you add to a shortcut may receive information you pass to them. Siri can speak or show answers about your budget, which others near your device may hear or see.

Bow adds your envelopes, accounts, and the last 90 days of transactions to Spotlight on your device so you can find them from Search. You can hide Bow from Search in Bow’s page in the Settings app.

If you allow notifications, Bow schedules reminders on your device, such as bill reminders, daily and weekly check-ins, items waiting for review, and a reminder before a free trial ends. Payees and amounts are left out of reminders unless you turn on Show Financial Details in Settings › Notifications, and notifications may appear on your Lock Screen. Bow also receives silent notifications from Apple when your budget changes in iCloud, so your devices stay in sync.

Purchases and subscriptions are made through the App Store. Apple processes your payment; Bow never receives your payment details. Bow checks your purchase status with StoreKit on your device to decide whether your budget can be changed, and doesn’t send it anywhere.

Bow has no built-in analytics reporting service. If you choose to share analytics with app developers through iOS, Apple may provide diagnostic reports or aggregated usage information to the developer. You can manage this in iPhone Settings › Privacy & Security › Analytics & Improvements.

Opening a payee website or another external link contacts that website through your browser. Using a payee’s web search sends its name to Google. Those websites and your browser handle information under their own policies.

• Apple Privacy Policy

Exports and backups

Settings › Manage Data creates a Bow backup and a CSV transactions spreadsheet locally, then lets you choose where to save or share them. These files contain sensitive financial information and are not password-protected by Bow. Anyone with access to a copy may be able to read it. Choose storage locations and recipients carefully.

Bow backups include budget data, imported bank records, and custom images, but exclude transaction photos and the SimpleFIN Keychain credential. Restoring a backup replaces the current budget, including removing its transaction photos, and requires reconnecting bank sync. Copies you save or share are handled by the recipients and storage services you choose.

Support messages

If you email hello@bowbudget.com, the developer receives your email address, your message, and any attachments you choose to send. The feedback link also prepares a subject containing Bow’s version. Email providers process the message to deliver it.

We use this information to respond to your request and troubleshoot issues, and keep correspondence as needed for those purposes and applicable legal obligations. Do not send bank passwords, SimpleFIN setup tokens or access credentials, or financial records that are unnecessary for your request.

Retention, deletion, and your choices

Local budget information stays on your device until you delete it, replace the budget through restore, or delete the app. To delete your whole budget, use Settings › Manage Data › Delete Budget and Start Over. This removes the budget, including shared items waiting for review, from your device and, when you use iCloud, from your private iCloud storage and your other devices that sync with it, and disconnects bank sync. Preferences such as appearance are kept. It can’t be undone.

A budget kept in iCloud stays in your iCloud storage after you delete the app; delete it in Bow first, or manage it in iPhone Settings › your name › iCloud. Offloading Bow keeps its data; deleting it removes its local app data. Keychain credentials can remain after app deletion, so disconnect SimpleFIN in Bow before deleting the app and revoke its access token with SimpleFIN.

Deleting Bow does not delete device backups, exported files, data held by SimpleFIN or other providers, or support correspondence. Manage those copies and accounts separately. The developer cannot retrieve or erase a budget stored on your device or in your iCloud storage, so only you can delete it.

You can view and edit your data in Bow and export it from Settings › Manage Data. To ask about information held by the developer or request access, correction, or deletion, contact hello@bowbudget.com. We will handle requests as required by applicable law. Requests about a third-party service’s records should be directed to that service.

Location and security

Bow does not request device location access or collect precise GPS location. Services receiving online requests may infer an approximate location from your IP address.

Bow uses iOS app storage protections, the Keychain for bank sync credentials, and HTTPS for bank requests. No device, storage system, or transmission can be guaranteed completely secure. Protect your device and its passcode, and safeguard any exported files and backups. Local storage does not eliminate the risk of unauthorized access or data loss.

If you turn on Face ID Lock (or Touch ID, Optic ID, or Passcode Lock) in the Privacy section of Bow’s Settings, iOS checks your Face ID, Touch ID, Optic ID, or passcode. Bow only learns whether it succeeded and never receives your biometric data or passcode. The lock covers Bow’s screens on this device; Siri, Shortcuts, and notifications still work while it’s locked.

Children

Bow is not directed to children under 13. The developer does not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If you believe a child has sent personal information to the developer, contact hello@bowbudget.com so we can address it and delete it as required by law. Third-party services may have their own age requirements.

Changes to this policy

We may update this policy as Bow’s features or privacy practices change. The updated policy will appear in Settings with a new effective date. We will provide additional notice or request consent when required by applicable law. This policy explains our practices; it does not waive your privacy rights.