Legal
Privacy Policy
Frichie is a personal-finance app that reads your bank’s SMS messages on your iPhone, sorts them into spending, and helps you budget. Privacy isn’t a policy promise we bolt on — it’s how the app is built. This page explains exactly what stays on your device and the few, redacted things that ever leave it.
The short version
- Your bank messages, amounts, merchants, and account details are read and stored only on your iPhone. We never receive them.
- Your data syncs across your own Apple devices through your iCloud (Apple ID). Frichie has no copy and no access to it.
- The only things that ever leave your phone are tiny, redacted snippets used to sort tricky purchases and to show merchant logos — never your raw messages, your account, or your exact transactions.
- No advertising. No third-party tracking. We do not sell or rent your data.
What stays on your iPhone
- Bank SMS and transactions. Your raw bank messages are parsed and categorised on-device. The parsed transactions, amounts, merchants, and account references are stored locally.
- Categorising and budgets. Sorting transactions, your budgets, and spending calculations happen on-device. The app works offline.
- Your edits. Category names, notes, and merchant history stay on your device and in your iCloud.
iCloud sync
Frichie stores your data using Apple’s CloudKit, tied to your Apple ID, so it syncs across your own devices. This data lives in your private iCloud database. Frichie cannot read it and receives no copy. Deleting the app or signing out of iCloud removes Frichie’s access; you can also delete the data from iPhone Settings → iCloud.
The little that leaves your phone
Cloud assist (categorisation) Always on
When the app is genuinely unsure how to categorise a purchase, it sends a small, redacted snippet to the Claude model (operated by Anthropic) to help sort it. That snippet contains only:
- the merchant name,
- a coarse amount band (not the exact amount), and
- the transaction type.
It never includes your raw SMS, your account or card numbers, names of people, or your individual transactions. For budget suggestions, the app may send aggregate category totals (e.g. “groceries: this much this month”) — never individual transactions. This processing is essential to the app’s categorisation and is always on.
Brand logos Always on
To show a merchant’s logo, the app sends that merchant’s website domain — or, for lesser-known shops, its name — to logo and search services. It never sends your amounts or transactions.
Email (only if you turn it on)
If you opt in to summary or budget-alert emails, the app sends aggregate category totals (no merchants, no individual transactions) about once a month so we can generate the email. You can turn this off at any time, and it is off by default.
Account and sign-in
Signing in (Apple, Google, or a one-time email code) creates a minimal account record (an identifier and, if provided, a name and email) used only to sign you in. If you use Apple’s Hide My Email, Frichie never sees your real address.
At a glance
| Data | Where it goes | Tied to you? | Why |
|---|---|---|---|
| Email & name | Account sign-in | Linked to your account | Create and secure your account |
| Merchant, amount band, type (redacted) | Claude / Anthropic | De-identified | Categorise hard-to-place purchases |
| Merchant website domain (or name) | Logo & search services | De-identified | Show the merchant’s logo |
| Aggregate category totals | Claude / Anthropic | De-identified | Suggest realistic budgets |
What we do not do
- We do not show ads or use advertising identifiers.
- We do not use third-party analytics or tracking SDKs to follow you across apps or the web.
- We do not sell, rent, or trade your personal data.
We rely on a small set of trusted providers to run Frichie, and each receives only the redacted data described above for its stated purpose: Anthropic (Claude) for categorisation and budget suggestions, logo and search providers for merchant logos, Apple iCloud for your own private sync, and Cloudflare to host our backend and this website (including any launch-waitlist email you submit). Their handling of the limited data they receive is governed by their own terms.
Your controls
- Export your data at any time as a CSV or JSON file, prepared on your device.
- Delete your account, which removes your Frichie account record. Your on-device and iCloud data is separate — delete it from iPhone Settings → iCloud if you also want that gone.
- Turn off optional emails and notifications whenever you like.
- Waitlist — ask us any time to remove your email from the launch waitlist.
Children
Frichie is not directed to children under 13 (or the equivalent minimum age in your country), and we do not knowingly collect personal data from children.
Changes
We’ll update this page when our practices change and revise the “Last updated” date. For material changes, we’ll make a reasonable effort to let you know in the app or by email.
Contact
Questions about your privacy, or a request about your data? Email support@frichie.com and we’ll help.