Privacy policy

The short version. No accounts, no ads, no tracking, no analytics. Tidy Sum does sums with what you type in, on your iPhone, and we can’t see any of it. If you share with a partner, it goes through your own iCloud, not through us. The only personal information we ever receive is what you choose to send us, such as an email.

Tidy Sum is made by Adam Coleman, trading as Afterglow Studio (ABN 55 660 075 110), in South Australia (“we”, “us”). This policy covers the Tidy Sum iPhone app, its widgets and tidysum.com.au.

What we collect

Nothing from the app. Tidy Sum has no server, no account, and no analytics, advertising or tracking code. That’s why its App Store privacy label says Data Not Collected.

We don’t sell, rent or trade personal information, and we never will. We don’t sell or share personal information as those terms are defined in California and other US state privacy laws, and we don’t use it for targeted advertising or profiling.

What stays on your iPhone

Everything you type into Tidy Sum is stored on your iPhone, in the app’s own storage:

• your name (if you add it), your pay schedule and take-home pay;
• your bills, savings goals and debts, including balances, interest rates and repayments;
• what you’ve put away each pay, your boosts and your settings.

The Home Screen and Lock Screen widgets and the payday Live Activity read a small summary (this pay’s number and date) from storage the app shares with them on the same phone. Payday and bill reminders are scheduled on your iPhone; we don’t send them.

Your iPhone’s backups (iCloud Backup, or a backup to your computer) include the app’s data. Those backups are run by Apple or by you, under Apple’s privacy policy, and we can’t see them.

When you use Save or print plan or Export as CSV, the app makes the file on your phone and hands it to the share sheet. Where it goes next is up to you.

Sharing with a partner

If you invite a partner, Tidy Sum uses Apple’s iCloud sharing. The shared plan is kept in the iCloud account of whoever sent the invite and shared with your partner’s iCloud account. It travels between your phones through Apple, not through us, and we can’t read it. Apple may store iCloud data outside Australia.

Shared with your partner	Stays on your phone
Bills and savings goals you mark ours, and their split	Your debts, and anything marked mine
What either of you has put away on those	Your settings and reminders
Each person’s name, colour and pay schedule	Your history and boosts
Take-home pay, only while the split is worked out by income	Take-home pay, when the split is equal or per item

Only invite someone you’re happy to see these details. You can leave the shared plan at any time: tap your avatar, then Partner, then Leave the shared plan. When the person who sent the invite stops sharing, the partner loses access and the shared items stay with the person who sent it; a partner who leaves keeps their own copy of the shared items on their phone.

Purchases

Tidy Sum Plus is sold through the App Store. Apple handles payment, and we never see your name, Apple Account or payment details. The app checks with the App Store, on your phone, whether you have Plus. Apple gives us sales reports that don’t identify you.

Information Apple may share with us

If you’ve turned on Share With App Developers in your iPhone’s Analytics settings, Apple may send us crash reports and app usage statistics that don’t identify you. We use them only to fix problems. You can turn this off in Settings → Privacy & Security → Analytics & Improvements.

If you join the TestFlight beta, Apple shares the name and email address you joined with, and any feedback or screenshots you send. We use them only to run the beta.

When you email us

If you email us, we receive your email address, your name if you include it, and whatever you write. We use it only to reply and to fix what you report (under UK law, our lawful basis is legitimate interests: we both want the problem sorted). We keep it while we’re helping you and delete it within 12 months after, unless we need it for a legal claim. Our email provider may store messages on servers outside Australia, including in the United States.

Please don’t send balances or other figures unless they’re needed: we can usually help from a description.

This website

tidysum.com.au has no cookies, no analytics and no third-party scripts or fonts. It’s hosted by Cloudflare, which processes visitors’ IP addresses and basic request details to deliver the site and protect it from attack, under Cloudflare’s privacy policy. We don’t use this to identify anyone.

Who else is involved

Only Apple (the App Store, iCloud and, if you opt in, crash reports), Cloudflare (the website) and our email provider (emails you send us). None of them receives your plan from us, because we never have it.

Decisions about you

Tidy Sum doesn’t make decisions about you. Its estimates are worked out on your phone from what you enter, and you decide what to do with them.

Children

Tidy Sum is made for adults managing their own money. It isn’t directed at children (under 13 in the US, under 16 in the UK), and we don’t knowingly receive information from them. If you think a child has emailed us, tell us and we’ll delete it.

Your choices

• See or change your data: it’s all in the app, where you can edit it.
• Delete your data: tap your avatar, then Delete everything. If you share a plan, this stops sharing first (it needs an internet connection), then removes everything from that iPhone. Deleting the app also removes what’s on that phone.
• Stop sharing: your avatar → Partner → Leave the shared plan.
• Turn off reminders: in the app’s settings, or in iPhone Settings → Notifications → Tidy Sum.
• Emails you’ve sent us: ask us to show you, correct or delete them.

Wherever you live, you can ask to see, correct, delete or get a copy of anything we hold about you, or object to or limit how we use it, and we’ll respond within 30 days. We don’t track you, so “Do Not Track” and similar browser signals don’t change anything here.

Questions and complaints

Email adam@afterglowstudio.com.au. We’ll reply within 30 days. If you’re not satisfied, you can complain to the privacy regulator where you live: in Australia the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner, in the UK the Information Commissioner’s Office.

As a small business, we aren’t required to follow the Australian Privacy Principles, but this policy is written to their standard.

Changes to this policy

If what Tidy Sum does with information changes, we’ll update this page and the date at the top before the change reaches the app, and say so in the app’s update notes. If a change would mean anything leaves your phone in a new way, we’ll ask you in the app first.