KharchIQ

Privacy Policy

Last updated: 1 November 2026

The short version

  • You enter your own expenses, income, budgets and bills. They are stored in your account so you can see them whenever you sign in.
  • We do not sell your data, show ads, or use analytics or advertising trackers.
  • Your totals, insights and Kiku (the built-in assistant) work on your device. Your financial data and your questions are not sent to any AI service.
  • You can delete your account and all its data from inside the app at any time.
  • KharchIQ is for people aged 13 and over. If you are under 18, please use it with the knowledge of a parent or guardian.

1. About this policy

KharchIQ (“the app”, “we”, “us”) is a personal expense and money-management app for Android, developed and operated by Abhishek Srivastava (publishing as “SpendWise Labs”), Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India.

This policy explains what information the app handles, why, who it is shared with, how long we keep it, and the choices and rights you have. By creating an account and using KharchIQ you agree to this policy. If you do not agree, please do not use the app.

2. Information we collect and handle

2.1 Account information

Your email address and password. Sign-in is provided by Firebase Authentication (Google). We never see your password in readable form. When you create an account we send one email with a link to confirm that the address is yours.

2.2 Profile information (optional)

Your name, phone number, city and a profile photo, only if you choose to add them. They are stored in your account.

2.3 Financial information you enter

Expenses (amount, category, date and a name label, plus an optional sub-category, payment mode and trip or event tag and, if you mark it, the avoidable part of an expense with a reason), income, categories, budgets, savings goals and a monthly limit for avoidable spending, bills and loans (name, amount, due date, category, whether it repeats every month, whether it is paid, and an optional UPI ID of the payee), reminders, saved payees (name and UPI ID), lend and borrow entries (the name of the other person and an amount, which you type in yourself; the app does not read your contacts), and entries for other features you choose to use, such as the milk tracker. We use this only to run the app for you.

2.4 Data kept only on your device

Your app-lock PIN (stored only as a one-way hash in the device’s secure storage), whether biometric unlock is on, auto-lock time, language, theme and similar settings. Your fingerprint or face data is handled by Android. KharchIQ only receives a yes/no result and never sees or stores biometric data. Also kept only on your device: your recent and pinned Kiku questions (text only, see 2.6), your age group (13–17 or 18 and over) and whether the parent or guardian box was ticked (see 10), and a small note about the rating reminder (see 2.7). Deleting your account clears all of these.

2.5 Information we do not collect

We do not collect your location, contacts, SMS or call logs, or advertising ID. KharchIQ contains no analytics, advertising or crash-reporting SDKs.

Our service provider (Google Firebase) and Google Play may automatically process technical information, such as IP address and device or app version, to run their services, under Google’s own terms and privacy policy. When you open our website pages (such as this one), our hosting provider may log standard technical data.

2.6 Kiku, the built-in assistant

Kiku answers questions about your own entries (for example “how much did I spend this month?”) and can suggest a plan for your month. To do this, it reads on your device the expenses, income, savings goals, lend and borrow entries, and bills and loans that are already in your account. Kiku works with fixed rules inside the app. It is not generative AI, and your questions and its answers are not sent to us or to any AI service.

Your last 20 questions and up to 3 pinned questions are kept as text on your phone only, so you can ask them again. You can remove one question, clear them all or start a new chat at any time. Kiku’s figures, forecasts and suggestions are estimates worked out from your own entries. They are not financial advice.

2.7 Rating reminder

After you have used KharchIQ for a while, it may show a short reminder asking whether you would like to rate it on Google Play. Nothing you have entered is used for this. We keep only a small note on your phone: the day you first used the app, when the reminder was last shown and whether you chose to rate or not to be asked again. If you tap “Rate”, Google Play opens and Google’s terms and privacy policy apply there. We do not see your rating or your Google account.

3. App permissions and why we ask for them

  • Internet: to sign in and keep your data in sync with your account.
  • Notifications: to show reminders (daily expense reminder, bill due dates, category reminders, budget alerts). Reminders are scheduled on your device; there is no push-notification server.
  • Alarms & reminders (exact alarms): so reminders appear at the exact time you set. Android may ask you to allow this in Settings.
  • Set alarm (Clock app): only when you tap “Set as Real Alarm”. The alarm is created in your phone’s Clock app after you confirm.
  • Run at startup: to restore your reminders after the phone restarts.
  • Vibration: for haptic feedback.
  • Keep device awake & network status: so reminders and syncing can finish reliably, and to check whether your device is online.
  • Camera (asked when you use it): only when you tap scan to read a UPI QR code. Images are processed on your device and are not stored or uploaded.
  • Microphone (asked when you use it): only when you tap the mic to add an expense by voice. KharchIQ does not store recordings. Speech-to-text is done by the speech-recognition service on your Android device, which may be provided by Google depending on your device settings.
  • Biometrics (fingerprint or face): only to unlock the app on your device.

You can refuse or withdraw any permission in your phone’s settings. The related feature will stop working, but the rest of the app keeps working.

4. How we use your information

To create and secure your account; to store and sync your entries; to calculate totals, budgets, charts and insights (on your device); to schedule reminders; to create Excel and PDF exports (created on your device, and sharing them is your choice); to answer support requests; and to prevent misuse and meet legal obligations. We do not use your financial data for advertising, profiling or credit decisions.

5. UPI payments

“Pay via UPI” opens a UPI app on your phone with the payee and amount pre-filled. The payment is made and processed entirely by that UPI app and your bank. KharchIQ is not a payment app: it does not process payments, does not receive your bank, card or UPI PIN details, and cannot see whether a payment succeeded. It asks you to confirm, and then helps you record the expense or mark the bill as paid.

6. Where data is stored and who we share it with

Your account data is stored with Google Firebase (Firebase Authentication and Cloud Firestore), which acts as our service provider on Google Cloud infrastructure. It may be processed on servers located outside India.

We do not sell, rent or trade your personal data. We disclose information only: (a) to our service provider as needed to run the app; (b) when required by law or a valid legal request; (c) to protect rights, safety and security; and (d) with your consent. For example, when you share an exported file through Android’s share menu, it goes to the app you choose.

Access to the database is limited to the developer for maintenance, security and support. We do not browse your entries for any other purpose.

7. Security

Data is sent over encrypted (HTTPS) connections. Database rules are designed so that each account can read and write only its own data. You can protect the app with a PIN and/or biometrics. No method of storage or transmission is 100% secure, so please keep your password and PIN private and keep your phone updated.

8. Retention and deletion

We keep your data while your account exists. You can:

  • delete individual entries in the app;
  • remove all entries labelled with a particular “user” name. These stay in “Recently Deleted” for 30 days so you can restore them, and are then removed;
  • delete your whole account inside the app: More → Lock (Security) → Delete Account, then confirm with your password. This permanently deletes your Firebase account and the data stored in our database;
  • or request deletion from outside the app on our account deletion page, or by email at hello.spendwiselabs@gmail.com. We check the request against your registered email and process it within 7 business days.

Deleted data may remain for a short time in routine backups, if any exist, until they are overwritten; we do not restore or use it. Files you exported or shared (Excel or PDF) are stored on your device or with the people you sent them to, and we cannot delete those. After deletion we do not keep your personal data, except where the law requires us to.

9. Your rights and choices

Under applicable Indian law, including the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023, you may access the data we hold about you, correct it (you can edit most of it in the app), ask for it to be deleted, withdraw your consent (by deleting your account), and raise a grievance. Write to us at hello.spendwiselabs@gmail.com. We aim to reply within 30 days.

10. Children and teenagers

KharchIQ is meant for people aged 13 and over. We do not allow accounts for children under 13 and we do not knowingly collect their data. If you believe a child under 13 has given us data, contact us and we will delete it.

When you create an account we ask for your date of birth only to check your age. We do not save it or send it anywhere. On your phone we keep only whether you are 13–17 or 18 and over.

If you are under 18, please use KharchIQ with the knowledge and agreement of your parent or guardian. They can contact us at any time to see, correct or delete your data, including by deleting the account. We never show ads, track you or build a profile of you for marketing, and we do not sell data.

Under the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023, people under 18 are treated as children, and the rules on verifiable parental consent apply from around May 2027. As they come into force, we will add a verified way for a parent or guardian to give consent in the app.

11. Changes to this policy

We may update this policy as the app changes. The “Last updated” date shows the latest version. If a change significantly affects how your data is used, we will make reasonable efforts to tell you, for example inside the app. Continuing to use the app after a change means you accept the updated policy.

12. Contact and grievance officer

Abhishek Srivastava, KharchIQ (SpendWise Labs)
Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India
Email: hello.spendwiselabs@gmail.com

Delete your account: account deletion page