Tally

Privacy Policy

The short version: Tally collects nothing. Your budget lives on your device and, if you turn on iCloud, in your own iCloud account. The developer cannot see it.

Last updated 3 September 2026

Information collected
None.

No server, no account to create, no analytics, no advertising, and no third-party software development kits of any kind.

On this page
What Tally does with your information Information collected Where your budget is stored Device permissions Sharing with another person Notifications and background updates Siri, Shortcuts and widgets Importing and exporting Keeping your data, and deleting it Children Your rights Changes to this policy Contact
What Tally does with your information

Tally is a budgeting app for iPhone and Mac. Everything in it is typed in by you: amounts, dates, category names, the shop a purchase came from, notes, tags, and any debts you choose to track. There is no bank connection and none is planned.

That information is stored in a database on your device. If you are signed in to iCloud, it is also stored in your own private iCloud account, so it is available on your other Apple devices.

None of it is sent to the developer. Tally has no server, no account to create, no analytics, no advertising, and no third-party software development kits of any kind. There is nowhere for your budget to go except your device and your own iCloud.

Information collected

None. Apple defines collection as data transmitted to the developer. No data is transmitted to the developer, so nothing is collected, stored, sold, shared, or used for advertising or profiling. Tally does not track you across apps or websites and contains no tracking technology.

Where your budget is stored
On your device. The budget is held in a local database protected by your device's own encryption, the same as every other app's data.
In your iCloud account, if it is signed in. Tally uses Apple's CloudKit to keep your devices in step. The records live in your account's private database, under Apple's terms and privacy policy. The developer has no access to that data and no way to request it.
In a shared iCloud record, if you share your budget. See "Sharing with another person" below.

Apple's handling of iCloud data is described in the Apple Privacy Policy.

Device permissions Tally may ask for
Camera and photo library — only if you use the receipt scanner. The image is read on your device using Apple's on-device text recognition to suggest an amount, a date and a shop name. The photo is not stored by Tally, not uploaded, and not sent anywhere. Nothing is saved unless you confirm the transaction.
Face ID or Touch ID — only if you switch on the optional lock. Biometric matching is performed by the operating system; Tally is told only whether it succeeded and never receives biometric data.
Notifications — only if you allow them. Reminders about recurring items and overspending are composed and scheduled on your device.

Each permission is optional. Declining any of them leaves the rest of the app fully usable.

Sharing with another person

Tally lets you share one budget with one other person — a household budget for two. Sharing uses Apple's iCloud sharing: you send an invitation, and once it is accepted, that person can see and edit everything in the shared budget, including transaction descriptions and notes. The invitation and the shared records are handled by Apple, not by the developer. You can stop sharing at any time from within the app, which removes their access.

Notifications and background updates

When your budget changes on one device, Apple's servers send a silent signal to your other devices so they can fetch the change. The signal itself carries no budget content and is handled by Apple under its own privacy policy. Any notification you see is written on your device from data already on it.

Siri, Shortcuts and widgets

Tally can add a transaction or report what is left to budget through Siri and the Shortcuts app. Those requests are handled on your device. Anything you say to Siri is processed by Apple under Apple's privacy policy, not by Tally. Widgets read a small summary file stored on your device and never send it anywhere.

Importing and exporting

You can export your budget as a JSON or CSV file, and import one. Files you export are saved wherever you choose to put them, and from that point they are outside Tally's control — a file placed in a cloud folder is subject to that service's terms. Files you import are read on your device.

Keeping your data, and deleting it

Your budget is kept for as long as you keep the app. There is no server-side copy for the developer to retain or delete.

To take a copy out first: Settings → Your data → Backup (JSON).
To delete everything on the device: delete the app.
To delete the iCloud copy: on iPhone, open Settings, tap your name, then iCloud, then find Tally in the list of apps saved to iCloud and choose Delete Data. Deleting the app alone does not remove the iCloud copy.
Children

Tally is not directed at children under 13 and is not designed for them. No personal information is collected from anyone, children included.

Changes to this policy

If Tally ever changes in a way that affects this policy, this page will be updated and the date at the top will change. If a future version were ever to collect anything, you would be asked first — a change like that would not be made quietly.

Your rights

Laws such as the GDPR and the CCPA give you rights to access, correct, export and delete personal information a company holds about you. The developer holds none, so there is nothing to request: your data is already in your hands, and the export and deletion steps above give you access, portability and erasure directly. Data held in your iCloud account is subject to Apple's privacy policy and to Apple's own process for such requests. Tally does not sell or share personal information, and there is nothing to opt out of.

Contact

Questions about this policy or about Tally: bretttyler117@iCloud.com.