Privacy Policy
The short version. Centzai has no accounts. Your transactions, bank alerts, budgets and goals are read and stored on your phone and never sent to us. The only things that leave your phone are an optional Coach question, sent with category totals and a random install number, and your purchases, which Apple or Google handle. We don't show ads, use analytics or sell data.
Who we are
Centzai ("we", "us") makes the Centzai expense-tracking app for iPhone and Android. Contact us at support@centzai.com.
What stays on your phone
Everything about your spending is processed and stored only on your device:
- Transactions you add, import or capture, including amounts, merchants and categories.
- Bank and payment alerts. On Android, with your permission, Centzai reads notifications through Android's notification access and keeps only those that look like bank or payment alerts. It cannot read your SMS inbox. On iPhone, Centzai only sees messages you forward to it yourself through a Shortcuts automation.
- Statements you import, budgets, savings goals and settings.
We have no copy of any of this. If you lose your phone without a backup, we cannot restore it.
Backups
If you make a backup, Centzai encrypts it on your phone with a password you choose and hands the file to your phone's share sheet. You decide where it goes, for example iCloud Drive, Google Drive or your own device. Centzai never uploads it, and we cannot open it without your password.
What leaves your phone
| When | What is sent | To whom |
|---|---|---|
| You ask Coach a question | Your question, totals per category, daily and weekly totals, your budget, recurring payment names and amounts, and your random install number. No individual transactions, bank messages or account numbers. | Our server, which passes the question and totals to an AI service provider to write the answer. |
| You buy or restore Centzai Pro | Your random install number and the store's purchase receipt. | Apple or Google, and a service provider that verifies purchases for us. |
Coach is optional. Turn off Allow AI insights in Settings and Centzai makes no AI requests at all.
What our server keeps
- Coach questions are not stored. The question and totals are used to write the answer and then discarded. We do not log them.
- A question count per install number, per month, so we can apply the free and Pro limits.
- For free users, a scrambled form of the network address (a salted one-way hash, never the address itself) with a daily count, so new install numbers can't be used to get unlimited free questions. It is deleted after a day.
Like any web service, our hosting provider may briefly record technical details, such as network addresses, in its own security logs.
The install number
On first launch Centzai makes a random number. It is not based on your device, phone number, email or anything else about you. It is used only to count Coach questions and to link your Pro purchase. Reinstalling the app makes a new one.
Purchases
Subscriptions are sold and billed by Apple or Google. We never see your name, email or card details. Our purchase-verification provider receives the purchase receipt and your install number so it can confirm your subscription. See the privacy policies of Apple and Google.
Service providers
We use a small number of service providers, each only for the job below and bound by their own privacy and security commitments:
- A cloud hosting provider runs our server and stores the question counts.
- An AI service provider writes Coach answers.
- A purchase-verification provider confirms Pro subscriptions.
We share nothing else with anyone, and we never sell data.
No ads, analytics or tracking
Centzai contains no advertising, analytics or tracking software, and does not track you across other apps or websites.
Your choices and deleting your data
- Delete my data in Settings erases everything Centzai stored on your phone. Uninstalling the app does the same.
- Turn off Allow AI insights to stop all Coach requests.
- You can withdraw notification access at any time in your phone's settings.
- The question counts on our server are tied only to a random number, not to you. If you'd like them removed, email us.
Security
Your data stays on your device, protected by your phone's own security. You can also require Face ID, a fingerprint or your passcode to open Centzai, and hide amounts in the app switcher and on the home-screen widget. Our server is reached only over encrypted connections.
Children
Centzai is not directed at children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect data from them.
Changes to this policy
If we change this policy, we will update it here and change the date at the top.
Contact
Questions or requests: support@centzai.com.