Does Pesa Notes work without internet?

After setup, yes. Money lives in SQLite on your phone. You need a connection to sign in, restore an encrypted Drive backup, buy Premium on Google Play, or load ads on the free tier.

Is this for shops or sales?

No. Pesa Notes is personal finance only. It covers your accounts, income, expenses, transfers, budgets, goals, and debts. It is not POS, inventory, or a till.

What does “available to spend” mean?

Money across spendable accounts, minus upcoming bills and debt payments, planned goal contributions, expected essentials until the next income, and your emergency buffer. Transfers do not count as spending.

Can I change currency later?

No. Country and currency are chosen once at setup. A restore from backup reloads that choice.

Is Google Drive backup the same as sync?

No. Premium backup writes an encrypted copy to your Drive so you can restore on a new device. It is not live multi-device sync, and we cannot read the file.

How do I get help or cancel Premium?

Account and privacy requests: Settings in the app, or Contact in the footer. Manage or cancel Premium in Google Play under Subscriptions. Access follows your paid period, then the free gates in the app.

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Privacy Policy

Last updated September 18, 2026. App 1.0.5. Applies worldwide

Your money data stays yours. Income, expenses, transfers, accounts, budgets, goals, and debts live in a local SQLite database on your phone. Optional Google Drive backup is encrypted on the device before it leaves. We do not sell personal information. Support is through Settings in the app, or Contact.

Who this is for

Pesa Notes is a personal finance app for one person. It is not a shop, POS, or customer ledger. Firebase Authentication (email or Google) is required at setup so your profile, backup, and restore belong to a real account. Drive backup, Play purchases, and Crashlytics stay opt-in.

Information you provide

Account. Email and/or Google sign-in (name, email, optional photo URL from the identity provider).
Profile. Display name. By default we show the account photo from Firebase. If you pick a custom photo, a copy is stored only in app documents on the device. “Use account photo” clears that local override. We do not host the photo on our servers.
Money you enter. Accounts, transactions, budgets, goals, debts, country/currency, and settings stay on the device unless you opt into backup.
App lock. PIN or password is hashed on the device (bcrypt). We never receive it. Biometric templates stay in the OS.

Automatically collected

Device and app identifiers used by Firebase or Google Play for sign-in, billing, optional crash reports, and (on the free tier) ads. We do not receive your transaction amounts or notes.
Optional Crashlytics and Analytics events, only if you allow them, to fix bugs and understand product use. They are not a copy of your ledger.

What we do not collect

GPS / precise location
Contacts, call logs, SMS, or other apps' data
Biometric templates (fingerprint or face stay on the device)
Exact-alarm special access; reminders use inexact alarms
App Tracking Transparency on iOS. We do not request it.

How we use it

Create and keep your signed-in profile
Restore an encrypted Drive backup when you ask
Process Premium through Google Play Billing
Show labeled AdMob banners on the free tier
On-device reminders you enable (not remote push): daily check-in at 20:00 local, weekly review Sunday 18:00, bills the morning before they are due, Premium expiry, and backup finished
Reply to support requests sent from the app

Advertising (free tier)

The free plan may show Google AdMob banners on Home or Activity. Ads never cover the balance card, the + button, or look like a bank offer. We do not send your ledger to AdMob. Android may use the advertising ID for this. Premium removes ads. You can also limit ad tracking in system settings.

Third-party services

Firebase Authentication. Required sign-in (email or Google).
Google Sign-In. Optional method. We receive name, email, and photo URL.
Google Drive. Optional Premium encrypted backup in your Drive. We cannot read the file. This is not live multi-device sync.
Google Play Billing. Premium. We never store card numbers.
Google AdMob. Banners on the free tier.
Firebase Crashlytics & Analytics. Optional diagnostics.

Their policies: Firebase, Google, Ads.

Permissions

Internet / network state. Sign-in, backup, Play Billing, ads, Crashlytics, and the in-app browser.
Camera / photos. Optional profile picture only. Gallery picks use the system photo picker; we do not request media library access on Android.
Biometric. Optional app lock.
Notifications. Reminders you turn on (runtime prompt on Android 13+).
Boot completed / wake lock. Reschedule reminders after reboot and show them if the device is asleep.
Play Billing / advertising ID. Premium purchases and free-tier ads.

We do not request contacts, microphone, location, Bluetooth, calendar, or exact-alarm special access.

Storage and security

Ledger in on-device SQLite; PIN hashed; optional app lock
Drive backups encrypted on the device with a key derived for your account
HTTPS/TLS for network calls
Privacy, terms, and store pages open in an in-app browser that clears cookies, cache, and history when you leave

Sharing

We do not sell your data. We share only with the Google services above as needed to run the app, if required by law, or with notice if the product is transferred.

Your choices

See and edit money in the app
Export (Premium) or copy what you entered
Turn Drive backup off; delete files in Drive yourself
Delete account in Settings, then Account. Local data is removed; Firebase account data is purged within 30 days
Cancel Premium in Google Play

Retention

Local data until you delete the account or uninstall
Drive copies until you delete them
Crash logs typically up to 90 days

Children

Pesa Notes is intended for adults managing their own money (18+). We do not knowingly collect data from children under 13. Contact us if you believe a child created an account.

Changes

We will update the date on this page and, for material changes, show an in-app notice. Continued use after an update means you accept the revised policy.

Contact

Privacy questions: use Settings in the app, or Contact. We aim to reply within 48 hours.