Your money's data stays yours — here's exactly how.
Formulary is a budgeting app with no server of its own. This page explains, plainly, what that means: what we can see, what we can't, and where every piece of your financial information actually lives.
01Overview
Formulary ("we," "our," "the app") is built and operated by an independent developer, not a company with servers processing your data. This policy covers the Formulary iOS app and its home screen widget.
By using Formulary, you agree to the practices described here. If you don't agree, please don't use the app.
02What we collect
Everything below is information you choose to bring into the app — nothing is gathered passively or without your action.
- Transactions you enter manually — merchant, amount, date, category, and any note you add.
- Bank transaction data — if you connect a bank account, transaction history is retrieved through SimpleFIN Bridge, a third-party bank-data service you set up and pay for directly. Formulary never sees or stores your bank login credentials — SimpleFIN handles that exchange entirely outside the app.
- Google Sheets content — if you connect a Google Sheet, Formulary reads and writes only to that specific spreadsheet, using a Google-issued permission you grant and can revoke at any time. We request no other access to your Google account — not your email, not your Drive, not any other file.
- Purchase confirmation — if you buy the optional bank-sync unlock, Apple's In-App Purchase system confirms the purchase to the app. We never receive your card number, billing address, or any other payment detail — Apple handles all of that.
Your name, physical address, government ID, contacts, precise location, browsing history, or an advertising identifier. Formulary has no analytics SDK and no ad network integration of any kind.
03How it's used
Your transaction data powers the app's own features and nothing beyond them: computing your spending totals, matching transactions to categories using rules you define, and displaying your budget progress — on your dashboard, in the transaction list, and on your home screen widget.
Auto-categorization runs entirely on your device. We do not use your financial data for advertising, do not build a profile of you, and do not sell or rent your information to anyone, under any circumstance.
04Where it lives
| Data | Where it's stored |
|---|---|
| Transactions, categories, rules, subscriptions | On your device only, in Apple's SwiftData storage. Nothing is transmitted to us — because there is no "us" to receive it; Formulary has no backend server. |
| Your connected Google Sheet | In your own Google Drive, under your own Google account. You own it, can open it directly, and can disconnect it at any time. |
| Bank connection token | In Apple's Keychain, encrypted, restricted to this device, excluded from iCloud backup. |
| Widget summary (spend total, top categories) | A small local snapshot shared between the app and its widget via an App Group — still entirely on your device. |
05Third-party services
Formulary connects to a small number of services directly on your behalf. Each has its own, independent privacy practices:
06Your choices
- Disconnect anytime. Settings lets you disconnect your Google Sheet or bank connection in one tap — this revokes Formulary's access immediately.
- Delete anytime. Any transaction, category, rule, or subscription can be deleted directly in the app.
- Delete everything. Uninstalling Formulary removes all data stored on your device. Data already synced to your own Google Sheet remains there, under your control, since it's your file.
07Security
All network requests use HTTPS. Authentication tokens are stored in Apple's Keychain with device-only, after-first-unlock protection — they're never included in iCloud backups and never leave your device. Requests to your Google Sheet and your bank data are made directly from the app to Google and SimpleFIN — never routed through any server we operate, because none exists.
08Children's privacy
Formulary is not directed at children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect information from anyone in that age group.
09Changes to this policy
If this policy changes, the effective date at the top of this section will update. Continued use of Formulary after a change means you accept the revised policy.
10Contact
Questions about this policy or your data — reach the developer directly:
Need a hand with Formulary?
This is a one-person project, so support is genuinely a real inbox, not a ticket queue. Most questions get a same-day reply.
FAQCommon questions
My transactions from my bank aren't showing up.
Bank sync goes through SimpleFIN Bridge, a separate service you connect in Settings → Bank Accounts. Try tapping Sync bank now there first. If it's still not appearing, check that your SimpleFIN connection is still active at bridge.simplefin.org — bank connections there occasionally need to be re-authorized.
My Google Sheet isn't syncing.
Open Settings → Google Sheet and confirm it still shows "Connected." If you've revoked Formulary's access from your Google Account permissions page, you'll need to reconnect. Also double check the Sheet ID matches the spreadsheet you intend to sync — it's the long string in the sheet's URL between /d/ and /edit.
How do I get my categories onto a new phone?
On the new device, connect the same Google Sheet in Settings, then use Import categories from this Sheet — this pulls your categories, auto-categorize rules, and subscriptions down from the Sheet you were already syncing to.
I want a refund for Formulary Plus.
All purchases go through Apple's App Store, so refunds are handled entirely by Apple — Formulary never touches your payment information. Request one at reportaproblem.apple.com.
Is my financial data private?
Yes — full details are above in the Privacy Policy. Short version: there's no Formulary server. Your data lives on your device, in your own Google Sheet, and nowhere else.