Privacy Policy

Privacy Policy

Data and purpose

Instant Tally is operated by Xianying Tan. Expense records are stored on your device and, if enabled, in your iCloud backup. Our service processes Apple sign-in identifiers, account and installation IDs, subscription products and transaction status, usage counters, basic device information and feature-use events to operate the service, verify access, prevent abuse and improve the product.

Email sign-in

If you choose email sign-in, we store your email address and a salted password hash for registration, login and account recovery. Plain-text passwords are not stored. Verification codes expire after 10 minutes and are invalidated after use; our database stores only keyed digests. Alibaba Cloud DirectMail receives your email address and code to deliver these messages. Authentication request and response bodies are excluded from operational logs. Account deletion removes the email credential and invalidates active sessions; minimal non-email account and transaction records may remain for subscription reconciliation and applicable obligations. To prevent the free trial from being claimed repeatedly, we keep a keyed, irreversible fingerprint of the email address after account deletion; it cannot be turned back into the address and is used only for that check.

Recognition and diagnostics

Screenshot and receipt recognition sends the selected image for cloud processing, including re-recognition. Typed text and speech transcripts are also sent for cloud parsing. Voice input sends audio to Alibaba Cloud DashScope. These paths can contain expense amounts and other financial details. Ordinary recognition request logs retain metadata, including account or installation identifiers, but not request/response bodies. Sentry (Functional Software, Inc., USA) processes crash reports, performance traces, device details and recent navigation breadcrumbs to diagnose reliability issues; automatic screenshots are disabled. We do not use this data for advertising tracking.

Retention and feedback

An encrypted local buffer retains the most recent 20 recognition request/response pairs and may contain text or images; it is excluded from iCloud Backup. Clearing this buffer does not delete feedback already uploaded. If you explicitly report an extraction, that record is uploaded and deleted after 30 days. General support feedback and image attachments are stored separately to handle your request. Automatic research sampling was disabled on September 22, 2026. We no longer retain new recognition inputs or results as research samples. Previously collected samples are cleared under the existing 14-day retention schedule. Voluntary feedback remains separate. Account, subscription and operational records are retained for service operation, security and applicable obligations.

Providers and processing locations

Service traffic currently goes through our Hong Kong server. Cloud recognition providers and Sentry may process data in other regions under their own privacy and security policies, including security or compliance logs. We do not promise that all processing occurs in mainland China or that third parties retain no data. iCloud backup is handled by Apple. Our app backup contains expense records, not the local diagnostic buffer.

Your controls

Initial setup requests cloud-processing consent and sign-in with Apple or email. After setup, manual recording can work offline; cloud recognition needs a connection and access rights. You can clear local diagnostics, manage iCloud backup, submit feedback voluntarily and delete your account in More. Deleting an account does not cancel an Apple subscription: manage subscriptions in your Apple account. Contact support@instanttally.com for access, correction or deletion requests.