Privacy Policy

Last updated: June 2026

1. Information We Collect

Information you provide directly:

• Account information: email address and name when you sign up
• Financial data you enter manually: account balance, paycheck amount, payday date, bills, and expenses
• Wins and notes you log in the app

Information from your bank (via Plaid):

• Transaction history (merchant name, amount, date, category)
• Account balance
• Account type and name

We use Plaid Technologies, Inc. ("Plaid") to connect to your financial institution. When you connect your bank, your banking credentials go directly to Plaid — we never see or store your username or password. Plaid's use of your data is governed by Plaid's End User Privacy Policy.

Information collected automatically:

• Authentication tokens (to keep you signed in)
• Basic usage data via Firebase (errors, performance) — no behavioral tracking or advertising data

2. How We Use Your Information

• To show you your real financial picture — balance, spending, bills, and free money
• To auto-categorize transactions imported from your bank using AI (Claude by Anthropic)
• To sync your data across devices via your account
• To send bill reminders and financial nudges you opt into
• To improve the app based on aggregate, anonymized usage patterns

We do not use your financial data to serve ads, build marketing profiles, or sell to third parties.

3. How We Store and Protect Your Data

Your data is stored in Google Firebase Firestore, a cloud database that encrypts all data at rest (AES-256) and in transit (TLS 1.2+). Access to your data is scoped to your account — no other user can read your information.

Your Plaid access token (used to refresh your transactions) is stored in Firestore and protected by Firebase's encryption. We do not store your bank account number, routing number, or login credentials.

4. Sharing Your Information

We share your data with the following service providers solely to operate the app:

• Plaid Technologies, Inc. — to connect to your financial institution and retrieve transaction data
• Google Firebase (Google LLC) — to store your data and handle authentication
• Anthropic, PBC — to categorize your transactions using AI (transaction descriptions only; no account numbers or credentials)

We do not sell, rent, or trade your personal information to any third party. We do not share your data for advertising purposes.

5. Data Retention

We retain your data for as long as your account is active. If you delete your account, we will delete your data from our systems within 30 days. Transaction data imported from Plaid is retained in your account until you delete it or close your account.

6. Your Rights and Choices

• Access: You can view all your data within the app at any time.
• Correction: You can edit or delete any manually entered expense, bill, or income information directly in the app.
• Disconnect your bank: You can disconnect your bank connection at any time from app settings. This revokes our access to your Plaid data going forward.
• Delete your account: You can request full account deletion by emailing us. We will delete all your data within 30 days.
• Data portability: Contact us to request a copy of your data in a machine-readable format.

7. Children's Privacy

Ground is not directed at children under 13. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If you believe a child has provided us with personal information, please contact us and we will delete it.

8. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. We will notify you of significant changes by posting a notice in the app or sending an email to your registered address. Your continued use of Ground after changes take effect constitutes your acceptance of the updated policy.

9. Contact Us

If you have questions about this Privacy Policy or want to exercise your data rights, contact us at:

Ground
nmushik@gmail.com