A local database on your phone. Sync is optional and encrypted end to end.
Private Budget App
A private budget app that never touches your bank.
Most budgeting apps want your bank login and keep your transaction history on their servers. Simply Finance does neither. Your data lives on your device, encrypted with keys only you hold, with no account and no bank connection—and it’s free to use—with an optional $4.99 unlock for sync and reports.
- ✓On-device, end-to-end encrypted
- ✓No bank sync, no account
- ✓Works fully offline
- ✓Free to use, no subscription
Sync relays move ciphertext only. We never hold the keys to your finances.
No account, no identity
No email, no password, no profile. There is nothing to breach, sell, or subpoena, because we never collect it in the first place.
Why privacy matters in a budgeting app
Your transaction history is one of the most revealing datasets about you: where you go, what you buy, who you pay, and when. Most budgeting apps route your bank credentials through an aggregator and store that history on their servers, where it can be mined, breached, sold, or handed over.
Simply Finance is built so that question never comes up. There is no bank connection, no account, and nothing readable on any server. The only place your finances exist in the clear is on your own device.
How your data stays private
- On-device storage. Your records live in a local database on your phone, not in our cloud.
- End-to-end encryption. Everything is encrypted with keys only you hold before it leaves the device. Sync relays only ever see ciphertext.
- No account. No email, password, or profile. Optional sync is keyed off a private recovery phrase, not a login on our servers.
- No bank connection. No Plaid, no MX, no open-banking tokens. Your banking credentials never touch a third party.
- No tracking. No ads and no behavioral analytics inside the app.
Verifiable, not just promised
Simply Finance’s sync engine and protocol are open source, so its privacy model can be independently audited—you do not have to take our word for the claims above.
What "local-first" means for you
Local-first means the working copy of your data is on your device, not in a data center you rent access to. In practice that gives you three things most cloud apps cannot:
- It works offline. Add transactions on a plane or in a basement; everything is instant because nothing waits on a network.
- It is fast. No round-trips to a server to load your own budget.
- Nothing to cancel. Your data never disappears behind a paywall when you stop paying, because the app is free—there is nothing to stop paying.
Private by design vs a typical budgeting app
| Simply Finance | Typical bank-sync app | |
|---|---|---|
| Data stored on device | No, on their servers | |
| End-to-end encrypted | ||
| Bank login required | Never | Usually |
| Account / email required | No | Yes |
| Works offline | ||
| In-app ads / tracking | None | Common |
| Price | Free / $4.99 extras | $70–180/yr |
"Typical bank-sync app" reflects the common setup of popular subscription budgeting apps that connect to your bank.
FAQ
Do you sell my data?
No—but that is the low bar, and the wrong question. “We don’t sell your data” still means a company can read it: your full history sits on their servers, one breach or subpoena from exposure. Simply Finance can’t sell what it can’t see. Your data is end-to-end encrypted on your device, and the sync relay only ever holds scrambled ciphertext—no readable balances, merchants, or amounts. Nothing to sell, nothing for an employee to peek at, nothing legible to leak.
Is Simply Finance actually private?
Yes. Your data is stored on your device and encrypted before any sync. There is no signup and no profile, and the sync server only ever sees ciphertext it cannot read. Nothing about your finances is readable by us or anyone else.
Does it work without an internet connection?
Yes. Simply Finance is local-first, so the full app works offline. A connection is only used for optional encrypted sync between your own devices.
Do you ever see my bank login or transactions?
No. There is no bank connection at all. No Plaid, no aggregator, no bank credentials. You enter transactions yourself, so your banking details never pass through us or a third party.
Do I need to create an account?
No. There is no email, password, or account. You open the app and start tracking. Optional sync is keyed off a private recovery phrase that only you hold, not an account on our servers.
Where is my data stored?
In a local database on your device. If you turn on sync, an encrypted copy is relayed between your devices, but it is never stored in readable form on any server.
What does end-to-end encrypted mean here?
Your records are encrypted on your device with keys only you hold, before anything is sent. The sync relay moves encrypted blobs it cannot decrypt, so your finances are never exposed in transit or at rest on a server.
Track your money without giving it away
Private by design, offline by default, and free to use. No bank login, no account, no subscription.