Privacy Policy
1. Who is responsible
Ismaeel Ibrahim operates Gauge Money and is the data controller (under GDPR/UK GDPR) and the organisation accountable for your personal information (under PIPEDA). Contact: ismaeelibrahim.dps@gmail.com.
This policy explains what the app collects, where it goes, and what you can do about it. It describes the app’s actual behaviour rather than a generic template.
2. What is collected
Account information: your email address, name and profile picture received from Google, or your Apple-specific identifier and the name or email Apple provides, when you sign in. Optionally a display name and an avatar image you upload.
Financial information you provide: expenses, income, budgets, categories, savings goals, recurring commitments, pay-cycle settings and any notes you write.
Financial information imported on your instruction: if you connect Gmail, iCloud Mail or Outlook, new inbox messages are checked in the background and data is extracted from messages that look like receipts or transaction notifications. Gmail and Microsoft notify Gauge about mailbox changes; iCloud Mail is checked about once a minute. You can also run a manual date-range scan. Multiple inboxes may be connected independently. If you link a bank via Plaid, account balances and transaction records from your institution.
Usage and device information: session records, including the approximate time a session was last used and the network address and app version it was used from, so you can recognise your own sign-ins and end any you do not.
Technical logs: hosting providers record standard request information such as IP address and timestamps.
Waitlist: if you join the waitlist on gaugemoney.com, your email address and the date you joined. We do not store your IP address or browser details with it.
The app contains no third-party advertising, analytics or tracking SDKs. There is no behavioural profiling for marketing, and no cross-site tracking.
3. Why it is used, and the legal basis
To provide the app: storing and displaying your finances, producing budgets, forecasts and insights. Legal basis: performance of a contract with you (GDPR Art. 6(1)(b)).
To operate optional connected features: email import, bank import, AI Coach. Legal basis: your consent, given when you connect the service or use the feature (Art. 6(1)(a)). Connecting Gmail, iCloud Mail or Outlook starts background import for new messages; you withdraw that consent by disconnecting that inbox.
To keep the service secure: session management, rate limiting, abuse and security logging. Legal basis: legitimate interests in protecting the service and its users (Art. 6(1)(f)).
To email you once when the app is released, if you joined the waitlist. Legal basis: your consent, given when you submit the waitlist form (Art. 6(1)(a)). You can withdraw it at any time by emailing us, and we will remove your address.
To comply with law where applicable. Legal basis: legal obligation (Art. 6(1)(c)).
Your data is not sold, rented, or used for advertising. It is not used to train any model of ours.
4. AI processing, specifics
After you connect an inbox, Gauge checks new mail even while the app is closed. Gmail and Microsoft notify Gauge when new inbox mail arrives; iCloud Mail is checked about once a minute. Gauge filters the new messages and sends purchase-like content—including the subject, sender, date and a shortened message body—to a third-party AI provider to identify completed charges. The same processing occurs when you manually scan a connected inbox. When you use the AI Coach or automatic categorisation, relevant financial details such as amounts, merchant names, categories and dates, and the question you type, are also sent to generate a response. Requests go to OpenAI by default, and to Google Gemini when OpenAI is unavailable or over budget.
These providers process that content under their API terms as processors acting on our instructions. We do not enable any training or human-review options offered to us, and we do not use your data to train models.
Connecting a Gmail, iCloud Mail or Outlook inbox enables background processing of new purchase-like messages until you disconnect it; there is no separate automatic-import switch. If you connect no inbox and do not use the AI Coach or automatic categorisation, nothing is sent to an AI provider.
AI output is generated text. It can be wrong. It is not advice, see the Terms, section 2.
6. Where your data goes
The backend runs on self-hosted hardware in Canada. The database is hosted by MongoDB Atlas, and the providers listed above operate globally, so your data is processed in countries including the United States, which may not offer the same legal protections as your own.
Where required for transfers out of the UK, EEA or Switzerland, these providers rely on mechanisms such as the European Commission’s Standard Contractual Clauses or an applicable adequacy decision.
7. How long it is kept
Your account data is kept until you delete your account. Deleting the account removes it immediately from the live database.
Deleted expenses go to a recoverable trash for 30 days so you can undo a mistake, then are removed automatically.
Waitlist email addresses are kept until the launch email has been sent, or until you ask us to remove yours. After the launch email, the list is deleted.
Sessions expire after 7 days. Security and audit logs are retained for a limited period for abuse investigation.
Backups or provider-side logs may persist for a short period after deletion, in line with each provider’s own retention.
8. How it is protected
Traffic is encrypted in transit over HTTPS. Session tokens are stored only as hashes on the server, so the database never holds a usable session token. Connected-service access and refresh tokens, and an iCloud app-specific password if you provide one, are encrypted at rest. The app never asks for or stores your main Google, Apple or Microsoft password. On iOS, your session token is held in the device Keychain rather than general storage.
The backend is not reachable directly from the public internet; it is exposed through an authenticated tunnel. Requests are rate limited, and security-relevant events—sign-ins, sign-outs and rejected requests—are recorded so unusual activity on your account can be investigated.
When the app hits an unexpected error, a diagnostic report is sent to Sentry so it can be fixed. Those reports are deliberately stripped before they leave: they carry the error and where it happened, and not your request contents, cookies, sign-in token, identity or network address.
No system is perfectly secure. The service runs on self-hosted hardware maintained by one person, an honest limitation you should weigh before connecting a bank account.
9. Your rights
Wherever you live, you can see your data in the app, correct it by editing it, and delete your account from Profile → Delete account.
If you are in the UK, EEA or Switzerland (GDPR/UK GDPR), you have the right to access, rectification, erasure, restriction of processing, objection to processing based on legitimate interests, and data portability. Where processing relies on consent, you may withdraw it at any time without affecting prior processing. You may also lodge a complaint with your local supervisory authority.
If you are in Canada (PIPEDA), you may request access to the personal information held about you and ask for corrections, and you may complain to the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada.
If you are a California resident (CCPA/CPRA), you have the right to know what is collected and disclosed, to request deletion, to correct inaccurate information, and to be free from discrimination for exercising these rights. We do not sell or share personal information as those terms are defined by the CCPA, and we do not process sensitive personal information for purposes requiring a right to limit.
To exercise any right, use the in-app controls or email ismaeelibrahim.dps@gmail.com. We will respond within the period required by the applicable law.
10. Children
Gauge Money is not intended for anyone under 16, and we do not knowingly collect their personal information. If you believe a child has provided data, contact us and it will be deleted.
11. Changes to this policy
If this policy changes materially, the version identifier changes and you will be asked to review and accept it the next time you open the app. The current version and effective date are shown at the top of this page.
12. Contact
Privacy questions, or to exercise your rights: ismaeelibrahim.dps@gmail.com.