Tabful Privacy Policy

Tabful is an app designed by ARTH (“we,” “us,” “our”). This policy explains what information Tabful collects, how it's used, and what choices you have. It applies to the Tabful Android app available on Google Play.

If you have questions about this policy, contact us at hello@designedbyarth.com.

The short version

Tabful now has a real account and a real backend. When you sign in with Google or email, your groups, expenses, balances, and profile are saved to your account and synced across your devices, so we (via our backend provider, Google Firebase) do store that data on your behalf. Tabful also shows ads, which involves sharing limited data with our ad provider, Google AdMob, as described below. This is a real change from an earlier version of this app and this policy — we've updated both to match.

Your account and the data behind it

Signing in with Google or email/password creates a real account, backed by Google Firebase Authentication and Firebase Firestore (our database provider). Once signed in:

• Your profile (display name and email address) is stored against your account, and is private to you.
• Your public name: a separate small record that holds only your display name and avatar colour. Any signed-in Tabful user can read it. It is how the people you share a group with see who you are, so assume that someone who knows your account ID could see your name. It does not contain your email address, your notification token or anything about your groups. If your name hasn't shown up in a group yet, another member of that group can type a name for you; it is saved to the group and replaced by your own name as soon as your app shares it.
• Groups, expenses, settlements, and comments you create or take part in are stored so they sync across your own devices and so other real members of a shared group can see the same up-to-date balances.
• Invite codes you generate or redeem are stored to let a second real person join your group. An invite also holds the group's name and the first names of its members, so the person you invite can see which group they're joining before they join.
• Your UPI ID, only if you choose to add one in your profile. It is stored on your entry in each group you're in, so the other members can pay you, and it is visible to those members only. Clear the field to remove it. A UPI ID someone types in for you on their own phone stays on that phone. Tabful never sends or receives money itself: the payment happens in your UPI app, and you tell Tabful whether it went through.
• A notification token for each phone you're signed in on, stored on your profile so we can send you a notification when someone adds an expense or a payment is confirmed in a group you're in. The notification text includes the group name, a member's name and the amount. The token is removed when you log out.

None of this is shared with anyone outside Firebase (our infrastructure provider, bound by Google's own data processing terms) except the other real people you're actually sharing a group with inside the app — that's the whole point of a shared expense.

Deleting your account and your data

You can permanently delete your account at any time from inside the app: Profile → Security → Delete account, then type DELETE to confirm. This is a genuine deletion, not a cosmetic one — it removes your real Firebase Authentication account, your Firestore profile document and your public name record.

One thing worth being precise about: deleting your account does not delete groups or expenses you shared with other real people. Those records are shared history other members still rely on for accurate balances, so they stay visible to them — the same way every other split-bill app handles a departed member's past expenses. Anything that belongs only to you (your account, your profile, your on-device Timeline) is fully erased.

If you'd rather not use the in-app flow — for example, you no longer have access to the app or device — email hello@designedbyarth.com from the address on your account and we'll delete your account and profile data manually, on the same terms described above.

Ads

Tabful is free to use and shows ads via Google AdMob to support that. AdMob may collect an advertising identifier and app activity data (such as which ads are shown and interacted with) to serve and measure ads; this is shared with Google as our ad provider. This applies whether or not you're signed in — it isn't tied to your Tabful account. You can see what AdMob itself does with this data in Google's own ad policy.

Crash reports

If Tabful crashes or hits an unexpected error, the app sends a crash report to Google Firebase Crashlytics so we can fix it. A report contains the type of error, the technical trace of where it happened, the phone model and Android version, and a random installation ID. It does not contain your name, email address, groups, expenses or any amounts. Reports are only sent from the released app, and are used only to fix bugs.

Tabful Pro subscriptions

Tabful Pro, when it is on sale, is a subscription bought and billed by Google Play. We never see your card or payment details. The app asks Google Play whether you have an active subscription and keeps only that yes-or-no answer on your phone so ads stay off. Managing or cancelling a subscription happens in Google Play.

Contacts and camera

Add Friend's “Invite from contacts” reads your device's contact list, locally on your device, so you can pick one person to invite. Your contacts are never uploaded, stored on our servers, or shared with anyone — the app only reads them to show you a list to choose from, then hands the phone number you picked to your own messaging app.

“Scan a code” uses your camera to read a friend's invite QR code, entirely on-device. No image or scan result is sent anywhere by us.

The Timeline feature, specifically

Tabful includes an optional feature called Timeline: a permanent, on-device, password-protected, append-only log of account-related events (such as joining a group or adding an expense). A few things worth being precise about, since this is the most privacy-sensitive feature in the app today:

• Timeline is opt-in — you're asked about it at login and can toggle it in Settings, with a clear warning both times.
• Timeline data is stored only on your device, protected by a password you set that is deliberately separate from your account login.
• Nothing in the Timeline can be edited or deleted through the app — it's append-only by design, up until account deletion.
• If you delete your account, Tabful genuinely emails your full Timeline history to your registered email address (via your phone's own mail app — a “mailto” handoff, not a server-side email we send) before erasing the local Timeline data for real. We don't see or retain a copy of that email ourselves.

CSV and PDF export

Tabful can export a group's expense history as a CSV file or a formatted PDF report, which you can then share, save, or send using your phone's normal share sheet. That export happens entirely on your device — we do not receive a copy of any file you export, and where it ends up after you tap “share” is entirely your choice (your own cloud drive, email, messaging app, etc.), governed by that destination's own privacy practices, not ours.

Children's privacy

Tabful is not directed at children and we do not knowingly collect information from children.

Changes to this policy

This policy is written to stay accurate as Tabful changes — most recently updated alongside the real account/sync backend, real ads, and real contacts/camera features described above. The moment anything new starts collecting, storing, or transmitting information about you, we'll update this policy before or alongside that release rather than leaving a stale version live. Check the “Last updated” date at the top of this page; material changes will also be reflected in the app's release notes.

Contact

Questions, requests, or concerns about this policy, your data, or deleting your account can be sent to hello@designedbyarth.com.