Privacy Policy

Last Updated: January 2025

Our Privacy Commitment

Cognito Money is built with privacy as the foundation. Unlike cloud-based financial apps, your data never leaves your device unless you explicitly choose to share it.

What Data We DON'T Collect

• Your financial transactions
• Your bank account information
• Your spending patterns
• Your budget data
• Your receipt images
• Any personally identifiable financial information

What Data We DO Collect

Website Analytics: When you visit our website, we collect anonymous usage data through standard web analytics to understand how people use our site. This includes page views, browser type, and general geographic region. We do not track individual users or create user profiles.

Purchase Information: When you buy a paid edition, we collect your email address and payment information through our payment processor (Stripe). We need your email to send you the license key and order confirmation. We do not store credit card numbers.

Support Emails: If you contact us for support, we keep a record of our correspondence to help resolve your issue.

How Your Financial Data Stays Private

Local Storage Only: All your financial data is stored in an SQLite database file on your computer. We cannot access this data because it's not on our servers.

AI Features (Power User Edition): If you use the AI chatbot, your queries are sent directly to your chosen AI provider (Anthropic, OpenAI, or Google) using your own API key. We do not see or store these interactions. Please review your AI provider's privacy policy for how they handle data.

No Cloud Sync: We do not offer cloud synchronization. If you want to sync data between devices, you manage the database file yourself using your preferred method (USB drive, personal cloud storage, etc.).

Third-Party Services

Payment Processing: We use Stripe to process payments. Stripe collects and processes payment information according to their privacy policy.

AI Providers (Optional): If you use AI features with your own API keys, you're interacting directly with Anthropic (Claude), OpenAI (GPT-4), or Google (Gemini). Their privacy policies apply to those interactions.

Your Rights

• Data Ownership: You own all your financial data. It's stored on your device.
• Data Portability: You can export your data anytime to CSV, Excel, or PDF.
• Data Deletion: You can delete your data by deleting the database file or uninstalling the software.
• Account Deletion: Contact us to delete your purchase email from our records.

Security

Since your data is stored locally, you're responsible for securing your computer. We recommend:

• Using password protection in the app (available in Settings)
• Enabling database encryption (available in Premium and Power User editions)
• Keeping regular backups on external drives or secure cloud storage
• Using standard computer security practices (antivirus, firewall, OS updates)

Changes to This Policy

We'll update this policy if our privacy practices change. The "Last Updated" date at the top shows when changes were made. Continued use of Cognito Money after changes means you accept the updated policy.

Contact Us

If you have questions about this privacy policy, contact us at:

E-Comm Solutions LLC
Email: ecommsolutions@gmail.com
EIN: 92-1791184