ILLU Privacy Policy

Effective 3 November 2026 · Applies to the ILLU Android app

In short

ILLU is a family expense tracker that works entirely on your phone. It has no Internet permission, so it cannot send your data anywhere by itself. We do not collect, store, sell or share any personal or financial data. There are no accounts, no advertising and no analytics or tracking of any kind.

Data ILLU uses on your phone

• Bank SMS. With your permission, ILLU reads SMS messages to find bank transaction alerts and turn them into ledger entries. OTPs, promotions and other non-transaction messages are ignored and not saved. Original messages older than 60 days are reduced to masked snippets; the parsed entry (amount, date, merchant, category) remains.
• What you enter. Entries, notes, categories, budgets, events, accounts and preferences you create.
• Your voice, only when you tap the microphone. If you use voice entry or ask about your spending by voice, your phone's built-in offline speech recognition turns what you say into text on the phone. ILLU uses only that text, to fill in the entry or answer the question. ILLU never records, keeps or sends audio.

All of this is stored only on your phone in an encrypted database. The developer never receives it.

Permissions

• SMS (read and receive): to detect bank transactions automatically. This is the app's core feature.
• Bluetooth / nearby devices: only for optional family sharing between paired phones.
• Notifications: local reminders to review new transactions.
• Biometrics / device lock: optional app lock using Android's own security. ILLU never sees or stores your fingerprint or face data.
• Microphone: optional, only while you are using voice entry or asking a question by voice. Android asks for it the first time you tap the microphone, and you can turn it off at any time in Android settings.
• Quick settings tile: an optional shortcut for adding an entry.

ILLU does not request Internet, location, contacts or camera access.

Family sharing

If you add a family member, ILLU shares only the level of detail you choose (daily totals, category totals or every entry) plus your monthly budget. With every entry, ILLU also shares the category you use for each payee so your family's categories stay the same. Phones that are near each other sync directly over Bluetooth. For family who live elsewhere, ILLU makes a locked update file that you send yourself through an app you pick, such as WhatsApp. That app carries the file under its own privacy policy, but the file is encrypted so only ILLU on your family member's phone can open it. Account names, balances and original SMS messages are never shared. ILLU itself never connects to any server.

Backups and exports

Backups are encrypted and include your family profile (your name and sharing choice) so family sharing keeps working after a restore. Backups and exports leave the app only when you choose a destination (for example a file or another app). That destination has its own privacy policy.

Purchases

If ILLU offers a purchase or subscription, payment is handled by Google Play under Google's privacy policy. ILLU receives only whether a purchase is active, not your payment details.

Your control

You can edit or delete any entry or rule, forget family members, and turn off SMS or microphone access at any time in Android settings. Uninstalling ILLU removes all its data from your phone, so keep an encrypted backup first if you want to restore later.

Children

ILLU is intended for adults managing household finances and is not directed at children under 13.

Changes

If this policy changes, the new version will be posted in the app and at stsbharadwaj.github.io/illu-privacy with a new effective date.

Contact

Questions about privacy: illu.app.dev@gmail.com