In This Article
"Privacy-first" is easy to put on a landing page. It's harder to explain exactly where your data goes — so most apps don't. This page does the opposite: it lays out, in plain language, precisely what Pocket Clear keeps, where it keeps it, and what we genuinely cannot see.
If you'd rather read the formal version, our Privacy Policy covers the same ground in legal terms. This is the human explanation.
By default, your financial data lives only on your device — nothing is uploaded to us. If you subscribe to Pro and turn on cloud sync, a copy is stored on our servers, but it's encrypted on your device first, so we hold only unreadable ciphertext. We never connect to your bank, never sell data, and never train AI on it.
1. Local-First by Default
When you install Pocket Clear and start logging expenses, every transaction, category, budget, and savings goal is written to a database on your phone. It's encrypted at rest with AES-256 — the standard NIST publishes for the US government and the same one banks use.
In this default state, there is no server copy of your finances. You can use the app in airplane mode indefinitely. Nothing about your spending ever touches the internet, because there's nothing to send and nowhere for it to go.
This is what we mean by local-first storage: the device is the source of truth, not a remote server you have to trust.
2. What Lives on Our Servers
Here's the part most apps won't spell out. What we hold on our servers depends entirely on which tier you're on and whether you turned on sync.
| Your data | Free — no account | Free — account created | Pro — cloud sync on |
|---|---|---|---|
| Transactions, categories, budgets, goals | On device only | On device only | On device + encrypted copy on our servers |
| Email address | Not stored | Stored | Stored |
| Name & currency preference | Not stored | Stored | Stored |
| Can we read your amounts/notes? | N/A — we have nothing | N/A — we have nothing financial | No — it's encrypted before it reaches us |
So a free user who never creates an account leaves nothing with us at all. A free user who does create an account leaves only a minimal record — email, name, currency — and zero financial data. The transactions stay on the phone.
Only Pro cloud sync puts your actual entries on our servers, and even then only as encrypted ciphertext we can't decode. It's opt-in, and you can turn it off at any time — your data simply stays local again.
🔍 In practice
When a user recently asked us to delete their data under GDPR, we looked up their account: it was a free account with zero transactions, categories, or budgets on our servers — exactly as this table promises. All we held was the sign-up record, which we erased.
3. Why We Can't Read Your Data
There's an important difference between "we promise not to look" and "we can't look." Pocket Clear is built for the second.
When cloud sync is on, encryption happens on your device, before anything is sent. What travels to our servers — and what sits in our database — is ciphertext: a scrambled blob that means nothing without the key. We don't hold that key. So even if we wanted to, even if we were compelled to, we could not turn your synced data back into readable amounts, notes, or category names.
This is the distinction we make on our zero-knowledge finance and encryption comparison pages: encryption only protects you if the company can't quietly decrypt your data server-side. Ours can't.
→ Deep dive: What AES-256 Encryption Actually Protects
4. What We Never Store or Do
Some things aren't "off by default" — they simply don't exist in the product:
- No bank credentials. Pocket Clear uses manual entry only. We never ask for your online-banking login, account numbers, or an aggregator connection (Plaid, Yodlee, MX). There's no bank link to breach.
- No selling of data. There is no data-broker pipeline. Our revenue comes from the optional $4.99/month Pro plan — not from you.
- No AI training on your finances. Your transactions are never used to train models, ours or anyone's.
- No third-party analytics SDKs harvesting your in-app behavior for ad networks.
→ Related: Which Budget Apps Sell Your Data
5. What Happens When You Turn On Pro Sync
If you upgrade to Pro and enable cloud sync — for example, to keep a phone and a tablet in step, or to have an encrypted backup — here's the exact sequence:
- You add or edit a transaction on your device.
- Before it leaves the device, it's encrypted with AES-256.
- The encrypted blob is sent to our servers and stored as-is.
- Your other signed-in device pulls the blob and decrypts it locally, using your key.
At no point does a readable version of your data exist on our side. And if you change your mind, switching cloud sync off keeps everything working — your data just lives on-device again, the way it started.
6. Deleting Everything (GDPR & CCPA)
You can erase everything, permanently, whenever you like:
- In the app: Settings → Delete Account. This wipes your account and any synced data from our servers in a single, irreversible action.
- On the free tier: because your financial data is only on your device, deleting the app removes it from your side too.
- By request: email [email protected] and we'll erase your data and confirm in writing, in line with GDPR Article 17 and CCPA §1798.105. Any residual copy in our routine encrypted backups rotates out within 7 days.
→ Related: How to Permanently Delete Your Budget-App Data · GDPR and Your Finance App
Privacy you can actually verify.
Local-first by default. End-to-end encrypted by choice. No bank linking, ever.
Go Deeper: Related Guides
Frequently Asked Questions
Does Pocket Clear store my transactions on its servers?
Not by default. On the free tier your transactions live only on your device. Only if you subscribe to Pro and enable cloud sync is a copy stored on our servers — and it's encrypted on your device first, so we can't read it.
What does Pocket Clear keep for a free user?
If a free user creates an account, we keep only a minimal record: email, the name you entered, and your currency. We store no transactions, categories, or budgets for free users. If you never create an account, we hold nothing at all.
Can Pocket Clear read my synced data?
No. With Pro cloud sync, data is encrypted with AES-256 on your device before it's sent. We store only the encrypted ciphertext and don't hold the key, so we can't read your amounts, notes, or categories.
How do I permanently delete my data?
Settings → Delete Account erases your account and any synced data in one irreversible step. On the free tier your financial data is only on your device, so deleting the app removes it. We honor written erasure requests under GDPR Article 17 and CCPA §1798.105.
Does Pocket Clear connect to my bank?
Never. Manual entry only — no banking credentials, no account numbers, no aggregators. There's no bank connection to breach or leak.
Track Your Money. Keep Your Privacy.
Pocket Clear — free forever, local-first, and honest about the rest.
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