Privacy Policy

Alder (alderfinance.app) · Effective October 22, 2026

Alder helps adults 18 and older split bills, share itemized payment requests, and track repayments. This policy explains the data used for those features and the handling of data from earlier versions of Alder.

Text messages, consent, and your mobile information

Mobile information and messaging consent will not be shared with third parties or affiliates for marketing or promotional purposes. We use Twilio, our SMS delivery provider, acting solely on our behalf, to send the messages described in this policy. Mobile information is never sold.

• What we send: one-time sign-in codes to the number you enter when requesting sign-in (returning the correct code verifies control of that number), and — when someone splits a bill with you — that bill and up to three reminders if it stays open.
• Message frequency varies with how often you sign in and how often friends split bills with you: typically at most 4 messages per bill. Bill requests and reminders are capped at 8 per day and 25 per week to a number, across all payers. These bill-dispatch limits do not describe the separate sign-in-code flow.
• Message and data rates may apply.
• Reply STOP to opt out of all Alder messages, START to opt back in, and HELP for help.

The short version

• We never hold, move, or touch your money. Payments happen in the apps you already use (like Venmo) or however you and your friends settle up.
• We never sell your data.
• The app sends usage analytics that aren't linked to your account, and you can turn them off in Settings. We don't use advertising identifiers or track you across other companies' apps or websites.
• Mobile information and messaging consent will not be shared with third parties or affiliates for marketing or promotional purposes.
• Deleting your account deletes the data you own, subject to the shared-record details below.

What we collect, and why

Your account. Your phone number (verified by a one-time code) and the name you choose. Your phone number is how friends' requests reach you and how your account is secured. If you add a Venmo username in Settings, we store it and show it as a "Pay on Venmo" button on the payment page of each bill you send, so the people you split with can pay you on Venmo. Anyone with a bill's payment link can see it. It's optional; if you remove it, it disappears from all of your bills' payment pages.

Receipts you scan. When you photograph a receipt, the image is sent to Google's Gemini API to read the line items, and the extracted items are shown to you for correction. We do not store the receipt image on our servers. Google processes receipt images and extraction results under its Gemini API terms and abuse-monitoring policy. We use the paid Gemini API, under which Google does not use receipt inputs or extraction results to improve its products. Optional logging for receipt requests is disabled, and we do not share receipt datasets with Google for model improvement. Google retains processing data for abuse monitoring; our no-storage statement does not mean that service providers never retain data. We keep a short record of each scan attempt (when, whether it worked, and why it failed) to apply scan limits and spot problems.

Smart split suggestions (Alder Plus). If you subscribe to Alder Plus and describe how to split a bill, the words you type, the item names on that bill, and the names of the people on it are sent to Google's Gemini API to suggest who had what. Phone numbers, amounts, and the receipt image are not included. Google processes this text under the same terms and abuse-monitoring policy as receipt images, on the paid Gemini API, where Google does not use it to improve its products. Alder does not store what you typed or the suggestion; you review a suggestion before anything changes, and Alder's own math, not the AI, sets the amounts. We keep a count of your suggestions to apply your monthly allowance.

Alder Plus subscription. Purchases are made through Apple. Alder receives and stores Apple's transaction identifiers, the product, and the subscription's status and renewal or expiry dates, to know whether your account has Alder Plus, and links the purchase to your Alder account. Alder never receives your payment card or Apple Account details.

Running the service. To understand whether Alder is working and how it's used, its operator uses a private, link-protected status page. It shows totals (sign-ups, receipt scans and why they failed, bills sent, text delivery outcomes, and how much has been repaid versus is still open) and a short list of open shares with the payer's and recipient's display names, the amount, and how many days it has been open. It never shows phone numbers, merchants, item names, receipt images, or what you type for smart split.

Usage analytics. To learn which features get used and where people get stuck, the app sends usage events to PostHog, our analytics provider, which processes them on our behalf on servers in the United States. An event records that something happened (for example: a split was started, a receipt scan finished or failed, a bill was sent, a share was marked paid, or the Alder Plus page was opened) with a few counts, such as how many items or people a bill had, plus the app version, iOS version, device model, language, and time zone. Events carry only a random identifier created by the app on your device and replaced when you sign out; they are not linked to your Alder account, phone number, or name. Turning usage analytics off deletes that identifier and any events not yet sent. Events never include names, phone numbers, merchants, item names, amounts, receipt images, or anything you type. Alder does not record your screen or sessions, does not use advertising identifiers, and does not track you across other companies' apps or websites. Your device's IP address reaches PostHog when the app connects; Alder's PostHog project is set to discard it, and the app tells PostHog not to estimate your location from it. To stop sending usage analytics, turn off Share usage analytics in Settings; the choice applies to that device.

People you tag. When you pick someone from your contacts, we store only that person's name and phone number — never your full address book. Tagged numbers are used to route bill requests and reminders to that person, and for nothing else.

Splits. The bills you create: merchant, amounts, items, who owes what, and payment status. People you include in a split can see the split's roster — names and amounts, never phone numbers. A person's payment link shows their own share and items to anyone who has that link, so treat links like the receipts they are.

Data from earlier versions

The current splitting app does not offer bank linking, financial-health scores, or personalized financial guidance. Earlier versions included those features. If you previously linked a bank, the data covered by this policy includes balances and transactions received through Plaid, financial-health scores, transaction reviews, category corrections, and budget fact corrections. Alder does not receive your bank username or password. Bank access credentials are encrypted with keys held outside the database.

Removing these features from the current app does not itself delete earlier data or revoke an existing bank connection. The retention periods below still apply to that data. If you previously connected a bank and want the connection revoked or need help with earlier data, contact support@alderfinance.app. You can also delete your Alder account in Settings.

Adult eligibility

Alder is for adults 18 and older. Your age confirmation is saved locally on your device for your account. This confirmation does not collect your date of birth or an identity document and is not identity verification.

Unfinished splits on your device

To let you resume an interrupted split, Alder keeps its edited items, amounts, selected people and assignments on your device. A draft expires 14 days after the last edit and is removed the next time Alder checks for it. Receipt photos are not saved. Drafts are separated by account, protected by iOS file protection and excluded from device backups. You can discard a draft; signing out clears that account’s saved draft.

Sample bill

The sample bill starts with fictional people and amounts. Edits and simulated payment states are saved only on your device, separately from your account’s splits. This file uses iOS file protection and is excluded from device backups. It expires 14 days after its last save and is removed when you next open the sample. Use Reset sample data to remove it sooner. The sample does not send requests or make payments.

Text messages

When you send a split, people you tagged receive an SMS with their share and a payment link, and up to three reminders if the bill stays open — typically at most 4 messages per bill. We additionally cap bill requests and reminders to any number at 8 per day and 25 per week, across all payers. These limits do not describe the separate sign-in-code flow. After the final reminder for a bill, we don't text about it again.

• Reply STOP at any time to opt out of all Alder messages, and START to opt back in. Reply HELP for help.
• Message and data rates may apply. Message frequency varies with how often friends split bills with you.
• Mobile information and messaging consent will not be shared with third parties or affiliates for marketing or promotional purposes. Message delivery is handled by Twilio, our SMS provider, acting solely on our behalf. Mobile information is never sold.

Our delivery logs store recipient numbers only as keyed cryptographic hashes — enough to enforce the caps above, without keeping a readable directory of who was texted.

If you set up a recurring split (like rent you front for roommates), Alder stores the template — the schedule, the shares, and the people you named — and which repayments you have confirmed. Naming someone here stores the name and phone number you typed, the same way tagging a contact does. Those people are not contacted, are not sent messages, get no account, and cannot see the template or anything else — it exists only on your side, to label whose share is whose. This is used only to compute your own net costs and what you're owed. Alder does not send automatic messages for recurring splits; any reminder is one you send yourself.

How long we keep things

Deleting your account deletes your data — account, contacts, splits, bank data, and scores — that you own from our production systems. Other people’s records of shared bills, including your displayed name and share, can remain in their ledgers after your account is deleted. Hashed SMS delivery logs follow the 90-day retention period above. Usage analytics events are not linked to your account, so deleting it can't find or remove them; they follow the retention period above.

Who we share data with

Only service providers that operate the product, only for the purposes described here: Twilio (SMS delivery), Supabase (application hosting and database), Google (Gemini receipt reading and smart split suggestions), Apple (subscription purchases), PostHog (usage analytics), and Cloudflare (website hosting). Plaid is the provider for bank connections from earlier versions, as described above. We never sell personal data, and we never share it for third-party marketing or advertising.

Cloudflare also runs security and bot-detection scripts on the pages of alderfinance.app to protect the site from abuse. These run in your browser when you visit those pages and are used for security, not for advertising or for tracking you across other sites. The pay page you open from a bill link does not load them.

Security

Data is encrypted in transit. Every database record is protected by row-level access rules. Users can read their own records and the shared bill details they are authorized to see; payment links grant access to the recipient breakdown described above. Bank access credentials are additionally encrypted at the application layer with keys held outside the database. We designed these controls before inviting users, and this policy claims nothing we haven't built.

What Alder is not

Alder never holds or transmits money, is not a bank or money transmitter, and does not provide financial-health scores or personalized financial advice in the current splitting app.

Contact

Questions or privacy requests: support@alderfinance.app.

If we change this policy, we'll change this page and its effective date. Material changes will be announced in the app.