Ping · Privacy Policy
Ping reads transaction alerts on your device to track your spending. There is no login, no cloud, and no server that could receive your financial data — because we never built one.
In the appOpen More → Your Privacy to see these as live figures counted from your own device — transactions stored, messages analysed, and financial data uploaded (always 0). Sections 3–5 describe exactly what is stored and what leaves your device.
Ping is a personal budgeting app that runs entirely on your device. It watches for bank transaction text messages, reads the amount and merchant from them, and files them as spending — so you don’t have to type every purchase in by hand.
Everything it produces — your transactions, categories, budgets, and settings — is stored in a single database file on your phone. We do not operate a server that receives, stores, or backs up any of it. Your financial data — SMS content, amounts, merchants, accounts, balances, and categories — is never transmitted. The Android app does connect to the internet for three limited purposes, described in Section 5: anonymous usage analytics, Google Play purchases for Ping Pro, and daily exchange rates for Pro multi-currency accounts.
By using Ping, you agree to the practices described in this policy.
Ping – Auto Expense Tracker (“Ping,” “the App,” “we,” “us”) is developed and operated by [Your name / legal entity], based in Karachi, Pakistan. We can be reached at the address in Section 13.
On Android, Ping requests one sensitive permission:
Ping does not request or access:
It also uses these non-sensitive permissions:
If a future bank integration ever requires a different detection method, this policy will be updated before that change ships.
| Data | Stored? | Where |
|---|---|---|
| Parsed transactions (amount, date, merchant / description, direction, category) | Yes | Local device database only |
| Account label | Masked / partial only | Local device database only |
| De-duplication fingerprint (a one-way hash of the sender, the minute the message arrived, and its text) | Yes — not reversible to the message | Local device database only |
| Budgets, recurring rules, categories, preferences, in-app badges / XP | Yes | Local device database only |
| Raw SMS message content | No | Read in memory, discarded immediately after parsing |
| Full account numbers | No | Only the last few digits are ever read or kept |
| Login credentials | N/A | No account exists |
All of this lives in one database file on your device. We have no copy, no backup of it, and no way to reach it.
Your financial data never leaves your phone. The Android app connects to the internet only for the three purposes below. The iOS app connects to nothing.
We use Firebase Analytics and Firebase Remote Config, provided by Google, to understand which features people use and to test wording on the Ping Pro screen. The app sends:
Firebase also collects standard technical data: an app-instance identifier, device model, OS and app version, and approximate location (country or city) derived from your IP address. It does not collect your name, phone number, or email.
Analytics never includes SMS text, amounts, merchants, account numbers, balances, category names, or anything you type. Google processes this data under its own privacy policy. Analytics data is kept for [2 or 14] months.
Subscriptions are bought and managed through Google Play. Google handles your payment details; we never see them. The app receives only whether you have an active subscription and which plan it is.
If you use Ping Pro and have an account in a currency other than your home currency, the app downloads exchange rates about once a day from Frankfurter (api.frankfurter.dev), a public rates service. The request contains only currency codes, for example PKR and USD. Like any web request, it reveals your IP address to that service.
| Permission | Why it’s needed | If you deny it |
|---|---|---|
| READ_SMS RECEIVE_SMS |
Detect and parse bank transaction alerts automatically, in real time and from existing messages | The app falls back to manual transaction entry; automatic tracking is off. Existing data is untouched. |
| POST_NOTIFICATIONS | Show local budget and recurring-payment reminders | The app works normally; you just won’t get those reminders. |
| INTERNET | Anonymous usage analytics, Google Play purchases, and exchange rates (see Section 5) | Granted automatically by Android and can’t be revoked per app. Everything except Pro purchases and exchange rates works offline. |
| USE_BIOMETRIC | Optional App Lock with your phone’s fingerprint or face unlock | Granted automatically; App Lock stays off unless you turn it on. |
| BILLING | Buy or restore Ping Pro through Google Play | Granted automatically; only used when you open the Pro screen. |
You can revoke any permission at any time from your device’s app settings without losing existing stored data.
On iOS: Apple does not allow apps to read SMS. The iOS version of Ping is manual-entry only — it never requests SMS access because it cannot have it.
Everything below happens entirely within the app, with no account and no connection:
Because all data is local, uninstalling the app permanently deletes all of it. There is no copy for us to remove, because we never had one. (Auto Backup files you chose to write to Downloads/ are the one exception — those live in your own shared storage and remain until you delete them.)
Ping Pro may add optional features such as manual bank-statement import or backup helpers. Any feature that would move data off your device will:
As of the “Last updated” date above, no such feature exists. Everything in Sections 3–4 applies equally to the Free and Pro tiers. Pro purchases and exchange rates are covered in Section 5.
Ping is not directed at children under 13 (or the relevant minimum age in your jurisdiction) and is not designed for use by children.
We may update this policy as the app evolves. Material changes — particularly anything involving new data transmission or cloud features — will be disclosed within the app before they affect you, and the “Last updated” date above will reflect the change.
This policy is governed by the laws of Pakistan. Where Ping is made available in other jurisdictions through app stores, applicable local data-protection laws are respected in addition to the practices described here.
Questions about this policy or how Ping handles your data:
Email: [your support email]
Ping is built local-first: your bank SMS and financial data are processed and stored only on your device, and never sent to us or anyone else. We built it this way because we did not want to be a company that could leak your financial data — even by accident.