What we collect, where it lives.

Avows is a browser-based receipt vault. The short version: we collect almost nothing, we don't sell anything, and most of your data never touches our servers. Here's the long version.

What Avows stores

When you scan or import a receipt, the receipt image and the line items are stored in one of three places, your choice:

Your browser (default): receipts live in your browser's IndexedDB. They never leave your device. Clearing browser data deletes them.
Your Google Drive (if you sign in): receipts are written to a folder named "Avows" in your own Drive, using the drive.file scope (we can only see files we created in that folder, nothing else in your Drive).

Cloud tier (planned, not yet built). The paywall lists a "Cloud" tier at $6/mo where receipts would live on our infrastructure (Cloudflare R2). That tier is currently a waitlist — clicking the Cloud CTA opens an email to express interest, no money changes hands until it actually ships. When it does, we'll update this policy with the exact storage location, retention, and deletion timing before accepting any payments for it.

What we share with third parties

To classify receipts, the following data leaves your browser:

Google Gemini API: receipt images and parsed line items are sent to Gemini for IRS Pub 502 classification. If you've added your own Gemini API key (BYOK), this call uses your key and is governed by your own Google account terms — your receipts go to Google on your account, not ours. If you haven't, we use a shared dev key, billed to us, with a small rate limit.
Google Drive (when you sign in): used to read and write your Avows folder. Drive sees the receipts because you put them there; we use the API only to upload, list, and delete files in the folder you authorize.
Google Gmail (only if you connect Gmail import): we use gmail.readonly to search for order-confirmation emails from Amazon, Walmart, CVS, and Walgreens, then pull line items from the email bodies. Email contents stay in your browser; we never copy them anywhere else.

That's the entire third-party list. No analytics, no ad networks, no Sentry or LogRocket or anything that ships your interaction stream off-device.

What we don't do

We don't sell, rent, or trade any data to anyone.
We don't use receipts to train models.
We don't run analytics scripts on the marketing pages or the app. There's no Mixpanel, Amplitude, GA4, Hotjar, or pixels.
We don't set tracking cookies. We use localStorage for app preferences and sessionStorage for OAuth tokens, both same-origin, both deletable from browser settings.

Verify it yourself

None of the above requires you to trust us — every claim is observable from your own browser. To audit:

Open the app and launch DevTools (right-click → Inspect, or Cmd+Option+I / Ctrl+Shift+I).
Switch to the Network tab.
Scan or import a receipt and watch every request the app makes.

You will only see requests to generativelanguage.googleapis.com (Gemini, for line-item classification — billed to your account if you've added a BYOK key), www.googleapis.com (Drive and/or Gmail, only if you've connected them), and the avows.app origin itself for static assets. There is no Avows server in the data path. The reason we can't see your receipts is structural: there is no "us" to send them to.

You can also confirm storage by opening DevTools → Application tab → IndexedDB → avows-vault. That's where your receipts live when Device storage is selected. Clear it and they're gone — no server-side copy to chase.

Subscriptions and payments

Paid plans run through Buy Me a Coffee for now. They handle the payment and see your name and email. We see whether your subscription is active, the tier, and the renewal date — we don't see card details, billing address, or any other payment info.

Your rights

Export: Settings → Backup → Export JSON. Pulls every receipt and LMN into a single file you can take anywhere.
Delete: open a receipt in the vault, tap Delete. For Cloud-tier accounts, that removes the underlying R2 file too.
Disconnect: Settings → Storage → Disconnect Google Drive (revokes our token), or visit myaccount.google.com/permissions and remove Avows directly from Google's side.
Cancel: cancel your subscription in Buy Me a Coffee. Your existing receipts stay in your vault and your Drive regardless of subscription state.

If your jurisdiction has stricter rules (GDPR, CCPA, etc.) and you want a formal data-access or deletion request, email [email protected]. We'll process it within the timeline your law requires.

Children

Avows is for adults handling their own HSA / FSA accounts. It's not designed for, marketed to, or knowingly used by anyone under 13. If you believe a minor has signed up, email us and we'll delete the account.

Changes

If we change this policy, we'll bump the "Last updated" date at the top, post a note in the in-app changelog, and email anyone with a paid subscription before the change takes effect.

Contact

[email protected] for privacy questions, [email protected] for everything else.