Privacy Policy

In short

• We keep what you give iowe: your sign-in details from Apple, your display name, payment details and photo, and your receipts, groups and friends.
• Our own server reads the text on a receipt photo or PDF, then deletes the file. The text goes to Google’s Gemini API under Google’s standard terms, which allow Google to use it to improve its products and allow people at Google to review it. A bank statement you import for a trip is sent to Gemini as the file.
• Anyone with a claim link can see that receipt, the names on it, the host’s payment handle, and who has paid. Anyone with a personal group link can see that person’s position and the group’s costs.
• We do not sell personal information or use receipt contents for advertising.
• You can delete your account in the app, under You, then Privacy & data. Questions go to edward@sebre.ai.

The full policy follows.

Information we process

Apple and Clerk provide sign-in. We receive an account identifier and the name and email Apple makes available, which may be a private relay address. We save your chosen display name and preferred payment handle, and a profile photo if you add one: a small square copy, which people who can find you in iowe see beside your name (friends, people in your groups, and anyone who looks up your username). We do not receive your Apple password or store payment-card details.

We process receipt photos, PDFs, pasted text, and links you submit. A receipt photo or PDF is read once to get its text and then deleted. If that read fails, we keep the file only so the read can be tried again. Saved records include merchant details, items, prices, totals, claim selections, guest names, and self-reported payment confirmations.

Groups store their name, currency, members, costs, dates, share weights, recurring instructions, recorded settlements, the lines on a receipt dropped into the group, and which member picked each line. Friend features store usernames, requests, connections, blocks, reports, and money requests. If you add a bank-issued Zelle QR link, we store and show it to people paying you. It is not a bank login.

When you choose a Zelle QR screenshot in the iPhone app, we read the code on your device. The screenshot is not uploaded to iowe or sent to an AI service. The app removes the photo picker’s temporary copy after decoding and reports an error if removal fails. Your original photo stays in your library. Only the payment link and recipient details you confirm are saved to your account.

Shared links and payments

Anyone with a valid claim link can view the receipt, claim names, the host’s payment handle, and payment statuses. Links can be forwarded. Messaging services may fetch and cache a preview containing the merchant, total, and item count. Share links only with people you intend to include.

Payment links open Venmo, Cash App, or PayPal with the recipient, requested amount, and a note where supported. Zelle uses your bank’s app, with copyable recipient details or a bank-issued QR link where provided. Those providers’ policies apply to transfers. iowe cannot verify whether a payment completed.

Group members can see the group’s costs, member names, balances, and payment details needed to settle up. Anyone holding a personal group link can see that person’s position and the shared costs, and can report their payment. Unlike receipt links, these group links do not currently expire on a timer. Keep them private. Friend and group link previews do not include personal names or balances.

Processing providers

Our service runs on a server operated by iowe in the United States, and traffic reaches it through Cloudflare. That server reads the text on a receipt photo or PDF itself, and we delete the file right after that one read. The text, not the image, then goes to Google’s Gemini API, which sorts it into items, prices, and totals. When you drop something into a group, the text goes with the display names of the group’s members, so Gemini can tell who paid and who it was for. A bank statement you import for a trip is sent to Gemini as the file itself, so it can find each charge.

We use the Gemini API under Google’s standard terms, which allow Google to use what is sent to improve its products, and allow people at Google to review it. See Google’s Gemini API terms. Do not submit sensitive personal information or full payment-card details. From October 1 to October 8, 2026, this service ran on Google Cloud Run with Google Cloud Vision and Vertex AI, as an earlier version of this page described.

We also use Clerk and Sign in with Apple for accounts, Neon for the Postgres database that holds your records, Vercel for this website, and Apple’s push notification service for notifications. Providers may process data outside your country.

Device storage and technical data

Cookies and device storage keep you signed in and preserve drafts and claim selections. Request information and error logs help operate and secure the service. We do not sell personal information or use receipt contents for advertising.

If you allow notifications, we store the address Apple issues for sending notifications to your device and use Apple’s notification service for shared activity and reminders when delivery is available. Notification contents may appear on your lock screen. You can change this permission in iPhone Settings. Currency conversion sends currency codes and the cost date to our exchange-rate provider, not your receipt or names.

Retention and deletion

Account and receipt records remain until deleted. Claim links expire 30 days after the host last shares them. Expiry stops link access but does not delete a saved receipt.

In the app, open You, then Privacy & data, and choose Delete account to remove your account, saved receipts, and associated claim records from our active systems. Delete your account explains what is removed and how to ask for help if you cannot sign in. Provider backups and logs may remain under their retention policies. Deletion cannot remove screenshots, forwarded messages, preview caches, or payment-provider records.

Guests can request help with their claim data at edward@sebre.ai. Include enough information to identify the receipt, without sending passwords or payment credentials.

Your choices

Edit your name, photo, and payment details in Account. Removing your photo deletes it from our systems. People on iowe can find you by your username and see your display name; turn off “Let people find me by username” in Privacy & data and only someone who types your exact username can. Your friends, the people in your groups, and anyone you share a split with see your payment details so they can pay you. They do not automatically receive access to your receipts. We do not upload your address book or publish your sign-in email. If you use an email for Zelle, people paying you will see that payment address. Invitations are single-use and expire after seven days. Either person can remove a connection or block the other.

Deleting an account removes its connections and invitations. Shared group entries and the name attached to them remain so other members’ records still add up; the account identifier is detached from the membership. Contact us about removing personal information from a shared record.

You can download a copy of your data at any time from Privacy & data in the app. Depending on where you live, you may have rights to access, correct, delete, or obtain a copy of your data, or object to certain processing. Contact edward@sebre.ai. We may need to confirm your identity. You may also contact your local data protection authority.

Security, age, and changes

Connections use HTTPS, account actions require sign-in, and each claim link carries a hard-to-guess code that grants access to that split. No system is perfectly secure. iowe is not intended for children under 13. Contact us if you believe a child has provided personal information.

We update the date on this page when the policy changes and provide additional notice when required. Privacy questions: edward@sebre.ai.