IndieSettle Privacy Policy

Last updated: 2026-11-03

This is a plain-English description of how IndieSettle handles your data. The short version: we don’t collect any.

Who we are

IndieSettle is published by Brancodes LLC. Contact: support@indiesettle.com.

What we collect

Nothing. There is no account, no sign-up, no telemetry SDK, no analytics, no advertising, and no third-party data broker baked into IndieSettle.

The records you create (invoices, estimates, clients, time entries, expenses, receipts, payment history and the audit log) live in a database on your device, inside the app’s sandbox. The app cannot read other apps’ data, and other apps cannot read IndieSettle’s data, except through flows you explicitly start, such as sharing a PDF or exporting your data.

What we don’t collect

For the avoidance of doubt, IndieSettle does not:

• create or require an account
• send any usage data, crash reports, or diagnostic events to any server we operate
• embed any third-party analytics SDKs
• embed any advertising SDKs
• read your contacts, calendar, location, microphone, motion sensors, or health data
• sync your data to a server we operate (none exists; the iCloud sync described below is Apple’s infrastructure and your own private iCloud container, not ours)
• share your data with any third party

What’s stored on your device

• Every record you create through normal app usage.
• Receipt photos you attach.
• Custom PDF templates you author.
• Settings: theme, default currency, default tax rate, payment link URL, notification cadence.
• The audit log of every status transition.
• The identifiers of invoices you’ve created, kept on this device to apply the free three-invoice limit.
• Handled errors (save failures, import, PDF and store failures) are recorded to a local log on the device. Together with MetricKit payloads, it leaves the device only if you choose Settings › About › Export diagnostics, or Report a problem, and email it.

When you’re signed in to iCloud, these records, including receipt photos, are also mirrored to your private iCloud database (see iCloud sync below).

When you delete a record in the app, it is soft-deleted: it is hidden from lists but kept so the deletion can sync to your other devices and be undone. Deleted records appear in Trash, where you can restore or purge them.

To erase everything, use Settings › Data › Delete all data. It erases every record on this device. If iCloud sync is on, the deletion may also reach your other devices through iCloud; to remove the iCloud copy, delete IndieSettle’s data from iCloud storage in iOS Settings. The app first tries to keep a recovery snapshot on the device, shown under Settings › Data › Restore from backup, but there is no guarantee one exists.

What leaves your device only when you initiate it

• Share Sheet. When you tap Share on an invoice, estimate or receipt, iOS hands the PDF or image to whichever app or destination you pick (Mail, Messages, AirDrop, Files, third-party apps). What happens next is governed by that app’s privacy policy, not IndieSettle’s.
• Files app export. JSON and bulk PDF exports work the same way: you pick the destination and control where it goes.
• Payment links. If you paste a Stripe, Square, PayPal or other URL into Settings › Business, that URL appears on your invoice PDFs and in the embedded QR code. We never visit the URL ourselves and never proxy a payment. Your client goes straight to the payment processor you chose.
• Notifications. Overdue, before-due and tax-payment reminders are local notifications scheduled on the device. They never touch a remote push server.
• Live Activities and Widgets. These read a small snapshot the app writes into the iOS App Group container so iOS can render them. The snapshot stays on the device.
• Spotlight. Search results come from an on-device Spotlight index (CoreSpotlight), separate from that snapshot. It stays on the device.

Apple-managed signals

Some data flows through Apple regardless of what an app does:

• Crash and hang reports. If you turn on Share With App Developers (iOS Settings › Privacy & Security › Analytics & Improvements), Apple passes crash and hang reports to us through App Store Connect; TestFlight builds share them automatically. They contain technical details about the crash, not your records. Apple, not IndieSettle, controls this.
• iCloud backup. If you back up your iPhone to iCloud, iOS includes IndieSettle’s data like any other app. Apple controls iCloud encryption.

We never ask Apple’s services to identify you to us, and we cannot.

iCloud sync

IndieSettle’s database is mirrored into your private iCloud container, iCloud.com.brancodes.indiesettle, so your records appear on your other Apple devices signed in to the same Apple Account. This is on by default and there is currently no in-app switch to turn it off. It is your iCloud, not our server: the private database is readable only by your Apple Account, we hold no credentials for it, we cannot query it, and no data reaches any machine we operate. If you are not signed in to iCloud, the app works fully offline and keeps everything on the device. Apple’s iCloud terms and encryption govern the stored copy.

In-app purchases

IndieSettle offers an optional one-time in-app purchase, processed entirely by Apple. IndieSettle never receives payment details, your Apple Account, or any identifying detail. Restoring purchases re-fetches the entitlement from Apple; IndieSettle receives only whether it was bought.

Third-party services

None embedded in the app. The frameworks the app uses (SwiftUI, SwiftData, PDFKit, ActivityKit, WidgetKit, WatchConnectivity, App Intents, StoreKit, MetricKit, UserNotifications, CoreSpotlight, Vision) are first-party Apple SDKs that ship with iOS and watchOS.

Children’s privacy

IndieSettle is not directed at children under 13. We collect no information from anyone, so we collect no information from children. The app is intended for adults running freelance businesses.

Required-reason API declarations

iOS requires apps to declare which “required-reason” APIs they use. IndieSettle’s privacy manifest declares:

• UserDefaults (CA92.1, 1C8F.1): store preferences locally, such as theme and default currency.
• FileTimestamp (C617.1): read and write file modification dates for PDF cache invalidation and receipt sorting.

Data retention

We retain nothing. Your data lives on your device, and in your own iCloud if you are signed in, until you delete it. Uninstalling the app or wiping a device does not delete the iCloud copy; it stays until you delete it from iCloud storage in iOS Settings (your name › iCloud › storage › IndieSettle).

Security

• Records are stored inside the app’s sandbox and protected by iOS Data Protection: they are encrypted at rest and cannot be read until you unlock your iPhone after it restarts.
• The App Group container used by widgets, Watch and Live Activities sits under the same iOS default Data Protection.
• Payment links are stored as plain text. They are URLs, not credentials. If you paste a sensitive token, treat it accordingly.
• We have no remote service to compromise.

Questions

Email support@indiesettle.com. A real person replies.

Changes to this policy

We will update this page and the date at the top whenever the underlying behavior changes. If we ever introduce a server we operate, this policy will change first and you will have to opt in.