Budge keeps your shopping lists private. It doesn’t collect or sell your data, and it shares it only with YNAB, and only if you connect Budge to YNAB.
Your lists, items, prices and settings are stored on your iPhone. Budge has no accounts, ads or analytics, and the developer can’t see your data, including anything Budge sends to YNAB.
If you use iCloud Backup, your Budge data is included in your iPhone’s backup, like any other app’s.
If you’re signed in to iCloud, Budge syncs your lists, items and prices through your private iCloud database, so they’re the same on every iPhone you use. Apple stores this data under its own privacy policy, and the developer can’t see it. Your settings stay on each iPhone.
To stop syncing, turn off Budge in your iCloud settings. Your lists stay on your iPhone.
When you finish shopping, Budge saves the trip so you can look back at it: the list, the date, each item with its price, and the total, plus the store and memo if you add the trip to YNAB. Trips are stored and synced like your lists. You can delete a trip at any time, or have Budge delete trips after 30 days, 90 days or a year in Settings.
If you import items from Reminders, Budge asks for access first. It shows your Reminders lists so you can pick one, reads the reminders in that list, and deletes them only if you ask it to.
When Budge sorts items into sections, whether you’re importing them, adding them or using Sort Uncategorized Items, it uses Apple Intelligence on your iPhone. Your items aren’t sent anywhere.
When you use Budge with Siri or Shortcuts, Apple handles your request under its own privacy policy. Budge itself doesn’t send your data anywhere.
If you add the Budge widget, it reads the list you pick from your iPhone to show its name and remaining budget. It doesn’t send your data anywhere.
If you turn on WIC and EBT in Settings, Budge notes which items you paid for with benefits, so they don’t count against your budget. This is stored and synced like your other items. Budge doesn’t connect to any benefits program or card, and never asks for your benefits details.
If you connect Budge to YNAB in Settings, you sign in on YNAB’s own page and choose a YNAB plan. Budge never sees your YNAB password. YNAB gives Budge a sign-in that lasts two hours, which Budge keeps in the Keychain on your iPhone only.
For a list you link to a YNAB category, Budge reads the category’s name and Available amount to set the list’s budget. When you link a list or finish a trip, it also reads your plan’s name, categories and accounts so you can choose one.
When you finish shopping on a linked list with Add to YNAB on, Budge sends YNAB a transaction with the trip’s total, date, store, memo, account and category. Your items aren’t sent. Budge sends it straight from your iPhone to YNAB, which stores it under its own privacy policy.
Budge saves the linked category’s name and Available amount, and the last account and store you chose, with your list, so the list works without a connection. They’re stored and synced like your lists, in your private iCloud database. Budge talks to YNAB only over an encrypted connection, keeps your YNAB sign-in in the Keychain on your iPhone, where it isn’t synced or backed up to other devices, and never sends your YNAB data to the developer or anyone else.
To stop, tap Disconnect in Settings under YNAB. Budge forgets your sign-in and unlinks your lists, which keep their last budgets. Transactions Budge added stay in YNAB until you delete them there. To delete the store names and memos Budge saved, delete those trips in Trip History, or email support for help.
If you email support, the message is sent from your own email account. It includes the app version, iOS version and iPhone model, which you can see before you send it. Your email is used only to answer you.
If this policy changes, the new version will appear in the app and on the Budge website, with a new date.
Last updated October 28, 2026