Privacy Policy

Last updated: 9 May 2026

Steward is a self-hosted personal finance tool. Each instance runs on infrastructure controlled by the user (the operator). The Steward mobile app (iOS & Android) connects to one operator-controlled server at a time. This policy describes what the app collects and how it’s used.

Data we store on your device

• Server URL, email, and JWT session token — kept in iOS Keychain / Android EncryptedSharedPreferences via Expo SecureStore. Used to authenticate each request to your server.
• Cached financial data — your dashboard, accounts, transactions, investments, and analytics are mirrored in a local SQLite database so the app works offline. Cleared when you sign out or uninstall.
• UI preferences — theme choice, hide-values toggle, and notification preferences.

Data we send off-device

• To your Steward server — every API request goes only to the URL you configured. We do not route your data through any third party.
• To Apple / Google push services — when you enable notifications, an opaque push token is registered with Apple Push Notification Service or Firebase Cloud Messaging so notifications can reach your device. The notification text itself is generated by your server.
• Crash and diagnostic data — none collected by us. Apple and Google may collect crash data per their own policies if you opt in via OS settings.

Permissions the app requests

• Camera — used solely to scan the connect QR shown on your server’s /connect page. The image stream is processed locally; nothing leaves the device. Required because there is no other secure way to transfer your server URL to the app on first launch.
• Notifications — only requested when you enable a push category in Settings. Required to deliver overdue-payment, overspend, big-mover, and daily-summary alerts your server triggers.
• Biometric (Face ID / Touch ID / fingerprint) — optional, used only as a local app-unlock gate. Biometric data never leaves the device; we only receive a yes/no signal from the OS.

Third parties

The mobile app itself does not include analytics, advertising, or third-party SDKs that phone home. The only network destinations are:

• Your Steward server URL (you configure it).
• Apple Push Notification Service / Firebase Cloud Messaging (only when notifications are enabled).

The server you connect to may itself talk to bank aggregators (Plaid, Teller, Lunchflow, Pluggy, Enable Banking, Salt Edge), Yahoo Finance for prices, and optional services like Resend for email and Anthropic for inbox parsing — all gated by credentials the operator configures. See the operator’s SECURITY.md for the complete list.

Data retention

Cached data on your device persists until you sign out or uninstall. Push subscriptions on your server persist until you remove the device from Settings → Push notifications → Registered devices.

Children

Steward is not directed at children under 13 and we do not knowingly collect information from them.

Changes to this policy

We will update this page when material changes occur. The “Last updated” date at the top reflects the most recent revision.

Contact

Questions? Use the contact form on our support page.