Legal

Privacy FAQ

Last updated: September 11, 2026 · Effective: June 13, 2026

Plain-language answers. This page explains, in everyday words, what Settl does with your data, which AI companies process it, and the controls you have. It is a companion to our full Privacy Policy, which is the authoritative document. Where the two differ, the Privacy Policy governs.

Settl is a voice-first expense splitter. You can speak or scan an expense and the app turns it into a split bill. To do that, some of your content is sent to commercial AI services, but only after you agree, and only the content you choose to send. Here is exactly how that works.

What personal data does Settl send to AI services?
Which AI companies process my data?
Does Settl or its AI providers train on my data?
What happens to my voice recording after I speak?
Do I have to use the AI features?
How do I withdraw consent?
What data is shared with other people in my group?
Who else processes my data besides AI providers?
Can I delete my data?
How do I get a copy of my data?
Is my data sent outside my country?
Who do I contact about privacy?

What personal data does Settl send to AI services?

Only the content you create with an AI feature, and only after you have agreed to AI processing. In practice that is three things:

Voice recordings. When you tap the mic and speak an expense, the audio is sent to be transcribed and parsed into expense fields.
Receipt photos. When you attach a receipt, the image is read to pull out fields like the merchant, total, and currency.
Expense text sent to the AI agent. When you ask the in-app assistant a question or have it help build an expense, the text of that request is sent.

Requests can also include relevant context, such as group members’ display names and existing expenses, so the assistant can identify people and answer your question. Manual entry does not require AI interpretation. Your password, your raw payment details, and your activity in groups you are not part of are never sent to AI providers.

Which AI companies process my data?

Provider	Role and data
ElevenLabs	Speech transcription: recorded audio, language hints and contextual names used to recognize the people you mention.
Cerebras	Language interpretation: transcripts, typed requests and relevant group or expense context.
Google (Gemini)	Language and vision processing, including fallback audio interpretation and receipt images, with relevant request context.
Groq	Configured transcription or language-processing routes: audio or request text and context, depending on the route.
Vercel AI Gateway	Routing for configured language requests to model providers. Receives the text and context sent through that route.

The route used for a request depends on the enabled pipeline, account configuration and fallback availability. A request does not necessarily use every provider listed. Manual entry does not require AI interpretation; an assistant request can include relevant existing expense and group context.

Does Settl or its AI providers train on my data?

Settl does not use your content to train AI models.

Provider retention and training terms depend on the service, account settings and applicable agreements. This page describes the implemented data flow; it does not assert one universal retention period or contract for every provider. Contact hello@settl.fyi for questions about a particular request or provider.

What happens to my voice recording after I speak?

The app records a temporary audio file on your device to send for transcription and expense parsing, and attempts to delete that file after capture. The normal voice request is processed by our server in request memory. Transcripts and parsed results may be stored with expenses, diagnostic events and AI context. Deleting an expense hides the entry; it does not guarantee immediate erasure from diagnostics, backups or other retained records. Contact hello@settl.fyi for deletion requests.

Do I have to use the AI features?

No. The AI features (voice entry, receipt scan, and the assistant) are optional. You can run the entire app by typing expenses in by hand, without AI interpretation. If you would rather not use AI at all, you can turn it off in You → Privacy & AI by switching off the "Cloud AI features" toggle. That disables the mic, the scan button, and the assistant, while everything else keeps working.

The first time you sign in, Settl shows a consent screen and sends nothing to AI providers until you agree. You can change your mind at any time: go to You → Privacy & AI and turn off the "Cloud AI features" toggle. This disables those AI features in that app installation. Turning it back on restores them. To stop a connected assistant accessing Settl, separately revoke its connection under You → Connected apps.

What data is shared with other people in my group?

When you join or create a group, the other members of that group can see your display name, your profile photo, and the expenses, settlements, comments, and balances you record in that group. They cannot see your email address, your activity in other groups, or anything from groups they are not part of. If you delete your account, expenses you already shared into a group stay visible to those members but are attributed to "Deleted user."

Who else processes my data besides AI providers?

To run the app we rely on a small set of infrastructure providers, for the processing needed to provide their services:

Sign-in and push notifications: Firebase (Google).
Hosting, database, object storage, diagnostics, and email: established third-party cloud infrastructure providers. Receipts and profile photos are kept in private object storage, reachable only through short-lived signed links.

None of these are advertisers or data brokers. We do not sell your data, and we do not use it for cross-app advertising. This set of providers may change in the future as we improve the product. The current summary is in §5.2 of the Privacy Policy.

Can I delete my data?

Yes. You can delete your account from inside the app, under You. A few things to know:

Your profile (name, photo) is scrubbed.
We keep a small tombstone: your email and sign-in identifier are retained so that a deleted account cannot be silently re-created and signed back into. This is a security guard, not active use of your data.
Expenses and settlements you shared into a group stay visible to the other members, attributed to "Deleted user," because removing them would alter shared balances those people rely on.
Deletion is blocked while you have balances outstanding, so you will be asked to settle up first.

See §6 of the Privacy Policy for the full retention detail.

How do I get a copy of my data?

Email hello@settl.fyi from the address on your account and ask for an export. We will send you a full JSON copy of your profile, groups, expenses, settlements, comments, recurring rules, activity log, and AI memory. There is no in-app export button yet, so email is the way to request it for now.

Is my data sent outside my country?

Settl is operated from the United States, and your data is processed there and in other countries where our service providers operate. If you use Settl from outside the US, your information is transferred to the US for processing. Where required, we rely on Standard Contractual Clauses or other approved transfer mechanisms. See §7 of the Privacy Policy.

Who do I contact about privacy?

Email hello@settl.fyi with any privacy question, request, or complaint, including access, correction, deletion, or export requests. For the complete legal terms, read the full Privacy Policy.