Legal

Privacy FAQ

Last updated: June 13, 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.

That is the whole list. Expenses you type in by hand never reach any AI service. 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?

Two companies today, each for a specific role:

Google (Gemini): language and vision. It parses your voice transcript or typed request into a structured expense, answers assistant questions, and reads the receipt images you photograph.
Groq: speech-to-text. It turns the voice audio you record into text.

Each is on a paid commercial tier under a data-processing agreement that bars it from training on your data (see the next question). This is our current set, and it may change as we improve the product. When it does we update §5.2 of the Privacy Policy and the dedicated AI providers page, which always reflects the current list.

Does Settl or its AI providers train on my data?

No. We do not use your content (expenses, voice transcripts, receipts) to train AI models, ours or anyone else's. Every AI provider we use is on a paid commercial tier under a data-processing agreement that prohibits them from using your data to train their models or for any purpose other than returning your result.

What happens to my voice recording after I speak?

It is transcribed, then discarded. The audio exists only in memory during the round-trip to the AI provider and is thrown away once the text comes back. We never write the audio file to disk or keep it. The only thing saved is the transcript, the words you spoke, which is stored on the resulting expense so you can see what was heard. Delete the expense and the transcript goes with it.

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, and manual entry never touches any AI service. 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. From that moment, no new voice audio, receipt images, or assistant requests are sent to any AI provider. Turning it back on restores the features.

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, each bound by a data-processing agreement and limited to the data needed for its job:

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.