Privacy Policy

Meruniq is a local-first household bookkeeping app. This Privacy Policy explains how Meruniq handles financial information, user content, optional voice and location information, and optional iCloud / CloudKit family-sharing data when you use the app.

1. Information Meruniq Handles

1.1 Ledger and financial information

You may record income, expenses, transfers between accounts, account names and opening balances, categories, dates, recurring bills, subscriptions, and notes in Meruniq.

This information is stored on your device first and is used to provide core features such as bookkeeping, search, statistics, recurring reminders, backup, and restore.

1.2 Content you actively add

You may actively add:

• transaction notes;
• custom account and category names;
• category images;
• transaction images;
• custom home titles and descriptions.

Meruniq reads an image only when you actively select it through the system picker. Category images are processed into PNG files used by the app, and transaction images are processed into JPEG files used by the app. Meruniq does not automatically scan your entire photo library for bookkeeping purposes.

1.3 Voice bookkeeping and speech recognition

Meruniq accesses the microphone and Apple Speech recognition only when you actively use voice bookkeeping.

• When on-device speech recognition is supported for the current device and language, Meruniq requires the system to use on-device recognition.
• If on-device recognition is unavailable, recognition may be processed by Apple's system Speech service according to Apple's current mechanisms.
• Meruniq does not retain raw audio recordings or voiceprints.
• Recognized text is used to parse the amount, transaction type, account, and category. Text associated with a successfully saved transaction becomes part of the ledger record.

When you use Siri or Shortcuts for voice bookkeeping, Apple system capabilities perform voice capture and dictation before Meruniq receives the resulting text for parsing and storage.

1.4 Optional bookkeeping location

“Automatically record bookkeeping location” is off by default. Meruniq requests When-In-Use location access only after you enable the feature, and only around bookkeeping activity, so the original location can be stored as metadata for that transaction.

A location failure does not block bookkeeping. In the current version:

• the original bookkeeping location is stored in the local ledger;
• complete backups include this location metadata;
• family CloudKit location syncing is separately controlled and off by default. Options are Do not sync, Manually selected locations only, or Include automatically captured GPS. Manual-only mode does not upload raw automatically captured GPS; the GPS option can share precise coordinates with invited household members;
• Siri / Shortcuts background voice bookkeeping does not actively request GPS.

Location-sync consent is per device and per ledger. Enabling it on one device does not automatically authorize another device to upload its location. Disabling syncing prevents subsequent location uploads and downloads, but does not automatically erase location records previously shared in CloudKit. Separate verified remote revocation of past shared locations remains pending.

1.5 Optional iCloud / CloudKit family-sharing information

Family sharing in Meruniq is optional and is not required for local bookkeeping.

When you actively enable family sharing, Meruniq uses Apple iCloud / CloudKit to synchronize the shared ledger and to reconcile shared members using the user-record identifier provided by CloudKit. Shared data may include transactions, accounts, categories, recurring plans, notes, category images, and transaction images.

People you invite to the shared ledger may access information within that shared ledger.

Meruniq currently does not operate its own bookkeeping-data synchronization server and does not copy the family ledger to a developer-operated server for synchronization.

When you use device registration for a shared family ledger, the app generates a random per-installation identifier on the device and stores the device category (such as iPhone or iPad), an optional user-entered device label, and most recent report time in that ledger's CloudKit zone. Household participants with access to that shared zone can view these self-reported details. The app does not automatically collect or upload the system-assigned device name; account grouping relies on CloudKit server metadata. The identifier is not a hardware serial number or an advertising identifier. Reports do not establish real-time online status, and the feature cannot remotely erase device data. Historical reports may remain after an app is uninstalled until the relevant CloudKit records or ledger copy are deleted.

Shopping lists may include list and item names, purchase status, order, and priority. These are household tasks and do not create financial transactions. When you use family shopping collaboration, this content is synchronized through the same authorized iCloud / CloudKit family scope. Member nicknames, colors, and cropped avatars are stored as profile information; this policy does not imply that all profile fields are synchronized to other devices.

2. How Meruniq Uses Information

Meruniq handles this information only to provide features you choose to use, including:

• storing and displaying transactions;
• calculating balances and financial statistics;
• searching and filtering ledger entries;
• managing recurring bills and local notifications;
• creating and restoring backups;
• exporting CSV / JSON data;
• synchronizing a shared ledger through iCloud / CloudKit when you enable family sharing;
• handling synchronization state, conflicts, and recovery;
• converting speech to text and parsing it into a transaction when you actively use voice bookkeeping;
• storing bookkeeping-location metadata when you explicitly enable automatic location capture.

The current version does not use this information for third-party advertising, developer advertising or marketing, cross-app tracking, or third-party analytics.

3. Third Parties and Apple Services

Meruniq currently does not include advertising SDKs or third-party analytics SDKs.

When you use family sharing, information is processed through Apple iCloud / CloudKit. When you use voice bookkeeping and on-device recognition is unavailable, speech recognition may also be processed by Apple’s system Speech service. Apple’s handling of data in these system services is governed by Apple’s own privacy policies and service terms.

Other than people you intentionally invite to a shared ledger and Apple as the provider of iCloud / CloudKit infrastructure, Meruniq currently does not provide your ledger content to third parties for advertising, data brokerage, or third-party marketing purposes.

4. Storage and Retention

Local data

The ledger database and app-managed images remain in Meruniq’s application-data area until you delete related records, perform an available reset or restore operation, or remove the relevant application data through the operating system.

Backup and export files such as .meruniqbackup, CSV, or JSON files that you save outside the app’s data container are under your control. Removing the Meruniq app does not necessarily remove copies that you separately saved in Files or another storage service.

iCloud / CloudKit data

If you enable family sharing, shared information is retained according to Apple iCloud / CloudKit behavior. Stopping or leaving a share revokes the sharing relationship, but Meruniq does not interpret “stop sharing” as “delete every local copy of the ledger.”

When an owner stops sharing, the local ledger is retained. When a participant leaves or is removed, Meruniq also does not automatically erase the participant’s local copy solely because the synchronization relationship changed.

A family-sharing owner can separately choose “Delete Cloud Ledger Copy” in the family-sharing screen. This action requires two destructive confirmations, permanently deletes the complete copy of that ledger from the owner’s private CloudKit record zone, and ends participant access; the owner’s local ledger, images, and attachments remain by default. If remote deletion fails, Meruniq does not mark the local configuration as deleted. After CloudKit confirms deletion, Meruniq clears the local synchronization registration and CloudKit location/cursor transport state. If family sharing is enabled again later, Meruniq creates a new CloudKit copy from the retained local ledger.

5. Your Choices and Controls

You can:

• add, edit, and delete ledger content in the app;
• create a complete .meruniqbackup backup;
• export transactions as CSV / JSON;
• choose whether to enable family sharing;
• stop sharing, leave a share, or manage participants through sharing controls;
• as the family-sharing owner, separately delete the current ledger’s CloudKit copy while retaining the local ledger;
• use local bookkeeping without family sharing;
• manage relevant iCloud capabilities using system and Apple-provided iCloud settings.

Meruniq does not require a separate Meruniq account, so there is no developer-hosted Meruniq account that you must separately request to close.

If Meruniq later introduces a developer-operated cloud service, analytics, crash upload, third-party SDKs, or other features that materially change data handling, this policy and the App Store privacy disclosures will be updated accordingly.

6. Permissions

Meruniq uses system pickers and minimal access whenever practical. For example, when you choose a transaction or category image, Meruniq uses the system photo-selection flow rather than requesting ongoing access to your entire photo library for that purpose.

Depending on features you actively use, the system may request:

• Camera access to capture a transaction attachment directly;
• Microphone and Speech Recognition access for voice bookkeeping;
• When-In-Use Location access only after you enable automatic bookkeeping-location capture;
• Face ID, Touch ID, or device-owner authentication after you enable local ledger privacy protection;
• Notifications for recurring-bill reminders and similar local alerts.

Declining a nonessential permission does not prevent basic local bookkeeping, although the corresponding optional feature may be unavailable or operate in a reduced mode.

7. Data Security

Meruniq is designed to keep unnecessary data transmission to a minimum. Complete .meruniqbackup files are not currently protected by additional app-level encryption. Once you save a backup or export outside the app’s sandbox, the security of that sensitive financial copy also depends on the storage location and service you choose.

Optional family sharing relies on Apple iCloud / CloudKit security mechanisms. No software can promise absolute security, so you should protect your device, Apple Account, device passcode, and exported backup files.

8. Children

Meruniq is a general-purpose bookkeeping tool and is not directed to children. It does not intentionally collect children’s information for advertising or profiling. Families using a shared ledger are responsible for deciding what information is appropriate to share among household members.

9. Changes to This Policy

If Meruniq materially changes how it handles information, this Privacy Policy will be updated. The public policy page will show the new effective date, and important changes may also be communicated through release notes or in-app notices when appropriate.

10. Help and Inquiries

For information about this Privacy Policy or how Meruniq handles data, please refer to the Support page.

This website currently provides self-service guidance only and does not offer a web contact form or dedicated support email. If an official support channel becomes available, it will be listed here. Please do not post ledger backups, account details, or other sensitive information in public channels.

Public Privacy Policy: https://meruniq.diyper.com/privacy/.