In short
- Your khata (parties, entries, balances, cash book, stock, sales) is stored on your phone. We have no server that receives it.
- We use Google Firebase only to sign you in.
- If you turn on Google Drive backup, a copy of your data is saved in a hidden app folder in your own Google Drive. We cannot see it.
- The free Android app shows one Google AdMob banner on the More tab. Ads never receive your business data, and where the law requires it, Google asks for your consent first.
- No analytics, no crash reporting, and we never sell your data.
1. Who we are
Business Book ("the app", "we", "us") is a digital khata (ledger) and shop till app for small businesses, published by Junaid Ali Ansari, an independent developer based in Pakistan. This policy explains what information the app uses, where it is kept, who it is shared with, and the choices you have. It applies to the Business Book app for Android and to this website's pages about it.
2. Information stored on your phone
Everything you enter into the app is saved in a private database on your phone that only Business Book can open:
- Businesses and parties (customers, suppliers, banks, staff): names, phone numbers, addresses, notes and credit limits.
- Khata entries: amounts given and received, dates, descriptions, bill numbers, return dates and edit history.
- Shop records: cash book, expenses and salaries, products, categories, stock movements, sales and invoices.
- Attachments you choose to add: photos or PDFs of bills, product photos, and short voice notes on cash entries. Photos and PDFs are stored inside the app's database.
- Settings: language, theme, currency symbol, "hide amounts", the app lock PIN and the optional delete password. The PIN and password are stored only as a salted hash, never as the PIN or password itself.
- Deleted items are kept in the app's Recycle Bin so mistakes can be undone, until you empty it.
This information stays on your device. We do not receive it, and it is not sent to any server run by us.
3. Information that leaves your phone
| Service | What is shared | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Google Firebase Authentication | Your e-mail address (or Google account name, e-mail and identifier if you sign in with Google), a password hash held by Google, and sign-in tokens. | To create your account, verify your e-mail address, sign you in and keep you signed in. |
| Google Drive (optional, your own account) | A copy of your app database, including attachments, saved in the hidden app data folder of your Drive. | Automatic backup and restore, only after you connect Google Drive. |
| Google AdMob (Android) | Your device's advertising ID, IP address, approximate location worked out from it, device and app information, and how you interact with ads. | To show the banner ad, measure it, limit how often it appears and prevent ad fraud. Ads are personalised only where you allow it. |
The app does not use Firestore, Realtime Database, Firebase Storage, analytics or crash-reporting services. Errors are written only to a small log file on your phone, with names, numbers and amounts removed.
When you send a reminder, statement or invoice to a party, the app hands the message or PDF to WhatsApp, your SMS app or your phone's share sheet. Those apps send it under their own privacy policies; Business Book does not send it itself.
Google may process this information on servers outside Pakistan. We do not share your information with anyone else, except where the law requires us to.
4. Advertising
Business Book is free. To support it, the Android app shows a single banner ad from Google AdMob at the bottom of the More tab. There are no full-screen or video ads.
- Your business data is never used for ads. Nothing from your khata, parties, sales or settings is passed to an ad request.
- Consent: if you are in the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom, Switzerland or another place where the law requires it, Google's consent form asks you before ads may use your data. You can change your answer at any time in Settings → Ad privacy choices.
- Advertising ID: you can reset or delete your advertising ID, or opt out of personalised ads, in your phone's settings (usually Settings → Google → Ads or Settings → Privacy → Ads). You will still see ads, but they will be less relevant.
- Google's own use of this information is explained in How Google uses information from sites or apps that use its services.
5. Google user data
Business Book's use of information received from Google APIs adheres to the Google API Services User Data Policy, including the Limited Use requirements. Specifically:
- We request only the drive.appdata permission. It gives the app a private, hidden folder in your Google Drive for its own backup files. The app cannot see, open or change any other file in your Drive.
- Google Drive data is used only to back up and restore your own Business Book data on your devices.
- We do not transfer this data to anyone, use it for advertising, or allow humans to read it.
- Your Google sign-in is used only to create your account and to connect your Drive for backup.
6. Device permissions
| Permission | Used for |
|---|---|
| Contacts | Picking a party's name and phone number from your contacts, only when you choose to. |
| Camera | Scanning product barcodes, and taking a photo of a bill or a product. |
| Microphone | Recording a voice note on a cash entry, only when you press record. |
| Notifications, exact alarms and "run at startup" | Payment reminders on the return dates you set, and setting them again after your phone restarts. |
| Storage / files | Attaching files, and saving exported PDFs and backup files where you choose (Android 12 and older). |
| Internet and network state | Signing in, Google Drive backup and ads, and resuming a backup when you are back online. |
| Advertising ID | Added by the Google AdMob SDK to show and measure ads, as described in section 4. |
You can refuse or withdraw any permission in your phone's settings; only the related feature stops working.
7. How long data is kept
- Data on your phone stays until you delete it in the app, clear the app's data, or uninstall the app.
- Deleted entries and parties stay in the Recycle Bin until you empty it.
- Google Drive backups stay in your Drive's hidden app folder until you delete them (see section 8).
- Your sign-in account stays with Firebase until you ask us to delete it.
- Information collected by Google AdMob is kept according to Google's retention policy.
8. Your choices and rights
- Export: save a full backup file or PDF statements at any time from the app.
- Stop Drive backup: turn off automatic backup in the app, or remove the app's access in your Google account (myaccount.google.com/connections).
- Delete your Drive backup: open Google Drive on the web, go to Settings → Manage apps, find Business Book, then choose Options → Delete hidden app data.
- Delete data on your phone: clear the app's data or uninstall the app.
- Ads: change your consent in Settings → Ad privacy choices, and reset or delete your advertising ID in your phone's settings.
- Delete your account: e-mail junaidaliansaree@gmail.com from the address you signed up with, and we will delete your sign-in account within 30 days. Because your khata is stored on your phone and in your own Drive, we cannot recover it after you delete it.
- Access or correction: all of your records are visible and editable in the app. For anything about your sign-in account, e-mail us.
9. Security
Your data is kept in the app's private storage, which other apps cannot read. You can protect the app with a PIN lock, hide amounts on screen, and require a password before anything is deleted. Sign-in, backup and ads use encrypted connections. No method of storage is perfectly secure, so please keep your phone locked and your Google account protected.
10. Children
Business Book is meant for business owners and is not directed at children under 13. We do not knowingly collect information from children, and the app's ads are not aimed at children. If you believe a child has created an account, e-mail us and we will delete it.
11. Changes to this policy
If this policy changes, we will update the effective date at the top and, for important changes, tell you in the app before they apply.
12. Contact
Questions or requests about your privacy: junaidaliansaree@gmail.com (Junaid Ali Ansari, Pakistan). We aim to reply within 7 days.
See also the Terms and Conditions.