Answered
What permissions does a budgeting app actually need?
Very few. A budgeting app needs internet access to back up your data, and everything else should be optional and tied to a feature you choose to use: the camera for scanning receipts, notifications for bill reminders, the microphone for voice questions.
Contacts, location, call logs and your full photo library are almost never justified. Here's the full breakdown.
Free · No ads · 140+ currencies · Android (iOS coming soon)
Balance - Expense Tracker by Clarzen on Google Play
Reasonable permissions, and what they're for
- Internet: syncing and backing up your data. Every cloud-backed app needs it.
- Camera: scanning receipts and bills. Asked when you first scan, not at install.
- Notifications: bill reminders and spending alerts. You can switch these off anytime.
- Microphone: asking questions by voice. Only needed if you use voice.
- SMS (Android, optional): reading bank transaction alerts so spends are added automatically.
- Notification access (Android, optional): reading payment notifications from apps you select.
Red flags
- Contacts or call logs: a budgeting app has no reason to know who you talk to.
- Precise location: rarely needed. Ask why before allowing it.
- Full photo and video library access when a photo picker would do.
- Permissions demanded at install, before you've used any feature that needs them.
- An app that refuses to work unless you grant something optional.
How to check what an app has
On Android, open Settings → Apps → the app → Permissions to see and revoke each one. Google Play's "Data safety" section on the app's listing shows what the developer says it collects and shares. Compare that with the privacy policy. If they disagree, trust neither.
What Balance asks for
Balance uses the camera only when you scan a receipt, the microphone only when you ask Ask Balance a question by voice, notifications for reminders, and, if you turn on automatic capture on Android, SMS and notification access. Each one is optional and the app works without them. It doesn't ask for your contacts, location or call logs, and it never asks for a bank login.
Frequently asked questions
Why does a budgeting app need the microphone?
Only for voice features, such as asking your spending questions out loud. If you never use voice, you can deny it.
Should I allow notification access?
Only if you want spends picked up automatically from payment apps, and only for an app that lets you choose which apps it reads.
Are there ads?
No. Balance shows no ads and uses no advertising SDKs or third-party trackers. Your spending data is never sold.
Keep exploring
Track every expense. Ask anything.
Free to download, no ads, no bank login. Get Balance on Google Play and start tracking in minutes.
