Privacy Policy
This is an English translation of the Korean Privacy Policy (개인정보처리방침). If the two versions differ, the Korean version prevails.
1. What this policy covers
TripClear (the “Service”) is a mobile app for recording and settling travel expenses together with other people. This policy applies to personal information processed by the app and by tripclear.site.
The Service collects only the information needed to keep the ledger and settle up, and does not provide the information it collects to third parties for building advertising profiles or for sale.
2. Information we collect and why
| Category | Details | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
| Account information | Your Google account's email address, display name and account identifier | Signing in, identifying trip members, showing who wrote an entry |
| Ledger data | Trip name, dates and destinations; members; expense amounts, currencies, dates, categories and notes; line items; settlement records; display currency setting | Keeping the ledger, sharing it with members, calculating settlements, exporting |
| Receipt images | Receipt photos you take or pick from your gallery | Reading receipts automatically (extracting the shop name, amount, currency, date and line items) |
| Location | Coordinates and place name when you save your ‘current location’ with an expense | Recording where an expense was made and showing it on a map |
| Device notification token | Firebase Cloud Messaging registration token | Sending push notifications such as trip join requests |
| Advertising identifiers | Advertising ID and the information collected by Google's ads SDK | Showing banner and rewarded ads in the app |
| Crash diagnostics | Error details when the app crashes, device model, OS version and app version | Finding the cause of failures and improving stability |
The Service has no separate sign-up form, and does not collect national identification numbers or payment method information.
3. How receipt images are processed
Automatic receipt reading works in the following order.
- Text recognition (OCR) is performed on your device first. This step does not use the network.
- Only when the recognition result has low confidence are the photo and the recognition result sent to our server, where OpenAI's image recognition model reads the receipt once more.
- When reading is complete, the extracted amount, currency, date and line items are returned to the app, and you check and edit them before saving.
Uploaded original receipt photos are kept in private storage and are deleted automatically one day after upload. After deletion, the expense records you saved (text such as the amount and shop name) remain in the ledger.
4. Service providers that process data for us
We entrust processing to the following providers, to the extent needed to provide the Service.
| Provider | Task | Information shared |
|---|---|---|
| Supabase | Authentication, database, file storage, running server functions | Account information, ledger data, receipt images |
| OpenAI | Reading receipt images (only when confidence is low) | Receipt photos, on-device OCR results |
| Google (Firebase) | Sending push notifications, collecting crash diagnostics | Device notification token, crash diagnostics |
| Google (AdMob) | Showing in-app ads and managing consent | Advertising identifiers, information collected by the ads SDK |
| Google (Maps) | Showing expense locations on a map | Coordinates to show on the map |
| Vercel | Hosting the website and invite links | Access logs, invite link tokens |
Exchange rates come from public data based on European Central Bank reference rates (Frankfurter); no personal information is sent when they are fetched.
5. Transfers outside Korea
The servers of the providers above may be located outside the Republic of Korea. Using the Service requires transfer to those countries; the information transferred and the purposes are as listed in the table in section 4. If you do not want your information transferred, you can stop using the Service and delete your account.
6. Retention and deletion
- Original receipt photos: deleted automatically one day after upload.
- Account and ledger data: kept until you delete your account.
- When you delete your account: the trips you created, with their expense and settlement records, stored receipt images and push notification tokens are deleted. Records left in shared trips that someone else created belong to that trip's owner, so they are not deleted; only the link to you as their author is anonymized.
You can delete your data yourself in the app under Settings › Delete account and data. If you have already removed the app or cannot sign in, make a request on the data deletion request page and we will process it after verifying your identity. Deleted data cannot be recovered.
7. Device permissions
Permissions are requested only when you use the feature that needs them, and you can keep using everything else if you decline.
- Camera — used only when you photograph a receipt. Not needed when you pick one from your gallery.
- Photos and videos — used when you pick a receipt from your gallery; only the photos you select are used for reading.
- Location — used only when you save your current location with an expense. Location is not collected in the background.
- Notifications — used to receive news you need to see even when the app is closed, such as trip join requests.
You can turn off granted permissions at any time in your device settings.
8. Advertising
The Service shows banner ads and rewarded ads through Google AdMob. Rewarded ads play only when you start them yourself, and if you do not finish watching, the feature falls back to manual entry.
Users in the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom and Switzerland are asked, through Google's consent management tool, whether they consent to personalized ads. You can change your choice at any time in the app under Settings › Ad privacy options.
Information that Google collects for advertising is processed under Google's policies.
9. Children's personal information
The Service is not directed at children under the age of 14 and does not knowingly collect their personal information. If we learn that a child's information has been collected, we delete it without delay.
10. Your rights
You can request access to, correction, deletion or suspension of processing of your personal information at any time. You can do the following yourself in the app.
- Access and correction — view and edit directly on each trip and expense screen
- Download — save as CSV or PDF under Settings › Export
- Deletion — Settings › Delete account and data
Other requests are accepted at the contact below, and we will tell you the outcome within 10 days of receiving them.
11. Contact
Operator: TripClear Studio
Privacy officer: TripClear Studio operations team
Email: tripclearstudio@gmail.com
To report or seek advice about a privacy violation, you can contact the Korean authorities: the Personal Information Infringement Report Center (privacy.kisa.or.kr, call 118 in Korea), the Supreme Prosecutors' Office Cyber Investigation Department (1301) or the Korean National Police Agency Cyber Bureau (ecrm.police.go.kr, 182).
12. Changes to this policy
If this policy changes, we will post the change on this page at least 7 days before it takes effect. Changes that are unfavorable to users will be posted 30 days in advance and also announced in the app.