Why Shadowkit has no account and works offline

Most apps start with a sign-up screen. Shadowkit doesn’t have one, and not because we haven’t got round to it. The app is built to work entirely on your phone, and we think that’s the right way to handle the things it holds: what you spend, what you’re trying to change about your days, what you need reminding of.

No internet permission

On Android, an app has to ask for the internet permission to send or receive anything over the network. Shadowkit’s Android app doesn’t have it. Our build removes it on purpose and fails if anything tries to add it back.

That makes “we don’t collect your data” more than a promise. The app has no way to send your data anywhere, even if someone wanted it to. There’s no account, no sync server, no analytics and no ads.

Where your data lives

Everything you enter is stored in the app’s private storage on your phone. Each profile keeps its own data, separate from the others.

Two things can move your data off the phone, and both are your choice:

• Exports. When you export a backup from Shadowkit, you choose where the file goes: your files, a drive, an email to yourself. After that, it’s your file.
• Your phone’s own backup. If you’ve turned on device backup, Android (to your Google account) or iOS (to iCloud) may include Shadowkit’s data, so it comes back when you set up a new phone. That runs under your account and your settings, and we have no access to it.

The details are in our privacy policy.

How Pro works without an account

Shadowkit Pro is bought through Google Play or the App Store, the same way you buy any app. The store handles payment and knows you bought it; we never see your card or your name. The app asks the store’s own service on your phone whether you have Pro, and remembers the answer, so Pro keeps working offline.

If you get a new phone, Restore purchases asks the store again.

What you give up

Being honest about the trade-offs:

• No sync between devices. Your phone and your tablet each have their own data.
• No automatic bank feeds. You log spending yourself or import a CSV statement. We think that’s a feature: see tracking spending without linking your bank.
• No live exchange rates. You type in the rates you actually got.
• Lose the phone, lose the data, unless you keep a backup. Turn on your phone’s backup, or export a copy from time to time.

What you get

• Speed. Nothing waits on a server, so everything opens instantly.
• It works everywhere. On a plane, in the countryside, abroad without roaming.
• Nothing to leak. There’s no database of users to breach, because there are no users on our side, only people with an app on their phone.
• No sign-up. Open it and start.

We’d rather make something small that respects you than something connected that watches you. If you have questions about how Shadowkit handles your data, write to us at the address on the contact page.