Privacy Policy

Last updated: September 2, 2026

This Privacy Policy describes the information we collect, how we use it, and the choices you have. It applies to pebblehoard.com, the product at app.pebblehoard.com, and the official PebbleHoard Finance mobile applications (together, the “Service”).

PebbleHoard is a personal and small-business finance product. It is not a bank, broker-dealer, or investment adviser. We do not sell your personal information.

1. Who is responsible

The Service is operated by Illuminating Software LLC. Questions about this policy: use our contact form or visit illuminatingsoftware.com.

2. Information we collect

Account information

• Email address, display name, and password (passwords are stored hashed, not in plain text)
• Authentication session data (access and refresh tokens) needed to keep you signed in
• Optional profile details you choose to provide

Portfolio and financial content you enter

• Portfolios, accounts, balances, transactions, splits, and memos
• Buckets, budget items, income sources, funding rules, and physical asset values
• Tags, notes, and sharing / invite relationships you create
• Receipt images or PDFs you upload and attach to transactions
• Copies of identity and membership documents you choose to store in Documents (for example a driver’s license, insurance card, or gym card). These are encrypted at rest with an application-level key. This is not zero-knowledge encryption: we could decrypt them if required by law or if our systems and keys were both compromised. Document images are private to your account and are not shared with portfolio members.
• Invoicing data: businesses, clients, invoices, line items, payment status, and related settings

This content is stored so we can provide the Service to you and to people you intentionally share a portfolio with.

Payment processing (invoicing)

If you use multi-business invoicing and Stripe Connect, payment card and bank details for your clients are collected and processed by Stripe, not stored as full card numbers on PebbleHoard servers. We receive payment status, amounts, identifiers, and related metadata needed to mark invoices paid and deposit amounts into your chosen portfolio account. Stripe’s privacy policy applies to data it processes: stripe.com/privacy.

Technical and device information

• IP address, approximate location derived from IP, browser or app version, device type, and OS
• Log data for security, debugging, and reliability (including timestamps and request paths)
• On mobile apps: crash and performance diagnostics via Google Firebase (for example Crashlytics), which may include device model, OS version, app version, and stack traces. We configure diagnostics to avoid sending full financial ledger contents in crash reports.

Marketing website

On pebblehoard.com we may collect standard web analytics (page views, referrers, basic device data) to understand which pages are useful. We do not use this marketing site as a substitute for your product account data.

Communications

If you contact us or submit a support ticket, we receive the content of that message and any contact details you provide. Transactional email (password reset, portfolio invites, invoice notifications) uses your email address and related message content.

Biometrics on mobile

If you enable biometric unlock (Face ID, fingerprint, or similar), biometrics are processed by your device’s operating system. We do not receive or store your biometric templates. We only learn whether the OS reported a successful unlock so we can open a session that already has secure tokens on the device.

3. How we use information

• Provide, maintain, and improve the Service (authentication, portfolios, sharing, invoicing)
• Send operational messages (security, password reset, invites, invoice activity you configure)
• Protect against abuse, fraud, and unauthorized access
• Diagnose crashes and reliability issues (including Firebase on mobile)
• Comply with law and enforce our Terms of Service
• Respond to support requests

We do not sell your personal information or portfolio contents to third parties for advertising.

4. How we share information

We share information only as needed to run the Service:

• People you invite — portfolio members see data according to the permission you grant (View, Comment, Edit, or Owner).
• Infrastructure providers — hosting, databases, object storage (for receipts and logos), and email delivery under contractual obligations to protect data.
• Stripe — when you enable card payments or Connect onboarding for invoicing.
• Google Firebase — crash and performance diagnostics for mobile apps.
• Legal — if required by law, regulation, legal process, or to protect rights, safety, and security.
• Business transfers — if we are involved in a merger, acquisition, or asset sale, information may transfer under appropriate protections.

5. Retention

We retain account and portfolio data while your account is active and as needed to provide the Service. If you delete your account (or request deletion), we delete or anonymize personal data associated with the account within a reasonable period, except where we must retain information for legal, security, dispute, or accounting obligations (for example limited server logs or completed payment records). Receipt files, document-vault files, and invoice records may be retained according to the same account lifecycle rules. Deleting your account removes vault ciphertext from object storage on a best-effort basis.

6. Your choices and rights

• Access and update — you can review and edit much of your data in the product (profile, portfolios, invoices).
• Password reset — available in the web and mobile apps.
• Sharing — you control portfolio invites and can revoke access.
• Account deletion — you can delete your account in the web and mobile apps (Profile). If you own portfolios shared with others, you must transfer ownership to a co-member or permanently delete those portfolios before the account can be closed. You may also request help via contact.
• Mobile permissions — camera and photo library access are used when you attach receipts or logos, or photograph IDs and cards in Documents; you can deny OS permissions (some features will not work).
• Biometrics — optional; you can use password sign-in instead.

Depending on where you live, you may have additional rights under applicable law (access, correction, deletion, portability, or objection). Contact us to exercise those rights. We will not discriminate against you for exercising privacy rights that apply to you.

7. Security

We use industry-standard measures appropriate to a multi-user finance application, including encrypted transport (HTTPS), hashed passwords, access controls on portfolios, AES-256 encryption at rest for document-vault files, and secure storage of session tokens on mobile devices. No method of transmission or storage is 100% secure. Please use a strong unique password and only invite trusted collaborators. A photograph of an ID is not a government-issued digital ID.

8. Children

The Service is not directed to children under 13 (or the minimum age required in your jurisdiction). We do not knowingly collect personal information from children. If you believe a child has provided us information, contact us and we will take appropriate steps to delete it.

9. International users

The Service is designed primarily for users in the United States. If you access the Service from another country, you understand that information may be processed in the United States, where laws may differ from those in your jurisdiction.

10. Changes

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. We will post the revised policy on this page and update the “Last updated” date. Material changes may also be communicated in-product or by email when appropriate. Continued use of the Service after changes means you accept the updated policy.

11. Contact

Privacy questions: Contact PebbleHoard or Illuminating Software at illuminatingsoftware.com.

Related: Terms of Service