Mera SMS privacy policy

Who this policy covers

Mera Kharcha and Mera SMS are provided by Codexcollab. For privacy questions, account requests, or concerns, email merakharcha.support@gmail.com. Include the app name and the Google email associated with your account where relevant. Do not send passwords, verification codes, or full card details.

This policy applies to Mera SMS. Mera Kharcha is a separate app with its own privacy policy. The optional connection between them is explained below.

Messaging on your phone

As your default SMS app, Mera SMS accesses your phone’s SMS/MMS store to show, send, receive, search, and organize messages. Sending and receiving uses your mobile carrier; carrier charges and practices apply. Sorting and spam detection run on your phone. Contacts are used locally for names, photos, and recipient selection.

Private conversations are hidden inside Mera SMS until you unlock them with your device’s screen lock or biometrics. Android performs that check; Mera SMS does not receive your fingerprint, face template, or PIN. This does not provide end-to-end encryption for SMS or encrypt exported backup files.

Permissions and their purpose

• SMS and MMS: core messaging and local message organization.
• Contacts: show contact names and photos and help select recipients.
• Phone state: identify available SIMs for dual-SIM messaging.
• Notifications: show new messages and the syncing notification.
• Biometrics: ask Android to unlock private conversations.
• Internet: optional payment sync, Google sign-in, crash reports, and feature configuration.
• Background scheduling and reboot: resume scheduled messages and payment-sync jobs.

You can manage permissions in Android settings. Disabling a permission may stop the feature that needs it.

Optional auto-tracking: what is sent

Auto-track payments is off by default. It requires Google sign-in, the same Google account as Mera Kharcha, enabling the setting, and agreeing to the disclosure. Ordinary messaging does not require a Google account.

On initial setup, Mera SMS checks eligible payment SMS from the last 90 days. It then schedules checks approximately every three hours while online, and when you tap Sync now. Android may delay background work.

For eligible messages, it sends the business sender, message text (up to 2,000 characters), timestamp, and a message key used to avoid duplicates. The on-device filter excludes phone-number senders, detected verification codes, spam, and promotional senders. Detection is based on rules and may make mistakes; it is not a guarantee that all payments will be recognized.

The original payment text may itself contain merchant details, balances, partial account identifiers, or other information included by your bank. It is not anonymized before upload. Your address book and phone number are not uploaded as separate account fields by this feature.

Your account, phone, and imported payments

Google sign-in uses Firebase Authentication. Your Google identity, email, and name link payments to your Mera Kharcha account. Mera SMS also sends an identifier for this phone, the phone model, and the name you give the phone, so your account can distinguish connected phones. The identifier is made on the phone from the ID Android gives Mera SMS on that phone and is hashed before it is sent, so the original ID never leaves the phone. It stays the same if you reinstall the app or clear its data, and changes after a factory reset.

Our backend parses eligible messages to find payment details. Messages that do not parse as payments are not stored as imported payments. Recognized payments and their original message are kept in your account for review. Review is enabled by default; you can choose automatic adding in Mera Kharcha.

Imported expenses participate in Mera Kharcha’s account features, including sharing you choose to enable and relevant AI processing when you use AI. See the Mera Kharcha policy for those features. Mera SMS does not send payment-message content or contacts to advertising services, and we do not sell them.

Stopping sync and retaining records

Turn auto-tracking off, sign out of Mera SMS, or pause/remove the phone from Mera Kharcha to stop new payment uploads from that phone. Removing a phone leaves existing expenses intact. A removed device record may remain to identify the source of past expenses and reject further sync requests. If you set up the same phone again later and agree to the disclosure again, its device record becomes active again.

Payments waiting for review remain until resolved or the account is deleted. When you discard an import during review, its sender, message body, merchant, and account fields are cleared. A minimal record, including its duplicate-prevention key and amount, remains to prevent re-importing it.

Added expenses may remain in Recently deleted for 30 days when that setting is enabled. Their associated message text remains while the expense can be restored. After permanent expense deletion, scheduled cleanup clears orphaned message text; minimal duplicate-prevention records remain until account deletion.

Diagnostics and feature configuration

Firebase Crashlytics: sends diagnostic information such as crash stack traces, app version, device model, and Android version so failures can be investigated. The app does not intentionally include message content, contacts, or phone numbers in crash reports.

Firebase Remote Config: checks service settings, including whether auto-tracking is available and whether to suggest an app update. This involves Firebase installation identifiers and configuration requests even when auto-tracking is off. Mera SMS does not include the Firebase Analytics SDK; that does not mean all SDK activity is anonymous or offline.

Google Play in-app updates: Mera SMS may ask Google Play whether a newer version is available and show an update prompt. Google Play handles the download and install. No message content is involved.

Google’s services have their own privacy information: Google Privacy Policy, Firebase privacy and security.

Backups, exports, and uninstalling

Mera SMS does not automatically back up messages to our cloud. You can create a file containing SMS and organization settings, including private-conversation state. MMS pictures are not included. You choose the destination; a cloud storage provider you select may upload the file under its own policy. Keep exported files private and delete copies you no longer need.

Deleting messages in Mera SMS removes them from the phone’s message store. Uninstalling removes app-specific settings and stops its sync jobs, but messages in Android’s message store remain available to your next SMS app. Payments already imported remain in Mera Kharcha until deleted there.

Security, service providers, and deletion

Payment uploads use HTTPS and authenticated account access. Our hosting and authentication providers process information to operate the service. Data may be processed outside your country. No system can promise absolute security. We may disclose information where required by a valid legal obligation.

You can delete the shared account in Mera Kharcha under Profile → Delete account, or use our account-deletion page. Account deletion removes the account’s expense records, imported payment messages, device registrations, lists, reminders, chat history, and other account data from our application database, and deletes its authentication account. Shared groups with other members may continue under another owner. This does not erase messages in your phone’s SMS store or files you exported.

Deleting an account or uninstalling an app does not cancel a Google Play subscription. Cancel it separately in Google Play. Service providers may retain their own billing, security, or diagnostic records according to their policies and legal requirements.

Children, changes, and contact

Mera SMS is designed for a general adult audience and is not directed at children under 13. If you believe a child has provided account information, contact us so we can investigate and handle deletion. We update this page and its date when practices change; material changes to optional collection may also require a new in-app notice or consent.

Mera Kharcha and Mera SMS are provided by Codexcollab. For privacy questions, account requests, or concerns, email merakharcha.support@gmail.com. Include the app name and the Google email associated with your account where relevant. Do not send passwords, verification codes, or full card details.