Folks ask us, “Do you keep a copy of my data?” and “Is the cloud safe?”, all the time. Instead of just adding to the CheckBook FAQ, which we’ll probably do anyway fairly soon-ish, we thought we’d share our answers here with a little more of a personal touch. Let’s start with how we feel about your privacy. Spoiler alert: It’s all about you.
Your privacy is yours
Your privacy, and so your personal and financial data, belongs to you and not to us. We’ll never sell your data and we’ll do everything we can to make sure it’s never handed over to a third party.
You choose where your CheckBook data lives
Your data lives in CheckBook documents on your Mac. You can create as many documents as you like (though we usually recommend just one unless you have a lot of different finances to manage), you can have as many Accounts in a single document as you like, and you can store your documents in a folder shared with a cloud storage provider to sync automatically between Macs. If you ever need to know where your document lives, open CheckBook, go to the File menu, and click the Show in Finder menu item.
CheckBook saves your work every 60 seconds
You’ll never have to look for a Save command and you probably won’t need to back up a separate copy of your document by hand if you use a backup solution like Time Machine.
We don’t keep your data here
Please use some kind of backup solution. Your Mac’s Time Machine will usually do nicely if you let it backup automatically or at least backup manually every few days or so.
Cloud storage is usually safe from third parties – but check with your provider
Most, if not all, of the big names in cloud storage encrypt your data as it travels to and from the server, as well as while it stays there. Their livelihood depends on trust and, depending on the provider, respecting your privacy to varying degrees, so they have to protect your data from third parties. They may take a look at your data themselves, mining for some kind of usability improvement or profit. At the moment, Google, for example, says they only process your data looking for ways to make their product better – not for advertising. That may or may not be a red flag for you. Don’t take our word for it: We don’t know exactly what each cloud storage provider does with your data so check with them to be absolutely sure.
Our support team won’t use your data for anything but helping you
When you reach out for help and need to send your document or let us share your screen, your secrets are safe with us. Like we said, your privacy, and so your data, is yours, not ours. We respect that at all times: We’ll never profit from or share your data with a third party.
Think twice before emailing your document
Email isn’t usually encrypted as it moves between servers, so someone could, under the right circumstances, tap into the network at any point between servers, sniff out your email and attachment data, and reassemble an attachment. It’s a tiny chance but it’s not just theoretical – it’s real and it’s been done. If you want absolute certainty no one but us will see your data, then, it’ll make more sense to share a link from cloud storage or a file transfer service like WeTransfer.com.
There you have it
Our bottom line on privacy and how we handle your data is we always, always try to look out for you. We respect your privacy because it’s yours, not ours, we warn you of risks whenever possible, and we strive to err on the side of caution when actually handling your data ourselves or in CheckBook itself. If we ever get it wrong, or if you have any questions at all, please reach out to support@splasm.com or give us a call at 800-721-5492 to let us know so we can listen and learn. Thank you!