Privacy Policy
Everything your house needs, together — plus Circles, for splitting costs and planning trips with friends.
Last updated: 30 August 2026
Frequently asked questions
What is House Mate?
House Mate helps people who live together manage shared bills, chores, shopping and more. It also includes Circles, a separate space to split costs and plan trips or nights out with friends — even friends who don't share a house with you.
Do I need a House to use it?
No. Circles works entirely on its own — create or join a Circle with a code to split costs and plan plans with friends, without ever setting up a House.
Is House Mate free?
Yes, House Mate is free to download on the App Store.
What devices does it work on?
House Mate runs on iPhone and iPad.
Can other people see my information?
Only members of the same House or the same Circle as you can see the content added there. Houses and Circles are kept completely separate from one another — see "Circles" and "Who can see shared content" below for details.
How do I delete my account and data?
Open your profile menu in the app and choose Delete Account. This permanently deletes your account and its associated data — see "Retention and deletion" below for exactly what that covers.
How do notifications work?
If you allow notifications, House Mate can let you know about things like new bills, chores, expenses or Circle activity. You can turn these on or off anytime in the app or in iOS Settings.
How do I get help or contact support?
Email saithotakura2353@icloud.com, or use the Contact button above.
About House Mate
House Mate helps people who live together organise shared expenses, chores, shopping, deliveries, household updates and documents. It also offers Circles, a separate space for organising plans, trips and shared expenses with friends who are not part of your household. This policy explains what information the app uses and how it is handled.
Information we use
- Account information: your sign-in identifier, email address and display name when you sign in with email, Apple or Google.
- Household information: house name, household settings and the member name, role and avatar details you provide.
- Shared content: expenses, settlements, rent and bill records, chores (including chore points earned), shopping items, notices, maintenance reports, visitor plans, expected deliveries and activity/feed history.
- Delivery information: courier, expected date/time, tracking number, delivery notes and, if you choose to set one, a delivery PIN. A PIN you enter is visible only while a parcel is expected, is never included in notifications, and is permanently removed once the parcel is marked received.
- Circle information: circle name, description, dates, invite codes, and the plans, expenses, settlements and activity you and other circle members add. Circle membership is separate from household membership — see "Circles" below.
- Optional uploads: house photos, profile avatar photos, receipt images (for expenses and deliveries), maintenance photos and documents you choose to add. You may also choose an emoji as your avatar instead of a photo.
- Notification choices: your reminder and notification preferences, stored on your device and used to decide which household updates you receive.
- Push-notification token: if you allow notifications, a device token generated by Apple and Firebase. It is associated with your signed-in household so that updates can be delivered to your device.
Circles
Circles let you organise plans, trips and shared expenses with friends — for example for a weekend away or a dinner — without adding anyone to your household. A person can join a circle using an invite code without ever becoming a member of your house.
Circle data (its plans, expenses, balances, members and activity) is stored completely separately from household data. Being in the same circle as someone does not give either of you access to the other's house information, and being in the same house does not give access to each other's circles. Circle members can only see the name, avatar and content that other members of that specific circle have added to it.
How information is used
We use this information to provide the shared-house features you choose to use: showing a household to its members, calculating balances, assigning chores, managing shopping lists, storing shared records and keeping members in sync.
House Mate does not sell personal information and does not use your information for advertising or behavioural tracking.
Who can see shared content
Information added to a household is intended to be visible to the authorised members of that household. House owners and admins can manage membership and invitations. Do not add sensitive information that you would not want other authorised household members to see.
The same applies to circles: information added to a circle is visible only to that circle's members, managed by the circle's owner. Do not add sensitive information to a circle that you would not want its other members to see.
Service providers
House Mate uses Firebase services provided by Google to authenticate users and synchronise household data between devices. Apple Sign In and Google Sign-In are used only when you choose those sign-in methods. These providers process information under their own privacy policies.
Household records are stored in Firebase Cloud Firestore. To support offline use, Firebase may keep a local cached copy of the household records you can access on your device and synchronise it when a connection is available. Firebase may process limited technical information needed to operate and secure its services, such as device and network information. Firebase Cloud Messaging is used to deliver the notifications you choose to receive.
Photos, documents and notifications
Photos and documents are accessed only when you choose them through the iOS picker. House Mate does not access your photo library in the background. If you enable notifications, the app may register a private device token and send household reminders and updates, such as a bill due tomorrow or a new house announcement. Other house members cannot see your token. You can change notification choices at any time in iOS Settings or within the app.
You can print or export a split receipt or a personal account statement (covering up to the past 6 months of your expenses and settlements) using Apple's built-in printing tools (such as AirPrint or Save to Files). This happens directly on your device through iOS; House Mate does not send this information to any additional third party to generate it.
Retention and deletion
Shared items remain available to the household until they are deleted by an authorised member or the household is deleted. You can remove your membership from a household in the app. When you sign out or leave a household, the app removes its current device registration from that household. You can delete your account within the app.
The household activity/feed log is an exception: to keep it a lightweight running history rather than a permanent record, feed entries are automatically and permanently deleted once they are more than 6 months old. This does not affect the underlying expenses, chores, bills, shopping items, notices, maintenance reports or documents themselves, which remain until you delete them.
Circle content works the same way as household content: it remains available to that circle's members until deleted. Leaving a circle removes your membership but does not delete the circle's shared plans, expenses or balances for its remaining members, and never affects any household you belong to.
For privacy requests, contact saithotakura2353@icloud.com.
Children
House Mate is not designed for children under the age required to use online services in your country. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children.
Changes to this policy
We may update this policy as House Mate changes. The latest version will always be available at this page, with the date of the most recent update shown above.