Ernie

Privacy Policy

Last updated: October 2026

1. Information We Collect

Ernie collects the following information to provide its core functionality:

  • Birthday: Used to calculate your current age and years until retirement.
  • Retirement age: Your target retirement age for financial projections.
  • Income information: Your hourly rate (entered directly or calculated from salary/paycheck details) to convert prices into work hours.
  • Wish items: Items you add to your list, including names, prices, reminder times, and your decisions about them.
  • App preferences: Theme, accent color, and currency.
  • Shared pages: When you share a product page to Ernie, the share extension reads the page title and price on your device to fill in the item. The page itself is not sent anywhere.

2. How We Use Your Information

All information you provide is used exclusively within the app to:

  • Convert purchase prices into equivalent work hours based on your hourly rate.
  • Calculate potential investment growth if you skip a purchase.
  • Track your purchasing decisions and savings over time.
  • Send local reminders about items you're undecided on (if you enable notifications).
  • Show your savings in the home screen widget, which reads them from the app's storage on your device.

3. Data Storage

Your personal data (financial information, wish items, preferences) is stored exclusively on your device. We do not operate any servers or cloud infrastructure that stores your personal information. This means:

  • Your personal financial data never leaves your device.
  • We cannot access, view, or retrieve your financial information.
  • If you delete the app or clear its data, your personal information is permanently erased.
  • There is no account creation, login, or cloud sync functionality.

If you use iCloud Backup or back up your device to a computer, iOS may include Ernie's data in that backup, under your own Apple account.

Note: Privacy-preserving usage analytics and error data are sent to PostHog (see Section 5 for details).

4. Data Security

Your personal data benefits from your device's built-in security features. On iOS, data is stored in the app's sandboxed directory with device-level encryption. Analytics data sent to PostHog is transmitted securely over HTTPS.

5. Third-Party Services

Ernie uses the following third-party services:

  • PostHog (Analytics & Error Tracking): We use PostHog to collect privacy-preserving usage analytics and error reports. This helps us understand how the app is used and identify bugs. Events are tied to a random support ID generated on your device (shown in Settings) so we can investigate a problem you report; it is not linked to your name, email, or any account. PostHog may collect:
    • Device information (device type, OS version, app version).
    • Feature usage such as app opens, onboarding screens viewed, whether an item was added with a reminder and which reminder category (preset or custom), notification permission prompts, and when the app asked for an App Store rating.
    • Error and crash reports (including console errors and warnings).
  • App Store ratings: Ernie occasionally asks for a rating using Apple's built-in prompt. Any rating or review you leave is handled by Apple; Ernie never sees it.
  • Local Notifications: The device's local notification system for reminders, which operates entirely on your device.

Ernie does not use:

  • Advertising networks.
  • Social media integrations.

Analytics never include item names, item prices, your income or paycheck values, your birthday, or your buy/skip decisions. Those stay on your device.

6. This Website

tryernie.app uses a self-hosted instance of Plausible Analytics to count page visits and clicks on outbound links, such as the App Store link. Plausible doesn't use cookies or collect personal data, and visitors aren't tracked across sites.

7. Your Rights

Your personal data is stored only on your device, so you have complete control over it. You can:

  • Delete all local app data, including your support ID, at any time using the "Delete All Data" control in Settings.
  • Delete your item history separately from the History screen.
  • Remove individual items from your wish list.
  • Uninstall the app to permanently delete all associated data.

8. Children's Privacy

Ernie is not directed at children under 13. We do not knowingly collect information from children under 13. Your personal data stays on your device, and the analytics we receive are tied only to a random support ID, so we have no way to identify or contact users of any age.

9. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. Any changes will be reflected with a new "Last updated" date at the top of this page. Continued use of the app after changes constitutes acceptance of the updated policy.

10. Contact

Questions about this Privacy Policy? Contact us at support@tryernie.app