Frequently asked questions
What is Varuno?
A private, local-first personal finance app. Your financial records live in an encrypted database on your device; your account is only used to prove who you are and to key your data to you.
Is Varuno free?
There is no billing of any kind in the app today — no purchases and no subscriptions. A formal pricing statement is still to be confirmed by the product owner: [PRICING_STATEMENT_REQUIRED].
Does Varuno connect to my bank?
No. There are no bank connections. You enter transactions yourself or import files you choose.
Can Varuno read Apple Pay notifications or detect transactions automatically?
No. The photo-library permission mentions bank-notification screenshots — that is a manual import-a-screenshot flow you start yourself, not background reading of your notifications or photos.
Is Varuno financial advice?
No. Figures like take-home pay and CPF contributions are estimates, and the app says so wherever they appear.
Where is my data stored?
In an encrypted SQLite database on your device. Only your name, email, country and base currency are stored with your account, protected by row-level security policy.
Can the developer see my financial data?
The architecture prevents it for wallets, transactions, salary and everything else financial — that data is never transmitted. The account service holds only your name, country, base currency and email.
Can the developer see uploaded payslips or statements?
Nothing is uploaded. Payslip and receipt processing, including text recognition, runs entirely on the device; statement CSV files are read locally.
Are imported images stored?
Images are working copies during an import and are deleted afterwards — unless you tick "Keep a copy of this document on this device", which stores the processed (redacted) pages locally. You can see and delete them under Settings → Data → Local Storage.
Can I review extracted information before saving?
Always. No import writes anything without an explicit review-and-confirm step, and every extracted field is editable before you save.
What file formats are supported for import?
Images (camera or photo library) for payslips and receipts; CSV or plain text (UTF-8, up to 10 MB and 10,000 rows) for investment statements. PDF is not supported yet.
Can I use Varuno only as an expense tracker?
Yes — Settings → App Experience → Expense tracker mode. Nothing is deleted; hidden features return when you switch back.
Does Varuno support CPF?
Yes — Singapore CPF with salary-linked employee and employer contributions, plus EPF (Malaysia), Superannuation (Australia), MPF (Hong Kong) and KiwiSaver (New Zealand).
How are transfers handled?
As movements between wallets — they never count as spending. Funding a savings goal is a transfer too.
How are salary deductions handled?
Recording salary income can automatically post CPF contributions. Deleting or editing the salary reverses or recomputes them atomically, so the ledger stays consistent.
Can I hide my balances?
Yes — one toggle masks every amount across the app, including percentages derived from them.
Does Varuno support Face ID?
Yes — Face ID or Touch ID unlocks the app session on top of an app passcode. Biometrics never replace your account password.
Can I export my data? Can I delete my account?
Yes and yes. Export and backup produce a readable JSON file — it is not encrypted, so store it carefully. Account deletion removes the server-side account and destroys the local vault, key first, then file.
Does Varuno work offline?
Day-to-day, yes — your data is local. You need a connection to sign in, confirm your email, reset a password and refresh exchange rates.
Which currencies are supported?
Any ISO currency. Ten display with dedicated symbols (SGD, USD, INR, EUR, GBP, JPY, AUD, MYR, CNY, THB); conversion uses daily mid-market rates, requested by currency code only.
Is my data encrypted?
On iOS the database is encrypted at rest (AES-256) with the key in the device Keychain, and network traffic uses TLS. Backup exports are NOT encrypted — the app tells you this when you export.
Which devices can I use?
iPhone with iOS 15.5 or later, currently through TestFlight internal testing. There is no Android or web version today.
How do I report a bug or request a feature?
In the app: Settings → Send Feedback (pre-fills only your app version and platform). On this site: the report-a-bug and request-a-feature forms.