Frequently asked questions

No. Open the app and start adding expenses. There is no sign-up, no email and no phone number. The only sign-in Spen ever asks for is Google, and only if you choose to turn on Google Drive backup.

On your phone, in the app's private storage. Your transactions, budgets, accounts, trips and policies are not uploaded anywhere. If you turn on Google Drive backup, a copy goes to your own Drive — we never see it.

No. Spen doesn't read SMS and doesn't connect to banks today. You add transactions yourself, or import a statement file from your bank (see Using Spen below).

• Notifications — bill and premium reminders, budget alerts and weekly or monthly summaries. They are created on your phone.
• Fingerprint / face — only if you lock the app with biometrics. Android handles it; Spen never sees your fingerprint.
• Run at startup — so reminders still arrive after you restart your phone.
• Internet — used only for the optional Google Drive backup. Everything else works offline.

No storage, SMS, contacts, camera, microphone or location permission. When you import a file or attach a document, Android's own file picker hands Spen just that one file.

Yes. There are no ads, no subscription and no in-app purchases. Every feature on this page is included.

Go to Settings → Backup & Restore and tap Connect Google Drive. Then choose how often: Daily, Weekly or Manual only, and a preferred time. By default it only runs on Wi-Fi. You can also tap Backup Now any time.

Android may run the backup a little after your chosen time to save battery. That's normal.

Spen saves backups in a hidden app folder inside your Drive. Only Spen can read it, so it doesn't show up in your normal file list, and it doesn't clutter your Drive.

To see or delete it: open drive.google.com on a computer → Settings (gear icon) → Manage apps → find Spen. From there you can delete the hidden backup data.

1. On the old phone, open Settings → Backup & Restore and tap Backup Now.
2. Install Spen on the new phone.
3. Open Settings → Backup & Restore, connect the same Google account, and tap Restore from Drive.

Attached documents (trip tickets, policy papers) download in the background a few seconds after the restore.

Uninstalling deletes everything stored in the app. If you have a Drive backup, you can restore it when you reinstall. If you don't, the data is gone — there is no copy on any server to recover it from. Turn on backup before you switch phones or reset yours.

On the PIN screen, tap Forgot PIN?. You can verify with:

• Fingerprint or face — the fastest, and it works without internet.
• Google — sign in with the Google account linked to your Drive backup.

Then you set a new PIN. If neither is set up, the last option is Erase or restore: start fresh, or restore from your Drive backup. That's why the app asks you to set up fingerprint or Drive backup when you create a PIN.

A trip gives your travel its own budget. Expenses you add to a trip are kept out of your monthly budgets, so one holiday doesn't wreck your month. You see the trip's spending by category, day and account, it handles foreign currency, and at the end you get a summary card you can share.

You can also keep tickets, hotel bookings and other trip papers in the trip. They open even without internet.

1. Create a trip and turn on Split with friends (or choose it from the trip's ⋮ menu later).
2. Add the people on the trip by typing their names.
3. Add each shared expense and who paid it. It's split equally between everyone who is ticked — untick anyone who wasn't part of it.
4. The Split tab shows who owes whom, and the payments that would settle everyone up. Mark each one as paid when the money moves.

Your friends don't need Spen. One person keeps the books, then shares the split summary as an image or text, or as a PDF report for the group.

Because ₹6,000 actually left your account. Spen records split money like a bank statement — only real money moving through your accounts:

• You pay a shared bill → one expense for the full amount, from the account you pick.
• A friend pays you back → income called Trip repayment, into the account you pick.
• You pay a friend back → an expense.
• A friend pays, or two friends settle between themselves → nothing changes in your accounts.

So the split shows up in your accounts the same way it shows up on your bank statement. Once everyone has settled, what you spent minus what you got back equals your share.

Only want to track who owes whom, without touching your accounts? Turn off Record in my accounts for that trip.

Not today. The split lives on the phone of the person keeping the books. Share the summary or the PDF report to keep everyone up to date.

Not yet — splits are equal between the people ticked on each expense. If someone wasn't part of a bill, untick them and it's split between the rest.

Health, term life, life, ULIP, personal accident, critical illness, vehicle, home and other policies. For each one you can save the insurer, policy number, who is covered, the cover amount, dates, helpline, TPA and agent details, and attach the policy papers (PDF, JPG or PNG, up to 10 MB).

The Insurance card puts everything a hospital desk asks for on one screen. It works without internet, and you can share any card with family as an image.

Yes. Turn on reminders for a policy and Spen reminds you before each premium is due, and again during the grace period if it's still unpaid. Policies without a regular premium get one reminder before the policy ends.

If you mark a policy as Paid by my employer, there are no reminders — paying and renewing it is your employer's job.

Yes, if Google Drive backup is on. Documents go to the same hidden app folder in your own Drive as the rest of your backup.

Yes. Go to Import Transactions and pick the format that matches your file: a simple sheet you fill in yourself, a bank statement, or a credit card statement. The app gives you a template to download. Spen accepts .csv and .xlsx files, shows you what's ready, what needs a look and what might be a duplicate, and only imports when you confirm.

Yes — as an Excel (.xlsx) file or a PDF report. It's your data; take it anywhere.

Yes. Create a separate profile for each — Personal, Business, Family or Joint. Each profile has its own accounts, budgets and reports, and you switch between them in a tap.

A score out of 100, worked out from your own entries. It looks at how your money splits across needs, wants and savings (the 50/30/20 rule), whether you have passive income, and your net worth. Find it under Insights → Wellness. It's a guide to your own habits, not financial advice.

English, French, German, Hindi, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese (Brazil), Spanish (Spain and Latin America) and Thai.

1. Make sure notifications are allowed for Spen in your phone's settings.
2. Open Settings → Apps → Spen → Battery and choose Unrestricted. Some phones stop apps' reminders to save battery.
3. Open Spen once. Opening the app re-checks and reschedules every reminder.

Still nothing? Email us and tell us your phone model.

Not yet. Spen is on Android today.