Privacy Policy

Last updated: July 18, 2026

Meli is a budgeting application built by Futur Labs LLC. It works by reading transaction alert emails from your email account and turning them into a spending ledger on your Mac. This policy explains what data Meli handles, where it goes, and what controls you have.

The short version

Meli runs on your Mac and keeps your transactions there. Your email sign-in details never leave your Mac, and we do not operate servers that store your transactions or emails. A few features talk to outside services, and each one is described below: crash reports, optional Smart Categorization, license checks for Meli Pro, and free trial setup.

Data stored on your device

All of the following stays on your Mac. None of it is sent to Futur Labs or any third party unless explicitly described below.

• Email account access — For Gmail and Outlook accounts, read-only sign-in tokens. For IMAP accounts, the server address and sign-in details you provide. These are kept in the macOS Keychain and are used only to check your email for transaction alerts.
• Email content — Emails are downloaded and stored locally so Meli can find transaction details in them.
• Transactions — Merchant names, amounts, dates, categories, tags, and notes.
• Rules and preferences — Categorization rules, budget settings, and other configuration you create.

Google API data

When you connect Gmail, Meli requests gmail.readonly access to read your account address and the metadata and text of possible transaction-alert emails. Meli uses this data only to build your local spending ledger. It does not access Gmail settings or send, modify, or delete messages.

• Storage — OAuth tokens are kept in the macOS Keychain. Original Gmail messages and derived transactions are stored only on your Mac. Original Gmail messages are not sent to Futur Labs or any third party provider.
• Optional Smart Categorization — If you opt in, only the disclosed transaction details derived from Gmail alerts are sent to your selected provider; original Gmail messages are never sent. See Smart Categorization below.
• Prohibited uses — Meli does not sell Google user data, use it for advertising, or use it to train or improve generalized AI or machine learning models.
• Your controls — Remove the Gmail account from Meli, revoke access in your Google Account, or choose Meli > Uninstall Meli... and delete all locally stored data.

Meli's use and transfer of information received from Google APIs will adhere to the Google API Services User Data Policy, including the Limited Use requirements.

Features that use outside services

Crash reports (Sentry)

When Meli crashes, it sends a crash report to Sentry, a third-party error tracking service, so we can fix the bug. Reports are only sent for application crashes — regular errors, warnings, and log messages are never transmitted. These reports include the error message, stack trace, app version, operating system, and architecture. Before sending, Meli removes passwords, tokens, and keys, and strips the user, device name, and request details. Crash reports do not contain your email content, transaction data, or sign-in details.

Smart Categorization (optional, off by default)

Smart Categorization is a Meli Pro feature that suggests categories for your transactions. It is opt-in and off by default. Turning it on always shows you what will be sent and asks for your agreement first. When on, only the disclosed, derived transaction details Meli found in your email alerts (merchant, your notes, whether the payment was a refund or between two people, and the payment system that sent the alert), together with your category and tag names and descriptions and your earlier category choices, are sent through Meli's gateway to our AI provider (OpenAI) to suggest categories. Original email messages and sign-in details are never sent. For person-to-person payments, the other person's name is removed before sending, and such payments without a note are not sent at all.

Our gateway does not keep your transaction details; it records only counts, timing, and technical measurements. OpenAI does not use this data to train or improve its models. OpenAI may keep each request for a limited time (currently up to 30 days) to watch for misuse of its service, during which a small number of authorized OpenAI staff may review it if misuse is suspected, and deletes it afterwards unless the law requires otherwise.

You can also point Smart Categorization somewhere else in the settings: at Ollama running on your own Mac, so categorization stays local, or at another compatible service of your choice, in which case requests go directly from your Mac to that service and its privacy terms apply. Any key you enter is stored in the macOS Keychain.

On-device email review (Apple Intelligence)

On Macs with Apple silicon, macOS 26 or later, and Apple Intelligence turned on, Meli can use Apple's on-device model to judge whether an unfamiliar email looks like a transaction. This runs entirely on your Mac. Your emails never leave your computer for this feature.

License checks (Meli Pro)

If you buy Meli Pro, the application periodically contacts our licensing service to confirm your license. These checks include your license key and an install identifier, and never include transactions or email content. Purchases themselves are handled by Lemon Squeezy, our merchant of record, under its own privacy policy.

Free trial setup

When your free trial starts, Meli contacts our licensing service with an install identifier to set up the trial. These requests never include transactions or email content.

Website

The Meli website (trymeli.app) uses Plausible, a privacy-friendly analytics service, to count page visits in aggregate. Plausible does not use cookies and does not track you across sites. We do not use advertising trackers. Our hosting provider processes standard technical data (such as IP address and browser type) to serve the site, and we may use request counts, for example to see how often the application is downloaded.

What we do not do

• We do not operate servers that store your financial data or emails.
• We do not sell, share, or rent your data to anyone.
• We do not use analytics or advertising trackers in the application.
• We do not require an account or login to use Meli.

Your controls

• Delete individual data — You can delete transactions, email accounts, rules, categories, and tags from within the application. Removing an email account lets you choose whether to keep or delete its imported transactions.
• Smart Categorization — Off by default. Turn it on or off at any time in settings, or choose a local provider.
• Uninstall — Choose Meli > Uninstall Meli... from the application menu. The built-in uninstaller asks whether to keep or remove your data. Choosing to remove it erases everything Meli stored on your Mac.

Changes to this policy

We may update this policy from time to time. Changes will be posted on this page with an updated date. If we make significant changes to how we handle your data, we will note it prominently.

Contact

If you have questions about this policy, contact us at hello@trymeli.app.