Trazo Ventures LLC ("Trazo Ventures," "TREX," "we," "us," or "our") provides the TREX: Split Bills & Expenses mobile application, the TREX website, and related services (collectively, the "Service"). This Privacy Policy explains what information we collect, how we use and share it, and the choices and rights available to you.
By creating an account or otherwise using the Service, you acknowledge that you have read and understood this Privacy Policy. If you do not agree with it, please do not use the Service. This Privacy Policy does not apply to third-party websites, products, or services, even if accessed through the Service, or to the practices of companies that Trazo Ventures does not own or control.
1. Information We Collect
1.1 Information You Provide Directly
- Account information: your name, email address, phone number, username, password or other authentication credential, and profile photo (optional).
- Identity verification: when you sign up, we (or our authentication provider) send a one-time passcode to your phone number or email address to confirm that you control it.
- Expense information: the expenses you create or are added to, including amounts, descriptions, categories, dates, currencies, split ratios, who owes whom, notes you attach, and the payments you or other members record as made.
- Payment requests: when you request money from someone, we record the request, the amount, the person it was sent to, and whether it has been marked as paid.
- Receipt images and itemization data: if you use receipt scanning, we collect the images you upload and the itemized data extracted from them (such as merchant name, line items, prices, taxes, and tips).
- Group information: the names of groups you create or join, and your association with other users in those groups.
- Contacts: if you choose to grant contacts permission to invite or add people, we access the contact entries you select for that purpose. We do not access your full address book without your permission, and we do not use contact data for unrelated purposes without additional notice and consent.
- Referral activity: who you invite, whether an invitation is accepted, and any resulting referral rewards, such as a free month of TREX Premium.
- Communications: messages you send us, including support requests, feedback, and messages submitted through the contact form on our website, and email addresses you give us to hear about TREX updates.
1.2 Information About People You Add
TREX is built for splitting costs with other people, so you may give us information about someone else, such as their name, phone number, or email address, when you add them to an expense or group or send them a payment request. When you request money from someone who does not use TREX, the app prepares a text message with the details and opens your phone’s messaging app; you review it and send it yourself, from your own phone. If the person uses TREX, we send them an in-app notification instead. Please only add people you know and who would expect to hear from you about a shared expense.
1.3 Information Collected Automatically
- Device and technical data: device type, operating system and version, unique device identifiers, advertising identifiers (subject to your device permissions), mobile network information, IP address, and app version.
- Usage data: features used, screens viewed, session length, crash logs, and diagnostic data.
- Push notification tokens, if you enable notifications.
- Location data, only if you separately grant location permission for a feature that requests it (for example, setting a default currency or region). The Service does not require location access to work.
- Website data: when you visit the TREX website, our hosting provider records standard log data (such as IP address, browser type, and pages visited) to deliver and secure the site, and your browser requests fonts from Google Fonts.
1.4 Information From Third Parties
- Authentication providers confirm that a verification code was sent and validated.
- App stores (Apple App Store and Google Play) provide install attribution, confirmation of TREX Premium purchases and renewals, and limited device and transaction data. They process your payment card details directly; we never receive or store your full payment card number.
- Advertising and measurement partners provide aggregated campaign performance and, where permitted by your device settings, install-attribution data tied to an advertising identifier.
- Other users may give us information about you, for example by adding you to an expense or group, sending you a payment request, or including you on an itemized receipt.
1.5 Aggregate and De-Identified Information
We may create aggregate information (statistics about groups of users that do not identify any individual) and de-identified information (information that cannot reasonably be used to identify a particular person) from the information we collect. We maintain and use de-identified information only in de-identified form and do not attempt to re-identify it.
2. How We Use Your Information
We use the information described above to:
- Create and manage your account and authenticate you
- Operate core features, including recording, splitting, and calculating shared expenses and balances among group members
- Prepare the payment requests and reminders you send, and deliver them as in-app notifications to people who use TREX
- Process receipt scanning and itemization when you use that feature
- Send invitations you initiate and determine eligibility for referral rewards
- Send service notifications (for example, "you were added to an expense" or "your friend accepted your invite")
- Provide TREX Premium features and confirm subscription status with the app stores
- Respond to your support requests and messages
- Send optional updates about TREX, where permitted, which you can opt out of at any time
- Maintain, secure, debug, and improve the Service, including crash diagnostics and product analytics
- Measure and improve our advertising campaigns and understand how people find TREX
- Enforce our Terms of Service and prevent fraud and abuse, including misuse of payment requests or the referral program
- Comply with legal obligations and respond to lawful requests from public authorities
We do not sell your personal information for money, we do not show third-party ads inside the app, and we do not use the contents of your expenses to market products to you.
3. How We Share Your Information
3.1 With Other Members of Your Groups
TREX is collaborative by design. Expense amounts, descriptions, receipts, split details, balances, payment requests and their status, and your name and profile photo are visible to the other members of a shared expense or group. This sharing is how the Service works; it is not a disclosure you can opt out of while still using shared expenses.
3.2 With People You Request Money From
When you send a payment request, the recipient sees your name, the amount requested, and the expense it relates to, whether they receive it as a text message or an in-app notification.
3.3 With Service Providers
We share information with vendors who perform services on our behalf, including:
- Cloud hosting and databases
- Authentication and one-time-passcode delivery
- Push notifications and verification-code delivery (including one-time passcodes sent by text message)
- Receipt scanning and text recognition (OCR)
- Analytics and crash reporting
- Customer support tools, email, and website form processing (Formspree)
These providers may use your information only to provide services to us.
3.4 With Advertising and Measurement Partners
We share limited device, advertising-identifier, and campaign data with advertising and measurement platforms to run and evaluate campaigns that promote TREX, subject to your device's ad-tracking permissions (such as Apple's App Tracking Transparency). This does not include the contents of your expenses.
3.5 App Store Platforms
TREX Premium purchases are processed by Apple or Google under their own privacy policies. We receive confirmation of purchase and renewal status, not your payment credentials.
3.6 Legal and Safety Disclosures
We may disclose information if required by law, subpoena, or other legal process, or if we believe in good faith that disclosure is necessary to protect the rights, property, or safety of Trazo Ventures, our users, or the public, or to detect, investigate, or prevent fraud or security issues.
3.7 Business Transfers
If Trazo Ventures is involved in a merger, acquisition, financing, or sale of assets, information may be transferred as part of that transaction. We will take reasonable steps to ensure it remains protected in line with this Privacy Policy.
3.8 Aggregate and De-Identified Information
We may use and share aggregate or de-identified information for any lawful purpose, such as understanding how the Service is used.
4. Money, Payments, and Balances
TREX helps groups keep track of who owes what. It is not a payment service, and it never handles your money. Specifically:
- TREX does not send, receive, hold, or transfer funds, and it does not connect to your bank, card, or payment accounts. We do not collect bank account or card details to use the Service.
- Group members pay each other outside TREX, using cash, a card, a bank transfer, or any payment app they choose. When a payment is marked as paid in TREX, that reflects what a user has recorded; TREX does not verify that any payment actually took place.
- Amounts, splits, and receipt data are entered or confirmed by users (including data read from receipt images) and may contain errors. Please review expenses before relying on them.
Your use of these features is also governed by our Terms of Service.
5. Data Retention
We keep personal information for as long as your account is active and as needed to provide the Service. After you delete your account (see how to delete your account), we delete or de-identify your personal information within a reasonable period, except where we need to keep it to resolve disputes, enforce our agreements, or meet legal, tax, or accounting obligations.
Because expenses are shared, some records may remain visible to other members of your groups after you delete your account. For example, a past expense may still show your name to the people you shared it with, so their balances stay accurate.
6. Data Security
We use administrative, technical, and organizational safeguards designed to protect personal information, including encryption of data in transit and access controls on our systems and vendors. No method of transmission or storage is 100% secure, and we cannot guarantee absolute security. You are responsible for keeping your account credentials confidential.
7. Your Rights and Choices
7.1 Account Information
You can review and update most account and expense information directly in the app. You can delete your account at any time in the app: go to Profile and tap Delete Account at the bottom of the screen. If you can’t access the app, you can request deletion on our website. Deletion removes your account credentials and profile; certain shared expense history may remain visible to other members as described in Section 5.
7.2 Text Messages and Notifications
Text messages about payment requests are sent by the TREX user who made the request, from their own phone, so you can reply to them directly. TREX itself sends text messages only to deliver verification codes. If we begin sending other text messages in the future, we will update this policy first and give recipients a simple way to opt out. You can turn off push notifications at any time in your device settings.
7.3 Communications
You can opt out of optional updates at any time by using the unsubscribe link in an email or adjusting your notification settings. We will still send service messages, such as verification codes and account notices.
7.4 Device Permissions and Ad Tracking
You can revoke contacts, location, camera, or notification permissions at any time in your device settings. You can limit ad-identifier tracking through your device's privacy settings (for example, Apple's "Allow Apps to Request to Track" setting or Android's ad ID settings). The Service does not currently respond to browser "Do Not Track" signals.
7.5 California Residents (CCPA/CPRA)
If you are a California resident, you have the right to know the categories and specific pieces of personal information we collect, use, and disclose; to request deletion or correction of your personal information; to opt out of the "sale" or "sharing" of personal information as those terms are defined under California law; to limit the use of sensitive personal information where applicable; and not to be discriminated against for exercising these rights. Our use of advertising identifiers to measure campaigns may be considered "sharing" under California law; you can opt out by limiting ad tracking in your device settings or by contacting us. To exercise your rights, contact privacy@trazoventures.com. We will verify your request using information reasonably necessary to confirm your identity, and you may use an authorized agent to submit a request on your behalf.
7.6 Other U.S. States
Residents of certain other states, including Virginia, Colorado, Connecticut, Utah, and Oregon, may have similar rights to access, delete, and correct personal information and to opt out of targeted advertising. To exercise these rights, contact privacy@trazoventures.com. If we deny your request, you may appeal by replying to our response.
7.7 EEA, UK, and Switzerland Residents (GDPR)
If you are located in the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom, or Switzerland, Trazo Ventures LLC is the controller of your personal information. Our legal bases for processing are performance of a contract (providing the Service), our legitimate interests (such as security, fraud prevention, and improving the Service), your consent (such as for optional updates and certain device permissions), and compliance with legal obligations. You have the right to access, correct, delete, restrict, or port your personal information, to object to certain processing, and to withdraw consent at any time. To exercise these rights, contact privacy@trazoventures.com. You also have the right to lodge a complaint with your local data protection authority.
8. Children's Privacy
The Service is intended for adults 18 and older (or the age of majority where you live), as set out in our Terms of Service. It is not directed to children under the age of 13 (or 16 where applicable under local law), and we do not knowingly collect personal information from them. If we learn that a child has provided us with personal information, we will delete it promptly, and if we learn that someone under 18 has created an account, we may close it. If you believe a child has provided us with information, please contact privacy@trazoventures.com.
9. Third-Party Links and Services
The Service may link to or work alongside third-party services, such as the app stores or the payment apps you use to pay each other outside TREX. This Privacy Policy does not apply to those services, and we are not responsible for their privacy practices. We encourage you to review their privacy policies.
10. International Data Transfers
Trazo Ventures is based in the United States. Information we collect may be stored and processed in the United States or other countries where our service providers operate, which may have data protection laws different from those in your country. Where required, we rely on appropriate safeguards, such as Standard Contractual Clauses, for these transfers.
11. Changes to This Privacy Policy
We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. When we make material changes, we will update the "Last Updated" date above and notify you through the Service or by email before the changes take effect. Your continued use of the Service after an update means the revised policy applies to you.
12. Contact Us
If you have questions, requests, or concerns about this Privacy Policy or how we handle your information, contact us:
- Privacy inquiries: privacy@trazoventures.com
- General support: support@trazoventures.com or our contact form
- Mailing address: Trazo Ventures LLC, 159 Carroll Street, Brooklyn, NY 11231