Permissions & data access
Common Things is built around Google sign-in and your own Google Drive, so it has to ask for a small number of Google permissions. Here is exactly what each one is — and isn't — used for, in the same terms Google shows you before anything is granted.
Privacy & permissions
See exactly what Common Things can access
Common Things uses Google permissions to work with the Common Things workbook connected to your account. It does not request permission to list or browse every file in your Google Drive.
Google Sheets permission can technically read and write spreadsheet content. Common Things restricts its use to workbook identifiers associated with the application.
openid · email · profile
Your name, email address and profile picture
To sign you in and show who you are inside a shared Circle or Group.
What it's used for
- Signing in with Google, with no separate password to manage
- Showing your name and picture to people you share a Circle or Group with
- Sending service email you have asked for, such as an invitation
What it's not used for
- Building an advertising profile
- Selling or sharing your details with data brokers
- Reading your Gmail, contacts or calendar — those are never requested
Technical detail
This is the standard Google sign-in grant. It carries no access to any of your files.
drive.file
See, edit, create and delete only the specific Google Drive files you use with this app
To create your Common Things workbook and reopen it on your next visit.
What it's used for
- Creating the Common Things folder and workbook in your Drive
- Reopening files Common Things itself created, or that you explicitly picked
- Storing receipt images you choose to attach
What it's not used for
- Listing or browsing the rest of your Drive
- Opening documents, photos or folders unrelated to Common Things
- Reading files another app created, unless you explicitly open them here
Technical detail
drive.file is Google's per-file scope: it grants access only to files this app created or that you hand to it through a Google picker. There is no broad drive or drive.readonly grant, so a full-Drive listing is not something the app is able to request with this token.
spreadsheets
See, edit, create and delete all your Google Sheets spreadsheets
To read and write the rows of your Common Things workbooks, including shared ones.
What it's used for
- Reading and writing expenses, budgets, bills and balances in Common Things workbooks
- Syncing a Circle or Group workbook that has been shared with you
- Keeping your offline edits and your workbook in step
What it's not used for
- Opening spreadsheets you have not connected to Common Things
- Scanning your account for other spreadsheets
- Copying workbook contents onto our servers
Technical detail
This is the one broad permission Common Things asks for, and it is worth being precise about: the Sheets grant can technically read and write any spreadsheet your Google account can reach. Common Things restricts its own use of that grant to the workbook identifiers it has recorded for your account — the personal workbook it created, plus any Circle or Group workbook shared with you. Google does not currently offer a per-file variant of the Sheets scope, which is why the consent screen is worded so broadly.
You can withdraw all of this at any time at myaccount.google.com/permissions. Full detail is in the Privacy Policy.