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Your expenses, budgets, groups and receipts live in your own Google Sheet, inside your Google Drive. Our servers keep only a small account record (your email, display name, membership state and settings) plus operational data such as error reports and support requests — never your financial rows.

No. Drive access uses Google's per-file scope (drive.file), which only reaches files the app itself created or that you explicitly hand to it — it cannot list or browse the rest of your Drive. The Sheets permission is worded more broadly by Google because no per-file version of it exists: that grant can technically read and write any spreadsheet your account can reach, and Common Things restricts its own use of it to the workbook identifiers recorded for your account.

Yes. Your records are already in Google Sheets, so you can open the workbook directly at any time. You can also export CSV for any period from inside the app. Gold adds PDF report and tax exports.

Yes. Common Things runs in any modern browser on a phone, tablet or computer. Installing it is optional — it just gives you an app icon and its own window.

Open Common Things in a supported browser and use the install action: an install icon in the address bar on Chrome and Edge, or Share → Add to Home Screen in Safari on iPhone and iPad. The installation guide has step-by-step instructions for each browser.

Yes. Sign in with the same Google account and each device reads and writes the same workbook in your Drive. Changes are synced through that workbook rather than held on our servers, so a device that has been offline catches up the next time it connects.

They are the same product and share your account and your workbook, but they are not identical. The mobile app can use device features a browser cannot, and some capabilities differ by platform. The features page marks what is available today.

A Circle is for an ongoing arrangement — a household or family sharing utilities, groceries and recurring costs with long-term members. A Group is for a temporary shared activity such as a holiday, dinner or event, where people split costs and settle up when it ends.

Their membership is archived and their Google Drive access to the shared workbook is revoked, so they stop seeing future activity. Expenses they already entered stay in the history, because removing them would change everyone else's balances. Anything they had already opened, exported or copied is outside our control.

The same as a Circle: the membership is archived, access to the shared workbook is revoked, and their past expenses remain so balances stay correct. The group owner cannot be removed.

Everyday tracking is available now and free: expenses, income, budgets, bills, recurring rules, Groups and bill splitting, Saving Pots, shopping lists, offline use and CSV export. Gold features such as reports, debt tracking, Smart Coach and tax reports are built but Gold subscriptions are not yet purchasable. Each feature on the features page carries its own availability and plan label.

No. Common Things is a record-keeping and organising tool, not a financial service or professional advice. Budgets, safe-to-spend figures, projections and reports are estimates based on what you have entered, and should be checked before you rely on them.

Nothing — the workbook is yours and stays in your Drive. Deleting your account removes the record we hold on our servers and signs you out. If you want the files gone too, use "Delete everything from Drive & device" in the app's Danger zone first, or delete the Common Things folder yourself in Google Drive.

Use the support form on the support page and choose the topic that matches your issue, so it reaches the right place with the details needed to investigate. General, business, legal or partnership enquiries that do not fit those topics can be sent by email instead.