Frequently asked questions

SmartABCD (Smart Advisor for Budget Control & Direction) is a personal and family financial discipline app. It helps you plan budgets and shopping lists before you spend, guards you with a live budget meter and impulse warnings while you shop, and teaches you after with planned-vs-actual reports and a 0–100 Discipline Score.

Expense trackers record money that's already gone. SmartABCD works at the moment of decision — in the store, item by item — so overspending is prevented rather than merely documented. Tracking is included, but it's the smallest part of what the app does.

Yes. The Free plan is free forever — single user, limited budgets and lists, Shopping Guard with manual entry, and a basic planned-vs-actual report. Paid plans (Family ₹99/month, Premium ₹199/month or ₹1,999/year, Lifetime ₹4,999 once) unlock family linking, scanning, OCR, locks and advanced insights. Prices are introductory.

SmartABCD is India-first: ₹ INR is the default currency, categories reflect Indian household life (Festival, School Items, kirana-friendly manual entry), and payments run on Razorpay. You can select other currencies in your profile, and the app works anywhere — but launch support, pricing and SMS OTP are optimised for India.

You get a clear "budget reached" alert on the live meter. What happens next depends on the budget's lock setting — from a simple warning (soft lock) up to a complete block on further additions (hard lock). Nothing is ever charged or blocked on your actual money; SmartABCD guides your decisions, it doesn't control your bank account.

Usually yes — it's your money. With no lock or a soft lock you can continue past 100% with warnings at 125%, 150% and 200%. A PIN lock makes you pause and confirm, a reason lock asks you to record why, an approval lock needs a family yes, and a hard lock refuses tray additions beyond your maximum allowed amount. You choose the strictness per budget.

A budget lock is the rule that activates when spending crosses your limit. Six levels exist: none, soft (warn), PIN (verify your PIN), reason (record why), family approval (blocked until approved), and hard (rejects additions beyond the maximum). See the guide's lock table for details.

Yes. Your lists and budgets are stored on the phone, so manual entry, quantity changes, the tray and the live meter all work with zero signal — common in basement supermarkets. Everything syncs automatically when you're back online. Barcode catalogue lookups and receipt OCR need a connection, but manual entry always works.

They're checkpoints on your budget meter. Defaults: 70% "careful", 90% "almost used", 100% "budget reached", 125% "overspending started", 150% strong warning, 200% critical. You can enable, disable or adjust levels per budget anywhere between 50% and 200%.

No. A budget marked private is invisible to every other family member — including the family admin. It never appears in shared reports, shared totals or anyone else's app. This is deliberate: family financial discipline should not mean total surveillance, and surprise gifts should stay surprises. You can also share a budget with selected members only.

A member with the child role can browse shared lists and add requests to a wishlist — nothing more. Every request goes to a parent (admin or spouse) who can approve, schedule it for later, or decline. It's a gentle, built-in way to teach children that wants are planned, not grabbed.

When a list uses approval sync, or a budget has an approval lock, the request appears instantly in the approver's app (with a push notification). They can approve, approve partially, reject, or move the item to the wishlist. The requester keeps shopping meanwhile — the item simply waits in the tray as "pending approval".

The Family and Premium plans support a typical Indian household — parents, children and grandparents in one group, each with their own role (admin, spouse, member, child, view-only). Exact member limits per plan are shown on the pricing section and inside the app at signup.

Very common in India — small local brands and loose produce often aren't in any catalogue. The app immediately offers manual entry: type the name (with smart suggestions from your history), enter the price, done. The item behaves exactly like a scanned one, and your entry improves suggestions next time.

You can fix individual misread lines with a tap, retake the photo, or skip OCR entirely and enter just the total manually. Faded thermal receipts are the usual culprit — scan the bill right at the counter for best results.

No — and no app can. Barcodes identify the product, not the price; the same biscuit costs different amounts at D-Mart and your kirana. SmartABCD fills in the product name plus its MRP and your last-purchased price as reference, then asks you to confirm the actual shelf price. That honest confirmed price is what keeps your meter accurate.

Five: barcode, QR code, product photo, shelf price label (OCR reads the price), and full receipt scan for end-of-trip verification. Manual entry is always available as a sixth path and works offline.

Your account details (name, email, mobile), the planning data you create (budgets, lists, items, prices, wishlist), images you choose to upload (receipts, products), family group membership, and a device token for notifications. We never store bank account details, card numbers or UPI PINs — payments are handled by Razorpay. Full details in the privacy policy.

Only you, plus family members you explicitly share with — and only what you share. Private budgets stay private from everyone, including the admin. We don't sell or share your financial planning data with advertisers.

Yes, from inside the app: Settings → Account → Delete account. This removes your profile, budgets, lists, wishlist and uploaded images, subject to a short recovery window and any legal retention duties (e.g. payment records). You can also email support@smartabcd.com.

Yes — you can request an export of your budgets, lists and reports in a portable format from Settings, or by emailing support. Your data belongs to you.

No. SmartABCD never asks for bank credentials or account access. It works purely on the planning data you enter — which is also why it can work offline in the store.

All payments are processed by Razorpay, India's leading payment gateway — UPI, credit/debit cards, netbanking and wallets. Your card or UPI details go directly to Razorpay; SmartABCD never sees or stores them.

If something went wrong — double charge, accidental purchase, a paid feature that genuinely didn't work — email support@smartabcd.com within 7 days of the charge and we'll make it right. Standard partial-month usage isn't refunded, but you keep access until the period ends. Full terms in the Terms of Service.

Yes — one tap in Settings → Subscription, no phone calls, no dark patterns. You keep paid features until your current period ends, then move to the Free plan with all your data intact.

A one-time ₹4,999 payment that gives you everything in Premium forever, including future features, plus priority support and an early-supporter badge. Seats are limited — it's our thank-you to the people who back SmartABCD at launch.

Android 8.0 (Oreo) and above, and iOS 14 and above. The app is deliberately light so it runs well on budget phones — no flagship required.

Very little. Day-to-day sync is text-only (a few KB). The only heavier transfers are images you choose to upload, like receipt photos — and you can keep those on Wi-Fi only in Settings.

Check three things: notifications are allowed for SmartABCD in your phone's settings; battery-saver isn't restricting the app in the background (common on Xiaomi/Oppo/Vivo — set it to "no restrictions"); and your notification preferences inside the app. Budget alerts during a Guard session appear on-screen even if push is off.