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Tab

How your privacy is kept

Most apps keep your data private by being careful in their own code. Tab also does that, but it doesn’t rely on it. The database itself refuses to hand over rows you’re not allowed to see.

The short version

Section titled “The short version”
  • Your group sees your group’s shared bills. Nobody outside the group can.
  • Your own spending is yours. Other people in your group can’t see it, not even whoever set the group up.
  • Nothing is ever deleted behind your back. Changes are recorded, not erased.
  • The bill reader can’t change anything. It can only suggest an entry. You confirm it before it’s added.

How it works

Section titled “How it works”

Every time you use Tab, the app asks the database for data as you. The database has a written rule for each kind of data, saying who may read it, add it, and change it. If a request breaks a rule, the database refuses, even if the app has a bug. These rules are called row-level security, and they’re built into Postgres.

The account the app uses for your requests has no permission to delete anything and no way to skip the rules.

Check it yourself

Section titled “Check it yourself”

Tab is open source, so you don’t have to take our word for it: