Security & Privacy

Your family's numbers stay yours

In short

This is the same as the Security & Privacy topic in the app's help. The details follow.

Nothing is sent anywhere

• No account, no server. Nothing to sign up for, and no database of families to leak.
• No internet connections of its own. The app has no networking code. Every build is checked for it automatically, and the Mac app runs in Apple's sandbox without permission to make network connections.
• Only when you tap. A few buttons hand something to another app, and say so:
  • "The college's page" and "The college's financial aid page" open that college's website in your browser.
  • Share and Copy on an appeal letter or a code put it where you choose. AidAhead never sends a letter itself.
  • Subscriptions go through Apple. We never see your payment details.

Encrypted where it's stored

• Your family file: encrypted inside the app (AES-GCM) before it's saved, so the file on your device, in iCloud Drive or in a backup can't be read without its key. The key is kept in your iCloud Keychain, so your own devices open it without a code. This is on for iPhone, iPad and Mac.
• A recovery code: shown once, when your file is first encrypted. Keep it somewhere safe: it's the only way back in if you lose access to your devices.
• Sharing with your spouse: Family › Add your spouse makes a code that works one time, for 7 days, shown as a QR code or text. The code alone opens nothing; it also needs the family file you shared.
• iPhone and iPad: Apple's strongest file protection, so the app's files are unreadable whenever the device is locked.
• Mac: Apple's sandbox and hardened runtime keep other apps out of AidAhead's files.

Your documents are read on your device

• Award letters, as a PDF or photos, are read on your iPhone, iPad or Mac. Nothing is uploaded.
• You check every line before it's saved, and only the lines you confirm are kept.
• The PDF and photos themselves are never kept or sent anywhere.
• Appeal letters leave the student's full name and ID as blanks you fill in. AidAhead never stores them.

What we keep about your child

Only what the estimates need:

• a first name or nickname, birth year and high-school class year;
• the colleges on their list;
• for merit scholarship estimates only, and only if you enter them: unweighted GPA and SAT or ACT scores.

Grades and scores are used only to estimate merit aid and stay in AidAhead's own part of your family file, apart from the household details it shares with Taxtirement. No school records, photos or contact details are ever asked for. Deadline reminders are set on your device and never name your child.

What AidAhead never asks for

• Your Social Security number.
• Your FSA ID, or your StudentAid.gov or College Board sign-in. The FAFSA is free and you file it yourself at studentaid.gov.
• Any bank sign-in.

What we don't collect

• No accounts, ads, analytics or tracking, and no crash reporting.
• We don't collect any data from the app, so nothing can be sold.

Deleting your data

Delete the family file in the Files app or Finder. Because nothing is stored anywhere else, that removes it all.

This website

Plain pages and one stylesheet: no JavaScript, no cookies, no analytics and nothing loaded from anyone else's servers. Each build is checked for this automatically.