Is it free? What's the catch?
Bhavitta is free on the App Store and Google Play with every feature included. There is no subscription, no paid tier, no ads, and no account. If the app helps you, there is an optional tip jar; a tip is a thank-you through Apple or Google and unlocks nothing.
Where does my financial data go?
It stays on your phone. There is no account and no Bhavitta server; every scenario, stage, and amount is stored locally. The app sends anonymous usage and crash diagnostics (which screens are used, a rounded success-rate bucket, error codes, and if it crashes, the technical trace with any typed text scrubbed), never amounts, names, cities you typed, or your plan. The News tab downloads public feeds and market prices; nothing about you goes with the request. Details are in the Privacy section.
Does it handle India and US taxes?
It is not a tax calculator. Each life stage carries a blended tax rate you set, for example 32% while working in Seattle and 22% in Bangalore, applied to that stage's income, plus a capital-gains rate on property sales. It does not model US brackets, Indian slabs, filing status, or tax treaties. Use it to test whether a plan holds, not to compute a tax bill.
What about EPF, NPS, PPF, 401(k), Social Security, or a pension?
Account balances such as EPF, NPS, PPF, 401(k), or an IRA go into your starting corpus. A pension, Social Security, an annuity, or any other guaranteed income is entered as inflation-indexed income on the stage where it starts. The app does not model account-specific rules such as lock-ins, withdrawal limits, or required minimum distributions.
How does the simulation work?
Two models. Historical replay runs your plan through every start year from 1928 to 2023, in nominal or inflation-adjusted terms. Monte Carlo runs 10,000 trials from the expected return and volatility you set. Both produce a fan of projected balances, a survival rate, and a 0 to 100 readiness score, and a return-by-inflation stress heatmap shows how sensitive the plan is. A year-by-year ledger shows the cash flow behind any percentile path.
Does it work in rupees and for Indian cities?
Yes. Choose from 21 display currencies, including rupees with lakh and crore grouping, and 49 curated cities with local cost-of-living estimates: 11 US cost tiers and cities plus 38 worldwide, Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad, Pune, Dubai, Singapore, and Lisbon among them. Or add your own city with your own numbers.
Can I get my data out?
Yes, in three ways. Back up every scenario to a single file and restore it on any phone. Export a scenario as Markdown to paste into an AI assistant for a second opinion. Share the readiness result as an image, with amounts hidden by default. Each goes through your phone's own share sheet, only when you tap it.
Is there a web or desktop version?
Not yet. Bhavitta runs on iPhone (iOS 18 or later) and Android phones. Your numbers do not sync anywhere, which is also why there is no account; the backup file is how a plan moves between devices.
Is this financial advice?
No. Bhavitta is an educational planning tool. Its projections are estimates based on your inputs and on historical or simulated market behaviour, not predictions or guarantees. For decisions about your own money, talk to a licensed adviser; the Markdown export is built to make that conversation easier.
How is it different from a retirement calculator?
A calculator takes one set of numbers and gives one answer. Bhavitta models your life as a timeline of stages, a city and lifestyle for each chapter, a home, college, a move abroad, retirement, and simulates the whole path thousands of times. Then it lets you change one thing, a job loss, a market crash, retiring two years earlier, and see the readiness score move.
