Question 1

Can Otto read my personal emails?

Accepted Answer

No, Otto never reads your personal or work emails. The scan is scoped to transactional service emails — receipts, payment confirmations, renewal notices, price-change notifications. Otto filters by sender pattern (no-reply, billing, invoices, notifications) and by content shape (invoice format, recurrence, amount), so a mail that doesn't fit those patterns is never even processed. You control the full scope from your dashboard: at any moment you can see the exact list of providers Otto detected, with the original email that surfaced each one. If something shouldn't be there, you delete it with one click. And if you want to revoke all access, go to your Google account → Security → Other apps with access to Google → Otto → Remove, and Otto loses access the same second.

Question 2

Is it secure? How private is it?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Otto is built with a least-privilege principle. The Gmail connection uses Google's official OAuth — the same protocol Slack and Calendly use — so we never receive your password or touch it. Otto requests only read permissions on transactional emails and send permissions for the drafts you explicitly approve, one by one. Otto does NOT connect to your bank, does NOT ask for a credit card to scan, and has NO access to your financial accounts. All it processes are the emails you already receive from Netflix, Spotify, etc. Data is encrypted at rest (AES-256) and in transit (TLS 1.3). You can revoke access in 3 clicks from Google → Security → Other apps, without going through our app at all. Otto stops working the same second you do.

Question 3

How does Otto actually cancel? Does it need permission every time?

Accepted Answer

Yes, always — no exceptions. Otto never cancels a subscription without your explicit approval on the draft. The flow: you mark a sub for cancellation → Otto drafts the email appropriate for that provider (each one has its tone and requirements: Netflix wants the account ID, ChatGPT accepts any format, Spotify Family asks who the admin is) → you see the full preview with the recipient, subject, and body → you approve, edit, or discard. Only after your approval does Otto send the email from your own Gmail account (not from some weird Otto domain, because that improves the provider's acceptance rate). Then it follows up automatically every 48–72h, reads the reply, and notifies you when the provider confirms the cancellation. If the provider stonewalls, Otto escalates it to you so you decide the next step.

Question 4

Will it work with all my services?

Accepted Answer

Yes — in practice, with any provider that sends you receipts by email. Otto isn't based on a closed list — it uses an AI model trained on thousands of billing patterns to recognise when an email represents a recurring charge, regardless of provider, language, or country. If you get a receipt by email, Otto finds it. In practice we detect without issues: streaming (Netflix, Disney+, Max, Prime Video, Spotify, YouTube Premium, Hulu), AI tools (ChatGPT Plus, Claude, Perplexity), productivity apps (Notion, Linear, Figma, Adobe), telecom carriers, delivery memberships, dating apps (Tinder Gold, Bumble Premium), and even gyms and online academies. If a provider doesn't send receipts — rare but it happens — you can add the subscription manually from the dashboard and Otto treats it like any other.

Question 5

What if I'm overcharged or a service didn't refund me?

Accepted Answer

Otto detects several kinds of problematic charges: duplicate billing (you're charged twice for the same service), zombie charges (you keep getting billed for something you already cancelled), unannounced price hikes (the provider raised the price without telling you first by email), and trials that converted into paid charges without your explicit consent. When Otto detects one, it drafts the refund request for you — including the exact amount, the date of the wrongful charge, the original email as evidence, and the right tone for that provider (some respond better to a firm email, others to a polite one). You see it in preview and you approve. You can also trigger a refund from Otto's chat at any time — for example, if a service you never used charged you, or if a renewal caught you by surprise. Otto handles the back-and-forth with customer support. Refund requests cost nothing.

Question 6

How does AI bill negotiation work?

Accepted Answer

Otto contacts your providers by email asking for loyalty discounts, competitor price matches, or active promos they didn't proactively offer you. It works best with services where the provider has margin to negotiate: telecom and internet carriers, bundleable streaming, B2B SaaS. The flow: you mark a sub for negotiation → Otto reviews the history (how much you pay vs. the current public price, how long you've been a customer, whether there've been recent hikes) → drafts an email with a real reason to ask for the discount, not a generic script → you approve → it sends and Otto follows up. When the provider replies, Otto parses the response and shows you the outcome: price unchanged, discount offered, counter-offer, or retroactive refund. If the saving is confirmed on your bill, Otto keeps 25% and you keep 75%. If your bill doesn't go down, you pay nothing.

Question 7

What if you don't get me anything?

Accepted Answer

You pay nothing. Literally.

Question 8

Why do you ask for my card before negotiating?

Accepted Answer

So we can charge the 25% only if your bill goes down. If it doesn't go down, your card is never touched.

Question 9

Can you see my passwords?

Accepted Answer

No. Otto only reads billing emails. We never ask for the passwords of your services.

Question 10

What if a subscription doesn't show up in the scan?

Accepted Answer

Although the AI model is powerful, there are cases where a subscription can slip through. The most common: (1) the provider doesn't send a billing email and the charge only shows on your card statement, (2) you use an email alias different from the one you connected to Otto, (3) the subscription is paid via direct debit without email notification, (4) the charge has an unusual merchant descriptor that the model didn't associate with the service (e.g. "GOOGLE *DOMAINS" when it's a domain registration). For those cases, you can add the subscription manually from the dashboard → Add subscription → fill in name, amount, cycle, and renewal date. Otto stores it like any other and applies all its features: renewal alerts, price-hike detection, cancellation drafts, refund tracking. Bonus: if we later detect emails that match that sub, we link them automatically so you see the full billing history.

Question 11

Will I be able to approve cancellations from WhatsApp?

Accepted Answer

Yes, it's on the active roadmap. The goal is to remove the friction of having to open the app every time Otto wants to show you a cancellation draft or a provider reply. WhatsApp is where you already spend your day — why force you to switch context. The flow will be: Otto detects that Netflix needs cancellation → you get a WhatsApp message with the email preview, the recipient, and the amount you'd save → you reply "OK" to approve, "edit" to open the full version in the web app, or "skip" to defer. Same for negotiations, refunds, and provider replies. For now, the whole flow runs through the web app — every draft preview, provider reply, and cancellation confirmation. WhatsApp will be an additional channel, not a replacement; you'll get to choose which you prefer.

Question 12

Which banks / institutions work?

Accepted Answer

Otto doesn't connect to your bank — that's a deliberate design decision, not a limitation. Most subscription-management apps on the market (Rocket Money, Truebill, Bobby) ask for your online banking credentials because they need to see the transactions in your account. Otto avoids that entire category of risk by reading only the billing emails you already have in your inbox. This means Otto works with any bank or financial institution in the world — if you receive receipts by email, Otto processes them. That includes credit cards (Visa, Mastercard, American Express via any issuing bank), digital wallets (Apple Pay, Google Pay, regional wallets), foreign accounts in USD, and PayPal. For email scanning, we currently support Gmail and Outlook (including Outlook.com, Live, Hotmail, and Microsoft 365 corporate accounts with admin permissions).

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What Otto does for you

Finds everything you missed

Cancels on your behalf — for real

Negotiates and requests refunds

Not a dashboard. An agent that negotiates for you.

An agent with many arms.

Reads your mail accounts

Talks to providers

Negotiates with AI

Pings you on WhatsApp

It's not just another expense app.

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Frequently Asked Questions

The only thing that costs you money is staying where you are.