Frequently asked questions
Reference
Short answers to the questions people ask most.
Is my data private?
Section titled “Is my data private?”Yes. Your journals are stored on your device. With iCloud Sync on, they also go to your own iCloud account, and nowhere else: Balanced has no servers of its own. A shared journal is stored in its owner’s iCloud. iCloud sync
Does Balanced connect to my bank?
Section titled “Does Balanced connect to my bank?”No. Balanced never logs in to your bank. You enter transactions yourself, scan a receipt, or let regular payments repeat on their own. Clearing them against your statement keeps your books right. Clearing transactions
Can I import from my bank or from YNAB?
Section titled “Can I import from my bank or from YNAB?”Not yet. To switch, start fresh: record today’s balance of each account as an opening balance and budget the current month. Coming from YNAB
Can I use other currencies?
Section titled “Can I use other currencies?”Yes. Each journal has its own currency, which you choose when you create it and can change later in Journal Settings. A journal has only one currency, and Balanced doesn’t convert amounts between currencies. Journal currency
What else isn’t possible yet?
Section titled “What else isn’t possible yet?”- Deleting or archiving an account.
- Searching or filtering transactions. Browse by month, or open an account to see only its transactions.
- Exporting your data, for example as a CSV file.
The type of an account can’t be changed at all. If an account has the wrong type, create a new one with the right type and use that instead.
Does Balanced work on Mac or Apple Watch?
Section titled “Does Balanced work on Mac or Apple Watch?”No. Balanced is for iPhone and iPad. With iCloud Sync, your journals are the same on both.
Can Balanced split costs between people?
Section titled “Can Balanced split costs between people?”Yes. Add the people as members of the journal, shared or not. Balanced records who paid, splits expenses equally, by amounts or by ratio, and suggests who pays whom to settle up.
What happens if two people edit at the same time?
Section titled “What happens if two people edit at the same time?”Each transaction, account, repeat and budget amount syncs on its own, so changes to different things all arrive. If two devices change the same thing before they’ve synced, the change made last wins. If one deletes something the other has changed, the deletion wins. iCloud sync
Why doesn’t my salary count as available?
Section titled “Why doesn’t my salary count as available?”Income counts towards Available only when it’s Cleared and its date has come. Check that the salary is dated today or earlier and that you’ve cleared it. Cleared and uncleared
Why is a category orange?
Section titled “Why is a category orange?”Its planned spending is more than what’s left in it. Nothing is overspent yet, but it will be when the planned transactions happen. Assign a little more, or lower the planned amount. Planned spending
Why do I have less to assign this month?
Section titled “Why do I have less to assign this month?”You probably overspent a category last month, without a credit card. That amount comes off this month: the budget editor shows it as Overspent last month. Month to month
Why is my credit card balance red?
Section titled “Why is my credit card balance red?”A credit card’s balance is what you owe, so it’s below zero, and Balanced shows balances below zero in red. That’s normal for a card or a loan. Credit cards and debt
Where are my receipt photos stored?
Section titled “Where are my receipt photos stored?”Nowhere. Balanced reads a receipt on your device and doesn’t keep the photo after the scan. Only what it learned, such as the merchant and the card’s last 4 digits, is saved with your journal. Scanning receipts