Sharing a journal
Together
Share a journal, and everyone you invite keeps the same books with you, on all their devices. Here's how to invite people, what they can do and why sharing is sometimes unavailable.
A shared journal is for money you manage together: a couple’s household, a family, a trip with friends. You invite people through iCloud. Everyone who joins sees the same accounts, transactions and budget, and every change shows up on everyone’s devices.
The person who shares a journal is its owner. The journal stays in the owner’s iCloud; the others work in it with them.
Before you start
Section titled “Before you start”- Turn on iCloud Sync. Sharing goes through iCloud. In the journals list, tap ⚙︎ Settings and turn on iCloud Sync. See iCloud sync.
- Share your own journals. You can share journals you created. A journal someone else shared with you can’t be shared on.
- Give a new journal a moment. A journal you’ve only just created has to reach iCloud before you can share it.
- The people you invite need Balanced on their iPhone or iPad and an iCloud account. Joining a journal explains their side.
Invite people
Section titled “Invite people”- Open the journal and tap Share (👤＋) at the top right. Or, in the journals list, touch and hold the journal and tap Share.
- Apple’s sharing screen opens. Choose how to send the invitation, for example Messages or Mail, and pick the people.
- Send it. Each person gets a link. When they open it, the journal opens in Balanced on their device.
Once you’ve invited someone, the journal shows Shared with 1 under its name in the journals list. People you’ve invited count even before they join.
See who’s in
Section titled “See who’s in”Touch and hold a shared journal in the journals list. The menu that opens lists everyone in the journal.
- Shared with 2 counts everyone you’ve invited.
- Share opens Apple’s sharing screen again, to invite or remove people.
- The people you’ve invited, by name. Until iCloud knows someone’s name, the list shows their email address or phone number instead, or Invited.
The others see the same list on their devices, under your name, for example Shared by Anna.
What everyone can do
Section titled “What everyone can do”- Everyone can make changes. Everyone who joins can record and edit transactions, accounts, repeating transactions and budgets, just like you. There’s no view-only option.
- Invitations are personal. An invitation only works for the iCloud account it was sent to. If someone forwards the link, it doesn’t let anyone else in.
- Only the owner manages the people. You invite people, remove them and stop sharing. The others can see who’s in the journal and leave it.
- The later change wins. If two people change the same transaction at about the same time, the change made last is the one that stays.
Manage the people
Section titled “Manage the people”Tap Share again, in the journal or in its menu. Apple’s sharing screen now shows who’s in the journal. There you can:
- invite more people,
- remove someone: the journal disappears from their devices,
- stop sharing: the journal disappears from everyone else’s devices and stays yours as an ordinary journal.
Leaving and removing explains what happens in each case.
When Share is unavailable
Section titled “When Share is unavailable”Share is grayed out while the journal can’t be shared. Touch and hold the journal in the journals list: the reason appears under Share.
| The reason says | What to do |
|---|---|
| Turn on iCloud Sync in Settings to share this journal. | In the journals list, tap ⚙︎ Settings and turn on iCloud Sync. |
| Sign in to iCloud to share this journal. | Sign in to iCloud in your device’s Settings app. |
| Balanced couldn't reach iCloud. Check your connection and try again. | Check that you’re online, then try again. |
| Confirm the iCloud upload in Settings to share this journal. | You’ve switched to another iCloud account. Open ⚙︎ Settings and tap Upload Journals to This iCloud Account. |
| Syncing… | The journal hasn’t reached iCloud yet. Wait a moment. |
If something goes wrong after you tap Share, Balanced says Couldn't Share Journal and gives the reason. Usually it’s the connection or the iCloud sign-in. Otherwise it says The journal couldn't be shared. Try again later.
Whose iCloud storage it uses
Section titled “Whose iCloud storage it uses”A shared journal is stored in the owner’s iCloud and counts against the owner’s storage only. If the owner’s storage is full, the others can keep working, but their changes wait. In their ⚙︎ Settings, Status then says Owner's iCloud storage full, with the note “The owner's iCloud storage is full. Your changes to shared journals are kept and sync once there is space again.” Once the owner frees up space, everything syncs.