BudgetMate user manual

Getting started

The first time you open BudgetMate a four-step wizard appears. It cannot be skipped, because all four decisions affect everything else.

When it finishes, the app creates a set of sample categories and subcategories in your language, so you do not start with an empty screen. You can rename or delete them at any time.

1. Language: the app's language. Leave it on "follow the system" or pin one of the 11 available.
2. Theme: light, dark or the system's, plus the colour variant.
3. Primary currency: the currency you want your totals in. The app suggests one from your region, but the choice is yours.
4. Legal: this is where you read and accept the Privacy Policy and the Terms. The acceptance is recorded when the wizard finishes.

Accounts and groups

An account is anywhere you keep money: cash, a bank account, savings, a credit card. Each account has its type, its currency and its balance.

Groups exist so the list matches how you actually think about your money: "Personal" and "Business", or "Main bank" and "Cash". They are yours and you can reorganise them whenever you like.

Opening an account shows its detail: current balance, movements, and — for a credit card — its cycle information.

1. Open Accounts from the main menu.
2. Tap add and choose the account type.
3. Give it a name, a currency and a starting balance.
4. Assign it to a group if you want. Groups are created and reordered from the same Accounts screen.

Recording transactions

There are three kinds of movement: income, expense, and a transfer between two of your own accounts. A transfer is not an expense: it moves money from one place of yours to another and does not pollute your statistics.

Every transaction carries an amount, an account, a category and a date. The note and the receipt photo are optional.

The list groups movements by day, with each day's total, so you can see at a glance which days your money goes on.

1. Tap add on the transactions screen.
2. Choose income, expense or transfer.
3. Type the amount. You can use either a comma or a full stop as the decimal separator — the app reads both.
4. Pick the account and category, adjust the date if it is not today, and save.

Categories and subcategories

Categories are what turn a list of amounts into something useful: without them, the charts have nothing to report.

Each category is either income or expense, has a colour and an icon, and can hold subcategories. "Transport" with "Fuel", "Bus" and "Servicing" tells you far more than three loose categories.

You can reorder categories by dragging them, so the ones you use most sit at the top.

1. Open Categories from the menu.
2. Add a category, choose whether it is income or expense, and give it a colour.
3. Open the category to add subcategories to it.
4. Drag to change the order they appear in when you record.

Budgets

A budget is a limit you set yourself per category. The app shows how much you have spent and how much is left while the period is still running.

The point is for the information to arrive in time to change something: a budget that only tells you at the end of the month that you overspent is not much use.

1. Open Budgets.
2. Add one, choose the category and the limit.
3. Come back to that screen whenever you want to see each budget's progress.

Credit cards

A credit card does not behave like an ordinary account: what matters is the cycle. BudgetMate handles the statement date, the payment date and the balance of the cycle in progress.

For foreign-currency purchases you can configure how your bank converts them, so what you see resembles what you will actually be charged rather than today's market rate.

1. Create the account choosing the credit card type.
2. Enter its statement date and its payment date.
3. If you use the card in another currency, check the foreign-currency credit setup in Settings.
4. Open the cards screen to see the current cycle.

Multiple currencies and exchange rates

You can hold accounts in different currencies at the same time. One of them is the primary currency, and that is what consolidated totals are expressed in.

Exchange rates can be refreshed from the internet or set by hand. A rate you enter yourself wins over the downloaded one: if your bank converted at a particular rate, that is the one that reflects your reality.

Adding a currency changes nothing already recorded: each transaction keeps its account's currency.

1. Open Currencies from the menu to add the ones you use.
2. Mark one as primary if you want to change what totals are referenced to.
3. On the exchange rates screen, refresh from the internet or type the rate you were given.

Recurring transactions

Rent, salary, subscriptions and a loan instalment all repeat on a known schedule. Define them once and stop keeping track of them.

Each recurring entry stores its frequency and the app works out when the next one is due. The list shows you what is coming up.

1. Open Recurring.
2. Add one, with its amount, account, category and frequency.
3. Check the list to see upcoming runs.

Charts and statistics

The charts are organised by the question they answer, not by what kind of chart they are.

You can see the split of spending by category over a period, drill into one category to see its subcategories, follow the balance month by month, and look at the statistics for a single account.

1. Open Charts.
2. Choose the period you care about.
3. Tap a category in the chart to open its detail.
4. For a single account, open the account and go into its statistics.

Exporting to Excel

The export produces an .xlsx file with your transactions for the period you choose. It is an ordinary spreadsheet file: open it in Excel, LibreOffice or Google Sheets.

It is for handing something to your accountant, for a tax return, or simply to hold a copy you can read without the app.

1. Open the export from Settings.
2. Choose the period.
3. Save or share the generated file.

Backups and restoring

A backup is an encrypted file containing all your data. It can stay on the phone, go up to your own Google Drive account, or both.

They can also run on their own. Automatic backup works in the background at the frequency you choose, survives a phone restart, and — if you are signed in to Drive — uploads the file and prunes the old ones.

The encryption is AES-256 with a key derived from a passphrase belonging to your installation. If you do not choose one, the app generates a random phrase so there is never an unencrypted backup.

1. Open Backups from Settings.
2. For a manual one, choose a local or a Drive backup.
3. For automatic ones, turn the switch on and choose the frequency.
4. To restore, pick the backup file and confirm.

App lock and screen protection

There are two switches under Settings → Security, and they do different things.

"Block screenshots" is on by default: it prevents screenshots and hides the app's thumbnail in the recent-apps view, where your balances would otherwise be on show.

"App lock" is off by default and you turn it on yourself: it asks for your fingerprint or face when you open BudgetMate.

1. Open Settings → Security.
2. Turn on app lock if you want biometrics asked for on open.
3. Turn off "block screenshots" only if you genuinely need to take one.

Theme and appearance

You can choose a light theme, a dark one or follow the system, plus a colour variant for the app.

The change applies immediately, with no restart.

1. Open Settings → Appearance.
2. Choose the mode and the colour variant.

Changing the language

BudgetMate is translated into 11 languages: Spanish, English, Portuguese, French, Russian, Simplified Chinese, Hindi, Bengali, Urdu, Arabic and Indonesian.

The translation covers the sample categories and subcategories created at install time, not just the buttons.

You can pin a specific language or let the app follow the system's. In the list, each language is written in its own language, so you can recognise yours even if the screen is in one you do not read.

1. Open Settings → Language.
2. Choose the language, or "follow the system".

Deleting your data

You can delete your data from inside the app, without writing to anyone or waiting for a reply.

The deletion leaves the app as freshly installed: accounts, transactions, categories, budgets and settings all go, and so does your acceptance of the terms — because the previous owner's acceptance is not the next one's.

What is not deleted are any backup files already saved on the phone: they are your way back, and deleting them for you would be deciding on your behalf. If you want them gone, delete them yourself from the file manager.

1. Open Settings → Delete data.
2. Read what is about to be deleted, and confirm.
3. If you also want the local backups gone, delete them from the phone's file manager.