iCloud sync

Guides

With iCloud sync, a transaction you enter on your iPhone shows up on your iPad too. It runs through your own iCloud account, with no Balanced servers in between.

Sync keeps every journal, with its accounts, transactions, repeats and budget, up to date on all devices signed in to the same iCloud account. It’s also what makes sharing a journal possible.

Turn sync on or off

In the journals list, tap ⚙︎ Settings.
iCloud Sync is on from the start. Turn it off here, or back on.
Status shows what sync is doing right now. The line below explains it or tells you what to do.
Under Help, About iCloud Sync opens this page.

Tap Done to close the settings.

Turning sync off doesn’t delete anything. Your journals stay on this device, and your other devices keep their copies. Changes you make while sync is off are collected and sent once you turn it on again.

What the status means

The line under Status tells you what’s going on. Most of the time it says Up to date or Syncing…, and there’s nothing to do. The others:

Off: you’ve turned iCloud Sync off. Turn it on to sync.
iCloud unavailable: the device isn’t signed in to iCloud, or iCloud can’t be used right now. The line below says Sign in to iCloud in the Settings app to sync your journals. You can keep using Balanced in the meantime; your changes sync later.
Waiting for network: Balanced couldn’t reach iCloud. Your journals sync again once you're online. Balanced tries again by itself; check your connection if it lasts.
iCloud storage full: Free up iCloud storage to continue syncing. Free up space or upgrade your iCloud storage. Until then, your changes are kept on the device.
Owner's iCloud storage full: a journal someone shared with you is stored in their iCloud, and it’s full. The owner's iCloud storage is full. Your changes to shared journals are kept and sync once there is space again. Let the owner know.
Paused (confirm upload): the device is signed in to a different iCloud account than before. See Switching iCloud accounts.

On a new device

Install Balanced on your iPad or new iPhone and sign in to the same iCloud account. Open Balanced, and your journals arrive by themselves. A journal that’s still on its way may show Syncing… instead of its name for a moment.

When two devices change the same thing

Each transaction, account, repeat and budget amount syncs on its own. If you change different things on two devices, both changes arrive everywhere.

If you change the same thing on two devices before they’ve synced, for example the amount of one transaction, the change made last wins. If one device deletes something that the other has changed, the deletion wins: deleted things don’t come back.

You can work offline: Balanced keeps your changes and syncs them the next time it can reach iCloud.

Switching iCloud accounts

If you sign out of iCloud, sync only stops, and your journals stay on the device. Sign in again with the same account, and sync picks up where it left off.

If you sign in with a different iCloud account, Balanced doesn’t upload anything on its own. The status changes to Paused (confirm upload), and a button appears:

Upload Journals to This iCloud Account: Your journals will be uploaded to this iCloud account. Journals shared with you by others will be removed from this device.

Tap it if you want your journals in the new account. If not, leave it, and your journals simply stay on this device without syncing.

Where your data lives

Your journals are stored on your device, and with sync on, in your private iCloud. A shared journal lives in its owner’s iCloud and counts against their storage.
Balanced has no servers of its own: your journals go to iCloud and nowhere else.
Receipt photos are never synced. What Balanced learns from receipts, the merchants and card digits, syncs with its journal. See Scanning receipts.