PennyBook Support
Questions, ideas or a bug? Email hello@papermint.studio and a human reads every message, usually within a day.
Adding an entry9
- Tap + in the middle of the tab bar. Type the amount, tap a category, tap Save. That is the whole thing.
- The switch at the top chooses Expense, Income or Transfer. Under the amount, the Wallet and Date rows show where it goes and when; tap either to change it. A transfer has From and To instead of one wallet.
- The category chips show your first seven categories; More shows the rest.
- Add a note if you like ("swiggy dinner") and the category picks itself. It learns from what you filed before; a category you choose by hand is never overridden.
- As you type the note, notes you have used before come up above Save. Tap one to fill in the note, its category and, if you haven't typed an amount, its usual amount.
- You can type it all in the note: "chai 20", or "+50000 salary" for income, and the amount and kind fill themselves in.
- Or tap the microphone in the note, say it, and tap stop when you are done. Speech is recognised on your device. If your device can't do that for your language, the microphone isn't shown.
- The ‹ › arrows beside the date step a day back or forward; tap the date itself for a calendar. A back-dated day is remembered for half an hour, so a run of entries from the same day starts on it.
- The cross at the top left closes it without saving.
The expense tracker and the net worth tracker3
- PennyBook has two trackers. The expense tracker is for what you spend and earn day to day: wallets, entries, Insights, search and import. The net worth tracker is for everything you own and owe, and the money between you and other people.
- The round icon at the top left of every screen switches between them: a wallet for the expense tracker, a rising line for net worth. Each keeps its own tabs, and each opens where you left it.
- Pro, currency, iCloud sync and the Face ID lock are shared by both. Find them in either tracker's Settings → App settings.
Net worth7
- Tap + in the net worth tracker to add something you own (a bank account, cash, a deposit, retirement savings, mutual funds or stocks, gold, a home, a car and more) or something you owe (a home or car loan, a card bill, a personal loan). Each asks only for what it needs.
- Overview shows your net worth today, how it has changed, and a line over six months, a year or all time. Under it, You own and You owe open the full lists.
- Holdings groups everything you own and everything you owe, and shows how much of what you own is easy to reach (bank, cash, funds, stocks, deposits, gold and money owed to you).
- Many values update themselves. A deposit or retirement account grows by the rate you give it, plus any monthly amount. Gold is worth its weight at the rate you set. A loan goes down after each EMI, worked out from its amount, rate and term; add a prepayment or a correction on its page if the bank's figure differs.
- Everything else, like a fund's value or a card bill, you update yourself: open it and tap Update, for today or an earlier day, with a note if you like. On the 1st of each month the Overview offers a check-in that walks through the values that need you, one at a time.
- Turn off Count in net worth on anything you want to keep but leave out of the total, like a car. It stays in its list, marked not counted.
- The eye at the top hides every amount in the net worth tracker until you tap it again. The ⓘ beside the total on Holdings opens a breakdown: what you own by kind and over time, or what you owe with its payoff and interest.
Investing, redeeming and History6
- A fund, stocks, a bank account, a deposit or a retirement account has buttons in its own words: Invest and Redeem, Buy and Sell, Deposit and Withdraw, Contribute. Each asks for the amount, the day and an optional note, and shows what the holding will be worth after.
- Everything goes into the holding's History, newest first, with what it was worth after each one. Tap any entry to change its amount, day or note, or to delete it. Back-date an entry and everything after it is worked out again.
- PennyBook won't let you take out more than was there on that day, or make a change that would leave a later withdrawal short. It says why instead.
- If a deposit or retirement account already adds a monthly amount by itself, only log money beyond that, or it counts twice.
- Sold, redeemed or closed in full? In Redeem (or Sell, Withdraw) tap All of it, or tap the dashed Mark as fully redeemed (or Mark as sold, Mark as closed) at the bottom of the page, and enter what came back. It stays in the months it was part of, leaves your total from that day, and waits behind the Sold or closed pill.
- Open a closed one and tap Reopen to bring it back from today. If you closed it by mistake, delete the close entry from its History instead, and it will be as if it never closed.
Loans, card bills and dues4
- A loan's page shows what's left to pay with a paid-off bar, the next EMI and the month it ends. History lists every EMI with how much came off the loan and how much was interest, plus any prepayments and corrections.
- Prepay records an extra payment today and shows how much sooner the loan ends and the interest it saves. Correct sets what's left to your bank's figure, and the schedule carries on from there. Schedule shows every EMI to come. A prepayment or correction can be deleted from See all.
- A card bill, overdraft, tax due or other debt has Pay (or Repay) and Add charges (or Draw, Borrow more), with Update for the bank's balance. Paying down shows in green, the debt growing in coral.
- On Holdings, You owe shows what goes out every month and the month you'll be debt-free; its ⓘ shows the payoff and interest of every loan, with a what-if for a prepayment that saves nothing.
Money between people7
- The People tab in the net worth tracker records money you lent or borrowed. Tap +, enter the amount, pick or type the person, and choose whether they owe you or you owe them. The Lent on (or Borrowed on) date sits on its own row, and Add a due date sets when it should come back.
- The tabs at the top show the total owed to you and what you owe. Each person shows what is left, how much has been paid back and when it is due.
- The tiles at the top of the People tab show what's owed to you and what you owe, and a strip shows who is due soon or late. Open and Settled switch between people with money still out and people who are square.
- Open a person to see every amount and repayment. Got money back (or Paid back) records a repayment on any day; a part payment settles the oldest amounts first. Lend more (or Borrow more) adds another amount. Tap any amount or repayment in History to change or delete it; PennyBook won't let a repayment be more than was owed on that day.
- If you and someone owe each other, their page shows both sides and the overall balance, and Settle clears the smaller side against the larger in one step.
- Tap the pencil on a person's page to rename them or change their colour, or the bin to delete them with everything between you.
- Money owed to you can count in your net worth or not, item by item. People never count toward the free limit.
Net worth reminders2
- Turn on Net worth reminders in the net worth tracker's Settings for three kinds of reminder: the check-in on the 1st of the month, the morning of each loan's EMI, and the day money is due back or due to be paid.
- They are made on your device from what is in your book and change as it does. PennyBook asks for notification permission the first time you turn them on.
Ask PennyBook6
- Ask PennyBook answers questions about your money in plain words. Tap the sparkle at the top of the Transactions tab and ask: "How much did I spend on food last month?", "Where did my money go this month?", "Why was September so high?" or "Did I save money this year?"
- Each answer comes with the figure, and where it helps a chart, a split by category and Show the entries for the entries behind it.
- It remembers the conversation while it is open, so follow-ups work: ask about food, then "and transport?" or "how about August?". New chat starts again, and Close forgets the conversation.
- Every figure is worked out by PennyBook from your own entries, the same way Insights works them out. Apple Intelligence only writes the words around them. Answers cover all your wallets unless you name one.
- It can answer what you spent or earned on something over a time, how months compare, how your spending has changed, your biggest expenses, where the money went, whether you saved, and what is in your wallets. It only knows what is in your book: it can't see your bank, prices or anything else, and it doesn't give financial advice.
- To ask by voice, tap the microphone in the question field, say it, and tap stop. Speech is recognised on your device.
Ask PennyBook: which devices4
- Ask PennyBook runs on Apple Intelligence on your device, so it needs one that supports Apple Intelligence, with iOS 26, iPadOS 26 or macOS 26 or later: an iPhone 15 Pro or newer, an iPad mini with A17 Pro, or an iPad or Mac with an M1 chip or newer, in a language Apple Intelligence supports.
- Apple Intelligence also has to be on. Open the Settings app, tap Apple Intelligence & Siri and turn it on. The first time, your device downloads what it needs; PennyBook's Settings says when it is still getting ready, and the sparkle appears when it is done.
- On a device without Apple Intelligence, nothing changes: the sparkle isn't shown, and everything else in PennyBook works as it always has.
- To turn it off, open PennyBook's Settings, find Smart help and turn off Ask PennyBook. Turn it on again the same way.
When an answer says nothing was spent4
- Look at the small labels under the figure, like September · Spending · All wallets. They show the time, the kind and the wallets the answer used. If one is not what you meant, ask again with it spelled out: "in August 2026", "on my Amex card".
- If you ask about a time before your first entry, the answer says when your book starts, and may offer to try the right month instead.
- Use the name of a category or a word from your notes. "Coffee" finds entries with coffee in the note; if you file them under Food, "food" gives the whole category.
- Transfers between your wallets are never spending or income, so they don't show up in what you spent.
PennyBook Pro5
- Your first 100 entries and 10 net worth items are free. After that, adding more asks for Pro: one payment of $19.99 (or the local price the App Store shows you) that unlocks both trackers, and nothing recurring. People and the money between you never count.
- What you were saving waits while you buy, and saves the moment Pro is unlocked. You can also tap Go Pro at the top of any screen, or the Pro card in Settings → App settings.
- Balance adjustments never count toward the 100. Entries brought in by an import do count, but an import is never cut short: your whole history comes over either way.
- Everything else stays free, always: reading, searching, editing, deleting, adjusting a balance, importing, exporting and erasing.
- Pro follows your Apple Account, so it covers your other iPhones, iPads and Mac. If it doesn't show on a new device, tap Restore purchase in Settings → App settings.
Wallets and balances5
- A wallet is a place your money lives: cash, a bank account, a credit card, an e-wallet. PennyBook asks for your first one when you start, and you add the rest in Settings → Wallets (the + at the top right). Every entry belongs to a wallet.
- A balance is what you said was in the wallet, plus everything dated since that day. Entries you fill in from before that day are history and don't change it.
- The pill at the top of the Transactions tab shows All wallets or one of them. Tap it to switch, or to reach Manage wallets. PennyBook opens on the one you looked at last, and Insights starts on it too. Add an entry while looking at a wallet and it starts on that wallet; otherwise it starts on the one you used last.
- If the number drifts from what your bank says, pick the wallet at the top of the Transactions tab and tap Adjust on its balance card. Enter the new balance and a note if you like; PennyBook writes one visible entry for the difference, and nothing already in the book is changed.
- In Settings → Wallets, tap a wallet to rename it or change its kind or colour, and touch and hold one to move it. Hide wallet, keep its transactions takes it off the add screen and out of the totals. Delete wallet and its transactions removes them for good; a transfer to a wallet you keep stays there as a plain entry, so that wallet's balance doesn't move.
Transfers and credit cards2
- A transfer moves money between two of your wallets: an ATM withdrawal is Bank → Cash. It is never counted as spending or income. Transfer appears once you have a second wallet.
- A credit card wallet shows what you owe. Paying the bill is a transfer from your bank into the card, not a second expense.
Bringing your history over6
- Open the Import tab and tap Choose a file for the export from your old app, or Paste a table copied from a spreadsheet. Money Lover, Wallet, Spendee, Monefy, Cashew, YNAB, Goodbudget, Money Manager and PennyBook's own export are recognised; any other CSV with a date and an amount works too.
- PennyBook reads CSV and tab-separated text. It can't open an Excel file yet: save it as CSV first, or copy the rows (with their header line) and paste them.
- Before anything is written you see how many entries will come in, the dates they cover, what is skipped as already in your book, and any rows that could not be read. Tap through to change which wallet or category a name lands in, or how dates and amounts are read.
- Wallets come across as they are. Categories are matched to PennyBook's own; a name with no match goes under Other, and the name is kept in each entry's note, so a search still finds it. Entries in another currency are kept as written.
- Every import is listed on the Import tab under Past imports with Remove, which takes out everything it brought in. Wallets the import made stay, in case you have used them since.
- The file is read on your device and never sent anywhere.
iCloud sync and a new device4
- Turn on Sync with iCloud in Settings → App settings to keep both trackers on your other iPhones, iPads and Mac, along with your currency. It uses your own private iCloud; you need to be signed in to iCloud on each device.
- The line under the switch says what is happening: syncing, when it last synced, or what is stopping it.
- On a new device, PennyBook looks in your iCloud when you first open it. If it finds your book, tap Bring it here. If not, tap Get your book from iCloud on the first-wallet screen instead of making a wallet. Your wallets and entries arrive by themselves; it can take a minute for a big book.
- Turn sync off whenever you like. The book stays on this device, and the copy already in iCloud stays where it is.
Finding an entry4
- Tap the magnifying glass at the top. In the expense tracker, search covers every entry from the first one, not just the month on screen; in the net worth tracker it covers everything you own, owe and lent.
- Type a few words or an amount. Every word has to match somewhere: the title, the note, the category or the wallet. A number also matches the amount exactly, so "swiggy 345" finds the ₹345 Swiggy order.
- The filter button beside the field opens one drawer to narrow it by Kind, Wallet, Category, Amount and Dates. What you pick shows as tags under the field; tap one to clear it. The count and the total of everything found sit above the results.
- Tap a result to change it. Close is at the top left.
Your month, budget and Insights6
- The Transactions tab shows one month at a time; the arrows beside its name go back and forward. The card at the top shows the balance, and the month's Income in green and Spent in coral. Green is always money in and coral money out, everywhere in the app.
- Set a Monthly budget in Settings. It is about spending only: income never refills it. The This month widget shows how much of it is left.
- The Insights tab looks at a Week, Month, 3 months, Year or any Dates you choose. The arrows go back and forward, and the pill at the top picks all wallets or one.
- Overview shows what you spent, what came in and what you kept, your spending each day by category, and your pace against the time before.
- Categories shows where it went as a ring, with each category's cost and how it moved since last time. Tap a category to see its entries.
- Habits shows your average spending on each weekday, a calendar where each day takes the colour of what it went on most, and the places you pay most.
Categories3
- There are twenty spending categories and twelve for income, plus Other in each. Settings → Categories has a tab for Spending and one for Income.
- Add your own with the +, or tap one to change its name, colour or icon. There are hundreds of icons, with a search, and fifteen soft colours. Touch and hold a category to move it (the first seven are the chips on the add screen), or swipe one away to remove it.
- A removed category keeps its past entries. It waits under Removed, and Show puts it back on the add screen.
Currency2
- Everything is in your home currency, which you choose in Settings → App settings → Currency. It applies to both trackers, and with iCloud sync on it follows you to your other devices. PennyBook does not fetch exchange rates from anywhere.
- Changing the currency later doesn't convert anything: every amount keeps its number and is shown in the new currency. PennyBook asks before it does this.
Siri and Shortcuts2
- Say "Log an expense in PennyBook" and tell it what you spent, such as "auto 140", or "+2000 refund" for income. It goes to the wallet you used last, with the category it guesses, without opening the app.
- The same action is in the Shortcuts app, and you can put it on the Action button. Make your first wallet in the app before using it.
Fixing and deleting3
- Tap any entry to change it. Swipe it left to delete it, or use the bin at the top of the entry.
- An entry deleted with a swipe can be brought back with Undo, which stays on screen for a few seconds.
- A balance adjustment can't be edited, since it records what the bank said. Swipe it away and adjust again if it was wrong.
Face ID lock2
- Turn on Lock with Face ID in Settings → App settings (Touch ID or your passcode on devices without Face ID). PennyBook locks each time you leave the app. Turning the lock on or off asks for Face ID first.
- PennyBook always covers both trackers in the app switcher, lock or no lock. Widgets show your figures whether the lock is on or not, so leave them off if that matters to you.
Your data5
- Both trackers live on your device and in your device backups, and in your private iCloud if sync is on. Nowhere else.
- Settings → Export everything as CSV saves the whole book to a place you choose. PennyBook can import that file again later.
- Erase everything removes every entry, wallet and import after Face ID or your passcode. Your categories go back to the starting set, your settings stay, and PennyBook asks for a first wallet again. With sync on, it also removes the book from iCloud and every device that syncs with it. Export and erase are free, always.
- Erase net worth, in the net worth tracker's Settings, removes everything you own, owe and lent, and leaves the expense tracker untouched.
- Deleting the app deletes the book on that device. If sync was on, the copy in iCloud stays, and Get your book from iCloud brings it back when you install PennyBook again.
Devices1
- PennyBook runs on iPhone and iPad with iOS 18 or later, and on a Mac with Apple silicon. Ask PennyBook needs a device with Apple Intelligence and iOS 26 or later; see which devices.
Privacy1
- PennyBook has no account, no servers of ours and no networking code of its own; iCloud sync, when you turn it on, uses your own iCloud. Ask PennyBook runs on your device and keeps nothing once you close it. The full policy is short: read it here.