Dashboard
Monthly surplus or deficit, spending breakdown, year-to-date summary, goals preview, recent activity, and pending recurring reminders — with quick-add for income, expenses, and receipts. Reorder or hide sections to suit you.
Offline-first budget planning 
Plan your budget the StepChange way
Income, costs, debts, and surplus — on your device. No bank linking, no Accipe account, no ads. Optional encrypted backups to your own Google Drive or iCloud, and optional Cloud OCR for receipts when you choose.
Features
Built for UK households with the full StepChange category taxonomy — plus debt payoff planning, goals, analytics, receipt scanning, and tools advisers expect.
Budget
StepChange income, fixed, and flexible costs with UK-specific categories. Add custom categories, emoji badges for frequent ones, and recurring rules that convert weekly or annual amounts to monthly equivalents.
Debts
Priority and non-priority debts with APR, payment history, and payoff strategies (snowball, avalanche, snowflake, custom order). What-if extra payments, milestones, local due reminders, and court orders (CCJs, DROs, AoE, and more).
Goals
Savings, debt payoff, spending limits, income targets, and custom goals — with progress auto-linked from budget data. Shared pool allocation (proportional or priority waterfall) when goals compete for the same surplus.
Analytics
Five tabs: Overview, Trends, Categories, Insights, and Tips — savings projections, cashflow forecasts, net worth outlook, debt projections, essential vs discretionary mix, and ONS UK household benchmarks.
Assets
Property, savings, investments, pension pots, and vehicles — with outstanding finance, net equity, and liquid/joint flags for a fuller picture.
Receipt scanning
Capture receipts with your camera. On-device OCR extracts merchant and amount; optional Cloud OCR (via Google Vision) improves accuracy. Pre-fills expense entries.
Import & export
4-step CSV/Excel import with column mapping. Export selective CSV sections or a StepChange-style PDF for your records or debt adviser.
Backup vault
Local AES-256-GCM encrypted .clbak files you control. Optional automatic backup to your own Google Drive (Android and iOS) or iCloud (iOS).
Pay cycle
Set when your budget period starts (day 1–28) so surplus and reminders align with your payday, not just the calendar month.
Customisation
Appearance themes, accessibility options, customise dashboard layout, custom income and expense categories, and home-screen widgets for surplus, debts, goals, and quick-add.
Security
Per-profile PIN and Face ID or Touch ID. Auto-lock on background with cooldown after failed attempts. Multi-profile budgets with their own currency, pay cycle, and optional DMP fee.
Onboarding wizard
13 guided steps — skip any section and return later. Restore from Drive or iCloud on the welcome screen if you already have a backup.
Profile & debts first
Name, emoji, currency, pay cycle, and optional DMP fee — then debts and court orders (skippable).
Recurring income & fixed costs
Earnings, benefits & tax credits, pensions & other income, then fixed expenses — each skippable. Flexible costs are added later in Budget.
Assets, goals & review
Assets and goals, then a surplus estimate with jump-back editing.
Cloud backup & PIN
Optional automatic Drive/iCloud backup setup, then PIN and biometrics.
Privacy by design
No bank linking, no Accipe account, and no ads. Budget data lives in a local SQLite database on your device.
You control backups
Manual .clbak files or optional encrypted backup to your own Google Drive or iCloud — never Accipe budget servers.
Local insights
Analytics screens and ONS benchmarks run on-device. Release builds may send crash diagnostics to Firebase Crashlytics (not marketing analytics).
Category personalization
Emoji badges and custom categories — stored locally only.
Home screen widgets
Optional widgets for surplus, debt, spending, goals, and quick-add — snapshots stay on your device.
How it works
1
Run the setup wizard
Create your profile, add debts and income, then fixed costs, assets, and goals — or skip and fill in later. Optionally restore from Drive or iCloud on first launch.
2
Track & capture spending
Use Budget for flexible costs, receipt scanning for expenses, and recurring rules so entries stay up to date automatically.
3
Plan ahead with insights
Check your dashboard surplus, set linked goals, compare spending to ONS benchmarks, and export PDF or CSV when you need to.
Screenshots
Pricing
Free — no ads, no in-app purchases, no subscription.
FAQ
Does UK Budget Planner connect to my bank? ▼
No. UK Budget Planner does not link to banks, credit cards, or Open Banking APIs. You enter your income and costs manually, or capture expenses via receipt scanning.
Where is my data stored? ▼
Budget data is stored locally on your device in SQLite. It is not uploaded to Accipe servers. You can optionally export encrypted .clbak backups or enable automatic backup to your own Google Drive or iCloud account.
Do I need an account or internet connection? ▼
No Accipe account is required. Core budgeting works offline after installation. Internet is needed for the initial download, this website, and optional features you enable (Drive/iCloud backup or Cloud OCR). Google Sign-In is only used if you enable Drive backup.
What is the StepChange methodology? ▼
UK Budget Planner follows the structure of the StepChange Budget Planner — separating income, fixed costs, flexible costs, and debt payments to calculate your monthly surplus or deficit. UK Budget Planner is not affiliated with or endorsed by StepChange.
Is UK Budget Planner financial advice? ▼
No. UK Budget Planner is a budgeting tool to help you organise and understand your finances. It does not provide regulated financial advice. For debt help, contact a registered advice charity such as StepChange Debt Charity or Citizens Advice.
How do encrypted backups work? ▼
From Settings → Backup & cloud, export an encrypted .clbak file using AES-256-GCM, or enable automatic backup to Google Drive (Android and iOS) or iCloud (iOS). Files stay in your cloud account. We cannot recover a lost passphrase.
Can I import data from a spreadsheet? ▼
Yes. A 4-step CSV/Excel import wizard lets you preview data, map columns, assign categories, and confirm. Saved mappings speed up repeat imports. See the user guide for details.
What goal types are supported? ▼
Savings, debt payoff, spending limits, income targets, and custom goals. Progress can auto-link from assets, debts, income, or spending. Shared pool allocation (proportional or priority waterfall) helps when goals share the same surplus.
How does receipt scanning work? ▼
Tap Capture receipt on the dashboard or budget quick-add bar. On-device OCR reads merchant and amount by default. Optional Cloud OCR sends the image to our OCR proxy (Google Cloud Vision) for better accuracy — only when you enable it. Review before saving.
What is a pay cycle? ▼
Your pay cycle is the day each month your budget period starts (e.g. payday on the 25th). Surplus, reminders, and period navigation align to your cycle rather than the calendar month. Set it during onboarding or in Settings → Pay cycle.
Does the app send any data off my device? ▼
Budget numbers stay on-device unless you back up or use Cloud OCR. Release builds may send crash and performance diagnostics to Firebase Crashlytics and Performance (device/install identifiers — not your budget). Optional Drive Sign-In and Cloud OCR are off unless you enable them. There are no ads and no Firebase Analytics marketing SDK.
How do I delete my data? ▼
Uninstall the app or clear app storage to remove local budget data. Delete optional Drive/iCloud backups in your own cloud account. For anything Accipe may hold (such as crash diagnostics), email support@accipe.co.uk with subject “Data deletion request – UK Budget Planner”. Full steps: https://accipe.co.uk/apps/ukbudgetplanner/data-deletion/
Can I manage more than one budget? ▼
Yes. Multiple profiles each have their own budget data, currency, pay cycle, PIN, and optional DMP admin fee. Switch from the dashboard profile chip or Settings → Profiles.
Where can I download the app? ▼
UK Budget Planner is free on Google Play now. The App Store listing is pending review — the App Store button will open the listing once Apple approves it.
Start using UK Budget Planner today
Free — no ads, no in-app purchases, no subscription.