When you open UK Budget Planner for the first time, a 13-step onboarding wizard walks you through setup. Every step after Welcome is skippable — return later from Budget or Settings. On the welcome screen you can also restore from Google Drive or iCloud if you already have an encrypted backup.

Onboarding steps

1. Welcome — introduction, or restore from Drive / iCloud.
2. Profile — name, emoji avatar, currency (GBP default), pay-cycle start day (1–28), and optional DMP admin fee.
3. Debts — priority and non-priority debts (skippable).
4. Court orders — CCJs, DROs, attachment of earnings, and more (skippable).
5. Earnings — wages and salary income.
6. Benefits & tax credits — Universal Credit, child benefit, and similar.
7. Pensions & other income — pensions and any other sources.
8. Fixed expenses — rent, utilities, insurance, and other essential fixed costs.
9. Assets — property, savings, vehicles, and other valuables.
10. Goals — financial targets.
11. Review — surplus estimate with section summaries; tap any section to jump back and edit.
12. Cloud backup — optional automatic backup to Drive or iCloud.
13. PIN — 4-digit PIN and optional Face ID or Touch ID.

Main navigation

Five bottom tabs: Dashboard, Budget, Debts, Goals, and Analytics. Tap the settings icon for backup, import, profiles, pay cycle, receipt scanning, appearance, and more.

The dashboard is your home screen. It summarises your financial position for the current budget period.

What you'll see

• Period overview — monthly surplus or deficit, income, outgoings, and debt payments.
• Spending breakdown — visual breakdown of where your money goes.
• Year to date — cumulative figures across the calendar year.
• Goals progress — progress on your active financial goals.
• Recent activity — latest income and expense entries.
• Pending recurring — banner when recurring rules are due to fire.

Customise layout

In Settings → Customise dashboard you can reorder or hide these sections so the home screen matches how you work.

Quick actions

• Profile switcher — chip in the app bar to change household profile.
• Period selector — navigate to previous or next pay periods.
• Quick-add bar — add income, add expense, or capture receipt.
• Export PDF — shortcut in the app bar for a StepChange-style document.

The Budget tab follows the StepChange structure with full UK category taxonomy: income groups, fixed cost groups, and flexible cost groups. You can also add custom income and expense categories (up to five of each).

Income

Four income groups with UK-specific leaf categories: Earnings, Benefits & tax credits, Pensions, and Other income. Set amount and payment frequency (weekly, fortnightly, 4-weekly, monthly, quarterly, annual, etc.). UK Budget Planner converts everything to a monthly equivalent automatically.

Fixed and flexible costs

Fixed costs cover essential outgoings (home, utilities, care, transport, insurance, and more). Flexible costs cover variable spending (food, personal costs, leisure, and more).

Recurring rules

Mark entries as recurring with start and end dates. Rules can be paused or ended. Manage consolidated recurring income from Settings → Income sources.

Period navigation

Use the period selector (shared with Dashboard) to view and edit budget data for previous or upcoming pay periods aligned to your pay cycle.

Track debts separated into priority and non-priority categories, as recommended by UK debt advice organisations.

Debt details

For each debt record: creditor, balance, monthly payment, minimum payment, APR, original balance, start date, and agreed payoff date. Log payments and milestones to keep balances current. Optional local reminders alert you when payments are due.

Payoff strategies

Choose a strategy to model how debts clear over time:

• Snowball — smallest balance first for quick wins.
• Avalanche — highest interest first to minimise total interest.
• Snowflake — apply extra one-off payments as they arrive (focus debt).
• Custom order — set your own payoff priority.

Compare strategies, run what-if extra payments, and see a debt-free projection chart.

Court orders

Record CCJs, administration orders, attachment of earnings, bankruptcy orders, DROs, and other court orders. Link to a debt entry where relevant; track satisfaction dates.

Set financial goals and track progress — with optional auto-linking from your live budget data.

Goal types

• Savings — build an emergency fund or save toward a purchase.
• Debt payoff — clear a specific debt or all debts.
• Spending limit — cap spending in a fixed or flexible category.
• Income — reach an income target.
• Custom — any other target you define.

Auto-linked progress

Link a goal to all or specific assets or debts, total or category income, fixed or flexible spend, or enter progress manually.

Shared pool allocation

When several goals draw on the same surplus, choose proportional or priority waterfall allocation so progress is shared fairly.

Deeper insights into your budget over time. All analysis runs locally — no budget data is sent to analytics servers. Use the period selector to change the time range.

Overview

• Year summary banner.
• Savings projection card.
• Income vs outgoings chart.
• Surplus trend over time.

Trends

• Year-on-year savings comparison.
• Stacked outgoings chart and income waterfall.
• Cashflow forecast (3, 6, or 12 months).
• Net worth outlook and debt projection.

Categories

Essential vs discretionary mix, top categories, category groups, and period mix charts.

Insights

Patterns from your data: biggest category, categories to watch, best and worst months, debt-to-income ratio, surplus streaks, and more.

Tips

Actionable suggestions compared to bundled ONS UK household benchmarks by income band — informational only, not regulated financial advice.

Record what you own for a fuller net-worth picture. Access from Settings → Assets & savings or during onboarding.

Asset types

• Savings and investments.
• Pension pots.
• Property and vehicles.
• Other valuables.

For each asset: estimated value, outstanding finance (net equity), annual return, jointly owned flag, liquid flag, and valuation date. Assets feed into analytics and can auto-link to savings goals.

Capture expenses quickly by photographing receipts instead of typing amounts manually.

How to scan

1. Tap Capture receipt on the dashboard or budget quick-add bar.
2. Photograph or select a receipt image.
3. Review extracted merchant name and amount — edit if needed.
4. Confirm category and save to your budget.

OCR options

On-device OCR (ML Kit) runs locally by default. For difficult receipts, enable Cloud OCR in Settings → Receipt scanning — the image is sent to our OCR proxy (Google Cloud Vision) only when you choose this option. Receipt photos are not stored by Accipe after processing.

Full control over your data: encrypted local backups, optional cloud sync to your own account, and import/export tools. Open Settings → Backup & cloud for Local and Cloud tabs.

Manual backup (.clbak)

1. Go to Settings → Backup & cloud → Local.
2. Tap Export and choose a passphrase.
3. Save the encrypted .clbak file wherever you like.
4. To restore, tap Import and enter the same passphrase.

Files use AES-256-GCM encryption. We cannot recover a lost passphrase.

Automatic cloud backup (optional)

Enable Cloud backup to save encrypted backups to Google Drive (Android and iOS) or iCloud Documents (iOS) — your own cloud account, not Accipe servers.

• Frequencies: daily, weekly, biweekly, or monthly.
• Wi‑Fi only option available.
• Runs on app unlock; one encrypted file per profile.

Import CSV / Excel

Settings → Import CSV / Excel — 4-step wizard: select file, preview, map columns, assign categories, confirm. Saved mappings speed up repeat imports.

Export CSV and PDF

Export selective CSV sections (transactions, debts, assets, budget items) or a StepChange-style PDF from Settings or the dashboard shortcut.

Appearance

Light, dark, or system theme. Optional appearance packs (Classic, Beach, Green Nature, High Tech, Sunset).

Accessibility

Simplified dashboard, reduce motion, larger text, and debt-term help.

Customise dashboard

Reorder or hide dashboard sections (period overview, year to date, spending breakdown, recent activity, pending recurring, goals).

Categories

Custom categories (up to five income and five expense). Category personalization adds emoji badges to your most-used categories.

Widgets

Optional home-screen widgets: Surplus, Debt, Spending, Goals, Metrics, and Quick Add. Snapshots stay on your device. Enable in Settings → Widgets (mobile).

Multiple budget profiles for separate households, currencies, or personal vs shared finances.

Profile settings

• Name and emoji avatar.
• Currency (GBP default; USD, EUR, or custom).
• Pay-cycle start day (1–28).
• Optional DMP / debt admin fee (monthly).
• Per-profile PIN and biometric unlock.

PIN & biometrics

Settings → Face ID / Touch ID / PIN lock. The app locks when you leave it. Failed PIN attempts trigger a cooldown. Biometrics fall back to PIN if needed.

Pay cycle

Settings → Pay cycle — set the day your budget period starts each month. A live preview shows the current period range.

Access Settings from the gear icon on any main screen.

Budget setup

• Income sources — manage recurring earnings, benefits, and pensions.
• Assets & savings — asset register.
• Custom categories — up to five income and five expense categories.

Customisation

• Appearance — theme and appearance packs.
• Accessibility — simplified dashboard, motion, text size.
• Customise dashboard — reorder or hide sections.
• Category personalization — emoji badges.
• Pay cycle — budget period start day.
• Receipt scanning — Cloud OCR toggle and capture tips.
• Widgets — home-screen widget preferences.

Data

• Backup & cloud — local and automatic encrypted backups.
• Import CSV / Excel — 4-step wizard.
• Export CSV — selective section export.
• Export PDF — StepChange-style document.

Profiles & security

• Profiles — create, switch, or archive budgets.
• Face ID / Touch ID / PIN lock — security status and setup.

About

App version, website, privacy policy, support email, and in-app review prompt.

I forgot my PIN

Your PIN is stored only on your device — it cannot be reset remotely. If you have an encrypted backup (.clbak) or cloud backup, reinstall and restore. Contact support@accipe.co.uk for guidance.

My backup won't restore

Ensure you're selecting a valid .clbak file and entering the correct passphrase. For cloud backup, check you're signed into the same Google or iCloud account used when the backup was created.

Import mapping looks wrong

Review the column mapping step carefully before confirming. Cancel and restart if needed.

Surplus figure seems incorrect

Check payment frequencies and your pay-cycle start day in Settings. A weekly cost entered as monthly will skew results.

Receipt scan missed the amount

Edit the extracted values before saving. Enable Cloud OCR in Settings for faded or crumpled receipts.

Cloud backup not running

Confirm automatic backup is enabled, you're signed into Google Drive or iCloud, and Wi‑Fi only is not blocking on mobile data. Backup runs on app unlock.

How do I delete my data?

See the data deletion page for local data, Drive/iCloud backups, and requests for anything Accipe may hold.

Need more help?

See the FAQs on the UK Budget Planner page or use our contact form. Email support@accipe.co.uk.