Answers to common questions about TidyWallet.

When the app doesn't show a number

When the app is missing the data it needs for a figure, it shows you what's missing. These two cases can look like bugs, but the app is working as intended.

A holding reads "Not valued"

There's no current price for this holding. The quantity you recorded is kept and nothing is lost. The app won't value the holding at zero, because an unknown value and a value of zero mean different things. The value comes back on its own once a price is available again.

Something sits outside your net worth

When a balance is in a currency the app has no exchange rate for, it's left out of the total and listed separately. That way you can tell the total is incomplete. The balance is counted again as soon as a rate for that currency is available.

A transaction dated ahead

A transaction dated in the future is saved, but it doesn't change an account balance or your net worth until that date arrives, because a bill you've entered early hasn't been paid yet. Budgets and analytics count it in the period it's dated for.

If the ledger file is damaged

If the file that holds your ledger is damaged, for example because the phone shut down while saving or the storage failed, the app keeps the file. It moves the damaged file aside, starts an empty ledger so the app can open, and pauses automatic backup so the empty ledger can't overwrite a good backup. Each time you open the app, it asks whether to restore from a backup or keep the new empty ledger. Most people should restore. Either choice turns automatic backup back on.

Free plan limits

The free plan allows one money account, one asset account and one budget. Money and asset accounts have separate limits so you can track gold or crypto and still keep your bank account. If you try to add a second account of the same kind, the app tells you the limit has been reached.

Recording purchases and sales is free, and so is the Portfolio tab. On the free plan it lists every holding with its quantity, live price and current value, and shows each asset’s price chart. The paid plan adds the cost basis, unrealised and realised gain, allocation and each holding’s share, along with analytics beyond this month’s spending and cloud backup to Google Drive. Restoring from Drive is free.

To lift these limits, subscribe to the paid plan from Settings › Subscription. It's sold monthly or yearly through Google Play, with a 7-day free trial for new subscribers. Reaching a limit never changes, hides or deletes anything you've already entered.

What each plan includes is set out on the plans section of the home page.

Your subscription and its payments

Once the paid plan is on sale, you'll buy and manage it through Google Play from Settings › Subscription. On the paid plan, tapping that row opens the subscription’s page in Google Play, where you can cancel it or change the payment method.

If a payment is pending, for example a cash or bank transfer payment that takes a few days, the row shows it as pending and the plan unlocks when the payment clears. You don't need to buy again.

If a renewal fails, Google Play retries the payment for a while and the paid plan keeps working in the meantime. Google Play shows its own message over the app asking you to fix the payment. Fixing it there is enough, and the app picks up the change without a restart. If the retries run out, Google Play puts the subscription on hold and the app switches to the free plan until the payment goes through. Your records stay as they are.

Cloud backup and Google Drive

Cloud backup is a paid feature and is off until you turn it on. When you do, the app asks Google for access to its own hidden folder in your Drive. It can't see your other files. The app keeps one copy of your ledger in that folder.

If the settings row says the account needs to be linked again, the app’s access was probably removed in your Google account settings. Linking again restores it. The message “There is not enough room in your Google Drive” means your Drive is full, and you need to free up space in Drive.

Every copy is protected with your backup passphrase. The first backup, by hand or automatic, asks you to choose one; after that, neither asks again. Nobody can open a copy without the passphrase, including the developer, so if you forget it the copy is lost. You can choose a new one under Backup passphrase in the Drive backup menu in Settings.

You can restore the copy in your Drive onto this phone or a new one. This is the fastest way to move to a new phone.

Automatic backup

Automatic backup is part of the paid plan. Open Drive backup in Settings: Back up now sends one copy to your Drive, and the Automatic backup switch sends one every day. Link your Google account first, from the same menu.

Both use your backup passphrase. Each copy is locked with a key stored on this phone, and the passphrase is what lets a new phone open it, so keep it somewhere you'll still have if you lose the phone. You choose it the first time you back up either way, and neither asks again.

Turning automatic backup off stops the daily copy but keeps the key, so a copy you send with Back up now is still protected. To use a different passphrase, choose Backup passphrase in the same menu.

On days when nothing in your ledger changed, no new backup is made. If you haven't used the app for a while, the latest backup date will be from the last day you made a change.

Moving to a new phone

Make a backup on the old phone, move the file to the new phone any way you like, and restore it there. If cloud backup is off, there's no copy in the cloud, so you need to move the file yourself.

You can protect the backup with a passphrase or skip it. With a passphrase, nobody can open the backup without it, including the developer, so if you forget it the backup is lost. Without one, anyone who opens the file can read it. Uninstalling the app deletes its data, so make the backup before you reset or trade in the old phone.

Exporting and restoring your records

You can export your records as a CSV of transactions, a PDF statement, or a backup file that holds the whole ledger.

To bring records back in, use restore with a backup file you kept or with the copy in your Drive. Restoring is free on both plans. The app can't import bank exports or files from other apps. If you're switching from another app, add your accounts with their current balances and record new transactions from there.

Credit card spending

If you log each purchase on a credit card and also record the payment from your bank, the same money is counted twice. To avoid that, turn on Track only in the card’s settings. The card is then left out of your net worth and reports, and the payment from your bank counts as spending. It's filed under Credit card unless you choose another category.

Enter purchases as normal expenses on the card, with their categories, and the payment as a transfer from your bank to the card. When you add the card, enter what you owe under Amount owed. Tap the card to see its spending by category. You can't move money from a track-only card to another account, because that would raise your net worth while the card’s debt isn't counted.

Your main currency

Your main currency is chosen once, the first time you open the app, and it can't be changed afterwards. Price history is stored in it, so changing it later would strand every price already recorded under the old one. Settings shows the currency you chose but doesn't offer to edit it.

Restoring a backup is the one exception, because a backup brings its own main currency with it.

Your accounts keep their own currencies whatever the main currency is. Net worth and the value of your holdings are converted into the main currency. Budgets and Analytics aren't converted: spending from an account in another currency is shown in its own currency in Analytics and left out of budget totals, and each screen says so when that happens.

Still stuck?

The app has its own searchable guide under Settings › Help & FAQ, with a page for every screen. If neither answers your question, the Support page explains how to reach the developer.