User Manual

Everything you need to know to get started with Spend Pulse

📚 Table of Contents

🚀 Getting Started

1. Download and Install

Download Spend Pulse from the App Store on your iPhone or iPad. The app requires iOS 18.0 or later.

2. Start Your Free Trial

Spend Pulse offers a 30-day free trial with full access to all Pro features. After the trial, choose between monthly or yearly subscriptions.

  1. Open the app and tap Start Free Trial
  2. Create your account with email and password
  3. Verify your email address (check your inbox)
  4. Complete the onboarding questionnaire

3. Your Finance Workspace

Spend Pulse organizes your finances into a single unified workspace. You can use it solo for personal budgeting, or invite your partner, family, or roommates to collaborate.

💡 Tip: Customize your dashboard categories to fit your spending habits.

💰 Managing Your Finances

Adding Expenses

Track your spending by adding expenses manually or using Siri Shortcuts:

  1. Tap the + button on the Dashboard
  2. Select Add Expense
  3. Enter the amount, select a category, and add a merchant (optional)
  4. Choose which account the expense comes from
  5. Tap Save

🤖 Smart Categorization

Spend Pulse learns from your spending habits and automatically suggests categories based on merchants. The more you use it, the smarter it gets!

🍎 Apple Pay Integration

For the most reliable experience, utilize the power of Shortcuts to log transactions automatically:

Step 1: Create the Shortcut

  1. Open the Shortcuts app and tap + to create a new shortcut.
  2. Rename it to "Log Transaction".
  3. Add the "Add an Expense" action from Spend Pulse.
  4. In the action, set Amount to Shortcut Input.
  5. Tap the "Shortcut Input" token, set Type to Transaction, then select Amount.
  6. (Optional) Repeat for Merchant using the Transaction Merchant property.
  7. Tap Done.

Step 2: Create the Automation

  1. Go to the Automation tab and tap +.
  2. Select Transaction (under Wallet).
  3. Choose your cards and ensure Run Immediately is checked.
  4. Select New Empty Automation.
  5. Add the Run Shortcut action.
  6. Select your "Log Transaction" shortcut.
  7. Ensure the input is set to Transaction.
  8. Tap Done.

✨ Magic Validation: Now, when you pay with Apple Pay, the transaction details are automatically passed to Spend Pulse!

Adding Income

Record income sources to track your cash flow:

  1. Tap the + button
  2. Select Add Income
  3. Enter the amount and source (e.g., Salary, Freelance, Gifts)
  4. Choose the account where you received the money

Include in Monthly Budget

When creating recurring expenses, debts, or investments, you'll see a toggle called "Include in Monthly Budget":

For example:

💡 Tip: You can change this toggle anytime by editing the recurring expense. The setting helps you track recurring expenses without always counting them against monthly limits.

Managing Categories

Organize your spending with custom categories:

Create custom categories in Manage → Customization → Expense Categories to fit your unique needs.

Managing Tags

Keep your transactions organized with custom tags. You can now rename or delete tags to maintain a clean history:

  1. When adding or editing an expense, open the Tags selection sheet.
  2. Swipe left on any tag you wish to change.
  3. Select Rename to update the tag across all past transactions, or Delete to remove it entirely.

Setting Budgets

Set specific monthly spending limits for each category:

  1. Go to Manage → Customization
  2. Tap Monthly Budgets
  3. Tap on any category row
  4. Enter your monthly spending limit
  5. The progress bar will help you track spending throughout the month

🏦 Managing Accounts

Spend Pulse lets you organize multiple financial accounts to get a complete picture of your finances:

Note: Investment portfolios are managed separately in the Investments tab.

Add accounts in Manage → Accounts (via the grid) and update balances as they change.

💡 Tip: Enable "Include in Analytics" for accounts you want to track in your financial reports and insights.

🔒 Privacy Note: Spend Pulse does NOT connect to your bank. All account tracking is manual, giving you complete control over your data.

Credit Cards

When adding a credit card, you can specify two values:

The app calculates your Available Credit (Limit - Owed) as the account balance, while the "Amount Owed" is automatically tracked as a Debt liability.

Deleting Accounts

To keep your data clean, Spend Pulse performs smart checks when you delete an account:

🌍 Multi-Currency & Travel

Spend Pulse is the perfect travel companion, handling foreign currencies effortlessly while keeping your home budget accurate.

How it Works

Your group has a single Base Currency (e.g., USD). When you add an expense in a different currency (e.g., EUR while in Paris), the app automatically:

  1. Detects the foreign currency.
  2. Fetches the real-time exchange rate.
  3. Converts the amount to your Base Currency.
  4. Saves the converted amount to your ledger.

💡 Example: If your base currency is USD and you spend €10 EUR on lunch:
The app converts it (e.g., to $11.00 USD) and saves the USD value. This ensures your "Total Spent" is always mathematically correct, no matter where you are.

Changing Display Currency

You can change the currency symbol displayed in the app (e.g., to match your location) in App Settings → Financial Configuration. Note that this changes the display symbol only and does not re-convert your historic portfolio.

👥 Shared Budgeting

Turn your personal dashboard into a family finance hub by inviting others. Perfect for couples, families, or roommates.

Inviting Members

  1. Go to your Profile (tap your profile picture on the Dashboard)
  2. Tap Members
  3. Tap Invite Member to generate a secure invite code or link
  4. Share this code with your partner or family member

Permissions

When someone joins your group, you can control their access:

⚠️ Member Removal Policy: Only a member can remove themselves from a group. The Group Owner cannot kick or remove members once they have joined. This is a security feature to ensure that no one is unexpectedly locked out of their shared financial history. Members must choose to "Leave Group" voluntarily.

Note: If a member leaves by accident, they can rejoin anytime using the **Group Invite Code**. Please ensure you remember or save this code, otherwise you will need to ask the Group Owner to provide it again.

⚠️ Owner Warning: If you are the Group Owner and you choose to "Leave Group", the entire group and all shared data will be permanently deleted for all members. This action cannot be undone.

💡 One Group Policy: Spend Pulse creates one dedicated workspace for you. You cannot create additional groups, but you can invite up to 5 members (including yourself) to your existing one.

🤖 AI Financial Analyst

Spend Pulse includes an AI Financial Analyst powered by Google Gemini. Get personalized financial insights delivered to your dashboard.

How It Works

The AI Financial Analyst analyzes your spending patterns, income, and budgets to provide actionable insights:

Privacy & Security

⚠️ Important Disclaimer: AI insights are for informational purposes only and do not constitute professional financial advice. Always consult a qualified financial advisor for important decisions.

Your financial data is handled with care:

Accessing AI Insights

Accessing AI Insights

Tap the AI Analyst tab to view your personalized insights. You can manually refresh the analysis to get the latest recommendations based on your most recent data.

Daily Analysis Limit

To manage server costs and ensure high-speed performance for everyone, you can manually trigger the AI Analyst up to 5 times per day. This is typically more than enough for checking your daily financial health.

🔒 Privacy Note: You can disable AI Analyst in App Settings → Privacy & AI (access via profile picture on Dashboard) if you prefer not to use this feature.

📊 Analytics & Reports

Visualize your financial data with beautiful charts and comprehensive reports:

Available Analytics

Time Periods

View analytics for different time frames:

Exporting Data

Export your financial data for backups or external analysis. Go to the Manage tab, select Data Management, then tap Export to CSV. Currently supported formats:

🔒 Privacy Mode

Privacy Mode allows you to blur sensitive financial amounts with one tap - perfect for when you're using the app in public or showing someone your budget categories without revealing exact amounts.

How to Enable Privacy Mode

You can enable Privacy Mode in two ways:

Method 1: Dashboard Toggle (Quickest)

  1. On the Dashboard, tap the Eye Icon (👁️) at the top right of the screen.
  2. This instantly toggles privacy mode on or off.

Method 2: App Settings

  1. Go to App Settings (tap your profile picture on the Dashboard)
  2. Find Privacy Mode
  3. Toggle it on to blur all amounts

When enabled, all monetary values throughout the app will be blurred while category names, labels, and other non-sensitive information remain visible.

⚙️ Advanced Features

Salary Months & Holiday Calendar

Spend Pulse includes a powerful salary month tracking system that automatically adjusts for weekends and public holidays:

Setting Up Salary Day

  1. Go to App Settings (tap your profile picture on the Dashboard)
  2. Set your Salary Day of Month (e.g., 25th)
  3. Select your Country for holiday calendar

How It Works

💡 Example: If your salary day is the 25th but falls on a Saturday, the app will show Friday the 24th as your actual salary date.

Financial Cycle & Budget Reset

Choose how your budgets reset each month:

Change this in App Settings → Financial Configuration → Financial Cycle.

Smart Filters

Spend Pulse now keeps up with you:

Auto-Resume

The app automatically remembers your last selected filter (e.g., "This Month", "Last Year") across the Dashboard, Transactions, and Analytics. Pick up right where you left off without needing to set a default manually.

This setting applies globally and persists until you change it again.

Why Use Default Filters?

Save time by automatically showing the time period you check most often. For example:

💡 Tip: You can always change the filter temporarily within any tab—your default will persist for the next time you open the app.

Recurring Expense Salary Date

When adding recurring expenses (like rent or bills), you can optionally tie them to your salary date:

  1. When creating a recurring expense, select Frequency
  2. Choose "Use Salary Date" instead of a specific day
  3. The expense will automatically occur on your adjusted salary day each month (accounting for weekends/holidays)

Perfect for bills you pay on payday!

Multi-Country Holiday Support

Spend Pulse supports public holiday calendars for many countries including:

The app automatically fetches the latest holiday data when you set your country code.

✨ Tips & Best Practices

For Accurate Tracking

For Better Insights

🧾 Receipt Scanning

Never lose a receipt again! Spend Pulse allows you to attach photos of receipts to your expenses for better record-keeping.

How to Scan Receipts

  1. When adding or editing an expense, tap the Camera Icon or Add Receipt.
  2. Take a photo or choose from your library.
  3. The image is securely stored and attached to the transaction.

💡 Pro Tip: Scanning receipts is great for tax purposes or splitting bills with friends. Group members can also view receipts attached to shared expenses!

Storage Limits

To keep the app fast and affordable, cloud storage for full-resolution receipt images is capped at 3,000 images. If you reach this limit, you can still add expense data, but new

📉 Transaction Limits & Data Management

To ensure Spend Pulse remains fast, responsive, and syncs reliably across all your devices, we maintain specific limits on the number of active transactions per group.

Transaction Limit

Each family group can store up to 3,000 transactions (combined expenses and income). This limit helps maintain optimal performance for real-time synchronization.

Warning System

The app will keep you informed as you approach this limit:

What to Do When Full

If you reach the transaction limit, follow these steps to free up space while keeping your data safe:

  1. Go to the Manage tab and select Data Management.
  2. Tap Export to CSV to download a full backup of your transaction history.
  3. Save this file safely (e.g., to iCloud Drive or your computer).
  4. Delete old transactions from the app to make room for new ones. We recommend batch-deleting older years or months that you no longer need for daily budgeting.

💡 Performance Tip: Keeping your transaction count below the limit ensures that the AI Financial Analyst and search features work instantly.

💳 Managing Your Subscription

Subscription Plans

Managing Your Subscription

All subscription management is handled through the App Store:

  1. Open the Settings app on your iPhone or iPad
  2. Tap your name at the top
  3. Tap Subscriptions
  4. Find Spend Pulse and tap it
  5. Here you can cancel, change plans, or view your billing date

Canceling Your Trial or Subscription

You can cancel anytime through the App Store. If you cancel during the free trial, you won't be charged. If you cancel a paid subscription, you'll retain access until the end of your current billing period.

What Happens After Cancellation?

When you cancel your subscription:

Permanently Deleting Your Account

You have the right to delete your account and all associated data at any time. Spend Pulse provides two paths to accommodate different needs:

🔒 Immediate Action: The "Permanent Wipe" triggers our `cleanupAccountOnDelete` system immediately, removing all Firestore records and Storage files (receipts, avatars) instantly.

To start either process:

  1. Go to your Profile (tap your profile picture on the Dashboard)
  2. Scroll to the bottom and tap Delete Account
  3. Select your preferred deletion path

⚠️ Warning: Choosing "Permanent Wipe" is irreversible. All your financial history and budgets will be lost instantly. Make sure to export your data first if you need a record!

Your Data Rights (GDPR)

Under GDPR and similar privacy laws, you have the following rights:

For any data-related requests or questions, contact support@spendpulse.app

🔧 Troubleshooting

Data Not Syncing?

Subscription Issues?

Need More Help?

Contact support at support@spendpulse.app