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Groups and categories

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Categories are where your money goes (Groceries, Rent, Utilities), and groups keep related categories together. This page shows how to add, edit, reorder, archive and delete them so your budget fits your needs.

Tip

Your budget should mirror your real financial life. As your needs and goals change, adjust your categories so they show where your money really goes and what matters to you.

The app starts you off with a basic set of groups and categories for common expenses. Use them as a starting point and change anything you like.

Open the editor​

Open the side menu and tap Groups and categories (under Budget settings). The editor lists every group with its categories and subcategories.

Your groups and categories also appear on the Home screen, where you allocate money to them. You can change where they appear among the other Home sections in Home customization.

Free and Pro

On the Free plan you can have up to 10 groups and 50 categories. Pro raises this to 100 groups and 300 categories.

Add a category​

  1. Tap the New category button (the page with a plus) next to the group where the category belongs.

    The Groups and categories editor, with the new category button next to the Everyday group highlighted.The Groups and categories editor, with the new category button next to the Everyday group highlighted.

  2. Enter a Name and choose an icon and a colour. As you type the name, the app suggests a fitting icon.

  3. Confirm.

A category added to an income group becomes an income category.

Add a group​

Tap the New group button at the top of the editor, enter a name and confirm.

Edit a category​

  1. Tap the ⋮ next to the category.
  2. Tap Edit.
  3. Change the name, icon or colour and confirm.

Categories the app creates for you (for example a credit card's payment category) are marked Automatically generated and can't be edited.

Reorder​

  • Categories: drag a category by its handle to a new position. You can also drag it into another group, as long as it's the same kind of group (you can't move a spending category into an income group, for example).
  • Groups: tap the ⋮ on any group's header and choose Reorder groups, then drag the groups into order.
  • Subcategories: tap the ⋮ next to the parent category and choose Reorder subcategories.

Archive or delete a category​

  1. Tap the ⋮ next to the category.
  2. Tap Delete or Archive, then confirm.

You can only Delete a category that has no transactions and no allocated funds. If it has history, Archive it instead: it disappears from your budget, but past transactions and allocations stay as they were. A category with active subcategories can't be archived until you deal with its subcategories.

Bring back an archived category or group​

  1. Tap the ⋮ at the top of the editor and choose View archive.

  2. Archived groups and categories lists them under Categories and Groups, with the date each was archived.

  3. Tap the restore icon next to the one you want, then Unarchive to confirm.

    Archives listing a category and a group with their dates, the category's restore icon highlighted.Archives listing a category and a group with their dates, the category's restore icon highlighted.

It's back in your budget ("Category unarchived." or "Group unarchived."). Accounts, payees and tags have an archive of their own, under View archive on their lists: see Archived accounts, Payees and Tags.

Tip

Archiving is usually better than deleting categories you no longer use. Your budget stays tidy and your history is kept for reports.

Rename, archive or delete a group​

Tap a group's name to rename it, or tap the ⋮ on its header:

  • Rename: change the group's name.
  • Delete: only for a group with no active or archived categories.
  • Archive: only for a group with no active categories.

Subcategories​

Subcategories add a layer of detail inside a category, for example Car with Fuel, Insurance and Maintenance.

Create a subcategory​

  1. Tap the ⋮ next to the parent category.
  2. Tap New subcategory.
  3. Enter a name, choose a colour and confirm. Subcategories use their parent's icon.

To turn an existing category into a subcategory, choose Move into subcategory in its ⋮ menu and pick the new parent. To turn a subcategory back into a regular category, choose Move out in its ⋮ menu.

Use the show/hide subcategories button at the top of the editor to collapse subcategories when you want a shorter list.

How subcategories are funded​

Each subcategory has its own allocation and spending, separate from its parent. You can change how they work together in the parent category's ⋮ menu:

  • Fund subcategories: automatically covers overspending in a subcategory from the parent category, if funds are available. Useful when you allocate a lump sum to the parent and let the subcategories draw from it as you spend.
  • Aggregate target allocations: combines the allocations of the parent and its subcategories when checking the parent's target.

Category details​

Every category has a Category details screen with its settings. Open it from the Budget tab: tap the category, then the Settings button (the gear) at the top of its sheet. See Allocate money to a category. There you set its target, reminders and the options below.

Notes​

Tap Notes to write anything you want to remember about the category, such as what it covers or an account number. A small note icon then shows next to the category's name on the Budget tab.

Exclude from totals​

In a classic budget or a simple tracker, the ⋮ at the top of Category details has Exclude from totals: "Ignores this category in budget totals. Ideal for one-off or reimbursable items."

When it's on, the category still keeps its own allocation, spending and transactions, but it's left out of:

A small icon next to its name on the Budget tab shows it's excluded. Tap the option again to count it once more. Income categories, credit card payment categories and categories linked to an account don't have this option.

Category natures​

A category's nature says what kind of money it is: Essential, Discretionary, Savings, Occasional Expenses, Work or Debt Repayment (categories without one are Uncategorized). Natures power the category-nature views of the reports, such as Where does my money go?.

To set them, tap the ⋮ at the top of the editor and choose Category natures (a Pro feature: on the Free plan it shows what Pro includes). The screen lists your spending categories grouped by nature:

  • Swipe right to mark a category Essential, swipe left to mark it Discretionary. Swiping a category the way it's already set clears its nature. A message confirms each change, for example "'Rent' has been updated to 'Essential'."
  • Tap a category to pick any nature from the full list.
  • Spending insights at the top opens Where have I spent the most over time? grouped by category nature.
Category natures: categories grouped under Essential, Discretionary, Savings and Debt repayment.Category natures: categories grouped under Essential, Discretionary, Savings and Debt repayment.
Category natures with Groceries half swiped to the right, the Essential icon showing.Category natures with Groceries half swiped to the right, the Essential icon showing.

Income and credit card payment categories don't have a nature. You can also reach the editor from the reports' Edit category natures and from Allocation suggestions (the compass button, see Auto allocation). The Surplus funds overview also links here when no category is marked Essential yet.

Info

The category progress bar is shown inside the available funds field by default. You can show it below the category name instead in Category visuals.

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