Auto allocation

Available onAndroidiOSWeb

Auto allocation hands out the money you still have to allocate across your categories in one tap. Instead of typing an amount into every category, pick a strategy (copy last month, use your averages, fund your targets) and the app does the rest.

Tip

Auto allocation works best once you have a month or two of history, or targets set on your categories. The more the app knows about your budget, the better its suggestions.

Open auto allocation

Auto allocation is only offered when you have money left to allocate.

1. Go to the Budget tab.

2. In the Budget health check card, look for the message You have … left to allocate to your categories.

3. Tap the lightbulb icon next to it.

   

You can also tap the message itself to open Allocation suggestions, then tap the lightbulb icon at the top of that screen.

Choose how to allocate

The Auto allocation screen groups its options into sections. Tap an option to run it straight away.

Allocate to surplus funds

Shown when you have surplus fund categories. Tap one of them to put everything that's still Ready to allocate into that category. See Surplus funds overview.

Strategy-Based Allocation

• Smart allocation: cover overspending first, then handle upcoming transactions, and finally allocate to targets by priority. Good when you have bills due or categories in the red and want the essentials sorted before saving for later goals.
• Use past average allocations: use the average allocations from the past 3 months. Keeps your budget consistent with what you usually plan.
• Use past average spending: use the average spending from the past 3 months. Makes sure your usual spending is covered.
• Last month allocation: apply the same allocations as last month. Ideal when your expenses don't change much.
• Last month spending: base allocations on last month's actual spending.

Target-Based allocation

• Fund all targets: allocate to every category with a target.
• Fund essential targets only: only categories whose nature is Essential.
• Fund discretionary targets only: only categories whose nature is Discretionary.

You set a category's nature in its Category details screen (Category nature).

The target-based options first cover what every target has due by today, then use what's left to top weekly and twice-a-month targets up to their whole month. See Fund your targets.

Advanced Allocation Options

These switches change how every strategy above behaves:

• Enable partial allocation: allow allocating even if there isn't enough to fully cover all targets. Useful on a tight month: every category still makes some progress.
• Replace existing allocations: replace amounts you've already allocated instead of adding to them. Be careful, this can overwrite amounts you entered by hand. (Smart allocation never replaces existing amounts.)
• Bypass available balance check: allocate to everything the strategy asks for, even if it's more than you have. This can cause overallocation and overspending (see Overallocation).

When Replace existing allocations or Bypass available balance check is on, the app asks Proceed with allocation? before it changes anything.

Review the result

When the allocation finishes you'll see Allocation successful with the number of categories that were updated. Tap View changes to open Auto allocation results: every category that changed, shown as Adjusted from the old amount to the new one, with its available balance. Tap a category to open it and fine-tune the amount by hand.

If none of your categories matched the strategy, you'll see Allocation skipped — no eligible categories found. Try another strategy, or add targets or upcoming transactions first.

Allocation suggestions

Allocation suggestions shows where your money is needed, so you can allocate it by hand, category by category. To open it, tap the "left to allocate" message (or its arrow) in the Budget health check on the Budget tab.

A banner at the top tells you how much you still have to allocate, or warns you when you've allocated more than you have (its ? explains overallocation). Below it:

• With Sort targets by priority off, your spending groups and categories as on the Budget tab, with each target's progress. Tap a target's ⋮ and choose Edit target to change it.
• With Sort targets by priority on, three sections, each with its total:
  • Overspending: categories below zero, the most overspent first;
  • Upcoming transactions: categories that need more to cover future transactions, the soonest due first, with what's Remaining;
  • Targets: categories whose target still needs money, ordered by when they're due (weekly targets by weekday, then monthly ones by day of the month), then by the smallest amount left.

Tap a category to open its sheet and allocate (see Allocate money to a category); the sheet shows the target or upcoming-payment banner for the section you came from. Swipe a category or target for its shortcuts (see Swipe shortcuts): a target swiped to the left is snoozed for this month.

Categories set to Exclude from totals and income categories aren't listed. When everything is funded, the screen congratulates you.

The buttons at the top

• Auto-allocation (the lightbulb, when there's money left to allocate): opens auto allocation, described above.
• Category natures (the compass): Category natures quick view, your allocation split into Essential, Discretionary and the other natures. Tap a nature to see its categories, or use Edit category natures, View allocation distribution and Spending insights below the list. See Category natures.
• The ⋮ menu:
  • Sort targets by priority: the three sections above.
  • Show completed targets (with sorting on): "Toggle to include or hide completed and snoozed targets from the list".

Free and Pro

On the Free plan you can use Last month allocation, Last month spending and Allocate to surplus funds. Smart allocation, the 3-month averages and the target-based options are part of Pro; tapping one on the Free plan shows what Pro includes.