CustomBudget Support
Everything below describes the app as it actually behaves. If something here does not match what you are seeing, tell us — that is a bug worth knowing about.
Contact us
One person answers these, usually within a couple of days. Telling us your device and what you were doing when it went wrong makes it much faster.
info@customapps.usGetting started
There is no sign-up, no account and no email to confirm. Open the app and the Budget screen is empty, with one button that seeds sixteen starter envelopes — fifteen for spending and one for income. Take them, rename them, or build your own from 29 icons and 12 colours. Then give each envelope an amount for this month, and you are budgeting.
Recording what you spend
Tap the + on the Budget screen. Enter the amount on the keypad, then pick the envelope. Payee, note, account and date are all optional. If you are moving money between two of your own accounts, mark it as a transfer: transfers are tracked but never counted as spending, so paying a credit card from checking will not distort your month.
Recurring bills
Add a rule with a cadence — weekly, every two weeks, monthly, quarterly or yearly — and choose whether it posts automatically on the due date or waits for you to confirm it. If you have been away from the app for a while, it catches up correctly on the ones it missed rather than posting them all at today’s date.
Backing up
Settings → Export Backup writes a single file containing everything, and your device’s share sheet takes it wherever you like: Files, iCloud Drive, email, AirDrop. Restore reads that file back and keeps a seven-day undo. Nobody but you ever holds a copy, so if you lose the phone without a backup the data is gone and we cannot recover it.
Something else went wrong
Close and reopen the app first. Your data is stored locally, so nothing is lost by restarting. Export a backup before trying anything else — it is one tap, and it is the only safety net a local-only app has.
Things people ask, and two that surprise them
How do I set up my first envelopes?
Open the app and the Budget screen is empty with one button that seeds the sixteen starter envelopes. Take them, rename them, or add your own from 29 icons and 12 colours. Then give each envelope an amount for this month.
How do I change the day my budget month starts?
Settings, then month start day, anywhere from the 1st to the 28th. It is a real boundary rather than a display preference, so rollover, the header totals, the charts and the month-end nudge all move with it.
Why is my "To budget" figure negative after I retired an envelope?
Retiring an envelope mid-period removes its row but leaves both the amount you had budgeted to it and the amount you had already spent from it in that period's totals. That is deliberate: if retiring removed the budget, un-retiring later would retroactively move a month you had already closed. Retiring a $250 envelope can therefore leave "To budget" showing minus $250 until the period rolls over. The confirmation dialog says so before you tap it.
Why did restoring a backup change my currency and month start day?
Those settings travel inside the backup file, so a restore brings back the currency, month start day and appearance that were in it. Erasing all data works the opposite way: it clears your transactions, envelopes, accounts and rules but leaves those three preferences alone. If you want a completely clean start, erase first and then set them by hand.
My reminders are not arriving. What should I check?
Reminders are scheduled by your phone, so delivery is the operating system's decision. Check that notifications are allowed for CustomBudget in your phone settings, and check whether a Focus or Do Not Disturb mode is holding them back. Bill reminders and envelope alerts both arrive at 9am.
How do I move my budget to a new phone?
Export a backup on the old phone and send it somewhere you can reach from the new one, such as Files, iCloud Drive, email or AirDrop. Install CustomBudget on the new phone and restore from that file. There is no cloud copy and no account, so this export is the only way your budget travels.