Balance Forecasting for iPhone. Take control of your finances.

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FAQ

Q. For what is this app useful?
A: A good use of the app is simply keeping track of all of your payments and income and having a good idea how much money you will have after paying each bill. This is especially useful if you are living from paycheck to paycheck.
Another good use is the following. Let's say you have all these fixed monthly bills and then you have two credit cards or loans that you want to pay off as soon as possible. But you don't know how much to pay to prevent your bank account from being overdrawn. Balance Forecasting will tell you how much money you will have in the future, so you know if it's a good idea to increase the payments.

Q. Where Settings app you always speak of? I can't find it!
The Settings are actually not inside the app. They are in the Settings app for the entire iPhone (the one with the gray gears). Once you're in there, scroll down and you should see Forecasting. Tap on that, and there are all the settings you can change for the app.

Q. What is that No Ads in store purchase?
If you really don't like ads, you can turn them off with an in-app purchase. Please do that in the More tab. Once completed, please go to the Settings app for the iPhone and turn ads off.

Q. Why did you add ads?
This is because I decided to make the app free. Having it free meant that anyone could download the app risk free and see if it's for them.

Q. One of my bills is due for a different amount or on a different date every month. How do I keep track of it?
A: In the Forecasting view, tap on a given future transaction and change either the amount, date or both.

Q. How do I mark one of my bills in the Forecast view as Paid or delete it?
A: To mark an item as paid, go to the Forecast view and swipe on the row and tap Paid. This will update your balance to account for the amount. To delete it instead, tap on the row and tap Delete.

Q. I'm tired of updating the balance every time I open the app. What do I do?
A: Balance Forecasting has a useful feature that will automatically compute your new balance every time you open the app. It does this by looking at your bills and income and projecting forward. So let's say on 5/15 your balance is $1000. Then on 5/16 you have a bill for $200. If you then open the app on 5/17, your balance will say $800. You can enable this feature in the Settings app for the iPhone.

Let's say I get paid on the 13th of May and today is the 4th. How do I search for all items between May 5th and May 12th where my balance is less than $100, to make sure my balance isn't too low?
You can do 'd >= 0505 d < 0513 b <= 100'. That way, if you see a bill in there that you can postpone, just tap on it and set its due date for sometime after the 13th.

Q. How do I make an item repeat every 18 days?
A: Tap add, make sure your item is Repeating, tap on Custom towards the bottom and select 18 Days.

Q. How do I add a note?
A: Tap add (or select an existing item), press the blue button at the bottom right (or flip your finger in the are above the date widget) and add a note. Your notes will display everywhere, including the calendar.

Q. How do I make an important item more visible?
A: Tap add (or select an existing item), press the blue button at the bottom right (or flip your finger in the are above the date widget) and then turn the switch that says "Mark on calendar?" to on. If your item is a bill, the calendar will show a red exclamation sign for each day when that bill is due. If it's income, it will show up as a green +. This is most useful for income. That way, you can tell at a glance when you will be paid.

Q. What are reminders and how do I use them?
A: You can enable reminders for any items for which you want to be notified ahead of time. Then, head over to the Settings app for the iPhone, look for Forecasting and enable Push Reminders. You can also email email reminders if you want. Or both! Also select the time of day at which you want to be notified. Then head into the app, p add (or select an existing item), press the blue button at the bottom right (or flip your finger in the are above the date widget), then do it again, enable the reminder and set the date. Then, when the time comes, you will receive a reminder a few minutes (1-5) after the hour you selected.

Q. What is Web Access?
A: With Web access you can import, export and sync your items on different devices. Additionally, you can view your forecast on www.balanceforecastingapp.me. To set it up do the following. First, head over to the Settings app for the iPhone and enter an email address. The next time you reopen the app, go to the More tab and register. That will send you an email with a temporary password. Log into the website and change it. Then head into the settings and set the password. Now you should be able to sync, export, import and view your data on the website. Please note that this feature is still in its infancy. I will definitely add more features in the future.

Q. I registered, but I'm not getting an email. Why?
A: This is most likely because you entered an incorrect email address. All you have to do is change it in the Settings app for the iPhone and Register again.

Q. How do I access my exports?
A: To export, go to the More tab, tap export and type a name. To import, go to the More tab in the iPhone app and tap Import. You should see a list, so pick an export. Warning: importing will not merge your data! Instead, it will replace it. So, as you can see, export is only used for safekeeping. In the future I will support exporting to different formats, such as iCal.

Q. What is Sync?
A: First, enable Sync in the Settings app for the iPhone. Then, the app is on auto-pilot. You can now sync your data onto multiple devices. Warning: this is not a two way sync. That will be coming in the future. But for now, please do not make changes on the device and online at the same time. Nothing bad will happen, but your changes will be overwritten.

Q. Why is the website so limited?
A: The site is only in its infancy. I will gradually add features based on what you want to see. So if you have a suggestion, contact me, or leave a comment anywhere on the site (could be one of the pages too). For now, you can sync your items, import, export and view your forecast. The forecast is not computed on the web, so that means it's the same forecast as was last generated the last time you used the app. Of course, that will change soon.

Q. How do I set a passcode lock? How do I unset it?
A: Head over to the More tab, tap on Set Passcode and type in a new code twice. To unset it, go into the same place, but don't type anything. Instead, tap the Reset button after the view comes in.

Q. I want a feature! How do I ask for it?
A: Easy! Please use the contact page on the menu. I don't remember ever not implementing a feature request, so chances are good!

Q. Is my information safe? What exactly do you store on the server?
A: Of course! All connections are over SSL, and I have a trusted certificate installed on my server. As far as storing your data, you can rest assured that they are safe and that nobody will see it but you. As with anything, make sure you have a good password set and you'll have nothing to worry about. I will also NEVER share your emails with anyone. If you would like details on this matter, please contact me.

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