Budget Fury syncs through your own iCloud account — there is no Budget Fury account to create. Sync is opt-in, uses Apple's end-to-end encryption, and the app works fully offline with it switched off. The same budget appears on iPhone, iPad and Mac, with an interface built for each.
Why sync-through-your-own-iCloud is different
Almost every budgeting app that syncs does it the same way: you create an account with the vendor, your data goes to their servers, and your devices pull from there. It works well, and it means a company you have no relationship with is storing a complete record of your finances.
CloudKit — Apple's sync layer — inverts this. The data goes into your iCloud account's private database. The developer cannot read it, cannot browse it, and cannot hand it to anyone, because they have no access to it. There is no vendor account, no password to be leaked, and no vendor-side database to be breached.
The practical consequence is the App Store privacy label: Data Not Collected. That is not marketing language, it is a declaration Apple holds developers to, and it is only possible because the architecture genuinely has nowhere to send anything. More on that in budgeting without a bank connection.
Each device is good at a different job
The reason multi-device matters is not neatness. It is that the two things you do with a budget want completely different interfaces.
Entry belongs on the phone. It happens in a shop, on a bus, at a restaurant table, and it needs to take five seconds. The arithmetic keyboard, the Siri shortcut and the home-screen widget all exist to shorten that moment, because a recording habit that takes thirty seconds is a recording habit you will drop.
Review and setup belong on a big screen. Categorising a CSV import, restructuring your envelopes, planning the year — these are miserable on a phone and pleasant on a Mac or iPad, where the app uses a three-panel layout with the navigation, the context and the detail all visible at once instead of stacked behind taps.
That split is why the CSV import gets its own window on Mac and iPad: reviewing three hundred transactions in a full-width table is a different activity from adding one coffee.
Offline is not a degraded mode
A budgeting app that needs a network to record an expense fails exactly when you need it: in a basement supermarket, on a plane, abroad on a bad connection. Budget Fury stores everything locally first. Sync, when it is on, reconciles in the background; when it is off, nothing changes about how the app behaves.
This matters most when travelling — see budgeting across currencies — but it also means you can simply decline sync entirely and run a completely local budget on one device, which is the strictest privacy position available and a fully supported way to use the app.
What to expect from the first sync
Two honest notes. The initial sync of an established budget takes a few minutes, and the app is noticeably slower while it runs — this is normal for CloudKit and it settles once the first pass completes. And sync is a mirror, not a backup: deleting a transaction deletes it everywhere. If you want a real archive, use the CSV export, which writes every entity out to a dated zip you keep yourself.
Set up sync across your Apple devices
- Sign in to iCloud on each device
Use the same Apple ID on your iPhone, iPad and Mac, with iCloud Drive enabled. This is the account the sync runs through — there is nothing else to sign up for.
- Turn on sync in Budget Fury
Open Settings → Cloud & Subscription and enable iCloud sync. It is off by default for existing budgets, so it is a deliberate choice rather than something that happens to you.
- Let the first sync finish before you judge it
The initial upload takes a few minutes on an established budget and the app is slower while it runs. Leave it on Wi-Fi and open, and let it complete once.
- Install on your other devices
Download Budget Fury on the iPad and Mac with the same Apple ID and enable sync there too. Your budget appears; there is nothing to import.
- Use each device for what it is good at
Phone for entry — widget, Siri, arithmetic keyboard. Mac or iPad for the monthly review, CSV imports and restructuring envelopes, where the three-panel layout shows everything at once.
- Export a real backup periodically
Sync mirrors, it does not archive. Use Settings → Export to write every entity to a dated CSV zip you keep yourself — worth doing before any big restructure.
Common questions
Do I need to create a Budget Fury account?
No. There is no account, no email address and no password. Sync uses your own iCloud account, which means the developer has no access to your data at any point.
Is my budget encrypted when it syncs?
It goes into your iCloud private database using Apple's end-to-end encryption. Apple's own documentation covers the details; the relevant point is that it is your account, not the developer's server.
Does Budget Fury work on Mac?
Yes, as a native Mac app with a three-panel layout rather than a stretched phone interface. iPad uses the same layout. The phone keeps the tab-based interface, which suits quick entry.
Can I use it without iCloud at all?
Yes. Sync is opt-in. Left off, everything stays on one device and the app never touches the network — the strictest privacy option and a fully supported way to use it.
Can two people share a budget this way?
Only through a shared Apple ID or a shared device. There is no multi-user account, because there is no account. If separate logins on one budget are essential, this is a genuine limitation — see the YNAB comparison.
Your iCloud. Your devices. Nobody else's server.
One budget across iPhone, iPad and Mac, synced through your own Apple account — or kept entirely offline on one device if you prefer.