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Guide · Sync & privacy
Sync across devices, privately.
If you use more than one device, you can turn on end-to-end encrypted sync so the same data lives on each. This guide walks through switching it on and, just as importantly, what actually leaves your device when you do — which turns out to be almost nothing a server could ever read.
When you need sync
Most of the time you may not need it at all. If you track your money on a single device, you can skip sync entirely — Simply Finance is local-first, so your data lives on that device and everything works fully offline, with no account and nothing to switch on.
Sync earns its place the moment you use more than one device. If you want the same balances, budgets, and history on your iPhone and an Android tablet, the optional one-time $4.99 unlock adds end-to-end encrypted sync between them. It is the only reason to enable it, and it is entirely your choice.
Turning on sync
Getting your devices in step takes a few steps, and none of them involve creating an account or handing over an email.
Enable sync
Turn on sync in the app. Your existing data stays exactly where it is — on your device — and is prepared to travel encrypted.
Add your second device
Install Simply Finance on the other device and connect it to the same sync, so the two are paired to each other rather than to an account.
Your data appears
Once paired, your balances, budgets, and history show up on the second device and stay in step from then on.
What end-to-end encryption means here
End-to-end encryption is not a setting you trust a company to honor — it is the shape of the system. Your data is encrypted on your device before it ever leaves. By the time anything travels, it is already scrambled, and only your devices hold the keys to make it readable again.
That means the sync relay in the middle only ever holds ciphertext: no readable balances, no merchants, no amounts. It is a courier passing along sealed envelopes it cannot open. Even if someone got hold of what the relay stores, there would be nothing legible to read.
How the relay works
The sync relay page explains what the relay does and does not do — how it moves your encrypted data between devices without ever being able to read it.
What actually leaves your device
It is worth being precise about this, because “private” is a word a lot of apps use loosely. Here is what leaves your device with Simply Finance:
- During sync: only encrypted blobs — scrambled ciphertext with no readable balances, merchants, or amounts.
- No bank data — because there is no bank connection in the first place. Nothing is ever pulled from your bank to leave your device.
- No signup, no email, no profile — there is no account, so there is no name, address, or contact detail to send anywhere.
And if you never sync
If you stay on one device and never turn sync on, nothing leaves your device at all. Your data simply lives where you created it.
FAQ
Can Simply Finance read my data?
No. Your data is end-to-end encrypted on your device, and only you hold the keys. What travels during sync is ciphertext with no readable balances, merchants, or amounts, so there is nothing for us to read on our side even if we wanted to.
Do you sell my data?
No — but that is the low bar, and the wrong question. Saying we do not sell your data still assumes a company can read it. Simply Finance can’t sell what it can’t see: your data is encrypted on your device, and the relay only ever holds scrambled ciphertext. There is nothing legible to sell, nothing for an employee to peek at, and nothing readable to leak.
What if I lose my device?
Your keys and data live on your own devices — that is what keeps them private from us. If you sync between two devices of your own, each one keeps a full copy, so losing one still leaves your data on the other. We do not hold a readable copy on your behalf, so keeping a second device in sync is the honest way to keep a backup.
Is sync required?
No. Sync is entirely optional and only matters if you use more than one device. On a single device you can leave it off and lose nothing.
Does it work offline?
Yes. Simply Finance is local-first, so it works fully offline. When sync is on, it simply moves your encrypted data between your own devices whenever they are connected — and waits patiently when they are not.