What's happening aboard the Ark - releases, announcements, and what's next.
Release v1.10.0
A new icon, bills that settle themselves, and cards that track themselves
BudgetArk has a new ark-and-sunburst app icon, and a big quality-of-life
release behind it. Set a bill up once with your best estimate - when the real
electric or water charge arrives, from your bank or typed in, file it against
the bill and the actual replaces the estimate everywhere, with no double
counting. Link a credit card on the Debts tab to the bank account behind it and
its balance updates after every sync. Category limits now show a spending-pace
mark so you know whether you're ahead of the month before it's over. New
installs get quick-start budget templates (single, couple, debt-heavy,
zero-based), the Bridge gains a tracking strip, expenses can be split across
several people, and a deep pass over storage and sync makes the data you already
have more trustworthy. This one is a store update on both platforms.
Release v1.9.3
Change your bank account choices anytime
The account mapping you picked when you first connected a bank was one-shot -
not anymore. Every linked account in the Connections manager now has its own
"Import transactions" switch and "Balance updates" picker, so you can map an
account to the Bridge (or create a new one inline) whenever you like. Also
fixed: pending bank transactions that occasionally resurfaced as duplicates
once they posted, and the Tip Jar can now log a completed tip as a Giving entry.
Release v1.9.2
Emergency fund, linked to your real savings
Mark one or more savings accounts on the Bridge as your emergency fund and
BudgetArk reads the fund's value straight from those balances - kept current by
bank-connection updates. The Keel and Deck milestones in Build Your Ark, the
Galley Stocked badge, the Budget tab, and the Charts emergency-fund plan all
show the same number. Backups and partner sync carry the designation too.
Release v1.9.1
Stability & security fixes - and Android enters closed testing
Fixes an onboarding freeze on some iPhones, storage failures at startup that
could re-run onboarding or blank the Profile tab, and patches dependency security
advisories. This is also the first build in the Google Play closed test - the
public Android launch is getting closer.
Update
Six more themes - sixteen in all
Slate pairs graphite greys with a mustard accent for a calm, focused
look. Classic is a straight-faced throwback to the silver-and-teal
desktops of 1998, square corners and all. Lighthouse is a true
high-contrast theme - every color audited to at least 7:1 for maximum
readability. Chart Room is a nautical chart with land-tone cards on sea
blue, Harbor Dawn a peach sunrise over seafoam cards, and
Ledger the classic green-bar accounting paper. Try every one of them
on the themes section of this site.
Update
App Lock, automatic backups, and a safe-to-spend number
Turn on App Lock and BudgetArk asks for a PIN whenever it opens - the PIN never
leaves your device. Scheduled local auto-backups (weekly or monthly, encrypted
with your device key) protect people who never tap Export, and password-protected
exports are now tamper-evident. On the Budget tab, enter what's in checking at
the start of the month and get a projected month-end and a real safe-to-spend
figure. Also new: a US take-home pay calculator with federal, state, and FICA
tables that never phone home; Private entries that stay off your partner's
device; a merchant-rules manager for changing "always do this" decisions; and
the Quick Entry widget arrives on iOS.
Update
Search everything, count down to debt-free, and new Charts tools
Global search with advanced filters finds any debt, payment, or budget entry
from the Debts and Budget tabs. The Debts tab gains a Debt-Free Countdown built
from your real payment pace, plus a credit-card keep-alive watch that warns you
before an unused card gets closed. The Charts tab picks up a currency exchange
calculator, a "What if I stopped spending on…" projection, and a Plan-a-Purchase
sinking-fund tool that tracks on the Bridge - where every account and category
now shows how much it's up or down over the window you pick. Onboarding is now
one searchable guide with a feature tour you can replay anytime.
Release v1.9.0
Bank Connections - your bank, on your terms
Bring your own SimpleFIN or Teller credentials and let transactions import
themselves. Nothing enters your budget until you approve it in the new Review
Inbox, credentials stay encrypted on your device, and BudgetArk still operates
no server - it never sits between you and your bank. The same release adds
encrypted receipt photos and business expense tracking with a tax-time report,
W-2 / 1099 paycheck tagging, assigning spending to people in your household,
opt-in tracking reminders that never put amounts on your lock screen, an Android
Quick Entry home-screen widget, the Deep Sea ambient theme, and an optional
Tip Jar that unlocks nothing because everything is already free.
Release v1.8.3
Captain's Course is complete
All 24 lessons across five chapters are now aboard: Stocking the Galley
(emergency funds, HYSAs, sinking funds), Catching Wind (compounding, index funds,
401(k)/IRA/Roth, asset allocation), and Charting Far Waters (net worth, buy vs.
rent, insurance, estate basics) join the first two chapters. The Budget tab's
Debt Payments section also got a correctness pass - no more phantom planned rows
in past months.
Release v1.8.0
Live stock & crypto holdings on the Bridge
Add tickers under each brokerage on the Bridge and see their market value roll
into your net worth. The feature is opt-in and shows a plain-language disclosure
first: only ticker symbols leave your phone - never share counts, balances, or
who you are - through a private proxy that stores no portfolio data. Crypto pairs
like BTC/USD work too, converted into your display currency. Prices update
daily as of v1.8.1.
Release v1.7.4
Swedish Krona and real currency conversion
SEK joins the currency list, and switching currencies now offers to convert every
stored amount at today's rate - or just change the symbol if your numbers are
already in the new currency. Default milestone targets are localized for new
plans, and achievement progress reads in your own currency.
Release v1.7.2
Reliability + sync security
Partner sync moves to protocol v2 with the whole message envelope authenticated
(both phones need this version to sync again). Net-worth history and custom
categories now sync between paired devices, deleted items stay deleted after a
sync, backups grew much larger import limits, and a dozen date and timezone edge
cases were fixed across budgets and debt payments.
Announcement
Welcome aboard - the BudgetArk website is live
The official BudgetArk site has set sail. This is the home port for everything
about the app - what it does, why it's free, and every update along the way.
Launch news for the App Store and Google Play will land here first.
Never miss a payment again: every debt can now carry its own payment due day,
and a reminder banner on the Budget and Debts tabs shows what's coming up - with
a one-tap prompt to log the payment when the day arrives. Captain's Course
Chapter 2, Patching the Hull, ships with six new lessons covering good
vs. bad debt, how interest works, starter emergency funds, snowball vs.
avalanche, refinancing, and debt snowflakes. Plus: batch-add multiple budget
entries at once, and the budget now reflects planned debt minimums from the
first of the month.
Release v1.6.5
Ship's Log progress rings + Refinance calculator
Achievement badges in the Ship's Log now show live progress - a partial ring
and an "X / Y" caption tell you how close you are to each one, across a dozen
badges. A new legendary badge, Galleon's Hold, awaits anyone who
reaches a $1,000,000 net worth. Utilities gained a Refinance Break-Even
calculator that pulls straight from your debt tracker, so you can see in
seconds whether a refi actually saves you money.
Release v1.6.0
Appearance controls + full amortization schedules
Theme and design style are now separate choices - mix Solid or Glass looks
with any color theme. Deep Forest gets a misty night-forest ambient background,
and a new toggle lets you switch decorative backgrounds off for maximum
readability. The Loan / Mortgage calculator now produces a full month-by-month
amortization schedule with yearly summaries and CSV export.
Release v1.5.0
Bill Calendar, custom categories, and a fresh look
The Budget tab gained a Bill Calendar - a monthly grid of every recurring bill,
color-coded by category, with paid vs. remaining totals and your next bill at
a glance. Custom budget categories with emoji icons, flexible recurring entries
(monthly, quarterly, every 6 months, yearly), a 6-month cash-flow chart on the
Bridge, and the opt-in Deep Space theme round out the release.