Back up your guest account.

If you tapped Continue without an account when you first opened Spense, you're a guest. Your budget is saved by Spense, but the only way back into it is the guest sign-in stored in the app on this phone. There's no email or Apple or Google account behind it, so if the app is deleted or the phone is lost or replaced, Spense may have no way to get you back in. Backing up takes a minute and changes nothing else.

Time

⏱ About 1 minute

Steps

You'll need

An Apple ID (iPhone or iPad only), a Google account or an email address that isn’t already signed in to another Spense account

Works in

Every mode

Tap Back up my account

Open the More tab. The Account card is at the top, just under your name. As a guest it reads Your account currently lives on this device only. Tap Back up my account.

🛟

Back up my account

↪️

The Account card, as a guest. The first button is the one you want.

🐟 Not the second button

Log in to a different account is for when you already have a Spense account somewhere else. It signs you in to that one instead, and the budget you built as a guest on this phone doesn't come with you.

Pick how you’ll sign in

The screen is called Back up your account, and it says Nothing changes — this just adds a way to sign in from any device. Choose one of three ways in, top to bottom as they appear:

An email and a password. Type them in the two boxes at the top, then tap Back up account. The password needs at least 6 characters.
Continue with Google, under the “or”. Pick the Google account to use.
Continue with Apple, the black button at the bottom, on an iPhone or iPad. Apple asks you to confirm with your Apple ID.

Pick the one you'll still have in a few years. If you might move between an iPhone and an Android phone, Google or an email works on both; Continue with Apple is only offered on an iPhone or iPad.

🐟 It said “Account already exists”?

That Apple or Google sign-in already belongs to another Spense account. Tap Cancel to stay a guest and try a different sign-in. Switch account opens the other account instead, and, as the box warns, anything you've created on this phone won't carry over. With an email it says Email already in use and offers Log in, which opens the log-in screen: signing in there also leaves this phone's guest budget behind. Spense never merges two accounts, so pick the one whose budget you want to keep.

Check it, then sign in anywhere

Spense takes you back to the More tab. The Account card now says Signed in as with the address you signed in with (if you hid your email from Apple, that's Apple's private relay address), and the sign-in method under it: Apple, Google or Email & password. A Log Out button now appears near the bottom of the tab. Guests don't get one, because a guest who logged out couldn't get back in.

👤

[email protected]

Signed in as

🔑

Sign-in method: Google

Backed up. The card names the sign-in you'll use on your next phone.

On a new phone, install Spense and, on the welcome screen, tap the same Continue with Apple or Continue with Google button. For an email, tap Log in next to Already have an account? Your budget is there as you left it. Don't tap Continue without an account: that starts a new, empty guest.

✅

Your budget has a way back in.

Backing up adds a sign-in to the account you already have. It doesn't make a new one, so all of this stays exactly as it was:

Your budget, categories, targets and goals
Every account and transaction
Your free trial, with the same end date
A plan you already pay for through the App Store or Google Play

With an email on the account, the More tab also shows a Budgeting tips by email switch. It starts off, and you can leave it that way.

Next up

5 stepsSet up your first budget 3 stepsImport your YNAB data

Want to keep people out of your budget on this phone too? Lock Spense with Face ID. Still on the free trial? See how much of it is left. And if you'd rather leave Spense altogether, guests can delete their account and data too.

🔄 Verified against Spense 2.6 · If a screen looks different in your app, tell us and we'll fix the guide.