Lock Spense with Face ID or your passcode.

Your phone is unlocked more often than you think: handed to a friend to show a photo, left on the table, passed to a child for a game. App Lock puts Face ID in front of Spense itself, so your balances stay yours even when the phone isn't. It's off until you turn it on, and it takes about a minute.

Time

⏱ About 1 minute

Steps

You'll need

Face ID, Touch ID or fingerprint unlock set up in your phone's settings

Works in

Every mode

Find Security on the More tab

Open the More tab and scroll past Appearance and Currency to the Security card. Its first row reads Require Face ID on an iPhone with Face ID. The name follows your phone: Require Touch ID on an iPhone with Touch ID, Require Fingerprint or Require Biometrics on Android. While it's off, the line under it says Keep your budget private if someone picks up your phone.

Security

🔒

Require Face ID

Keep your budget private if someone picks up your phone

One row, on the More tab. Everyone gets it, guests included: it locks this phone, not your account.

🐟 Is the switch greyed out?

Spense can only lock with something your phone already knows. If the line reads Set up Face ID in Settings to use this, add Face ID (or a fingerprint) in your phone's settings and come back: the row wakes up on its own, no restart needed. This device doesn't support biometric unlock means the phone has no Face ID, Touch ID or fingerprint reader, so App Lock isn't available on it.

Turn on Require Face ID

Flip the switch. Spense asks for Face ID right away, once, to make sure you can pass the lock before it's on. Look at the phone (or touch the sensor) and the switch stays on. Cancel the prompt and nothing changes; if the check fails, Spense says Couldn't verify it's you and leaves the lock off. Once it's on, the line under the row reads Spense asks for Face ID or your passcode to open.

Security

🔒

Require Face ID

Spense asks for Face ID or your passcode to open

On, and checked. A lock you couldn't open never gets turned on.

🐟 Your passcode is the backup

There's no separate Spense PIN to remember. If Face ID doesn't recognise you (sunglasses, a mask, a cracked sensor), the prompt falls back to your phone's own passcode. Turning the lock off asks for Face ID too, so someone holding your unlocked phone can't just switch it off.

Choose how soon it locks again

With the lock on, a Lock after row of choices appears under it. Spense always locks when it starts fresh, after you've swiped it away or restarted the phone. The choice here decides when it locks again after you leave it running in the background:

Immediately: every time you come back to it.
5 minutes, 30 minutes or 2 hours: once it's been away that long. 2 hours is where it starts.
Every app launch only: only when it starts fresh, never on a timer.

Tap one and it's saved. Changing it doesn't ask for Face ID, because you're already inside the unlocked app.

Lock after

Immediately5 minutes30 minutes2 hoursEvery app launch only

Five choices, one tap. Pull down Control Center and the clock doesn't start; only leaving the app does.

🐟 Which one should I pick?

If other people often use your phone, Immediately or 5 minutes. If it mostly stays in your pocket, the default 2 hours keeps Spense out of the way while you're reviewing transactions or moving money, and still locks it after a couple of hours away.

✅

That's App Lock on.

Next time Spense locks, you'll see Spense is locked and Your budget stays private on this device. Face ID asks once on its own; cancel it and an Unlock with Face ID button waits until you're ready. Whatever you were doing (a half-reviewed transaction, a link you tapped) is still there underneath when you unlock. While the lock is on, the app switcher shows a plain Spense screen instead of your balances. The setting belongs to this phone: it stays on if you sign out, and a new phone starts with it off. If your phone ever loses Face ID and its passcode altogether, Spense turns the lock off by itself rather than locking you out.

Next up

5 stepsSet up your first budget 3 stepsImport your YNAB data

Using Spense as a guest? App Lock protects this phone, but the only way back into your budget is the guest sign-in stored on it. Back up your guest account to tie it to an Apple, Google or email sign-in. New here? Start with set up your first budget.

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