Do I need to create an account to use Brief? No. Brief is designed to work instantly without requiring third-party accounts, sign-ups, or passwords. Simply open the app and start tracking your expenses right away.
Where is my financial data stored, and is it private? Your financial data belongs entirely to you. All transactions, budgets, and categories are stored locally on your device and securely synchronized via your personal Apple iCloud using private CloudKit storage. We never sell, track, or have access to your personal financial records.
Does Brief connect directly to my bank account? No. Brief focuses on manual and recurring transaction tracking to help you stay mindful of every purchase and avoid bank connection failures or data scraping. You log your expenses in seconds right from your dashboard.
How does the Subscriptions Tracker work? The dedicated Subscriptions tab allows you to monitor all recurring monthly and yearly bills in one place. You can select from popular instant presets (like Netflix, Spotify, or iCloud+) or create custom templates. Brief automatically calculates your Total Monthly Burn and Projected Annual Burn.
Why don't upcoming bills mark themselves as paid automatically on their exact due date? To protect you from inaccuracies when a subscription fails, gets cancelled outside the app, or changes price, Brief requires you to manually confirm payments. When a bill is due within 3 days, a prominent alert banner appears on your dashboard so you can confirm and mark it paid with a single tap.
Can I track yearly subscriptions alongside monthly bills? Yes. You can add yearly subscriptions (such as annual software licenses or Amazon Prime) right next to your monthly bills. Brief includes a toggle that lets you view all prices normalized to either their monthly or annual equivalents.
What is the Daily Burn Rate and how is it calculated? The Daily Burn Rate estimates how much money you can safely spend per day for the remainder of the month while keeping your budgets and savings goals on track. It updates dynamically each time you log an expense.
How do proactive budget warnings work? When you set monthly spending limits for specific categories, Brief monitors them in real time. If you are entering a new expense that brings your category spend to 85% or higher, an amber warning badge appears. If the expense exceeds 100% of your limit, you receive a red alert and tactile haptic feedback before saving.
How does tracking "Investments" differ from normal expenses? When creating or editing a category, you can mark it as an Investment. Brief automatically separates investment outflows from your daily consumption expenses and burn rate calculations, while ensuring they are still counted correctly in your net cash flow and wealth charts.
How do I sync my data across multiple iOS devices? iCloud synchronization is enabled by default. As long as your devices are signed into the same Apple ID and have iCloud enabled for Brief, your transactions, custom categories, and budgets will synchronize automatically in the background.
Can I export my data for tax reporting or my accountant? Yes. Brief includes an advanced reporting engine. You can generate professional, multi-page PDF Executive Summaries with category breakdowns and chronological logs, or export raw CSV files filtered by specific date ranges.
What is included in the Brief Pro subscription? Brief is free to download and use for standard daily tracking. Brief Pro unlocks unlimited subscriptions and recurring bills, unlimited custom categories, category spending limits and budget alerts, multi-device iCloud sync, and professional PDF executive exports.
How do I restore my Brief Pro purchase on a new device? Open Brief, navigate to Settings, tap on the Brief Pro banner, and select "Restore" at the bottom of the paywall screen. As long as you are signed into the Apple ID used for the original purchase, your Pro access will be restored instantly.