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01 · Data

Back everything up to a JSON file

The JSON export is the whole database — every transaction, schedule, holding, liability and net-worth snapshot. The section and period pickers apply to the PDF only, so a backup is never partial.

iPhone

Settings ▸ Data ▸ Export…

Mac

Settings ▸ Import and Export ▸ Export…, or File ▸ Export… (⌘E)

1. 1Open the export sheet and set Format to JSON.
2. 2Choose Export.
3. 3On iPhone the share sheet opens — Save to Files, or send the file to yourself. On Mac a save panel asks where to put it.

• The file is named wealth-compass-backup-YYYY-MM-DD.json.
• Nobody else holds a copy. There is no account behind the app, so a lost backup cannot be reissued.

02 · Data

Restore from a JSON backup

Import reads the same file the export writes. You decide whether it adds to what is already there or replaces it.

iPhone

Settings ▸ Data ▸ Import Data

Mac

Settings ▸ Import and Export ▸ Import Data…

1. 1Choose the mode. Merge adds new records and updates any record whose ID matches. Replace clears the current local finance data first, then imports.
2. 2On iPhone the app asks as you start; on Mac the mode is the Import Behavior picker above the button.
3. 3Pick the file. A summary sheet reports what was imported and how many records were skipped.

• Recurring schedules that came due while the backup sat unused are booked into Cash Flow during the import, and the summary says how many.
• The same importer also accepts a Revolut consolidated statement and a Trade Republic transaction export or statement PDF. The format is detected from the file — you never pick one.

03 · Data

Export a PDF report

The PDF is the readable version, the one to hand to an accountant. It is drawn on the device; nothing is uploaded to produce it.

iPhone

Settings ▸ Data ▸ Export…

Mac

File ▸ Export… (⌘E)

1. 1Set Format to PDF.
2. 2Under Contents keep Full Report, or choose Choose Sections and tick from Overview, Cash Flow, Investments and Crypto.
3. 3Under Period choose All Time, This Year, Last 12 Months, or a custom range.
4. 4Export. A sheet counts the pages as they render, and Cancel stops it.

• The period bounds the transaction ledger only. Holdings are point-in-time and are always reported in full.
• Privacy Mode hides amounts on screen, but the PDF contains your real figures. The export sheet says so when Privacy Mode is on.

04 · iCloud

iCloud sync is not syncing

Sync is off until you turn it on, and the switch is per device — a new iPhone or Mac starts local. Records travel through your own private CloudKit database.

iPhone

Settings ▸ iCloud Sync

Mac

Settings ▸ iCloud Sync

1. 1Turn on Sync Data with iCloud on every device you want included, and sign each of them in to the same iCloud account.
2. 2Read the Status row. It names the actual problem rather than failing quietly.
3. 3Waiting to Sync means offline, iCloud busy, or the sync data still being prepared. It clears itself, and your changes are already saved locally.
4. 4Action Needed means something is yours to fix: iCloud storage full, iCloud restricted by Screen Time or device management, or the iCloud account on the device changed — in which case sync switched itself off so records could not cross accounts, and turning it back on resumes with the current account.
5. 5Force Sync iCloud runs a fetch and send immediately.

• Currency, language, custom categories and the app lock are per device by design and never sync. Only finance records do.
• If it is still wrong, use Export Sync Diagnostics in the Data section — on iPhone a Share Sync Diagnostics row appears under it — and email me the file. It carries app and OS versions, record counts, sizes, timings and error text: no amounts, no account details.

05 · Market data

Add a Finnhub key for stocks and ETFs

Automatic prices run on your own key, on the provider’s free tier. Requests go from your device straight to the provider; there is no server of mine in between.

1. 1Create a free account at finnhub.io/register.
2. 2Confirm the email and sign in.
3. 3Open the API section of the dashboard and copy your key.
4. 4In the app: Settings ▸ Market Data ▸ Finnhub API Key, paste it, then Verify & Save.

• The key is stored only once a live quote for Apple (AAPL) comes back, so a wrong key is refused there and then rather than failing later.
• Keys live in the device Keychain. They are never written into a backup, never synced to iCloud, and go only to the provider that issued them.
• European-listed ETFs that the Finnhub free tier will not price fall back to Yahoo Finance, which needs no key.

06 · Market data

Add a CoinGecko key for crypto

Same arrangement as Finnhub, on CoinGecko’s free Demo tier.

1. 1Open coingecko.com/en/api/pricing and choose the free Demo tier.
2. 2Create an account or sign in.
3. 3Add a new key in the Developer Dashboard and copy it.
4. 4In the app: Settings ▸ Market Data ▸ CoinGecko API Key, paste it, then Verify & Save.

• The key is stored only after a live Bitcoin price comes back.
• Remove Key, inside the same editor, deletes the stored credential from the Keychain.

07 · Market data

Prices are not updating

None of this is required. You can type every price by hand and never add a key at all.

1. 1Refresh by hand: Settings ▸ Market Data ▸ Refresh Market Data. The button is disabled when you hold no investments and no crypto.
2. 2Read the alert. It names the provider and the reason — rate limit reached, key rejected, or no usable quote for a symbol.
3. 3For one symbol that never prices, check the ticker. The app resolves a bare symbol or an ISIN through Yahoo’s search, but an unusual listing may need its exchange suffix, as in VWCE.MI.

• Automatic refresh runs when the app comes to the foreground and the oldest stored price is more than 15 minutes old, and it will not retry more often than every 5 minutes.
• Free tiers rate-limit. Repeated manual refreshes are the usual cause — wait a few minutes.
• Exchange rates are separate and need no key: ECB reference rates through Frankfurter, cached on the device, refreshed once they are over 12 hours old. Settings ▸ Exchange Rates ▸ Refresh Exchange Rates forces it.

08 · Security

Face ID or Touch ID lock

One switch, named for whatever the device has: Face ID, Touch ID, Optic ID, or Biometrics.

iPhone

Settings ▸ Security

Mac

Settings ▸ Privacy & Security

1. 1Turn on the App Lock toggle and authenticate once to arm it.
2. 2On iPhone the app locks whenever it leaves the foreground; on Mac when it stops being the active app.
3. 3Turning the lock off asks for authentication too, so someone holding an unlocked device cannot quietly remove it.

• The prompt offers your device passcode as a fallback, so a biometric lockout cannot strand you outside your own records.
• If you add a fingerprint or re-enroll Face ID, the next unlock asks you to authenticate one more time. That is the enrollment check, not a failure.
• If the toggle will not arm, the message under it comes from the system — usually biometrics or a device passcode has not been set up yet.

09 · Reminders

Recurring reminders do not arrive

Reminders are local notifications and are set per schedule, not once for the whole app.

1. 1Open the schedule in Cash Flow and check that Notify When Due is on.
2. 2Permission is requested when you save a schedule with reminders on. Decline it and the app turns that schedule’s reminders off and tells you it has.
3. 3If you declined earlier, allow notifications for Wealth Compass in your device’s system settings, then open the schedule and save it again.

• A schedule with no time of day fires at 09:00 local time.
• The next 60 due dates are queued with the system at any one time; later ones are added as earlier ones pass.
• With Privacy Mode on, the amount is left out of the notification text.
• The reminder does not book the transaction. Due occurrences are recorded when the app is next open — including any missed while it was closed — and the app reports how many were added.

10 · Data

Delete all local data

One action, and there is no undo. Export a JSON backup first if there is any chance you want the data back.

iPhone

Settings ▸ Data ▸ Erase Everything

Mac

Settings ▸ Danger Zone ▸ Erase Everything…

1. 1Confirm the alert. The app deletes all finance data on this device and the copy in iCloud, your Finnhub and CoinGecko keys, and every preference, then returns to onboarding.
2. 2If the iCloud deletion fails — usually no connection — you are offered Retry or Delete This Device Only.

• Another device signed in to the same iCloud account still holds its own copy, and can restore it to iCloud until you erase it there too.
• Deleting the app takes its local file with it. It does not remove the iCloud copy.