Advanced

Household Mode

A shared, end-to-end encrypted budget that syncs across your household's iPhones in real time via iCloud CloudKit. Your individual app data stays separate.

Info

Household Mode requires all members to have iCloud accounts and Spend Sense installed. Data syncs via Apple's iCloud CloudKit — Spend Sense servers never see your data.

How it works

Household Mode creates a separate shared data container in iCloud CloudKit — isolated from each member's personal budget. When one household member logs a shared transaction, it appears on all household members' shared budget view within seconds.

Your personal budget (all the data you've logged outside Household Mode) remains completely private — household members cannot see your individual transaction history.

Your Personal Budget

Coffee — $5.50

Gym — $40.00

Books — $22.00

Visible to you only

Shared Household

Groceries — $145.00

Netflix — $18.00

Electricity — $95.00

Visible to all members

Setting up Household Mode

Enable iCloud Sync

Go to Settings → iCloud → enable Spend Sense sync. This is required for Household Mode.

Create a Household

Navigate to Settings → Household Mode → Create Household. Give the household a name.

Invite members

Tap Invite and share the invite link via iMessage, AirDrop, or any messaging app. Members must accept within 7 days.

Set up shared categories

Create categories specifically for household use (Rent, Groceries, Utilities) — these are separate from your personal categories.

Start logging shared expenses

When logging a transaction, toggle Shared (Household) to post it to the shared budget instead of your personal one.

Feature reference

Feature	Details
Max household members	Up to 6 iCloud accounts
Sync speed	Near real-time when online; queued and synced when connection restored
Conflict resolution	Last-write-wins with timestamp — simultaneous edits of the same transaction show a merge prompt
Permission levels	Owner (full admin), Member (log & view), View-only (read-only access)
Private vs shared	Transactions are explicitly personal or shared — never auto-shared
Leaving a household	Your entries remain in the shared record; your personal data is unaffected

Best Practice

Recommended setup for couples: Create 3 household categories — Shared Fixed (rent, utilities), Shared Variable (groceries, dining out), and Joint Savings. Keep personal discretionary spend in your individual budget.

Privacy architecture

Household Mode uses Apple's CloudKit Shared Records API with end-to-end encryption. Data is encrypted on your device before being synced — Spend Sense infrastructure never handles decrypted household data. Apple holds encryption keys as part of iCloud end-to-end encryption.

Note

If all household members lose access to their iCloud accounts simultaneously, shared household data may be unrecoverable. Apple manages CloudKit encryption key recovery through iCloud Keychain.

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