Get YNAB for Android on Google Play or on the Amazon App Store (for Android phones and the Kindle Fire)
YNAB 4 is required for Cloud Sync. If you haven’t yet upgraded, you can upgrade here ($40 if you purchased on or before December 26, 2012, free if you purchased thereafter).
Please read this post. It will likely answer some questions you may have, and will save our support team from having to individually answer hundreds of the same question ;)
Will the latest app versions work with YNAB 3?
Yes. But only using the manual wi-fi sync protocol. When you’re doing your setup on your phone, select Wi-Fi sync. (Exception: the iPhone Lite app only offers Cloud Sync). You can change your sync method at any time on your phone by clicking the settings button at the top-right of the main screen.
I already own a prior version of YNAB for iPhone/Android, what will the upgrade cost?
It will be a free upgrade. On your respective device, simply follow the links above and you’ll be brought to the YNAB App page where you can download the update for free.
I don’t own YNAB for iPhone/Android, what is the cost?
The cost of the app is $4.99. If you’re an iPhone user and not certain there’s value in entering your transactions on the go, consider trying the free YNAB for iPhone Lite first. (YNAB for Android Lite will come once the Android version has feature parity with the iPhone.)
I’m an iPhone user, what are the differences between the Full and Lite versions?
The Lite version does not have Geo-Smart Payees (where we use the phone’s location awareness to automatically set the category and payee when you begin adding a new transaction).
The Lite version does not have Favorite Categories, where you can designate certain categories as Favorites for quicker entry.
The Lite version does not have the home screen, or account view. It offers only your budget categories, and the ability to add new transactions.
The Lite version does not do wi-fi syncing where you can initiate a manual sync between your desktop and phone when they’re on the same network, or create an ad-hoc network. The Lite version only does Cloud Sync. Because of this, the Lite version cannot sync with YNAB 3.
The Lite version does not have the ability to clear/unclear transactions, or set/remove flags on transactions.
The Lite version will not have new features added to it (we’ll obviously fix bugs and make sure it’s ready for future OS versions and all of that). The full version will see significant future improvements.
I have multiple iOS/Android devices, do I need to purchase the app multiple times?
iOS
If all of your devices are iOS and they share the same iTunes account, YNAB for iPhone will be available for download (go to the App Store, search YNAB, find the app, and click the Install button).
If you have two different iTunes accounts, you can follow these instructions to make sure you don’t have to purchase twice.
Android
If you use the same Google account between Android devices, you can install YNAB for Android on all of those devices. If you use a different Google account, you’ll have to purchase the app for each device with a different email address. OR, you could consider purchasing through the Amazon App Store, where Amazon allows you to authorize separate devices to install and run the same app. Instructions for this are here.
Do I need to purchase twice if I have an Android and my spouse has an iPhone?
Unfortunately, yes. Where our desktop is one price for multiple Windows or Mac machines, the different App Store requirements don’t allow us the same luxury.
What are the Device/iOS requirements?
iOS
- The app runs on any device with iOS 4.3 or later.
- However, Cloud Sync is only possible on devices that can multitask (iPhone 3GS and later, iPod 3rd generation with 16GB and later) and have at least iOS 4 running. This means you’d still have to use the manual wi-fi sync that was used in YNAB 3. Please update your OS version!
The app will run on any Android phone using Android 2.1 or later. The app will also run on your Kindle Fire, though it is not optimized for the larger screen. By that I mean that you’re getting essentially a larger screened version of the phone app.
I have unsynced transactions on my old version of YNAB for iPhone, what do I do with those?
If you’re using YNAB 3, you don’t need to do anything different. The new version of YNAB for iPhone will still sync with YNAB 3 via the manual wi-fi sync protocol.
If you’re using YNAB 4 on your desktop, follow these steps to sync your transactions before upgrading:
- Open your budget in YNAB 4 on your desktop.
- Go to File -> Budget Properties and under “Cloud Sync this budget?” select “No, make it local.”
- Go to File -> Wi-fi sync with Mobile Device and follow the instructions there.
- The transactions will come from your iPhone and land in YNAB 4 just fine. However, the iPhone will report that the sync failed (the old version of the iPhone can’t talk with YNAB 4 both ways, it can only send transactions).
- The ‘sync failed’ message is expected.
- Go to File -> Budget Properties and activate Cloud Sync.
- Update your iPhone app and choose Cloud Sync during the initial setup.
If you’ve already “lost” your unsynced iPhone transactions, Taylor, our lead developer, wrote a forum post that instructs you on how to get them back. We really don’t want you losing them.
How do I cloud sync when we have two (or more) separate Dropbox accounts?
Option 1 (Easy): Set up each phone to Cloud Sync, and when prompted to authenticate with Dropbox, simply login with the “primary” Dropbox account you’ll be using. Only YNAB for iPhone/Android will have access to the Dropbox account on that device, and access can be removed at any time by logging in to Dropbox and deactivating the authorization.
Option 2 (Advanced): This article explains Cloud Sync in detail. You’ll want to scroll down to the last topic, “How do I share a budget file with someone?”
Do I need to install Dropbox on my iPhone/Android device?
No. When you press the “Link Account” button in the Cloud Sync setup, you’re brought to a page where you can login to your Dropbox account and allow YNAB access to it. You are not required to install anything extra.
Will there be a full-featured iPad app?
Because of the many questions surrounding an iPad app for YNAB, I wrote a fairly lengthy post over in our forums. There’s where you’ll find pretty much every question answered (at least I hope!).
Will this version of the iPhone app run on my iPad?
Yes. Just like any other iPhone app that isn’t optimized for the iPad, you can run it in the small view, or tap the 2x button to expand it to the size of the full iPad screen.
Will there be a full-featured Android tablet version?
At the moment, we are making no plans for a full-featured Android tablet version. If we see that it becomes economically viable, we will—with opportunity cost obviously taken into account.
When will the Android version have all the (two extra) features of the iPhone?
We are working on them right now. By right now I mean that code is checked in daily to get us there. Split transactions are our first priority, and then we’ll get Geo-Payees in there. At that point, we should have parity.
I’ve reviewed YNAB for iPhone/Android, but now that you have Cloud Sync, I’d like to adjust my review (upward).
Well gosh, thanks for asking. If you left us a review that docked our prior version a bit for not having Cloud Sync, we’d love to have you make any necessary edits ;)
WOOT!!
Can’t wait to get home and pull the trigger on YNAB 4 now that the App is available!
Thank you !!!!
nmo
Great to finally have the complete “cloud sync family” of Desktop, iPhone and Android in our house. Really improves the workflow and saves me a lot of time entering transactions.
I felt like I was waiting for a long time to finally get the iOS app. I concur with your forum post in relation to the iPad Jesse. No more release dates ever again, and the apps approved months before the announcements please! ;)
Awesome news, already downloaded and left a review :)
Thank you for all the updates. I have bed following the blogs since Day 1.
Watch the upgrades to YNAB 4 and app purchase sky rocket as people catch on. Perhaps you should send out an email informing users that’s it’s now available.
I feel like dancing… Got it already. Woo hoo.
So how can we the purchased Android app on two separate Android phones?
Bob, I’m not certain on that one. Google has the device itself tied to an account and I’m not aware of any way to share purchases across accounts. You can share the app across devices, but both devices need to be using that same account.
Awesome!! Just installed it and so far, so good!! Thanks for the updates.
Excellent news! I’ve just downloaded it and got it all set up with cloudsync. Thanks again for a wonderful product!
Awesome stuff, all up to date!
The only downside, if it really is one… I’m stuck in Mexico for another week for work (all expenses paid) so I can’t give the app a run for its money until I’m back in the US and spending money again. Darn :)
Ok just updated but app keeps crashing. Won’t open. Gives me an error when selecting cloud sync too. Tells me I am not connected to Internet when I am.
Maybe just delete the app and reinstall it. For some reason I had the old YNAB logo and wanted the new (after my app update) so I delete the old app and redownloaded. Usually works when you have app crash issues
Restart your phone.
Just saw your message that deleting and redownloading the app helped! Whew! Glad to hear you’re back in business!
This is insane! I bought YNAB a year and a half ago because I loved everything about it… but it was missing something. I found other subpar apps that had it but I felt confident that YNAB would step up and create something even better than the competition.
[enter YNAB Cloud sync!]
I’ve been checking the app store a few times every day and my heart skipped a beat when I refreshed my search and the new YNAB for iOS was waiting for me to install! I just added my first transaction on the phone… looked at my YNAB 4 on the desktop… MAGIC!
Perfect execution Jesse and genius engineering staff! Thank you so much!
Finally… Finally… Finally my wife and I can be in sync… all the time, on every device (work comp, home comp, ipod touch, iphone, ipad) Love it… Absolutely!
Installed the full version on both my iPhone and my iPad. Syncing was flawless. Thank you Jesse and team for all of your tireless effort getting this app to us.
Review of the app has already been left on App Store.
Ok I deleted the app and Downloaded it again and now it is working perfectly!
Isn’t it great!? I’m so excited I can’t contain it!
Glad to hear it! That’ll help us in fielding other similar requests.
So far, so awesome.
Thanks everyone for the 5-star reviews already! You have no idea how helpful that is for our app! (Not to mention the fact that it’s just darn rewarding to read nice things about our work. ;) )
Review submitted on the UK website; great to see this available. Well done for your patience and hard work!
This is the third happiest day of my life! WOO HOO! Upgrading to YNAB 4 the second I get home!
This is awesome and works like a charm. Thanks for all the hard work!!
Awesome. Downloaded it, updated it, and purchased the full app. This really helps my wife and I keep everything tacked properly. From one developer to another, great work on this.
Woo Hoo! Kudos to the YNAB team :) Thanks for all y’alls hard work and perseverance! I’m off to give a 5-star review!!
By the way, there was only one competing software that I continued to use because it’s mobile app synced with it’s desktop app.
Out of courtesy I will not mention it’s name, but it has been a synching headache since day one.
Your app, on the other hand, has finally freed me from having to use it. Love YNAB. Love the Cloud Sync. Can’t say enough about it. Best budgeting software out there.
How do I wi-fi sync? It appears to be missing on the desktop side.
http://www.youneedabudget.com/forum/ynab-f96/desktop-missing-sync-with-mobile-device-t17234.html
You’ll need to turn off cloud sync in file -> budget properties in order to do the manual wifi sync.
Playing with Full YNAB for iPhone, quite impressed by cloud-sync.
So happy to see that now when adding a new transaction, the number keyboard automatically pops up within the same screen (in YNAB 3 for iPhone, it slid into a new screen), which I suggested recently! Quite thankful to you guys listening to user’s voice!
“So happy to see that now when adding a new transaction, the number keyboard automatically pops up within the same screen”
For the win.
MBerg
User Experience Guy and YNAB zealot
Totally my idea! :)
Worth the purchase for $4.99. Now I just need to actually buy the desktop app since I am in budget heaven.
I have one category for my student loans. It shows a balance of “(0.00)” and is red like I am over in that category. But I budgeted and spent exactly the same amount.
It doesn’t appear to be affecting the budget, it just looks odd.
In the light app it read “0.00″ and is green just like all my other categories that are budgeted and outflowed to 0.00.
And on a bad note, I overrafted my bank account for the first time in 5 years using YNAB. My fault for adding the income inflow for the wrong day. I used my YANB balance and never looked at the bank account. Oh well, it was only a $10 transfer fee because I had the money to cover the transactions in savings.
Is it possible to get a another free trial key so I can see how it works with the app?
Contact us at support and we can set you up.
Welcome YNAB 4 in Germany. I love it.
Thanks for the update! The app looks so fresh! I have been telling all my coworkers about it and they are on board with the new app and they love it too!!! Loving the Cloud-Sync! Way to go team!!!
-Nurse Frugal
LOVE IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
What else is there to say???
Really hope there is work toward a Windows Phone app!! (and/or a mobile friendly web-based system).
I’ve got an Ipad, but don’t take it everywhere, and recently switched to a Windows Phone.
Hi Meg,
We aren’t working on a Windows Phone app :( We would if there weren’t other more compelling options for development resources.
I can’t even tell you how much I LOVE Cloud Sync!! You’re right – it is an absolute game changer. It’s the only thing I dreamed YNAB 3 had. Ever since I’ve had a smart phone (at the time I used Quicken), I searched and searched for an app that would keep me up to date on my desktop as well as in my hand. I quit Quicken and went with YNAB 3 last Fall… it came close with wifi sync, but I didn’t like having to approve transactions every time I got on my desktop.
The new YNAB 4 is great and the addition of Cloud Sync is the icing on the cake! For the last 10 months I have done my best to spread the word about YNAB to everyone I know. I am the budget manager in our 29 year marriage and I have never felt this financially in control. This is what I consider “financial heaven”! Great work!! Well worth my $40 upgrade!
Alright!
I’ve been hoping for a better App to come out soon. I stopped using the previous version a while ago since it felt pretty limited.
I purchased the previous version of the YNAB app (not the lite version) for iPhone. Is this a free upgrade or a new app?
Free upgrade (see the post above for more on that).
I’m so happy, I could cry! I missed using my YNAB app on my kindle since upgrading to YNAB 4. Now I can go back to normal. Wait…even better…Cloud sync!
Yay, so excited that the Kindle Fire version was approved so quickly!! I got my desktop and husband’s and my iPhones upgraded yesterday, and today the Kindle Fire. Love it.
I’m so psyched!! Thank you for making the Kindle Fire app available!
I really don’t want to hassle you now with the release of YNAB 4 and finally all the mobile versions. But being able to have YNAB on my Windows Phone would really put my financial mind to an ease. Right now I’m using Evernote to store my remaining budget money on each category and writing my cash expenses (the ones without receipts) there as well. But it’s a method with so much effort every time I just get bummed out while doing it. But when I had an iPhone and used a different software, filling my expenses was smooth sailing.
YNAB is by far the best budgeting software I’ve ever used and the one I’ve kept on using the longest time. Still, not being able to use it on my phone is such a downer. All I would need is a way to fill in my expenses as they are made, and a view on the budget. Not even change the budget is necessary, just to view it. I can’t believe this is a hard app to make. So I urge you to do it! Pleeease!
Hi Gustav,
If it made economic sense, we would do so. Even “simple” apps distract us from adding/improving our core products that move the needle for the company. I do hope Windows Phone takes off and it can afford an in-house YNAB developer :)
Of course I understand this. I’m just hoping that the more me and other people wants it, the higher the probability of getting it!
Just updated my iPhone app to the latest version, but still running YNAB3 on teh desktop.
Did a wireless sync.
Now my budget values are completely and utterly out of whack. 3k of budget on desktop, but 128k of budget on the iPhone.
Crashed 3-4 times as well, but sent the crash report from the iPhone.
We’ll get those crash reports looked at and figure this out!
Hopefully, as my phones budget log is pretty pointless like this.
I can’t upgrade to the new version yet. I plan to, but that will wait until Oct/Nov
Oh, while I am at it.
I deleted the iPhone app, and then loaded it again and resynced. Desktop budgeted 4.6k and iphone budgeted 128,8k. It appears to be all of my budgets for the last year or more.
I zeroed the budget for this month, and it knocks the 4.6k off the 128k budget value.
It seems to be an issue with the category balance, or something.
http://img59.imageshack.us/img59/9653/photogtq.jpg
this picture shows a total remaining that is wrong, but the budgeted amount is correct for this month. The total should be 50$ as this section gets 25$ budgeted each month, and hasn’t been spent for two months.
Hey Aaron,
please enable error checking in YNAB 3 by going to File -> Enable Error Checking. You can disable it again if you like, we just need it to toggle once for the sync to work properly.
Once that is done, try the sync again. This should fix it. There’s a bug in the current version of the app that assumes accounts are off-budget if no information is given. It should rather assume that they are on-budget. Will be fixed in the next version.
Cheers,
That worked perfectly.
I think I would have preferred to just gain the 128,000 to budget!!
Seriously, I could cry I’m so happy! I didn’t realize how HEAVENLY cloud sync was until the first time I did it. My boyfriend, who rebelled at keeping receipts (not really, he was just bad at it, but he really did try hard), can just put the information into his phone and it’s there. It’s done. We’re good. His Android, my iphone, it’s AMAZING. Thank you thank you thank for all the hard work that you’ve put into such a wonderful product.
How do I switch budgets on YNAB iPhone (full)? I can switch budgets on YNAB Lite, but how do I do this in the paid version?
I’m wondering the same thing, Andreas!
You do it the same way. Go to settings and you can select another budget.
Jesse, thank you for your answer, but to be honest it wasn’t particularly helpful.
@Cleo: I finally found it. You actually change your budget in the setting called “Sync Method”. So, in YNAB iPhone full, go to Settings > Sync Method. You see two options (WiFi and Dropbox). Those look like simple choices, but they’re actually sub-menus. So tap on “Dropbox”, you get a new screen, and THERE you get to choose your budget.
But I do appreciate you taking the time to answer here, Jesse. And Cloud sync just works perfectly.
Taking the opportunity: I’d like to request having a setting to “Always start in budget view” (or simply remember the last view). Currently, entering a transaction in the full version takes one tap more than in the light version (selecting “Budget” on the home screen).
Why not press the add transaction button? Choosing the payee will auto choose the category, and your location may auto choose the payee… So you may actually save a tap over the Lite version.
Oh, somehow I mussed that big button in the middle of the screen. Works perfectly.
I guess I’ll stop makinga fool of myself now. ;)
I think I need a vacation (already 75% there in the vacation category).
Thanks for your answers, Jesse!
Wow. Game changer is right! This Cloud Sync feature…it is phenomenal you just don’t know how much this is going to help me keep up better on-the-go. I just watched it sync automatically for the first time and I’m blown away…thank you thank you thank you! From the bottom of my heart and the top of my growing bank account :) Thank you!
I can’t see a way to check if an item has cleared from the account screen. I must click on each individual item and check if the cleared switch is on or off. Is there a way to do this from the account or budget home screen? I hope so.
Just tried it out. So awesome. The old way took way too long for me to keep on top of my budget. The upgrades makes everything seamless and simple. The new suggested budgets are simple to move around and rename. Since I was so far behind in YNAB 3 I went ahead and started a new budget in YNAB 4. I then just went back to YNAB 3 to pull out my historical data to make the new budget realistic. Can’t wait until the next release so that I can do budgeting on the iPad. Good job YNAB.
Love it so much I bought it! :) LOL – seriously, I’ve done free trials of all kinds of software and never found one that fit us – AKA easy. But I love this. Only wish? That we could add an account and/or adjust the budget on the app or via a website. I don’t often get on the computer when I’m home and I keep forgetting to add a “cash” category. Good news? Perhaps, because it forces me to sit down on purpose to do nothing but go over the budget.
iPhone app is awesome. Well done YNAB Team!!!!!!!!!
Found a tiny problem with the app – my scheduled transactions did not automatically show up in the app, I had to log into the desktop software and “approve” them before they showed up on the app/on my budget.
Sort of defeats the purpose of a schd. transaction if I have to get onto the desktop software daily to “approve” things. Perhaps there is a setting change somewhere? Or perhaps my app just isn’t working correctly? Anyone else having this issue?
I’m pretty sure mine showed up for me. I actually thought something was wrong because my savings balance was off, then I got home and remembered I have an automatic transfer scheduled on pay day.
Thanks for the response. And hmmm, I’m not sure then. I even restarted the app AND the phone and they still didn’t show up.
I just checked the app store, to make sure I wasn’t missing an update & there’s nothing there either. Maybe I have some setting switched off?
Love YNAB 4! I’ve referred bunches of people to you. I was using YNAB 3 for the last year and a half, and the funny part is I don’t think I was fully understanding the mental budgeting shift until YNAB 4, and being forced to use YNAB lite for a little while. That forced me to pay more attention to my budget than my bank balance, which is what I should have been doing all along!
Thanks so much Jesse for giving us a far superior alternative to Quicken, MS Money, Mint, etc!
Hi, I got the update of the iPhone app, it works perfectly, but I’m curious about one modification :
- why does the memo field became tiny in this version? in the previous verion when I wanted to enter a memo I have a new screen with a large field to tap my memo, I could even do a copy paste from other text (i.e. the confirmation number from my paid bills on safari), but with this new update, the field is small and I cannot see all the texte i put in it without scrolling with the lens tool
Is it a bug or a well thought upgrade ?
We did it to save screen movement. You can still enter a very long memo, if needed, but you don’t have to slide over to another screen to get to it, so it ends up saving a tap or two.
This is probably really simple…but I can’t figure it out.
On my Android app (which I love!) …when looking at the Budget I can choose either “all categories” or “favourites” (that’s not a spelling mistake…we like to add extra u’s to our words in Canada ;)
So, I can’t figure out how to get things into that favourites section. I would love to be able to just see the categories that we use when we’re out and about, and not have to scroll through eg. mortgage, hydro, tithe, internet etc.
How do I add things to my favourites list?
Thank you!
Can older (YNAB 3) iPhone application sync (via manual wifi sync) with desktop YNAB4? My wife uses older iPhone firmware and doesn’t want to upgrade the iOS (as it is quite sluggish) so she can’t use new iPhone app (she uses iOS 3.1.2 unfortunatelly).
I use YNAB app in my iPhone. It helps me to save money.
I’m here to highlight that a lot of users want and need a YNAB app for Windows Phones. Come on guys, don´t let us waiting.
Hey Jesse,
Faithful YNAB user, curious if you are developing a dedicated iPad app?
Thanks for all that you do!
Because of the many questions surrounding an iPad app for YNAB, I wrote a fairly lengthy post over in our forums. There’s where you’ll find pretty much every question answered (at least I hope!):
http://www.youneedabudget.com/forum/ynab-f96/ynab-for-ipad-t16812.html
Hope that helps!
Hi,
Just a wonder, how to sync categories to mobile version?
Thx
Have you developed split transactions for the Android app yet? I’m waiting to upgrade until this happens.