The Cash Book Manifesto: Calm Money, Honest Numbers

Most money apps are dashboards that want to be feeds. Cash Book is a cash book with good manners. Here is what that means, in terms you can hold us to.

Logging costs seconds, not attention

If recording a coffee takes longer than drinking it, the tool has failed. Voice logging exists so a whole day of spending costs one sentence. The receipt snap exists so a bill costs one photo. Apple Pay auto-logging exists so a card tap costs nothing at all. The keypad exists so a typical entry costs three taps. Anything slower gets rebuilt.

Your money data belongs to you

Transactions are stored on your device and, if you turn it on, in your own iCloud account. We run no database of your spending. There is no account to create and no email to hand over. Delete the app and your data answers to you, not to us. Export to CSV or Excel is built in, and it always will be.

AI does work, not theatre

The AI in Cash Book has two jobs. It turns what you said into transactions with an amount, a merchant, a tag and a date. It reads the lines on a receipt or a screenshot into the same. It does not generate pep talks, it does not keep your audio or photos after processing, and it never invents a transaction. If it could not hear you or could not read the receipt, it says so and logs nothing.

Numbers you can trust are numbers that can disappoint

There are no fake streaks, no spending scores and no ratings you can improve by opening the app more often. The budget bar goes red when you are over, and it stays red until the month ends or you change the budget. Insights compare this month with last month, using your own transactions and nothing else.

No feed, no ads, no bank login, ever

Cash Book will never show you other people's spending, sponsored offers, or a card you should apply for. It will never ask for your bank credentials, because it never connects to a bank. The only comparison in the app is you versus last month.

If we ever break one of these, tell us. Loudly.