An account tracks one person or obligation. It has one currency, a running balance, an optional account image, and a transaction history. Use separate accounts when balances should be settled independently.
Create an Account
- From the Money Owed account list, choose Actions.
- Choose New Account.
- Enter a value in Name.
- Choose a Currency.
- Optionally choose Add Photo.
- Choose Save.
Account photos are free. On iPhone and iPad, the image menu can include Choose from Photos and Take Photo. On Mac, it can include Choose from Photos and Choose Image File. If no image is selected, Money Owed displays initials or a generic account image.
Edit an Account
Open an account, choose More > Edit Account, make your changes, and choose Save.
Changing a shared account
Only the owner can change the shared account image. A participant sees Private Alias instead of Name. A private alias changes only that participant's display and does not change the owner's account name. Leave the alias blank to return to the owner's name.
A participant cannot change the shared image, the account name set by the owner, or the currency. Participants can change only their private alias, whether their access is read-only or read-write.
Balances and Direction
Money Owed calculates the account balance from its transactions:
- Owed to you: positive balance, shown in green
- You owe: negative balance, shown in red
- Settled up: zero balance
When you add a transaction, use a positive amount for money owed to you and a negative amount for money you owe. In a shared account, the other participant sees the same account from their perspective.
Choose a Currency
Open Settings > Currency > Default to choose the currency used for new accounts. Existing accounts keep their own currencies. The picker can search by Currency or code and groups results into Suggested and All Currencies.
Decimal places
Money Owed uses the normal number of decimal places for each currency. Most currencies use two decimal places, while currencies such as JPY use zero and currencies such as KWD use three.
Why is currency locked?
An account's currency can be changed while it has no transactions. After the first transaction, the editor shows:
Currency is locked after the first transaction so historical amounts keep their value.
No currency conversion
Money Owed never converts amounts between currencies. A transaction always uses its account's currency. When importing or splitting transactions, a currency value must match the destination account where a currency is supplied.
Sort Accounts
Choose Sort on the account list. Available options are:
- Owed to You First
- You Owe First
- Largest Amount First
- Smallest Amount First
- Name (A-Z)
- Name (Z-A)
The sort preference can be used offline and synchronizes through iCloud settings. The Watch app uses the same preference. The Accounts widget has its own setting with the same sort choices.
Balance History
After an account has at least two transactions, its detail screen can show a balance-history sparkline. Tap the sparkline to open Balance History, then scrub the chart by date. The chart shows the balance at the selected date and includes a zero or settled reference line. Balance History is free.
Delete or Leave an Account
Delete an owned account
Delete an owned account from the account list's delete action and confirm Delete Account. The confirmation warns that this permanently deletes every transaction, attachment, and account image. This action cannot be undone.
Leave a shared account
If you are a participant, choose Leave Shared Account and confirm Leave Account. The shared account and its files are removed from your device. Leaving does not delete the owner's account or transaction history.
Stop sharing as the owner
Open Sharing and choose Stop Sharing. Participants lose access, but your account and transactions remain available to you. See Share Accounts with iCloud for participant management.
Read-Only Accounts
A shared account may display a Read-only label. You can view its balance, schedules, transactions, and attachments, but you cannot change shared information or add transactions. You can still set a Private Alias for your own display, and a Pro user can export reports when the report action is available.