We provided a beta of MoneyWell with Budget sharing a few weeks ago, and are now pleased to release it generally.
If you want to share a budget, please make sure all of your devices are updated to the latest version as well as the devices of the person you’d like to share with. That’s 2023.05 on Mac and 2023.03 for Express on iOS.
All updates can be downloaded from the respective App Stores.
Included below are some FAQs from our initial sharing blog post.
FAQ
How does sharing work?
We continue to use Apple’s provided iCloud service as much as possible. Sharing is no different. To share a budget, you’ll need to invite any participants that you wish to share with via iCloud. The screens will probably look familiar if you’ve used iCloud sharing for any of Apple’s apps like Notes. You can send an invitation via iMessage, e-mail or even just by sharing a link.
As previously, we have no access to any of your financial data. All of your financial data is stored either on your device, or—only for the purposes of syncing—on Apple’s iCloud service using your own iCloud account and the iCloud accounts of any participants you invite to share your budget.
How do I set up sharing?
When you first set sharing up, if you’ve been using a previous version of MoneyWell (up to 2023.04) and have sync enabled, unfortunately you’ll first need to disable sync before you can enable sharing. There are various boring technical reasons for this, and going forward this won’t be necessary. The Manage Sharing… screen will explain that process which you can find from the File menu with your budget open.
Does the person I’m sharing with need their own subscription?
Maybe. But probably not. Each Mac will need an active subscription to avoid running in “Free” mode (limited to 200 transactions). However, we have enabled family sharing for MoneyWell, which means that if (as we expect in most cases) people are sharing their budget(s) with family members, you’ll also be able to share your subscription using Apple’s Family Sharing.
If you want to share a budget with someone who you are unable to share your subscription with via Family Sharing, then you’ll both need your own subscription if you want to be able to share a budget.
I use Direct Connect. Will the person I share a budget with have access to my password?
No. Direct Connect passwords are not stored in the budget database, they’re stored in your Mac’s Keychain, which is an app designed for the storage of passwords. These will not be shared. This means that someone you share your budget with will either need to know your password to be able to use Direct Connect, otherwise Direct Connect will only be available on devices which have access to those passwords.
What happens if I stop sharing a budget with someone?
First of all, once you start sharing your budget with someone, you need to assume that they have a copy of your data that you have no future control over, the same as if you e-mailed them a copy. However, when MoneyWell is notified that a user has had their access revoked to a budget, it will attempt to remove that budget from their device(s). Please be aware of this when revoking sharing permissions.
Can I share a budget with multiple people?
Yes. This should work fine. You can invite multiple people.
Does the person I share with need to have a Mac?
No. You can share a budget with someone who only has an iOS device. You can manage sharing on MoneyWell Express too.
What happens if I have devices which aren’t updated?
Once you disable / re-enable sync to use the new shareable format, and devices which haven’t been updated to the latest version won’t be able to access / sync data with this budget until you update that device too.
For more information on setting up sharing, please see our article, Budget Sharing
If your question isn’t answered here, please contact support and we’ll do our best to help