Frequently asked questions
Everything uRekoin can do, one question at a time. 228 answers, from setup to phones that kill apps in the background.
A shorter version lives inside the app: Settings → Guide, with search.
No question found. Try a different word.
Getting started
What is uRekoin in one sentence?
It turns your salary, fixed costs and savings goal into a single number: how much you can spend today without wrecking your month.
Do I have to connect my bank account?
Never. uRekoin doesn't connect to any bank and never asks for credentials. At most it reads the payment notifications your bank already shows on your phone — and only if you grant permission.
How long does setup take?
About 2 minutes. Onboarding asks for: salary and payday, savings goal (optional), fixed expenses (optional), categories, permissions.
Can I skip entering my salary?
Yes, but without it the app can't calculate your daily budget, which is the heart of uRekoin. You can add it later in Settings → Basic settings.
Do I have to grant permissions during onboarding?
No. Without permissions uRekoin works as a manual tracker: you add expenses with the + button. Each missing permission switches off one specific feature, and the permissions recap at the end of onboarding tells you which.
I set something up wrong — do I need to reinstall?
No. Salary, payday, savings, fixed expenses, income mode and categories can all be changed any time in Settings.
How do I replay the in-screen mini tutorials?
Settings → Guide → at the bottom of the list, "Replay the mini tutorials". They'll reappear the next time you visit each screen.
Is there a guide inside the app?
Yes: Settings → Guide. It's split into collapsible sections and is searchable (the search ignores accents and case); many entries have an "Open the screen" button that takes you straight there.
Which Android versions are supported?
Android 8.0 (API 26) and above.
Which languages are available?
Italian, English, French, German and Spanish.
Budget and cycle
How is "Today's budget" calculated?
(salary + included extra income − fixed expenses − savings goal) ÷ days in the cycle. It's the big number at the top of the home screen.
Why does today's budget change every day?
Because it's dynamic and self-correcting: spend less today and the surplus is spread across the remaining days, so tomorrow you get more; overspend and future days go down to absorb it. You don't have to do anything manually.
What is a "cycle"?
The period from one payday to the next. It doesn't have to match the calendar month: if you're paid on the 27th, your cycle runs from the 27th to the 26th.
What happens at the end of a cycle?
The evening before payday (around 22:00) the app closes the cycle: it archives variable expenses, saves the report, credits your savings goal contributions and shows you the recap the next time you open it.
Are old expenses deleted at the end of a cycle?
No. They're archived, not deleted: you'll find them in history, in the cycle recap, in charts and in Excel reports.
If I don't open the app on reset day, do I lose the cycle?
No. The reset happens on payday or any time after it, the first time you open the app, and the recap waits until you confirm it.
What's the bar under the budget?
How much you've spent so far against the cycle total, the percentage still available, and the days left until payday. Tapping the card opens the recent expenses drawer.
How do I change my salary or payday?
Settings → Basic settings. Salary and savings goal save themselves as you type ("✓ Saved" appears). Changing payday asks for confirmation, because it recalculates the cycle and reschedules the automatic reset.
Will I lose data if I change my payday?
No. But the calculation changes: days already elapsed in the new cycle count as budget already used.
What is the savings goal in basic settings?
The amount you want to set aside each month. It's subtracted before dividing by the days, so your savings are guaranteed up front instead of being "whatever is left".
Can my budget go negative?
Yes: after heavy overspending today's budget can be exhausted or negative. The app says so explicitly ("Budget exceeded", "Budget already gone today") and absorbs the overspend across the remaining days.
Does the budget update if I log an expense with a past date?
Yes, the recalculation is retroactive: adding an expense from three days ago realigns today's budget automatically.
Expenses: adding, editing, deleting
How do I add an expense manually?
The + button at the bottom right → Expense. Enter amount, category and an optional note. You can confirm straight from the keyboard.
Can I log an expense from yesterday or the day before?
Yes: the form has a Date field (defaults to "Today"). You can pick any day between the start of the cycle and today; the budget recalculates itself.
Where do I see recent expenses?
Tap the "Today's budget" card to open the recent expenses drawer. The card footer always shows the last one logged. For the full list use "See all expenses".
How do I edit or delete an expense I already logged?
History → tap the day → tap the expense. From there you can edit it, move it to another date or delete it. The budget recalculates after every action.
What's the difference between a variable and a fixed expense?
Variable expenses are everyday payments (groceries, fuel, dinner) and are archived at every cycle. Fixed expenses are recurring monthly costs (rent, Netflix) and are subtracted once, at the start of the calculation.
Where do uncategorised expenses go?
Into "To categorise". You can assign them later from the Notification Centre ("Expenses to complete") or from history.
Can I delete all of today's expenses at once?
Yes, there's a "Delete all of today's expenses" action.
Is there a limit on how many expenses I can log?
No — logged expenses are unlimited even on the free plan, both manual and notification-detected.
Fixed expenses: essentials and subscriptions
What's the difference between "Essential expenses" and "Subscriptions"?
It's a split designed for control: Essentials are what you can't give up (rent, mortgage, bills, loan instalments), Subscriptions are what you could cut (Netflix, gym, Spotify). Each section shows its own total.
How do I move an expense between the two?
With the ↔ button on the row. The app asks for confirmation.
What are the "Suggestions" in the accordion?
A small card with chips for the most common fixed expenses (Rent, Mortgage, Netflix, Gym, Phone…). Tap a chip and the expense is added, then the card closes itself. Suggestions you've already used disappear from the list.
What's the "payment day" for?
Two things: knowing when the money leaves, and enabling the reminder (the bell) that warns you the day before.
How does the payment reminder work?
Turn on the bell on the row, the app confirms what it will do, and from then on you get a notification the day before the due date, at 10:00. It handles short months too (set the 31st and February adapts), and reschedules itself after each notification and after a phone restart.
How many reminders can I have for free?
Three. You can unlock one more by watching a video (that extra slot resets at the end of the cycle), or have unlimited ones with Premium.
How many fixed expenses can I have for free?
Up to 3 Essentials and 3 Subscriptions. Each video watched adds 1 permanent slot (it survives restarts and even free→premium→free transitions). Premium: unlimited.
What is the "subscription audit"?
A switch on every subscription row that simulates cancelling it: turn one or more off and the footer shows how much you'd save per month and per year.
If I turn the switch off, is the subscription deleted?
No. It's a what-if simulation only: it doesn't touch the database and resets when you leave the screen. To actually delete it, use the ✕ button.
Is the subscription audit free?
A video unlocks it for 24 hours; with Premium it's always on.
I have insurance I pay once a year — should it be a fixed expense?
No: for non-monthly costs use Planned expenses (section 5), so the amount is spread correctly.
Does uRekoin notice when a subscription price goes up?
Yes. If a payment notification arrives from a merchant that's in your fixed expenses but with a different amount, the app offers to update the fixed expense. And if a payment is already covered by a fixed expense, it tells you it isn't logging it twice.
What if a recurring payment isn't in my fixed expenses yet?
uRekoin recognises it as recurring and offers to add it to your fixed expenses, or to log it as a normal expense.
Planned expenses and instalments
What are planned expenses for?
Non-monthly costs whose amount you know: insurance, road tax, taxes, something bought in instalments. The app spreads them out so they never take you by surprise.
How do I create an instalment plan?
Two ways: "Enter the total" (give the total and the number of instalments, the app splits it to the cent and you can adjust each one — the last adjusts itself), or "Enter each instalment" (one by one, with amount and date).
What does the "Include in budget" switch do?
When on, the monthly set-aside is subtracted from your available budget. When off, the expense is tracked but doesn't affect the budget (informational only).
How many planned expenses can I have for free?
Two. +1 permanent per video watched, unlimited with Premium.
What does "This is a tax" mean?
It's a checkbox for freelance mode: instalments marked as tax come out of the tax pot when due, not out of your current budget.
If I delete a planned expense, what happens to its instalments?
They're removed with it: no orphan instalments are left behind.
Unexpected expenses (large costs, spread out)
What is an "unexpected expense"?
A big, unforeseen cost (the dentist, a flat tyre) that would wipe out today's budget in one go. uRekoin offers to spread it across several days, so the hit is gradual.
When does the offer appear?
When you log an expense dated today that reaches or exceeds your unexpected-expense threshold. Back-dated expenses are saved as normal ones.
What is the threshold and where do I change it?
Settings → Unexpected expense threshold, with four values: €50, €100, €150 or €200. The default is €50.
Over how many months can I spread it?
Free: 1 month (i.e. the remaining days of the cycle). With a video or with Premium: 1 to 6 months.
How do I see how much an unexpected expense still weighs?
On its card in Settings: day X of Y, how much is left and the daily deduction (e.g. −€3.50/day).
Can I close one early?
Yes, with Pay off: the remaining amount is logged as a variable expense today and the unexpected expense closes. Or Delete to remove it entirely.
Can I edit the amount or duration?
No — editing was removed because it corrupted the amortisation recalculation. If you got it wrong, delete and re-enter.
Does an unexpected expense keep weighing on the next cycle?
Yes, if you spread it over several months: active unexpected expenses survive the cycle reset and the daily deduction switches itself off on the end date.
Can I pay an unexpected expense from a savings goal?
Yes: if you have a named envelope with enough balance, the dialog offers a third choice, "Pay with 🎯 [envelope name]" (not available while Holiday Mode is running).
Automatic payment detection
How does the app log expenses by itself?
With notification access permission, uRekoin recognises payment notifications from banks and wallets (Google Pay, Samsung Pay, PayPal, Satispay…), extracts the amount and the merchant and shows you a pre-filled confirmation popup. You confirm, it logs.
So it reads all my notifications?
The Android permission is generic, but uRekoin only processes notifications recognised as payments. Messages, email and social apps aren't used, and nothing leaves your phone.
Does it need internet?
No: recognition happens entirely on the device.
Does it work with my bank?
The most common banks and wallets are recognised out of the box. For the others there's template learning: the first time, it asks which words in the notification make up the merchant name, and from then on it's automatic.
How do I "teach" a bank's format?
On the first unrecognised notification a screen appears with the notification's words as buttons: tap the ones that form the merchant name and confirm. The format is saved for that bank.
Can I postpone the teaching step?
Yes: in the Notification Centre, the pending notification has a Learn format button so you can do it later.
I taught the format wrong — how do I fix it?
Settings → Merchants and banks → "Recognised banks" section → Reset. The next notification from that bank will ask you to teach it again.
Does each bank have its own format?
Yes, formats are independent per app/bank.
What happens at a merchant I've already used?
The popup arrives pre-filled with the saved name and category, if you ticked "Remember name" and "Remember category" on a previous payment.
Where do I manage saved merchants?
Settings → Merchants and banks. You can rename a merchant, change its default category or delete it. Already-logged expenses stay unchanged.
Could I end up with duplicates at the same shop?
uRekoin warns you: if it detects a payment identical to one logged recently it shows "⚠️ Possible duplicate" with the date and time of the previous one, and still leaves you the Save anyway button. Banks sometimes notify the same payment twice, even days apart.
My bank and my wallet both notify the same payment — is it counted twice?
No. The app waits up to 10 seconds and keeps only the better notification, giving priority to the wallet over the bank.
What if the phone kills the app in the background?
When you reopen it, uRekoin picks up payment notifications still in the tray (up to 8 hours old): one or two come back as popups, more than that land in the Notification Centre with a summary banner.
I paid with the screen off / the phone in my pocket.
When you unlock, you'll find a notification: one tap opens the confirmation popup. No detected payment is ever silently lost.
Can I turn automatic detection off completely?
Yes: Settings → "Automatic payment detection". The app keeps working manually.
The payment confirmation popup
What's that box appearing over other apps?
The payment confirmation window: it shows the detected amount and merchant, with a small circle acting as a countdown.
What if I don't touch anything?
The countdown lasts 10 seconds; when it runs out the expense is saved automatically.
How do I stop the countdown to check things calmly?
Just tap any field in the popup (or open "More actions"): the countdown stops and the expense is no longer auto-saved.
Does the countdown run with the screen off?
No: it only runs with the screen on, so it can't expire while the phone is in your pocket.
What actions do I have?
- Save: logs the expense (if it's above the threshold, it offers to spread it as an unexpected expense).
- X at the top: decide later — you'll find it in the Notification Centre.
- More actions → *Later* (pending), *Discard* (ignored, recoverable via "Undo" for 4 seconds), *Block* (that app or bank will no longer trigger popups).
The popup never appears — why?
The "Display over other apps" permission is missing, or the phone is blocking it. Without the permission you still get a standard notification instead. On Xiaomi/Redmi/POCO you also need "Show pop-up windows while running in background".
Can I change the category before saving?
Yes: the popup opens a confirmation screen where you can correct amount, merchant, category, note and — for some sources — the date.
I discarded an expense by mistake.
An "Undo" bar appears for 4 seconds. If you missed it, it's in Notification Centre → Archive → Discarded, where you can recover it.
Notification Centre, blocks and archive
What is the Notification Centre?
The bell at the top of the home screen: where everything about detected payments and permissions ends up. It has three tabs: Permissions, Notifications and Blocks.
What's in the Notifications tab?
Three groups: pending payments (to confirm), expenses to complete (saved but missing a category or merchant name) and the Archive with blocked, ignored and logged items.
What does "Expenses to complete" mean?
Expenses already saved that are missing a detail. You can tap to complete them, or choose "It's fine as is" and leave them alone.
How long do pending payments last?
48 hours. In the final 6 hours they're tagged "Expiring soon" and you get a reminder. When they expire they're archived, not lost.
How do I clear something from the list?
Swipe it sideways to ignore it (with "Undo" to change your mind), or use "Mark all as read" to clear the dot without deleting anything.
Can I discard everything at once?
Yes, there's "Discard all" with a confirmation prompt.
Where do discarded notifications go?
Archive → "See all discarded". From there you can recover them or delete them permanently.
What does blocking an app or a bank do?
Its notifications will no longer trigger popups or expenses. Handy for apps that notify refunds, credits or anything you don't want tracked.
How do I unblock something?
Notification Centre → Blocks, or Settings → Manage blocks. You'll find "Blocked apps" and "Blocked expenses", each with an Unblock button.
Are blocked expenses lost?
No: they can be recovered from "Blocked expenses", including in bulk ("Recover the N blocked expenses from X").
What's that "N payments recovered since last opening" banner?
It appears when the app, on reopening, finds 3 or more payments in the notification tray. Tap them below to confirm them one by one.
What happens to unconfirmed notifications at the end of a cycle?
They're archived, and the cycle recap tells you ("N unconfirmed notifications were archived") with a Review button.
Importing expenses from a screenshot
How does screenshot import work?
Take a screenshot of your bank's transaction list (or Google Wallet), then share it with uRekoin from the share menu. The app reads the text and proposes the transactions it found.
When is it useful?
Mostly for catching up on the past: payments made before you installed the app, or ones missed because the phone had killed the service.
Does it read one expense or the whole list?
Both: with a single transaction it opens the confirmation directly; with two or more it switches to list mode and proposes them in sequence, with a "3 of 7" indicator.
Will it create duplicates if the screenshot contains expenses I already logged?
No: it first checks against what's already logged (same amount, within a 2-day tolerance) and skips those. It tells you how many are new and how many were already there.
How far back can it go?
Transactions up to 30 days old. Older ones are ignored.
Is the screenshot uploaded anywhere?
No. Text recognition (OCR) happens entirely on your phone.
It detects nothing / detects it wrong.
It needs a sharp screenshot with legible amounts. If no amount is found the app says so explicitly, and you can retry with a better image.
Extra income
How do I log income?
The + button on the home screen → Income, or Settings → Extra income.
Does every income entry increase my budget?
Only if you choose so. After saving, a dialog asks "How does this income count?" with the Include in budget switch: if you exclude it, it's still tracked but doesn't raise your budget.
Why would I exclude income?
Because not all incoming money is meant to be spent: a gift you want to keep aside, a refund earmarked for something else, a credit unrelated to this month.
What does "From when does it count?" mean?
You can make the income count from its own date, from the start of the cycle, or from a future date. In the last case it doesn't touch the budget until that date arrives — handy for money that's been announced but hasn't landed.
The options dialog annoys me — can I turn it off?
Yes, there's a "Don't ask again" checkbox.
Can I edit or delete income?
Yes, from the Extra income list. The budget recalculates accordingly.
Does income disappear at the end of the cycle?
No: it's archived like expenses and stays visible in history, in Excel reports and in the per-cycle income chart of the freelance dashboard.
Can I set part of an income aside instead of spending it?
Yes: the income dialog has the "Want to set some aside?" sliders — drag them to decide how much goes into your savings envelopes and how much stays in this month's budget.
Freelance mode, monthly target and taxes
What is Freelance mode?
The mode for people without a fixed salary: you set a monthly target (your cautious earnings forecast) and the budget starts from there, instead of from a guaranteed salary.
Does it cost extra?
No, Freelance mode is free for everyone.
How do I switch income mode?
Settings → Income mode. The switch asks for confirmation because it affects the budget calculation, but no logged data is lost.
Is the monthly target a limit or a forecast?
It's a floor, not a ceiling. The budget starts at the target; every net euro earned beyond it immediately raises your available budget.
What is the "target coverage" bar?
It shows how much of the cycle's monthly target your logged income has covered. Past 100%, the excess flows into the cycle's budget.
Which cycle start day should I pick in freelance mode?
The 1st of the month, so the cycle matches the calendar month (that's the app's suggestion, but any day works).
What happens at the end of a freelance cycle?
The app shows what you earned and lets you choose the target for the new cycle: use what you just earned, keep the current target, or enter a custom amount.
How does tax set-aside work?
You set a percentage (e.g. 31% or 41% for the Italian flat-rate scheme) and that share of every income goes into a virtual tax pot. The budget only counts the net.
Is the tax pot real money?
No, it's an accounting view: the money stays in your account, the app just stops you from treating it as spendable.
How do I pay taxes out of the pot?
Create a planned expense with the "This is a tax" checkbox: when due, the instalment comes out of the tax pot instead of the cycle's budget.
I set the tax percentage after logging some income.
The app asks whether to apply it to the income you already logged. On first setup it covers all included income; if you only change the value, it adjusts only what was already taxed.
What's the Monthly target dashboard?
The screen that gathers everything freelance: target coverage, excess, tax pot with the next instalment due, cycle income (split between "in target" and "set aside") and per-cycle income history.
What does "Next instalment: ✓ covered / €X missing" mean?
It tells you whether the tax pot already holds enough for the next tax deadline you've planned.
Savings goals, Safety Net and Holiday Mode
What are savings goals?
Virtual envelopes: one named goal with a target (e.g. Holiday — €1,500) plus the Safety Net 🪂, which is always there. Find them in Settings → Savings goals and on the home screen below the metrics carousel.
How is this different from the savings goal in basic settings?
There's no conflict: the envelopes' "per-cycle contribution" is what gets subtracted from the budget, and the sum of all contributions is your overall savings goal.
How do I put money into an envelope?
Three ways: the per-cycle contribution (credited automatically at each cycle end), the allocation sliders when you log income, or the end-of-cycle offer if you saved money.
What exactly does the per-cycle contribution do?
It's set aside at every cycle and subtracted from your available budget — exactly like the classic savings goal, but tracked envelope by envelope with a movement history.
What is the Safety Net?
The envelope for lean months and budget overruns. It has no "Use"/"Edit" buttons: it only works at the end of a cycle, and never automatically — the app offers, you decide.
Why can't I use the Safety Net mid-cycle?
Because mid-cycle emergencies belong to Unexpected expenses (which spread the cost). The Safety Net exists to close the books, not to patch holes.
What can I do with "Use" on a named goal?
Four things:
- 🏖 Dated Mode (Holiday) — the balance becomes a dedicated daily budget.
- Cover expenses already made — pick expenses from the last 30 days and they stop weighing on the budget.
- Free amount — comes back into the budget as "From goal" income.
- Withdraw — the money leaves the app (e.g. you bought the thing you were saving for).
How does Holiday Mode work?
You pick a date range: the envelope balance is spread across those days (e.g. €500 / 5 days = €100 a day). While it's active, every new variable expense — notifications included — comes out of the envelope, and the cycle budget stays frozen. A home screen banner shows what you can spend today.
What if I overspend during Holiday Mode?
The envelope goes negative but the cycle isn't touched. The overspend is charged to the cycle budget only when you exit, in one go.
What happens when I exit the Mode?
If there's money left, you choose: put it back into the goal, or spread it across the rest of the cycle.
Can I run two Modes at once?
No, only one at a time.
Do expenses covered by an envelope disappear?
No: they stay visible in history and charts with a 🎯 badge, but don't weigh on the budget. Delete a covered expense and the money returns to the envelope; edit it and the movement realigns.
What happens to envelopes at the end of a cycle?
In order: 1) per-cycle contributions are credited; 2) if you overspent (or, in freelance mode, earned less than your target) the app offers to cover it with the Safety Net; 3) if you saved, it offers to set the surplus aside with the allocation sliders.
I can't delete a goal.
Empty it first with "Use", then you can delete it. It's a safeguard against accidentally losing the balance.
Where do I see an envelope's history?
In the goal's Movements section: every row is labelled (from income, cycle contribution, cycle savings, used, deficit cover, lean month, covered expense, withdrawal, mode overspend).
Categories and category budgets
How many categories come built in?
Ten default categories with icon and colour: Groceries, Transport, Entertainment, Home, Health, Clothing, Technology, Restaurants, Bills, Gifts.
Can I create my own?
Yes: Settings → Manage categories → +. Pick a name, icon and colour with a live preview.
How many custom categories do I get for free?
You start with 2, and every video watched unlocks one more with no cap. Premium: unlimited without videos.
Can I delete the default categories?
No, the built-in ones can't be deleted (it avoids "orphan" expenses in your history). Your custom ones can.
Can I edit a category's name, icon and colour later?
Yes, from the same management screen.
What is a category budget?
A monthly cap you can put on any category (e.g. Restaurants max €150/month). You get progress bars and a warning icon as you approach the limit.
Do I get an alert if I blow a category budget?
Yes: a warning notification as you approach the limit (from 80% up) and another when you exceed it.
Does a category budget take money out of my daily budget?
No. It's an independent control limit: it tells you *where* you're overspending, it doesn't change today's budget calculation.
Are notification-detected expenses categorised automatically?
If the merchant is already saved with a default category, yes. Otherwise they go to "To categorise" and you sort them from the Notification Centre or from history.
Can I see all the expenses in one category?
Yes: tap a pie chart slice → "See expenses", or go through category management.
Statistics, forecasts and charts
What does the strip on the home screen show?
Seven bars = the last 7 days of spending. With the "Cycle" toggle you get a colour map of the whole cycle. The arrows navigate past periods; tapping a day opens it in history.
What's in the Statistics screen?
Two day-by-day lines: what you could have spent (the quota that adapts each day) and what you actually spent. Above, indicators with total spend and the end-of-cycle projection.
Can I see a day's expenses from the chart?
Yes, tap a point on the line.
What comparisons does the app give me?
How much you're spending versus the same point in the previous cycle (as a percentage), and your weekend vs weekday average.
What are Forecasts?
An end-of-cycle projection with three states — *above expectations*, *under control*, *overspending* — plus an estimate of savings or deficit if you keep this pace.
How much data does a forecast need?
At least 3 days of expenses in the cycle: below that the app says so instead of inventing a number.
Can I filter the forecasts?
Yes, between All / Variable / Fixed — with the chips or by swiping sideways.
What tips does the app give?
Concrete suggestions computed on your own numbers: how much per day you're over budget, which category weighs most as a percentage, whether you're reaching the end of the cycle with room to spare or scraping by.
How do the pie charts work?
On the home screen, swipe the charts card: pies for variable expenses, fixed expenses and the total. Tap a slice for the animated category breakdown.
Are advanced charts free?
One video unlocks 24 hours of access to advanced charts and Forecasts (a single video unlocks both). With Premium they're always available.
Does the cycle recap include unexpected and planned expenses?
Yes: the full cycle recap covers variable, fixed, unexpected (including completed ones) and planned expenses.
Excel report and sharing your recap
What's in the Excel report?
Four sheets: Summary (cycle balance with previous-cycle comparison, KPIs, insights and top 5 expenses), Categories, By day and Movements (every row: variable, fixed, income, unexpected).
Which indicators are in the summary?
Average daily spend, peak day and its date, top category, zero-spend days, above-average days, cycle result and difference against your savings goal.
What are the "insights"?
Sentences computed from your data: how much of your variable spending goes to weekends, whether your daily average is up or down versus last cycle, which category grew or shrank, how many days you spent nothing.
Is there an annual projection of fixed expenses?
Yes, with monthly and yearly amounts per item: it's the fastest way to see what your subscriptions really cost you in a year.
How do I export it?
From history, tap the Excel icon on the cycle you want. Or from the end-of-cycle recap, with "Download cycle recap".
Does it work for old cycles too?
Yes: if the report wasn't saved, it's rebuilt on the fly from your data.
Is exporting free?
One video = one export. With Premium it's unlimited.
Backup and restore
Is my data safe if I change phone?
Only if you make a backup: uRekoin has no cloud, so uninstalling without a backup means losing your data.
How do I make a backup?
Settings → Data backup → Export backup (save the file wherever you want) or Export and share (send it via email, chat, drive…).
What's in the backup file?
Everything: expenses (including archived), income, budget settings, planned expenses and instalments, saved merchants, unexpected expenses, bank formats, notifications, savings goals and movements — plus your language/currency preferences, category budgets, blocks and video-unlocked slots.
What's NOT in it?
Your Premium status: that always comes from Google Play and is tied to your account, so it restores itself with "Restore purchases".
What format is the file?
Readable JSON, saved locally. No data passes through a server.
How do I restore a backup?
Settings → Data backup → Restore backup. The app shows the backup date and the number of expenses and income entries, and asks for confirmation because your current data will be replaced. If the restore fails, existing data is left untouched.
Will an old backup still work after an app update?
Yes: the format is designed to stay importable across versions.
Is there an automatic backup?
Yes, for Premium users: pick a folder and the app saves there by itself at the end of each cycle and every 7 days on opening, keeping the last 5 files and deleting older ones.
Is backup a paid feature?
Yes, backup and restore are Premium features.
Home screen widget
What does the widget show?
Your remaining budget for today, how much you've spent today and how many days until the new cycle. Tapping it opens the app.
How do I add it?
Like any Android widget: long-press the home screen → Widgets → uRekoin Budget. It resizes horizontally.
How often does it refresh?
By itself roughly every 2 hours, and immediately after any budget change made in the app (new expense, new income, cycle reset).
Is the widget free?
No — it's the one feature reserved exclusively for Premium: without a subscription it shows "Premium only" with an invitation to upgrade. It can't be unlocked with videos.
Permissions
Which permissions does the app ask for, and why?
- Notification access — to read payment notifications. Without it: no automatic detection.
- Display over other apps — to show the confirmation popup above other apps. Without it: a normal notification instead.
- Notifications — confirmations, reminders and recaps. Without it: no alerts.
- Exact alarms — punctual cycle reset and payment reminders. Without it: the new cycle may start a few hours late.
- Ignore battery optimisation — stops the system from killing the detection service.
- Vibration — haptic feedback on confirmations.
Android showed me a scary warning about notification access.
That's Android's standard text, identical for every app using that permission. uRekoin only uses it to recognise payment notifications; the app warns you before showing that screen precisely so it doesn't catch you off guard.
Do I have to grant them all?
No. Each missing permission switches off a feature, but the app stays usable in manual mode.
How do I know if something is missing?
The bell on the home screen shows a red badge when an important permission is missing. Tap it for the list of issues, each with a Fix button that opens the right system screen directly.
Can I revoke permissions later?
Yes, from Android settings at any time. The app notices and tells you.
Privacy and data
Where does my data go?
It stays on your phone. The database is local and uRekoin has no cloud: no expense, income or notification is uploaded anywhere.
Do I need an account?
No, there's no sign-up and no login.
Can the app see my bank account?
No. It doesn't connect to any institution, never asks for credentials and doesn't read balances: it only interprets the text of the notifications your bank already shows on your phone.
Does it read my messages and email?
No. The Android permission is generic, but the app only processes notifications recognised as payments.
What happens to my data if I uninstall?
It's deleted along with the app. That's what backup is for: export it before uninstalling or switching phones.
What about ads and consent?
On the free plan ads are served by Google AdMob; in GDPR countries the required consent form is shown. With Premium there are no ads at all.
Where can I read the privacy policy?
Settings → Privacy Policy (and on the app's Google Play listing).
Language and currency
Which languages is the app translated into?
Italian, English, French, German and Spanish.
How do I change the language?
Settings → Language and Currency → Change language. The app reloads in the new language.
Which currencies are supported?
Euro, US dollar, pound sterling and Mexican peso.
Do I have to pick a currency during setup?
No: the app automatically uses your country's currency (detected from the system). If your country uses an unsupported currency, it falls back to a default.
How do I change it later?
Settings → Currency.
Does changing currency convert my amounts?
No: changing currency changes the symbol and future conversions, but doesn't rewrite amounts already logged. The screen states this clearly.
What if I pay in a foreign currency?
If the notification carries an amount in another currency, it's converted into your current currency before being logged.
Troubleshooting
Payment popups never appear. What should I check?
In order:
- Is the "Automatic detection" switch in Settings on?
- Is notification access granted? (bell → Fix)
- On Xiaomi/Redmi/POCO: enable "Show pop-up windows while running in background" in the app's system settings.
- Turn off battery optimisation for uRekoin.
I have a Xiaomi/Redmi/POCO and after a few hours detection stops.
That's MIUI/HyperOS killing the app in the background. You need to enable Autostart for uRekoin (the permissions bell has a dedicated entry with a Fix button).
I have a Huawei/Honor/Oppo/Realme — same problem.
Same principle: add uRekoin to "Protected apps" / "Autostart" and remove battery optimisation. These are manufacturer settings, not app settings.
I lost notifications while the app was closed.
On reopening, uRekoin recovers payments still in the tray (up to 8 hours old). For older ones, use screenshot import on your transaction list.
I have a duplicate expense.
Banks sometimes notify the same payment twice. The app warns with "⚠️ Possible duplicate" before saving; if one slipped through anyway, delete it from history (tap the day → tap the expense → Delete): the budget recalculates itself.
An expense I made is missing.
Check the Notification Centre: it might be among pending payments, ignored items or blocked ones. No detected payment is ever silently lost.
The popup shows the wrong or a garbled merchant name.
The learned format for that bank isn't right: Settings → Merchants and banks → Reset that bank's format, then teach it again on the next payment. For a single merchant you can instead assign a custom name.
Today's budget doesn't match my own maths.
Check, in order: income excluded from the budget, active unexpected expenses (they have a daily deduction), per-cycle savings contributions, planned expenses with "include in budget" on, and whether Holiday Mode is running.
The new cycle didn't start.
Open the app: the reset happens anyway on first opening from payday onwards. If it's hours late, the "Exact alarms" permission is probably missing.
The app behaves oddly after an update.
Try reopening it (the detection service reconnects itself when the app restarts). If it persists, report the bug — it's the fastest way to get it fixed.
Support and contact
How do I report a bug or suggest an idea?
Settings → Report a bug: describe the problem and it goes straight to the developer, who reads every message.
Will I get a reply?
Only if you leave your email (the field is optional). Without an email your message is still read, but the answer comes in the form of an app update.
Better to write here or leave a review?
Better here: from reviews it's much harder to reply to you and to work out what happened.
Is there another way to get in touch?
Yes, the Instagram profile shown on the bug report screen.
How can I support the project?
Leave a review on Google Play, share the app, or go Premium: development is independent.