Question 1

What happens when I first open the app?

Accepted Answer

Sign in with email or Google (email sign-in must be verified). Language follows the phone if we ship that translation, otherwise English. If an encrypted Drive backup exists for this account, you can restore it or skip. Then you pick a country, which sets currency once. Then you add accounts, or skip and add them later from Home. Display name and photo come from Google or email; you change them later in Settings, not during setup. You land on Home and add money with +.

Question 2

Does Pesa Notes work without internet?

Accepted Answer

After setup, the ledger is SQLite on the phone. You need a connection to sign in, verify email, restore or write a Drive backup, or buy Premium on Google Play. Free-tier ads are a banner on Home, Activity, Plans, and Insights. They skip when you are offline.

Question 3

Is this for shops or sales?

Accepted Answer

No. Pesa Notes is a personal finance app for individuals: accounts, income, expenses, transfers, budgets, goals, and debts.

Question 4

What does “You have” on Home mean?

Accepted Answer

You have is Safe to spend: the sum of balances in accounts with that flag on (not archived). Upcoming bills stay in a list and are not subtracted. Transfers between your accounts are not income or spending. Total in accounts is everything, including savings left out of Safe to spend. Spending and transfers cannot take an account below zero. If the account you picked is short, you can pay from another Safe-to-spend account, or turn Safe to spend on for an account that has enough.

Question 5

Can I delete a money account?

Accepted Answer

Not if it still has transactions, recurrences, or a linked goal: that would wipe the history. Archive it instead. It leaves everyday picking and You have; the records stay on the device. Empty unused accounts can be deleted. Deleting your signed-in Pesa Notes account in Settings is separate and removes local data.

Question 6

What does Insights show?

Accepted Answer

Figures from the on-device ledger. Income is take-home (what arrived). PAYE and social fund you record as withheld never hit the account and are not spent. Free is this month’s take-home, spent, category mix, and daily spending (average, highest day, days with spend). Premium adds past months, remaining after spent and goals, savings rate, weekday mix, amounts still on the calendar this month, and After debts (accounts minus what you owe plus what you are owed). Remaining is not You have. After debts is not this month’s in minus out. Copy stays factual.

Question 7

Can I change currency later?

Accepted Answer

No. Country sets currency once at setup. You cannot edit it later in the app. Restoring a Drive backup reloads the country and currency stored in that backup.

Question 8

Is Google Drive backup the same as sync?

Accepted Answer

No. Backup writes an encrypted copy to your Drive so you can restore on a new device. It is optional and free. It is not live multi-device sync, and we cannot read the file.

Question 9

What’s free vs Premium?

Accepted Answer

Free is the ledger: income, expenses, transfers, accounts, You have, this month’s take-home and spent, category mix and daily spending, recorded calendar days, Activity for the current month, up to three of each in Plans (budgets, recurrences, goals, debts), optional encrypted Drive backup, and a banner ad on Home, Activity, Plans, or Insights — never on save, +, or the You have card. Premium is every month of Activity, unlimited Plans items, calendar projection of upcoming days, past months, remaining after spent and goals, savings rate, weekday mix, calendar amounts still due, After debts on Insights, and no ads. Premium is monthly on Google Play, and 4-month if Play lists it at checkout. Eligible first-time accounts get a 3-day trial from Play. There is no first-install Premium window in the app.

Question 10

How do I get help or cancel Premium?

Accepted Answer

Account and privacy requests: Settings in the app, or Contact in the footer. Paid plans are managed in Google Play under Subscriptions. After the paid period, the app follows free-tier gates. Local data stays on the device.

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