Shared Spaces: The Complete Guide
Fineyo lets you track your money on your own, or share a budget with someone else — a partner, a roommate, your family. This guide explains what "Spaces" are, how sharing works, how your data is kept safe, and how to avoid the handful of mistakes that trip people up.
What is a "Space"?
A Space is simply a container for your financial data — your accounts, transactions, budgets, categories, and tags.
Every account starts with one Space, called Personal. It's private to you by default.
You can also create Shared Spaces — separate containers you use together with other people. A common example: you and your partner create a "Home" space for shared bills and joint spending, while each of you keeps your own separate Personal space for individual accounts. You switch between spaces at any time; nothing from one space appears in another.
There are two ways to end up with a shared space:
- Turn your Personal space into a shared one. Your existing data doesn't move or get copied — your Personal space itself becomes shared, in place.
- Create a brand-new space just for sharing (e.g., "Home", "Trip to Italy"), and leave your Personal space untouched.
Most people are better off with option 2 if they want to keep their own accounts fully separate from a partner's.
How sharing actually works
Fineyo doesn't run its own servers to make sharing happen. Instead, it uses Apple's iCloud sharing, the same technology behind sharing a Notes folder or a Reminders list with someone.
That means:
- You invite people using the same sheet you'd use to share a note or a photo album — via Messages, Mail, AirDrop, or a copy-able link.
- The person you invite doesn't need to be a Fineyo user yet — but they do need an iPhone and an iCloud account, and they'll need to install Fineyo to actually open the invite and see the data.
- Both of you need to be signed in to iCloud on your devices for sharing to work.
Everyone in a shared space has full access
There is no "view only" mode. Anyone you invite into a shared space can see, add, edit, and delete anything in it — transactions, budgets, categories, everything. Any member (not just the person who created the space) can also invite additional people.
This is intentional — Fineyo is built for people who trust each other with shared finances (partners, family) — but it's worth knowing before you invite someone: there's no way to give someone a limited, read-only view of a shared space.
How and when your data syncs
- Fineyo checks for updates from other members roughly every few seconds while the app is open on the active shared space, and it also reacts almost immediately when someone else makes a change, thanks to Apple's push-notification system.
- You need an internet connection for syncing. If you're offline, your changes are saved locally and will sync automatically the next time you're back online — you won't lose anything.
- Only the space you currently have open is actively syncing in the background. Switching to a space brings it up to date.
- In Settings → Spaces, you can always see exactly when data was last uploaded and downloaded, and whether a sync is in progress.
Low Power Mode
If your iPhone is in Low Power Mode, Fineyo will pause background syncing to help your battery, unless you tell it to sync anyway. You can turn this behavior off in Settings → Spaces → Battery, or manually force a sync at any time with the "Sync Now" button that appears when a pause is in effect.
Where your data is actually stored — and is it safe?
- Your data always lives on your own device first, saved locally so the app works even without internet.
- Once you create or join a shared space, that data is also stored in your (or the space owner's) personal iCloud account, inside Apple's CloudKit system — the same private cloud storage Apple uses for apps like Notes and Reminders.
- Fineyo does not have its own separate database of your shared data. There's no third-party server involved — your information travels only between your device, the other members' devices, and Apple's iCloud servers.
- Because shared data rides on the space owner's iCloud storage, if the owner's iCloud storage is full, syncing for that space will stop until they free up space. This only affects syncing, never the data already on each person's device.
A safety net for your first share
The very first time you share anything — turning your Personal space into a shared one, sharing a brand-new space, or accepting someone else's invite — Fineyo quietly saves a private, on-device backup of your data exactly as it was right before sharing started. This backup is never uploaded anywhere; it just sits on your device as an insurance policy.
If something ever goes wrong with sharing, you can restore this snapshot from Settings → Spaces → Danger Zone → Restore Pre-Sharing Backup. Be aware that restoring it is a serious action:
- Any shared space you own will be deleted for every member.
- Any shared space you joined will be left (you'll lose access, but it stays intact for everyone else).
- Your device's current data will be replaced by that earlier snapshot.
This cannot be undone, so use it only as a last resort if sharing has caused a real problem.
Step-by-step: sharing a space
- Go to Settings → Spaces.
- Tap + to create a new space, and give it a name — or tap "Manage Shared Space" on your Personal space to share it as-is.
- Fineyo opens the standard iOS sharing sheet. Send the invite link however you like (Messages, Mail, AirDrop, copied link).
- The person you invited taps the link, sees "Join shared space?", and confirms.
- That's it — you're both now working from the same data, and changes made by either of you will show up on the other's device within moments.
Renaming, leaving, and deleting a space
- Rename: swipe on any space (including Personal) and tap "Rename Space." Everyone in that space will see the new name the next time they sync.
- Leave a space (if you're a member, not the owner): removes it from your device and revokes your access. The data stays intact for everyone else.
- Delete a space (if you're the owner): removes it for everyone — all members lose access automatically.
- Your Personal space can never be deleted — it's always there as your private home base. (If you joined someone else's shared personal space as a member, you can still leave it — you just can't delete it, since you don't own it.)
What happens if...
| Situation | What you'll see |
|---|---|
| You're not signed in to iCloud | An alert explaining iCloud is unavailable, with a button to jump straight to iCloud settings. |
| Your iCloud storage is full | A message that iCloud storage is full and syncing is paused until you free some up. |
| You lose your internet connection | Nothing breaks — changes save locally and sync automatically once you're back online. Creating and renaming a space always works offline; only the very first invite requires being online. |
| Apple's iCloud service is having a temporary hiccup | A "Temporary sync issue" message — this explicitly means it's not a problem with your device or account, just try again shortly. |
| A space owner stops being a Premium subscriber | The whole space pauses syncing for everyone in it until the owner renews. |
| You're removed from a space, or the owner deletes it | You're automatically switched back to your Personal space, and you're told which space you lost access to. |
Premium plan: what's included
Shared spaces are a Premium feature. Creating a new space, or sharing your Personal space, both require an active Premium subscription (or lifetime purchase).
A few things people often get wrong about how this works:
- There's no limit on the number of members you can invite into a shared space, and no limit on the number of shared spaces a Premium user can create.
- A shared space's capacity depends on whoever owns it — not on each individual member. If a Premium user invites a free-plan friend into their shared space, that friend gets the full, unrestricted experience inside that shared space (unlimited accounts, budgets, and categories), because the space's limits come from the owner's plan.
- If the owner's subscription expires, the whole shared space freezes for everyone — no new data syncs in or out for any member — until the owner renews Premium. Data already on each device stays exactly as it is; nothing is deleted.
Good habits and things to keep in mind
- Only invite people you fully trust with your money — everyone in a shared space has complete edit access, including the ability to invite others.
- If you and a partner want some accounts kept private and others shared, use a separate dedicated shared space (e.g., "Home") rather than sharing your entire Personal space.
- Keep an eye on the Sync Status section in Settings → Spaces if something looks out of date — it shows your iCloud sign-in status, network connection, and the exact time of your last sync.
- If you ever need to remove or manage the people in a shared space, Fineyo currently hands this off to Apple's own iCloud sharing screen (the same one used by Notes/Reminders) — look for "Manage Shared Space" in Settings → Spaces.
- The Restore Pre-Sharing Backup option only appears once you've shared something for the first time, and it should be treated as an emergency undo button, not a routine tool.
Contact Us
If you have any questions or concerns, please contact us at info@fineyo.app.
