ADHD Budget and Planner

Your phone and your computer

Two short answers. You do not need to be technical for either one.

Put it on your phone's Home Screen — this is what keeps your numbers

It is a website, so it arrives in your browser rather than from an app store. Giving it an icon is not just for looks: Safari deletes a website's saved numbers after about a week of not opening it. A planner opened from the Home Screen (or the Dock on a Mac) is left alone. Do this step even if you only ever use it on one device.

iPhone or iPad: open patricia.thelittlemachines.app in Safari, tap the Share button (the square with the arrow coming out of it), then Add to Home Screen.
Android: open the same address in Chrome, tap the menu (three dots), then Add to Home Screen.
Mac, in Safari: open the address, then in the menu bar choose File, then Add to Dock.
Computer, in Chrome or Edge: open the address, then in the menu choose Cast, Save and Share, then Install page as app. On a computer, Chrome and Edge can also keep a backup file up to date for you: in Settings, tap Turn on auto-backup and choose where the file lives, once.

After that it opens from an icon like any other app, and it works even without internet.

The new icon starts with an empty planner if you had already typed numbers into the Safari tab. Bring them across: in the Safari tab, go to Settings and tap Download a backup; then open the icon and tap Restore your backup file on the banner at the top. Or, if you kept a recovery copy, tap Get my numbers back in the new copy and use Face ID (or type your key).

If it opened inside the Etsy or your email app, tap the … menu and choose Open in browser first. You cannot add it to your Home Screen from inside those apps.

Keep a recovery copy — one tap, and your numbers can always come back

A browser can clear what it saved. A recovery copy means that is never the end of your numbers. It is encrypted on your device before it goes anywhere, and there is no account and no email.

The easy way — Face ID, Touch ID or your fingerprint. On an iPhone, iPad or Mac updated in the last year or so, and on Android, the planner offers to lock the copy with a passkey:

In Settings, tap Keep a recovery copy, then Use Face ID or Touch ID (or your fingerprint). Your device asks to save a passkey for the planner — say yes. That is the whole setup. Nothing to write down.
If your numbers ever vanish — or you open the planner on a new device, or from a new Home Screen icon — tap Get my numbers back on the first screen and use Face ID again. Everything returns, and the device stays connected from then on.

The passkey lives in your Apple or Google account (iCloud Keychain or Google Password Manager), so it survives a wiped browser and a new phone. The planner also shows you a 20-character backup key for the same copy, under Show my backup key in Settings — you only need it if you ever lose that account or move between an iPhone and a Windows computer.

The other way — a 20-character key. On older devices, or if you choose Use a 20-character key instead:

Tap Keep a recovery copy. The planner shows you a recovery key: 20 letters and digits in four groups. Tap Copy the key or Save to Notes, or take a screenshot. You can see it again any time under Show my recovery key.
To bring everything back, tap Get my numbers back and type the key. Dashes and capitals do not matter.

Only your passkey or your key opens the copy. Nobody at the shop can read your numbers, and nobody can bring them back without one of them.

Use it on your phone and your computer

Your planner saves on each device on its own. Connecting them is optional and you only do it once.

Start on the device that has the most up-to-date numbers — the steps below assume that is your phone. Whichever device you type the code into takes on the other one's planner, so beginning with the fuller device keeps everything.

On your phone: tap More at the bottom, then Settings. Find the card Use it on your phone and computer and tap Use on another device. A 6-digit code appears. It lasts 10 minutes.
On your computer: open the planner, go to Settings, find the same card and tap I already use this planner. Type the code in.
Both screens show the same small 3-digit check number. On your phone, tap Allow this device.

That is it. From then on, a change on one device appears on the other within about half a minute, as long as both have the planner open and online. It does not update while the planner is closed — open it and it catches up.

On an iPhone, the Home Screen copy keeps its own separate planner, so it may open showing the example numbers. If that happens, tap Already use it? Connect this device on the banner at the top and do the three steps again with a fresh code.

Keep a copy, just in case

In Settings (on a phone, More then Settings) tap Download a backup. It saves a small file of your numbers that you can bring back later with Restore your backup file. It is the copy that survives if a browser clears its storage.

Worth doing after you first set everything up, and after any big change.