UpdateNorthScan
Introducing NorthScan: private document scanning for iPhone
NorthScan is a new sister app to NorthVault, built around privacy-first Apple-native scanning for documents, receipts, whiteboards and books.
Read article NorthVault Blog
Thinking clearly about
personal finance.
A small but growing blog with practical guides and honest product updates on budgeting, net worth tracking, investment records, and privacy-first personal finance — written by the team building NorthVault for iPhone.
3 published guides
5 topic areas
Actively growing
Essential Guides
Long-form reference guides covering each core area of personal finance. Start here.
About these guides: Guides 01 and 02 are published. Guides 03–04 are planned and will be written as the Blog grows. Guides marked "Coming soon" do not exist yet — they appear here to show where the Blog is heading. Product references may change as NorthVault is refined.
Guide 01
Guide
Net Worth Tracking on iPhone — A Practical Introduction
How to calculate and track your net worth manually — covering assets, liabilities, investment accounts, and property. No bank login needed.
Net Worth
Assets
Liabilities
Wealth
Read guide
Guide 02
Guide
Budgeting on iPhone — From Categories to Salary Cycles
Category budgets, flexible periods, salary-cycle alignment, and budget-vs-actual tracking — making budgeting work for how you actually get paid.
Category Budgets
Salary Cycle
Budget Periods
Read guide
Guide 03
Guide
Investment Portfolio Tracking — Getting Started
How to track holdings, monitor allocation, record dividends, and review portfolio activity manually. Investment record tracking is included in NorthVault.
Holdings
Allocation
Dividends
Portfolio Health
Read guide
Coming soon
Guide 04
Guide
Privacy-First Personal Finance — A Practical Overview
Why data ownership matters, how local-first apps work, and what to look for when evaluating apps that handle your most sensitive financial information.
Local-First
Data Ownership
Privacy
The core workflows behind these guides are in the app.
Budgeting, wealth tracking, and investment records — on iPhone, privately, without a bank login. App available on the App Store, with some areas still being refined.
Featured
Featured
Budgeting
Budgeting on iPhone — From Categories to Salary Cycles
Monthly budgets don't fit every household. This guide covers category budgets, salary-cycle planning, flexible periods, and how budgeting connects to your wider money picture.
Read articleAll Articles
Reading this Blog: Articles with a live link are published and readable now. Cards without a link are planned — they appear here to show the content roadmap, not as published content. Some features referenced in articles may still be refined before or after App Store release.
ArticleBudgeting
The Case for Manual Budgeting in an Age of Auto-Sync
Automatic bank sync feels convenient until you notice how much you're giving up for it. There's a growing case for entering your own numbers — and knowing exactly what you track.
In progressArticleBudgeting
Budgeting on iPhone — From Categories to Salary Cycles
If you get paid fortnightly or weekly, a monthly budget can create an awkward mismatch between when money arrives and when you plan to spend it. Here's a clearer approach.
Read articleArticleBudgeting
Best Budgeting App for iPhone Without Bank Linking
A practical look at manual-first budgeting on iPhone, with no required bank connection or account creation for core use.
In progressArticleWealth
Assets and Liabilities: A Simple Framework for Understanding Your Wealth
Net worth is assets minus liabilities — but knowing which accounts to include, how to value them, and how to track them over time is where most people get stuck.
PlannedArticleWealth
Net Worth by Age: What the Benchmarks Mean and Why They're Misleading
Net worth context can be useful, but it can also mislead. Here's how to think about progress without turning comparison into stress.
In progressArticleWealth
How to Track Property Value in Your Net Worth
Real estate is often the largest single item in a household's net worth, but it's also the hardest to track accurately. A practical approach to including it.
PlannedArticleInvesting
Investment Portfolio Tracking — Getting Started
Tracking investment records doesn't need to be complicated. Here's how to get started manually and what to look for in a clear portfolio tracking workflow.
Read articleArticleInvesting
Manual Portfolio Tracking on iPhone
A practical look at tracking your investment portfolio on iPhone with a manual-first approach that keeps your records clear and under your control.
In progressArticleInvesting
How to Track a Fund Portfolio Manually on iPhone
Fund portfolios are easier to understand when purchases, distributions, and allocation are recorded consistently over time. Here's how to do it.
PlannedArticlePrivacy
Why Local-First Finance Apps Are Worth Your Attention
Your financial data is among the most sensitive information about you. Local-first apps offer a different model — one where your data never leaves your device by default.
In progressArticlePrivacy
What Finance Apps Know About You — And How to Limit It
Connected finance features can involve sensitive permissions. A clear breakdown of what to consider before enabling them anywhere.
In progressArticleOur Thinking
Why NorthVault is Local-First — and What That Actually Means
Local-first is a design principle, not a marketing phrase. Here's the specific reasoning behind why NorthVault stores data on your device and what it means for how the app works.
PlannedArticleOur Thinking
Why Connected Accounts Are Future Work
Connected account import is on the roadmap, but it isn't in NorthVault today. Here's an honest explanation of why — covering privacy, reliability, consent, and what we'd need to get right before adding it.
PlannedArticleOur Thinking
How We Think About Cloud Sync — and Why It Isn't in NorthVault Yet
Cloud sync is a future direction, not a current feature. This article explains our thinking: what it would take to add it responsibly, and why we haven't rushed it.
PlannedArticleData Ownership
Using CSV Import to Build Your Transaction History From Day One
Starting fresh with a new finance app doesn't have to mean losing your history. Most banks let you export transactions as CSV — here's how to use that to hit the ground running.
PlannedArticleData Ownership
Personal Finance App vs Spreadsheet: When Each Makes Sense
Structured tracking works best when it fits the way you manage money. The right setup depends on what you're tracking and how much time you want to spend on it.
PlannedTopic Clusters
Budgeting
Category budgets, salary cycles, flexible periods
Wealth
Net worth, assets, liabilities, wealth trends
Investing
Portfolio tracking, holdings, dividends, allocation
Privacy
Local-first, data ownership, no bank linking
Data Ownership
CSV import, export, backup, restore
Behind the Build
Honest writing about building NorthVault — what we've learned, what changed, and where we made mistakes.
Planned content: These articles don't exist yet. They're part of the Blog roadmap — build-in-public writing that will be published as NorthVault continues to develop. Showing them here is itself an act of transparency.
BuildBehind the Build
Building NorthVault: What Early Testing Taught Us
An honest look at what went differently than expected — features that took longer, decisions we revisited, and the feedback that changed the direction of the app.
PlannedBuildBehind the Build
How Investment Tracking Evolved During Development
Investment record tracking didn't arrive fully formed. Here's the development story — what we built first, what changed, and how the current design emerged.
PlannedBuildBehind the Build
What Testers Changed About Our Budgeting Design
Some of NorthVault's budgeting decisions — including salary-cycle support — came directly from tester feedback. Here's what changed and why we listened.
PlannedProduct Updates
What's new in NorthVault and what's being worked on.
UpdateProduct
Investment Portfolio Tracking in NorthVault
Holdings, allocation, dividend tracking, and portfolio review tools are included. Here's what's available and what's being refined.
See featureUpdateProduct
What's Being Refined
A look at what's actively being worked on: smarter categorisation suggestions, performance improvements for larger datasets, investment analytics refinements, and improved onboarding clarity.
In progressUpdateProduct
Why We Built NorthVault
NorthVault started as a personal project after struggling to find a finance app that handled budgeting, wealth, and investments together — without requiring a bank login or account creation.
Read storyNorthVault is coming soon to the App Store.
Budget by category, track your net worth, and maintain investment records — privately, on your iPhone, without a bank login. The free version will be available soon on the App Store. Development beta feedback helps shape what gets built next.