A finance app without a bank login: why it protects your data

Many budgeting apps ask you to connect your bank account, through open banking or your bank login. It's convenient: transactions appear on their own. But it means a company receives and stores your financial history on its servers.

How a local-first app works

In a local-first app like Coinky, your transactions live in a database on your own device. There's no account and no server holding your data: you add transactions yourself or import the OFX statement you downloaded from your bank, and the file is read on your phone.

What you gain

1. No third party holds your bank password or access.
2. Your history isn't sitting on a server that can be breached or sold.
3. It works offline.
4. You decide what goes in: only what you import or add.

What you give up

Transactions don't arrive by themselves: you import a statement now and then, or log spending as you go. In practice, one OFX import a month takes a few minutes. And because the data lives on your device, deleting the app deletes it, unless you turn on backup.

→ How to export your bank statement as OFX

More guides

• How to export your bank statement as an OFX file

  What an OFX file is, where banks usually hide the export option, and how to import your statement into Coinky without typing anything.

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• How to make a simple monthly budget

  A simple way to set up a monthly budget with category limits, and how to follow it without a spreadsheet.