DragonTrove

When you first open DragonTrove, tap Create Budget and give it a name, something like "Family Budget" or "Monthly Spending." You can create multiple budgets for different purposes.

Gold piles (envelopes) represent a spending category. Tap Add Envelope inside your budget to create one. Common examples: Groceries, Gas, Dining Out, Utilities, Entertainment.

Give each envelope a name and a monthly allocation. DragonTrove will track your spending transactions against that amount.

Tap the + button to add a transaction. Enter the amount using the keypad without a decimal, typing 1500 gives you $15.00. Select the envelope it belongs to, add a vendor name, and save.

Your envelope balance updates immediately and syncs to any shared devices.

Tap the microphone icon and say something like "$75 at Costco for groceries." DragonTrove uses the iPhone voice to text to parse the amount, vendor, and category automatically.

Voice entry works best when you include all three pieces of information: amount, vendor, and category. You can always edit any field before saving.

DragonTrove supports budget sharing via iCloud. To share a budget, go to Settings -> Manage Budget -> add people icon. You are able to send others a invite to the budget via iCloud.

Once shared, any transaction added will sync to the other devices in real time.

Each budget can have its own theme - Dragon Hoard or Classic - independent of your global app theme. This is handy if you use multiple budgets for different purposes and want them to feel distinct.

To set a per-budget theme, go to Settings -> Manage Budgets -> Budget Settings, and choose a theme override. The app will automatically switch to that theme when you enter the budget.

If you manage money in more than one currency, for a travel budget or another family member, you can set a currency per budget.

To set a per-budget currency, go to Settings -> Manage Budgets -> Budget Settings, and choose a currency override from the full currency picker. All amounts in that budget will display in the chosen currency. DragonTrove displays currencies for tracking purposes only and does not perform live currency conversion.

DragonTrove lets you export your transaction data as a CSV file at any time. Go to Budget Settings and tap Export Data. The file will be saved to your Files app where you can share it, open it in Numbers or Excel, or back it up anywhere you like.

Your data is always yours — no lock-in, ever.

DragonTrove lets you import a previously exported CSV from DragonTrove as a new budget. Go to Settings -> Manage Budgets -> Import Budget. Select the CSV to import from Files. Rename and share as you need.

Both envelopes and budgets support a notes field for reminders, context, or anything else you want to remember. For example, you might note that the Groceries envelope includes household supplies, or that a budget is for a specific trip.

To add a note, open the envelope or budget settings and look for the Notes field.

If a transaction added on one device isn't showing up on another, try the following:

1. Make sure both devices are signed into the same iCloud account.
2. Check that iCloud Drive is enabled on both devices: Settings → Apple ID → iCloud → iCloud Drive.
3. Make sure DragonTrove has iCloud access: Settings → Apple ID → iCloud → Show All and confirm DragonTrove is toggled on.
4. Check that both devices have an active internet connection.
5. Pull to refresh on the budget screen to trigger a manual sync check.

Budget sharing uses Apple's CloudKit sharing framework. If the shared budget isn't appearing:

1. Make sure the invitation was sent to the correct Apple ID.
2. Ask the other person to check their email or iCloud notifications for a sharing invitation.
3. Confirm the other person is signed into iCloud on their device.
4. Try resending the invitation from Settings -> Manage Budgets → Share Budget.

Both parties need to be on a compatible iOS version with iCloud Drive enabled.

iCloud sync speed depends on Apple's servers and your internet connection. If sync feels unusually slow:

• Pull down on the Overview Screen to trigger a sync refresh.
• Give it a bit of extra time, sometimes the sync speed can slow down.
• Check Apple's System Status page at apple.com/support/systemstatus to confirm iCloud is operating normally.
• Toggle Airplane Mode on and off to refresh your connection.
• Restart the app by swiping it away and reopening it.
• Restart your device.

If sync is behaving unexpectedly, DragonTrove includes a Sync Troubleshooting screen with step-by-step recovery instructions. To find it, go to Settings → Sync Troubleshooting inside the app.

As a last resort, export a CSV backup of your budget and reset your iCloud data for DragonTrove by going to Settings → Apple ID → iCloud → Manage Storage → DragonTrove → Delete Data. Note that this will remove all iCloud-stored data — make sure to export a CSV backup first.

1. Close other apps running in the background.
2. Restart DragonTrove by swiping it away in the app switcher and reopening.
3. Restart your device.
4. Make sure you're running the latest version of DragonTrove from the App Store.

This is usually an iCloud sync conflict. If another device or a shared budget partner's device hadn't synced the deletion yet, iCloud may have restored the transaction from the other device's local copy.

Make sure all devices on the budget are online and synced before deleting transactions. Deleting again after all devices are in sync should resolve it.

If the microphone button isn't responding or voice entry isn't parsing correctly:

• Make sure DragonTrove has microphone and speech recognition permission: Settings → Privacy & Security → Microphone and Speech Recognition.
• Speak clearly and include the amount, vendor, and category in your phrase.
• Try restarting the app if the microphone button appears unresponsive.

Open the envelope and review the transaction list to see if anything looks unexpected; a duplicate, a transaction in the wrong envelope, or a sync conflict from another device.

If you find a duplicate caused by a sync issue, you can safely delete the extra entry. If the balance still looks off after reviewing all transactions, try restarting the app to force a recalculation.

If you're running into something not covered here, we'd love to hear about it. Use the contact form to send us a bug report. Include what you were doing when the issue occurred and what you expected vs. what happened. We read every submission.