Stays on your device
No Polaris account. Books live on your iPhone and in your iCloud. Our server is a stateless relay for bank-link and market data — not a copy of your finances.
Polaris Budget
Your money,
pointed north.
A private envelope budget for iPhone. Built for a paycheck, rent or a mortgage, and the usual cards — not a family office. Your books stay on your device. No Polaris login.
Coming soon on the App Store
How envelope budgeting works
Assign what you have. Watch Available. Move money when life happens.
The same explainer that plays in the app — with sound. Captions are optional; the transcript is underneath if you would rather read.
Read the narration
- Your pay lands in checking. One pile of money, no direction on it yet.
- So you chart the month. Assign your money to what it has to cover. Nothing leaves your account — you're deciding where it's headed.
- Then life happens. As you spend, Available goes down, so you always know what's still yours to spend.
- Plans change. If one category runs short, move money from one with room to spare. Nothing extra is spent.
- Or borrow from an obligation. Pay less on the card now, and Polaris shows what that costs later.
- Some bills come once a year. Set a target, and Polaris spreads it out, so December is a payment, not a shock.
- Polaris keeps looking for slack, and points it at the goal you actually care about.
- Every financial goal starts with a budget. Polaris Budget keeps you on course.
Assign
Pay lands in checking. You decide which envelope each dollar is for. Nothing leaves the account.
Spend
Available goes down as charges post, so you always know what is still yours to spend.
Move
If a category runs short, cover it from one with room — or see what borrowing from an obligation costs later.
Aim
Targets spread annual bills. Spare money can be pointed at the goal you actually care about.
In the app
The budget is the list you are already looking at
Real screens from a sample household — a house, a 401(k), cash in the bank. Not a seven-figure lifestyle book.
The ledger is the budget
Ready to Assign sits above the list. Essentials, discretionary, and savings wear different colors — and those classes change what the plan prefers when money is short. Red available is a hole to cover; it is not the same as over-assigned cash.
Holdings, not just a balance
A workplace 401(k) and a small brokerage are enough. The tab is holdings-level: your return next to broad market paths, and estimated dividends. Quotes go out as symbols — not your book uploaded to a cloud model.
Exceptions, not a daily inbox
Linked activity lands categorized. You review duplicates, scheduled matches, and the rare uncategorized row. Pending stays out of the budget until it posts. There is no weekly “approve every import” ritual.
Planning that does not delete the house
Same household, looking ahead. A thousand market paths on this iPhone. Housing is labeled on the chart and does not silently go to zero when the mortgage ends. Illustrative estimates, not advice — and not a pitch that you need millions to start.
Why Polaris
Private by architecture, not by a settings toggle
On-device insights
Merchant cleanup, category suggestions, and spending notes can use Apple Intelligence on this phone. We do not run a cloud model on your transactions. Requires iPhone 15 Pro or later; the rest of the app works without it.
Ready to Assign is cash that exists
One number, not a figure that “really lives” in a future month. When it moves, Polaris can name why. Covering a red row never pretends to create money.
No weekly lock-every-account ritual
Balances are checked against posted activity automatically. Reconcile appears when something drifted — not as homework you must finish before the budget is “real.”
The plan ranks what a choice costs
When the month does not balance, sources are ordered: free cash, spare envelopes, lifestyle, then essentials. A card carry is priced with interest, or not offered.
Cards and rewards in one place
Payment envelopes, a payoff date, and which card you already own would have paid more here. No other budgeting app we reviewed looks at the benefits your cards already owe you.
Polaris vs other budgeting apps
Everything they do — plus things they don’t
| Polaris | Other budgeting apps | |
|---|---|---|
| Envelope budgeting | Full | Partial |
| Debt payoff planner | Full | Partial |
| Holdings-level investments | Full | Partial |
| Card benefit optimizer | Full | Not offered |
| Retirement simulation | Full | Partial |
| Stays on your device | Full | Not offered |
Compared with the leading budgeting and money apps, based on their published features. We do not name them. Full · partial · not offered.
iPhone only
Syncs when you open the app
One person per book
USD · English
Next
Learn the app before it is on the Store
The help center is written against the shipping product — first month, cards, classes, iCloud, and the things that usually go wrong.