Toshl Finance Blog

What we’ve been up to, WP7 heatmap and some upcoming fixes

Posted on April 24, 2012

So, what have we been up to lately? As you know we’ve recently launched Toshl 1.7 with a bunch of new features for the Web, iPhone and Windows Phone. We’re now working hard to bring you all of those goodies to Nokia platforms and Android as well.

On Android, we first need to take care of some old debts as well. Repeating expenses have been malfunctioning for some users and could even produce huge faux sums. We’re testing a release which will fix all that for Toshl 1.6 for Android and hopefully keep those issues resolved going forward.

If you’ve been suffering from those problems or would like to try the fixed version, please help us test it. Download Toshl for Android 1.6.8.
If you’ve been having problems with repeats, please delete the old repeats and set up new ones. It should be smooth sailing from then onward.
If you encounter any problems, please tell us about them, write to: info [at] toshl.com
Right after the fix is completed we’ll refocus our efforts on 1.7 with incomes for Android.

Toshl 1.7 for Symbian^3 is also nearing completion. We’re doing some internal testing at the moment, but we will start with public beta testing soon. Write us at info [at] toshl.com if you would like to participate.

We’ve also moved with most of the Toshl team to San Francisco and the Silicon Valley, where we’ll be creating during the summer. Great times and opportunities ahead, more on that a bit later.

For the end of this post, a little more eye-candy we’ve been playing around with. Heatmap of added expenses based on just the Windows Phone Toshl GPS geolocation data.
See it in full size

Posted in Announcements, Goodies

Toshl Advances to 1.7! Incomes, Sum Up, Monsters!

Posted on April 11, 2012

Making your finances easier to handle is what we love to do and today that got a lot easier. We’ve just released brand new versions of Toshl Finance on the Web, iPhone and Windows Phone. Toshl monsters are shy no more and they’ve brought tons of new features with them.

Toshl Finance has Incomes!

Incomes

Finally! We’ve all been wanting this natural part of keeping personal finances for a long while and they’re finally here. They work just like budgets enter the number, tap the tag. done! Multiple and repeating monthly incomes are only available to those with Toshl Pro, though. The Toshl monsters have to eat something…

Add and edit for free on toshl.com

It used to be available only to Toshl Pro users but now it’s free for all! Manage your finances on the phone while you’re out, do it with the comfort of a big screen and keyboard when you’re home.

Sum up

Wouldn’t it be great if you could just glance over your current financial state on one screen? That’s exactly what Sum up is for, plus there’s a cute monster to help you explain it all.

Planned

Expenses coming up in the future get a special treatment now and help you think ahead. All the repeating expenses are better marked too, so you’ll never be confused when they’ll be coming up.

Rollover budgets

You want to rollover the remaining budget funds into the next month? Budgets for all tags except the ones you don’t want? Your wish is our command.

My financial month & custom timespans

When you get your paycheck is when your financial month starts. You tell us when that is and we’ll adjust accordingly. If you want to see any date range in particular, no problem, set up a custom time span.

Toshl Pro

Get the best out of Toshl with multiple budgets, automatically repeating incomes, search on the web, more formats to export… Check out all the benefits! Plus you support the Toshl team so we can work on more stuff to make your life easier. Now it’s possible to pay directly with a credit card, with an in-app purchase on iOS as well as PayPal. Sign up for the 3 year plan and we’ll send you an awesome T-shirt too!

What about Android, Symbian^3, MeeGo?

Don’t worry, we’re hard at work updating the apps for all those platforms too. It will take us a bit longer, but we really want them to be properly done once you get them in your hands. Soon!

We love to hear from you

Do you have some comments about Toshl, ideas for improvements, bugs to report? Please let us know. We’re always trying to make Toshl work for you the best we can.

Warning from the Toshl Sarcasm Department: DO NOT download the Toshl Finance app, DO NOT log in to toshl.com and whatever you don’t do, keep all of this a SECRET. ;)

Posted in Announcements

Quick tip: Don’t squeeze that belt too hard, budget with ease

Posted on March 5, 2012

Knowing where your money is going and keeping your finances in shape is what we want to help you with at Toshl. But that doesn’t mean you should tighten your belt so tight you can hardly breathe. If you’re in a financial crisis mode, sure, set that budget the lowest you can go and try to curb your spending. Most of the time though, we only want to leisurely monitor how much we spend and save a bit for the rainy days.

The best way to save then is to set up a general monthly budget by subtracting how much you want to save from your monthly incomes. Let me give you an example:

Monthly income 1500 €
I’d like to save 300 € each month
Monthly general budget 1200 €

Setting up the budget is easy

Visualizing your spending

This way you can monitor your spending, but you won’t feel under pressure with each purchase you make. Sum up your spending and if you’re near the end of your financial month, you can relax your spending habits a bit more.
We’ll be making this kind of budgeting and saving even easier to use soon, new version of Toshl is right around the corner.

Save only in areas that need saving

Naturally there can be some areas of your spending where you need to be more careful. While generally spending 1200 € can be fine, there’s one type of expenses that you need to be more careful with. Let’s say you overindulge by hiring waaay too many prostitutes. :P In that case, you might want to set up a budget for specific tags, namely for the tag prostitutes. Just set up a budget for specific tags (Toshl Pro only) and add the tag “prostitutes”, “horizontal entertainment” or whichever euphemism you use. Toshl will then guilt you into spending less for that exact purpose. You need to use some common sense though and not limit your budgets for safe sex and contraceptives. Ever.

Save for the specific tags you need to curb your spending on

*Toshl does not specifically oppose nor endorse prostitution. In case you don’t use or support prostitution, set up a budget of 1 cent. That way you can rest assured you won’t be using their services. ;)

Posted in Budgeting, Tips & Tricks, Tutorials

Travel with Toshl Finance – keep on top of your expenses in different currencies

Posted on February 29, 2012

Traveling abroad is awesome. Broadens your horizons, gets you out if your normal routine and into new experiences. While a small nuisance in comparison to the benefits, tracking your money-flow can be much more difficult. The currency is different, so keeping track of how much you spend is more difficult because you have to do all these extra calculations in your mind. Here’s where Toshl Finance really shines.

Foreign currencies in Toshl Finance

When you’re adding an expense, simply tap the currency button next to the numeric keyboard. You’ll get a list of currencies you can switch to. For those that are on the list we’ll also suggest the daily exchange rate for that currency. If you want to add your own exchange rate, you’re welcome to do so.

Select the foreign currency on the numeric keyboard

Get an exchange rate automatically

Toshl will remember the currency you chose until the next time you change it. That way you can easily enter all your expenses as you spend them in the foreign currency. Tap the added expense to see the details and you’ll see it in calculated in your home currency too.

Quick tip: with this you can also use Toshl as a quick currency calculator if you like.

The daily sums add up in your main currency

See the valute in your main currency on expense detail See the value in your main currency on expense detail

All the daily sums and graphs use the numbers in your home currency so your figures always add up properly, no matter where you’ve been.

All your foreign expenses are converted and fit right in the graphs

How are the currency exchange rates updated?

The currency list is refreshed with the new exchange rates for the day each time you sync. Of course you can also add any of the currencies which isn’t on the list, by choosing “Custom currency” from the list. In that case you’ll need to know the exchange rate yourself.

Here’s the list of 34 currencies that Toshl knows the daily exchange rates for. We’d like to support the rest too, but the European Central Banks provides the rates for those currencies, the rest have to be added manually. Getting the rates from different sources would be a bit too complicated for the time being.

Euro
US dollar
Japanese yen
Bulgarian lev
Czech koruna
Danish krone
Pound sterling
Hungarian forint
Lithuanian litas
Latvian lats
Polish zloty
New Romanian leu
Swedish krona
Swiss franc
Norwegian krone
Croatian kuna
Russian rouble
Turkish lira
Australian dollar
Brasilian real
Canadian dollar
Chinese yuan renminbi
Hong Kong dollar
Indonesian rupiah
Israeli shekel
Indian rupee
South Korean won
Mexican peso
Malaysian ringgit
New Zealand dollar
Philippine peso
Singapore dollar
Thai baht
South African rand

We hope Toshl will come handy wherever you travel to. Since it’s already being used in all kinds of places we have no doubt that the support for different currencies comes in handy many times. If you have some questions or ideas about currencies, we’d love to hear from you, international men and women of mystery. ;)

Posted in Tips & Tricks, Travel, Tutorials

Toshl in Start-up Now guide

Posted on January 31, 2012

We had an awesome ride at Seedcamp New York, summer 2011. Learned a lot, met awesome individuals and teams, worked a lot as well. And a small chunk of what we learned has just been published in Start-up Now guide.

Seedcamp is an early stage startup program with long history of activity and success. Basically they are there to help great teams with awesome ideas to get even greater and better at what they do.
And since they are good guys (and gals, of course), they share this profound experience and knowledge everywhere they go, using all means possible. As a result of that, they just published a quick overview of shared experiences across many applicants of Seedcamp, including Toshl, in a slideshare eBook.

A must read for all future-to-be seedcamp companies and startups in general.
Go get it now!

Startup Now: A Guide from the Seedcamp 2011 participants

View more presentations from cubesocial

Posted in Announcements, News coverage