How Not to Lose Your Checkbook Register: Backups and Changing Phones

Short answer: a checkbook register on your phone needs two kinds of copies. A copy on the phone protects you from mistakes and a damaged save. A backup file stored somewhere else protects you from losing, breaking or replacing the phone. Save a backup file at least once a month and right before you change phones, then open it on the new phone and check the numbers before you delete anything.

Why register data gets lost

People who keep years of transactions in a phone app tell the same stories: an update and everything is gone, a new phone and the old data never came across, a backup that will not restore. The causes are usually simple:

• The only copy lived inside the app. Uninstalling the app, resetting the phone or a failed update takes it with it.
• The backup was never tested. A backup you have never opened may be empty, old or in the wrong format.
• The backup sat on the same phone. When the phone is lost or broken, so is the backup.
• Restoring overwrote newer data. Restoring an old file on top of recent entries replaces them.

A backup routine that works

1. Pick a day. The day you balance with your statement is a good one, because you know the register is right.
2. Save a backup file. Put it somewhere that is not only on the phone: cloud storage, or email it to yourself.
3. Name or date it clearly, so you can tell the newest file from older ones.
4. Keep a few old ones. If the newest file has a problem, you can fall back one month.
5. Export a spreadsheet copy now and then. A CSV file can be opened anywhere and printed for your records.

Moving to a new phone

1. On the old phone, enter everything up to today, then save a fresh backup file to cloud storage or email.
2. On the new phone, install the app and restore that file.
3. Before you confirm, check the number of accounts, the number of transactions and the date of the latest one. They should match the old phone.
4. Compare the balance of each account on both phones.
5. Only then reset or give away the old phone.

How Penvale helps

Penvale saves every change on your phone in one step, so a crash in the middle of saving does not leave a half-written register. Each day you make a change, it also keeps an automatic copy on the phone, and keeps about a week of these. In Settings, Save backup writes a backup file (JSON) to any place the Android file picker offers, such as Drive, a folder on the phone, or an app you can email from. Restore checks that the file is a Penvale backup, then shows how many accounts and transactions it holds and the latest date before it replaces anything, and it keeps a copy of your current data first. Export CSV gives you a spreadsheet copy. There is no login and no cloud server, so the backup file you save is the copy that travels with you.

FAQ

Related guides

• How to balance a checkbook
• Recurring bills, paychecks and refunds in a register

This guide is general information, not financial advice. Penvale is not affiliated with any bank; balances are calculated from what you enter.

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