How do I use iBank with my iPhone?

If you are a .Mac subscriber, you can synchronize your iBank data to your .Mac account and access it online via Safari on your Mac, iPhone, or iPod Touch! View transactions in any account and enter new ones while on-the-go, then sync your changes back to iBank when you get home. iBank for iPhone does not support entering investment transactions at this time.

To install iBank for iPhone:

iBank for iPhone requires a .Mac subscription, which you can purchase from Apple online. To install iBank for iPhone, look for a folder labeled "iBank for iPhone" on your iBank CD, or contained within the iBank download file. Open this folder and copy the "iBank" file to your iDisk (make sure it is not inside any other folders - it should reside directly on your iDisk).

To synchronize your iBank data with .Mac:

Once the "iBank" file has been placed on your iDisk, launch iBank from your Applications folder and open the data file you want to use with your iPhone. Then choose File>Sync iPhone with .Mac. The four most recent transactions in each account will be uploaded to .Mac, and any transactions you entered from your iPhone will be downloaded to your computer.

Be sure to sync your data every time you make changes. If you add or edit transactions from your computer and on your iPhone before synchronizing, iBank will encounter a sync conflict when you attempt to sync and you will have to choose which set of data to keep. iBank cannot merge changes made from both sides.

When the sync operation is complete, iBank will notify you that iBank for iPhone is ready and present you with a URL where you can access your data online. Click "Visit Site" to open the page in your default web browser.

To view your iBank data on your iPhone:

Open Safari on your iPhone and browse to the following address: https://idisk.mac.com/YourDotMacUserName/iBank/index.html

Be sure to replace "YourDotMacUserName" with your actual .Mac user name - this is the name that appears in your .Mac email address in front of "@mac.com". You will be asked to enter your .Mac username and password in order to view the page, for security. Once you have authenticated successfully, the following screen will appear:

iPhone account view

Each of your accounts are listed with their balances displayed to the right. Touch an account to view its transactions:

iPhone transaction view

Here you can see the four most recent transactions in the selected account with all of their associated details. At the bottom of the list, the overall account balance is displayed (iBank for iPhone does not keep a running balance with each transaction amount). Touch the back button to return to the account list.

To add a new transaction from your iPhone:

Touch an account to view its transaction list, then touch the plus button to add a new transaction:

iPhone transaction entry

Here you can enter the details of the new transaction: touch each field to enter a date, payee, amount, category, memo, transaction type, and check number as appropriate. When you have finished setting up the transaction the way you need it, touch the cancel button to add it to the current account, or else touch the cancel button to discard it.

After saving the new transaction, you will see it added to the transaction list:

iPhone transaction view 2

If you then launch iBank and synchronize your changes, you will see the new transaction added to your account:

iPhone transaction in iBank

To edit or delete a transaction from your iPhone:

Any transactions you add from your iPhone appear in black in the transaction list and can be edited directly on the iPhone until you synchronize them with iBank. All of your other transactions (the ones sent from iBank) appear in gray and cannot be edited on the iPhone.Touch a transaction to edit its details:

iPhone editing transaction details

Touch any field to edit its contents, then touch the cancel button to save the changes. To delete the transaction, touch the delete transaction button, then confirm that you actually want to delete the transaction.

After you are done entering changes from your iPhone, don't forget to launch iBank and synchronize the changes before continuing to work in iBank!

Author's credit:

iBank for iPhone was developed by David Keith. Many thanks for his hard work.