Support
Guides to download, answers to the questions people actually ask, and a real human at the end of an email.
Guides
Both are also web pages — the PDFs are for keeping.
- Getting started — activate, install, and import your first bank file. Download PDF
- The full user guide — every screen, explained. Download PDF
Getting started
How do I activate Imago?
Open the app and paste the licence key from your purchase email into the activation box. It is verified inside your browser using cryptography — no internet connection is needed and no server is contacted. Keep that email: the key re-activates Imago on any device you own.
Can I use it on more than one device?
Yes. Your licence is for you, not for one machine — install it on your laptop, your phone and your tablet. What does not travel automatically is your data, because there is no server to sync through. Move it with a backup file (Settings → Export all, then Restore on the other device).
Do I need to install anything?
Nothing to download, but you should install it — and on an iPhone or iPad, install it first. On iPhone, open the app in Safari, tap Share (inside the ••• button on newer iPhones), then Add to Home Screen (tap View More if it isn’t listed), leave Open as Web App on, and use Imago from that icon from then on. On a computer, click the install icon in the address bar; on Android, open the browser menu and tap Install app. You get a real icon and window, and it works offline. Step-by-step with screenshots.
I set everything up on my iPhone, installed it, and now the app is empty.
Your data is safe — it is still in Safari. On iPhone and iPad, the app you add to your Home Screen keeps its own storage, completely separate from Safari, so whatever you entered in a Safari tab stays there. To move it across: in the Safari tab, go to Settings → Data & backup → Export all (JSON) and save the file to Files. Then open Imago from your Home Screen icon, activate with your key, and use Settings → Data & backup → Restore from file to pick that file. From then on, use only the icon.
What happens when the free trial ends?
The app locks, but your data is untouched and you can still export it in one click. Nothing is ever held hostage. Enter a licence key and everything you entered during the trial is exactly where you left it.
Importing from your bank
How do I get my transactions in?
Export a CSV from your online banking, then click Import CSV in Imago and choose the account. You will map the date, description and amount columns once per bank — after that Imago recognises the layout automatically.
Why not just connect to my bank?
Because a bank connection means handing your credentials to a third party and letting your transactions leave your device. That is precisely the thing Imago exists to avoid. A CSV takes about a minute a month and nothing about your finances ever travels.
I imported the same period twice. Did I just double everything?
No. Imago fingerprints each transaction and skips ones it has already seen, so overlapping ranges are safe. When you are unsure where you left off, import the wider range.
My bank puts spending in as positive numbers.
Tell Imago during the import step. It handles signed amounts, spending-as-positive, and banks that use separate debit and credit columns.
My bank only offers OFX, QFX or PDF.
Imago reads CSV. Most banks offer it somewhere, often labelled "spreadsheet" or "Excel". If yours truly does not, most spreadsheet apps will open an OFX or QFX and save it out as CSV.
Can I undo an import?
Yes. Each import is tracked as a batch and can be undone in full, which removes exactly the rows it added.
Budgeting
I have never budgeted before. Where do I start?
Do not budget anything for the first month. Import, categorize, and just look at Reports — you cannot plan spending you have not measured. In month two, set budgets for your four or five biggest categories only. Add more when those feel steady.
How much should I budget for a category?
Start from what you actually spent last month, not what you wish you had spent. A budget you miss in week two gets abandoned. Imago shows last month beside every category for exactly this reason.
What is the Net row telling me?
Income minus expenses, twice: as you planned it, and as it is really going. A positive plan means your budget leaves a surplus. A positive actual means income is covering spending so far this month. When the plan is positive and the actual is not, you have found the month's problem.
What is rollover for?
Categories where underspending should bank rather than vanish — car repairs, gifts, clothes. Leftover carries into next month instead of resetting. Leave it off for groceries and the like, where each month starts fresh.
Why is my income category showing as unbudgeted?
Income categories take budgets too — that is your expected pay. Budgeting income is what makes the Net row meaningful.
My budget looks wrong because of a transfer between my accounts.
Mark those transactions as transfers. Money moving between your own accounts is neither income nor spending, and Imago excludes transfers from budgets and reports once they are marked.
Your data and backups
Where is my data stored?
In your browser's own storage, on your device. Not in an account, not on a server, not with us. We could not look at it if we wanted to.
So what happens if I lose my laptop?
Whatever is in your last backup is what you have. This is the trade for total privacy, and it is why Imago nags you to export. Settings → Data & backup → Export all (JSON) produces one file with everything in it. Keep it in iCloud Drive, Dropbox or anywhere that is itself backed up.
How often should I back up?
Once a month, right after you import. It takes five seconds and it is the only safety net that exists.
Does clearing my browser data delete Imago?
Yes, if you clear site data for the app. Installing Imago to your home screen or dock makes that much less likely, but a backup is still the real protection.
Can I move from my laptop to my phone?
Export a backup on the laptop (Settings → Data & backup → Export all), and get the file to the phone — AirDrop, iCloud Drive, or email it to yourself. On the phone, install Imago to the Home Screen first, open it from the icon, activate, then Settings → Data & backup → Restore from file. It is a copy, not a sync — from that moment the two devices drift apart, so pick one as your main device.
Does a backup include my licence key?
No, deliberately. That way restoring never disturbs your activation and a backup you share can never leak your licence. Keep your key email too.
Licence and payment
What do I actually get for $49?
The app, permanently, with no subscription and no upsell. Bug fixes and improvements to this version are included. It is a one-time purchase for a tool that runs on your own machine.
Do you offer refunds?
No — which is why there is a free seven-day trial of the complete app first. Try it properly before you buy. Full terms are on the refund policy page.
I lost my licence key.
Search your email for "Imago licence key". We cannot look it up or regenerate it, because we never stored it — the key was generated at purchase and sent to you. If it is truly gone, email support and we will sort you out.
Is my payment information safe?
We never see it. Payment is handled entirely by Stripe; Imago receives only your email address so it can send the key.
When something looks wrong
An account balance is off by a fixed amount.
The opening balance is wrong. Edit the account and set it to the balance on the day before your earliest imported transaction. Every figure after it corrects itself.
My data has vanished.
Almost always, it is somewhere else rather than gone — data lives per browser, per device, with nothing syncing between them. On an iPhone or iPad, check the other place first: the Home Screen app and a Safari tab each keep their own separate data, so if you set up in one and opened the other, see the question above. Otherwise, check the browser and device you normally use. If you have a backup, restore it.
A number in a report looks impossible.
Click it. Every figure in Imago traces back to the transactions behind it, and the culprit is usually an unmarked transfer or one transaction in the wrong category.
The app is asking me to activate again.
You are on a different browser, a different device, or the site data was cleared. On an iPhone, the Home Screen app and Safari count as two different places, so a key activated in one is not activated in the other. Paste the key from your email — it works as many times as you need.
Still need help?
Email support@imago.money. Tell us what you were doing and what happened instead — screenshots help. Imago is made by one person, so you will get a real reply.
For anything that is not a problem with the app — press, partnerships, or a question before you buy — write to hello@imago.money. Both reach the same person.