FinFlare Product Documentation

Getting Started

This chapter helps you install FinFlare, create a secure account, link your financial institutions, and get comfortable with the core interface. Even if you are brand new to money‑management software, you will be up and running in under 10 minutes.

Account Setup

1. Download or Launch

   • Mobile – Search FinFlare in the App Store (iOS 15 +) or Google Play (Android 11 +).
   • Web – Visit https://app.finflare.net in any modern browser (Chrome, Edge, Safari, or Firefox).

2. Create Credentials

   • Enter your primary e‑mail address.
   • Choose a strong password (≥ 12 characters, mix of letters, numbers, and symbols).
   • Accept the Terms of Service & POPIA/GDPR privacy notice.

3. Verify Your E‑mail

   FinFlare immediately sends a one‑time verification link. Click it within 30 minutes to continue.

   Trouble? Check your spam folder or whitelist [email protected].

4. Complete Your Profile

   • Legal Name & Display Name – Used for in‑app greetings and PDF reports.
   • Primary Currency – Choose from ZAR, USD, EUR, GBP, or any ISO‑4217 code; multi‑currency support is available later.
   • Locale & Date Format – Controls how dates, numbers, and decimals are shown.

5. Secure Your Account

   • Enable Two‑Factor Authentication (2FA) via TOTP (Authy/Google Authenticator) or SMS fallback.
   • Create an Account Recovery Kit (10 single‑use backup codes). Store these offline.

Connecting Your Accounts

FinFlare supports 3 000+ financial institutions across South Africa, the United States, Europe, and Asia‑Pacific, plus popular e‑wallets like PayPal, Stripe Balance, and Wise.

1. Open Settings → Connections and click Add Account.
2. Search for your bank, card issuer, crypto exchange, or brokerage.
3. Complete the provider's secure OAuth flow — FinFlare never sees your credentials.
4. Pick the specific accounts or sub‑accounts (cheque, savings, credit card, loan, investment) to sync.
5. Choose your import window: 3, 6, 12, or 24 months of historical data.
6. FinFlare performs its initial sync, usually within 90 seconds, and then refreshes automatically every 4 hours.

Dashboard Overview

Think of the Dashboard as your financial cockpit — a single screen that distils complex data into actionable widgets:

• Balance Card Stack – Real‑time totals across cash, credit, investments, and loans. Tap any card to drill into account‑level history.
• Budget Utilisation Ring – A circular progress bar that fills as you spend; green ≤ 75 %, amber 75–95 %, red > 95 %.
• Income vs Expenses Graph – A dynamic bar/line hybrid chart comparing month‑to‑date inflows and outflows; supports YoY overlays.
• Activity Feed – A chronological stream of transactions, subscription alerts, and AI‑generated "nudges" (e.g., "🔥 Your dining spend is 20 % above average").
• Quick‑Add Menu – Manually log cash purchases, split bills, or upload receipt PDFs directly from the home screen.

Mobile App Installation

FinFlare is available natively and as a Progressive Web App (PWA) for maximum flexibility.

Features

FinFlare packs a robust toolkit that replaces multiple apps — subscriptions tracker, bill calendar, envelope budgeting, spending categoriser, and goal planner — with one cohesive experience.

Subscription Management

• Autodetect Recurring Charges – Proprietary heuristics identify subscription descriptors (e.g., SPOTIFY, APPLE.COM/BILL).
• Price‑Change & Renewal Alerts – Get push/e‑mail notifications 3 days before renewal or if the price increases by more than 5 %.
• Smart Suggestions – AI surfaces rarely used subscriptions and estimates potential annual savings if cancelled.
• 1‑Tap Cancellation Links – Direct deep‑links or pre‑filled e‑mails to vendors that support online cancellations.

Budgeting Tools

• Multiple Frameworks – Choose Envelope, Zero‑Based, 50/30/20, or create a custom rule set.
• Category Flexibility – Unlimited parent & subcategories with emoji support for quick recognition.
• Auto‑Allocation – Machine‑learning engine proposes budget amounts based on historical median and upcoming bills.
• Rollover Rules & Sinking Funds – Decide whether unused funds expire, roll forward, or feed savings buckets.
• Real‑Time Analytics – Colour‑coded bars update instantly after every transaction sync.

Expense Tracking

• 97 % Accurate Categorisation – Continually improving model trained on 50 M+ African & US transactions.
• Contextual Merchant Enrichment – Adds logos, map pins, and merchant contact details where available.
• Location Clustering – Combine multiple store branches into a single merchant for cleaner reporting.
• Receipt Capture & OCR – Snap or upload images/PDFs; FinFlare extracts amount, tax, and category.
• Tagging & Notes – Apply hashtags (e.g., #reimbursable) and rich‑text notes for audit trails.

Savings Goals

• Goal Templates – Emergency Fund (3‑month expenses), Debt Snowball, Vacation, Major Purchase.
• Target Amount & Deadline – Visual timeline shows if you're on track based on current contribution schedule.
• Auto‑Funding Rules – Round‑up transfers, pay‑day percentages, or scheduled lump sums.
• Milestone Celebrations – Confetti animation at 25 %, 50 %, 75 %, and 100 % completion; share progress to social.

Tutorials

The following guided workflows are perfect for new users and finance pros who want to unlock advanced use‑cases.

Creating a Budget

1. Navigate to Budget → New Budget.
2. Select a methodology — use the built‑in wizard if you're unsure.
3. Review FinFlare's suggested allocations, tweak as needed, and add discretionary categories (e.g., Fitness, Pets).
4. Set Spending Guardrails — decide if you want notifications at 50 %, 75 %, and 90 % spend.
5. Click Activate. The Budget Ring appears on your Dashboard, updating live.

Setting Financial Goals

1. Go to Goals → + New Goal.
2. Choose a template or start from scratch.
3. Enter target amount, deadline, and select funding source(s).
4. Enable Auto‑Funding: round‑ups, recurring transfers, or percentage of income.
5. Track progress via coloured thermometers and milestone emails.

Tracking Investments

1. Open Connections → Add Brokerage/Exchange.
2. Log in via OAuth or upload a CSV / OFX / QIF export.
3. FinFlare syncs positions, cost basis, and dividends nightly.
4. View performance under Investments:
   • Portfolio allocation pie chart.
   • Individual asset gain/loss.
   • Time‑weighted and money‑weighted returns.
5. Export realised gains report for tax filing.

Generating Reports

1. Click Reports in the sidebar.
2. Pick a template: Monthly Summary, Year‑to‑Date, Tax Category Breakdown, or Custom.
3. Adjust date range, accounts, and categories; toggle multi‑currency conversion.
4. Choose PDF, CSV, or Google Sheets export; schedule recurring e‑mails (weekly/monthly).
5. Reports are archived under Reports → History for future download.

API Reference

Authentication

Coming Soon

Endpoints

Coming Soon

Rate Limits

Coming Soon

Webhooks

Coming Soon

Security

Your trust is our highest priority. FinFlare follows international best practices and undergoes rigorous independent audits.

Data Protection

• Encryption at Rest – All customer data is encrypted with AES‑256‑GCM within AWS KMS‑managed keys.
• Encryption in Transit – TLS 1.3 enforced site‑wide; HSTS pre‑loaded for major browsers.
• Isolated Micro‑services – Architecture minimises blast radius of any single component.

Privacy Controls

• Granular Permissions – Enable/disable specific accounts, categories, or attributes for sharing features.
• Data Portability – One‑click full export (JSON/CSV) compliant with POPIA/GDPR Article 20.
• Right to be Forgotten – Permanent deletion within 30 days of request, including off‑site backups.

Two‑Factor Authentication (2FA)

• TOTP – Compatible with Authy, Google Authenticator, 1Password, and Microsoft Authenticator.
• SMS Fallback – Optional; rates may apply.
• Mandatory Triggers – New device login, password reset, API token creation.

Security Best Practices

• Penetration Testing – Conducted quarterly by CREST‑certified vendors; summary reports published.
• Bug Bounty – Ongoing program via HackerOne (median payout $750).
• Secure SDLC – Automated SAST/DAST scans in CI pipeline; peer code reviews with security checklist.
• Audit Logs – Immutable logs stored for 7 years and available to account owners on request.

FAQs

Account Questions

Billing Questions

Feature Questions

Troubleshooting

Resources

• Comprehensive User Guide – 120‑page PDF with annotated screenshots and advanced workflows.
• Technical Whitepapers – Deep dive into AI categorisation (v2), Data Encryption, and Open Banking connections.
• On‑Demand Webinars – Recorded sessions: "Master Budgeting in 30 Minutes", "FinFlare for Freelancers".
• Live Workshops – Monthly Zoom sessions with Q&A; register via community forum.
• Case Studies – How SMEs cut bookkeeping time by 60 % using FinFlare.

Support

Contact Support

• E‑mail: [email protected] (SLA: 24 hours weekdays, 48 hours weekends/holidays)
• Phone: +27 87 550 1234 (09:00–17:00 SAST, Mon–Fri)
• Languages: English, Afrikaans, isiZulu (beta)

Community Forum

Join 5 000+ members at https://community.finflare.net to exchange tips, share automations, and request features.

Known Issues

We maintain a real‑time list at https://docs.finflare.net/known‑issues. Subscribe via RSS or e‑mail for updates.

Feature Requests

Up‑vote ideas and track roadmap progress on our public Trello board: https://trello.com/b/finflare‑roadmap.