Lumy for everyday household spending
A budget app for couples who keep separate accounts
Share the spending you manage together, keep personal accounts private, and return to one clear household picture.
Most couples do not run their money through one pot. Rent and groceries are shared, a gym membership or a gift for the other person is not, and incomes are rarely equal. A budget app that forces everything into one joint view either exposes spending neither of you meant to share or gets abandoned after a month. Lumy is built around the opposite arrangement: the household budget is shared, and each person decides which accounts stay private.
How it works in Lumy
- 1
Create a family group
One of you creates the group and shares an invite code. The other joins from their own phone, with their own login.
- 2
Decide what is shared
Put joint bills, groceries and savings goals in shared budgets. Keep personal cards or cash in private accounts that only their owner can see.
- 3
Record spending the way each of you prefers
Type it, say it, or scan the receipt. Nothing depends on a bank feed, so a cash purchase counts as much as a card payment.
- 4
Review one household picture
Filter spending by member, check category limits and see what is left for the month before you talk about it, not after.
Built for daily life
Manage finances together
Create a family group and invite members with a code. Share budgets and the dashboard, or keep private accounts only you can see.
Set limits. Know when you're close.
Create category-based budgets for the week, month, or year. Lumy tracks your spending in real time and warns you before you overspend.
Understand your spending patterns
See expenses broken down by category, filter by date range, and compare income vs. spending. Visual charts, not spreadsheets.
Is this the right setup for you?
A good fit if
- You share some costs and keep other spending personal.
- One of you does not want to connect a bank account to a budgeting app.
- You pay in cash, or in more than one currency, often enough that bank imports miss it.
Probably not for you if
- You want every transaction imported automatically from your bank.
- You only need to split a few bills and settle up; a bill-splitting app is simpler.
How it compares with the usual alternatives
A shared spreadsheet
Flexible and free, but someone has to type everything in at a desk, and privacy is all or nothing: whoever opens the file sees every row.
A bank-connected budgeting app
Imports card transactions automatically, but both partners usually link their accounts, which makes personal spending hard to keep personal and leaves cash out.
A bill-splitting app
Good at who owes whom after a trip or a dinner. It does not plan a monthly budget or show what the household has left to spend.
Questions people ask
Can we share a budget but keep some accounts private?
Yes. Budgets and the dashboard are shared inside the family group, while private accounts stay visible only to the person who owns them.
Is family sharing free?
No. Family sharing is a Pro feature. Tracking, budgets and goals are free; current Pro prices and trial terms are shown in the App Store and Google Play.
Does Lumy connect to our bank accounts?
No. Neither of you shares bank credentials. Expenses are added by typing, chat, voice or a receipt scan.
What if our incomes are very different?
Lumy records what each of you spends and what the household budget allows; how you split shared costs is your decision. Our guide to splitting household expenses fairly compares equal, proportional and hybrid splits.
Can one of us use Android and the other an iPhone?
Yes. Lumy is available on both, and the family group works across them.
Guides on this topic
Best Budget Apps for Couples in 2026: 7 Apps Compared by Money Model
Seven couples budget apps compared on partner cost, privacy for personal accounts, bank linking and free plans, with a split example and a first-week setup checklist.
How to Manage a Family Budget Together
Choose a shared-money model, build the household core, divide the work, and run a monthly review without turning every personal purchase into a negotiation.
How to Split Household Expenses Fairly
Compare 50/50, proportional, assigned-bill, usage-based, and hybrid methods with a worked unequal-income example and rules for care work and change.
How to Build a Multi-Currency Family Budget
Choose a base currency, record the rate you actually settled, and reconcile travel or cross-border income without hiding fees.
Related Lumy pages