Your whole budget on one screen
On an iPad, Tavala stops being a phone app made bigger. Hold it in landscape and a sidebar sits beside your ledger, Home lays its cards side by side, and a keyboard brings the same shortcuts as a Mac. Turn it to portrait and the sidebar becomes a rail. It is the same app and the same account as on your iPhone, offline and in any currency.
The App Store listing is not public yet. Tavala runs in Safari on an iPad today, with the same ledger.
The layout follows the way you hold it
The app reads the width of its window, not the name of the device. On an 11-inch iPad in portrait you get a narrow rail on the left with the round + at the top and Home, Budgets, Money and Plan under it. Turn it to landscape, or use a 13-inch iPad, and the rail becomes a sidebar: the space switcher at the top, Add transaction, the four tabs, Reports and Recurring under More, and the sync status at its foot. On the widest screens Home sets its cards side by side instead of in one column.
Put Tavala in Slide Over or a narrow third of Split View and it takes the iPhone layout, with the tab bar at the foot, so it still works beside another app. Forms, Settings and detail pages stay in a column of readable width rather than stretching across 13 inches.
A keyboard, and the rows under your fingers
With a keyboard attached, the shortcuts are the Mac's: Command-N opens the capture bar, Command-F finds a payment in Activity, Command-1 to Command-6 move between Home, Budgets, Money, Plan, Reports and Recurring, Command-J opens Ask Tavala, and Shift-Command-H hides every amount when someone is looking over your shoulder. In a window 840 points or wider, Up and Down walk the rows of Activity, Return opens the highlighted entry's details beside the list, and Escape closes them.
Without a keyboard, it is the touch app you know from the iPhone: the round + for a new entry, the capture bar that reads amount, currency, date and category from one typed line, and dictation that understands number words.
Face ID, the widget, and the same account
Face ID, Touch ID or your passcode locks the app, as on an iPhone, and the Today's spending widget sits on the iPad Home Screen, showing what you spent today and this month, never a balance. With Tavala Plus your iPad, iPhone, Mac and browser stay in step; on the free plan one device syncs at a time and an iPad counts as one. There is no separate iPad edition: no feature is only on the iPad and none is missing from it. It needs iPadOS 15 or later.
| What | Tavala |
|---|---|
| Requirement | iPadOS 15 or later |
| Layout | Rail in portrait, sidebar in landscapeThe phone layout in Slide Over or narrow Split View |
| Orientation | Every orientation |
| Keyboard | Shortcuts with CommandCommand-N, Command-F, Command-1 to 6, Command-J |
| Lock | Face ID, Touch ID or passcode |
| Widget | Today's spendingOn the iPad Home Screen |
| Offline | Every screen |
iPad budget apps compared
Which apps run on an iPad, and how they handle currencies, offline use and price.
| What | Tavala | YNAB | Monarch | Copilot | Goodbudget |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Platforms | iPhone, iPad, Android, Mac, webA native Mac app; the web at app.tavala.io | iPhone, iPad, Android, webApple Watch; its app list shows no desktop app | iPhone, iPad, Android, webNo Mac or Windows app | iPhone, iPad, Mac, webA native Mac app; no Android | iPhone, Android, webiPhone only in the App Store; no Mac or Windows app |
| Works offline | Every screenChanges sync when you are back online | Advertised"even offline!" on its features page | Not stated | Not stated | Not documented"available wherever you have internet access" |
| Currencies | Every currency in one space155 currencies and 96 cryptocurrencies; 2 per space on the free plan | One per planIts advice for several: a separate plan for each | No conversionShows every amount as $; USD or CAD accounts advised | USD only"does not convert foreign currency transactions" | OneIts own comparison table: multiple currencies "N" |
| Price | Free; Plus $39.99 a yearor $6.99 a month on the web | $109 a yearor $14.99 a month; 34-day trial | $99.99 a yearor $14.99 a month (Core); Plus $199.99 a year | $95 a year$13 a month in the App Store; 1-month trial | $80 a yearor $10 a month on the web (Premium) |
Questions about Tavala for iPad
- Does Apple have a built-in budget app?
- No. Apple does not make a budgeting app. The Wallet app shows Apple Card spending by week, month or year and by category, for Apple Card holders in the United States. A budget across your other accounts, cash and currencies needs an app such as Tavala.
- Is the iPad app different from the iPhone app?
- It is the same app and the same account, laid out for a larger screen: a rail or a sidebar instead of the tab bar, Home side by side in landscape, and keyboard shortcuts with a keyboard attached. There are no iPad-only features and none missing.
- Does Tavala work in Split View?
- Yes. In Slide Over or a narrow third of Split View it switches to the iPhone layout, with the tab bar at the foot; given more of the screen, it brings back the rail or the sidebar.
- Does an iPad count as a separate device on the free plan?
- Yes. On the free plan one device syncs at a time, and an iPad counts as one. You can move syncing to another device three times in 30 days. Tavala Plus syncs every device you sign in on.
- Can I use a trackpad or a mouse?
- Yes. Rows in the sidebar and the rail show a hover tint, and a secondary click on a transaction opens Open and Delete, as on a Mac. Delete still asks before it removes an imported row, and offers Undo.
Go further
- Tavala for iPhoneThe same ledger in your pocket, with the widget.
- Tavala for MacThe same sidebar, with the menu bar.
- Multi-currencyEvery currency in one budget, each entry at its day's rate.
- Tavala on iPad and MacTavala on iPad and Mac is the same app with a side rail or sidebar, a menu bar and shortcuts. See where things sit and what differs from the iPhone.
- Keyboard shortcuts on iPad, Mac and the webEvery Tavala keyboard shortcut for a hardware keyboard on iPad, Mac, Android tablets and desktop browsers, plus the Mac menu bar and keys inside lists.
- Devices on the free planThe free plan syncs one device at a time and lets you move syncing to another device 3 times in 30 days. Tavala Plus syncs every device.
Start with what you spent today.
There is no account to create and no card to enter. Pick your currency, add what you paid, and Home shows what is left.