Categories
How do I create or edit categories?
Create custom categories and choose names, icons, and colors on Free or Pro.
Quick answer
Free lets you create and edit custom categories, assign them manually, or ask AI for help within the included chat limit. Pro runs AI every night to organize new transactions into those same categories.
Steps
- 1Open My Little Accountant on your iPhone.
- 2Go to Settings.
- 3Tap Categories.
- 4Tap an existing category to edit it or tap + to add a new category.
- 5Choose the name, icon, color, and category type, then save.
Category types
My Little Accountant uses category types to keep reports accurate. Spending categories appear in spending charts, income categories appear in income reports, and transfer categories are excluded from ordinary spending totals.
Good category design
The category editor uses a softened version of the original curated palette, including lighter pinks, pastels, and accent colors. Default categories use the same lighter treatment.
Free and Pro onboarding both include category selection. The AI-powered Pro option is selected initially and its action says Continue with Pro. Continue with Pro uses a short-lived signed browser handoff to open checkout even though app onboarding is still in progress; there the user can choose yearly or monthly billing, and onboarding advances only after Pro becomes active. Closing checkout without purchasing returns quietly to the plan choice instead of showing an error. After a successful purchase, the browser replaces checkout with a centered confirmation that Pro is ready and tells the user to tap the browser checkmark to return to the app, instead of exposing the Account page at its previous scroll position. Choosing manual categorization changes the action back to Continue, keeps the user on Free, skips checkout, and continues directly to category selection without AI training.
When an existing Free account upgrades to Pro, the category-training screen explains that these are the spending categories their AI will track, opens at the beginning of the list, and remains scrollable while the Save categories and train my AI button stays available at the bottom.
On Pro onboarding, use Select all categories to turn every custom category on at once, or use Select all and Remove beside a section to turn that group on or off.
Use categories that are specific enough to be meaningful but broad enough that transactions repeat. For example, Eating Out, Drinks, Groceries, Fitness, Subscriptions, and Travel are easier to maintain than a separate category for every merchant.
- Use colors to make charts scannable.
- Use icons only as visual labels; the category name is what matters for reporting.
- Rename categories carefully if you already use them in long-running reports.
Frequently asked questions
How do I create or edit categories?
Free lets you create and edit custom categories, assign them manually, or ask AI for help within the included chat limit. Pro runs AI every night to organize new transactions into those same categories.
What should I know about category types?
My Little Accountant uses category types to keep reports accurate. Spending categories appear in spending charts, income categories appear in income reports, and transfer categories are excluded from ordinary spending totals.
What should I know about good category design?
The category editor uses a softened version of the original curated palette, including lighter pinks, pastels, and accent colors. Default categories use the same lighter treatment. Free and Pro onboarding both include category selection. The AI-powered Pro option is selected initially and its action says Continue with Pro. Continue with Pro uses a short-lived signed browser handoff to open checkout even though app onboarding is still in progress; there the user can choose yearly or monthly billing, and onboarding advances only after Pro becomes active. Closing checkout without purchasing returns quietly to the plan choice instead of showing an error. After a successful purchase, the browser replaces checkout with a centered confirmation that Pro is ready and tells the user to tap the browser checkmark to return to the app, instead of exposing the Account page at its previous scroll position. Choosing manual categorization changes the action back to Continue, keeps the user on Free, skips checkout, and continues directly to category selection without AI training. Use colors to make charts scannable. Use icons only as visual labels; the category name is what matters for reporting. Rename categories carefully if you already use them in long-running reports.