A significant amount of work has gone into JABA over the past several months, and the most meaningful of it is visible in the app itself. The budget tab, which is the heart of zero-based budgeting in JABA, has moved from a static screen to something you can actually use.
Assigning Money in the App
The core interaction of zero-based budgeting is giving every dollar a job before it gets spent. That interaction now works in the iOS app. When you open the budget tab, you can see how much money is ready to assign, tap into assign mode, and distribute that amount across your categories by editing each one inline. The remaining balance updates as you go, so you always know how much is left to assign. If you over-assign, the balance turns red to make the problem obvious. The balance stays visible in the tab bar as you scroll, so you never lose sight of where you stand.
Recording Transactions
You can now record transactions directly from the budget tab. A simple sheet lets you enter a spending or inflow amount, pick a category, and save. When you save a spending transaction, the category’s remaining balance counts down immediately. This is the mechanic that makes budgeting feel real: when a category runs low, you know about it before the money is gone.
Category Detail
Tapping a category row now opens a detail sheet showing the assigned amount, what has been spent, and what remains, all with cent-level precision. From the same sheet, you can rename the category, hide it, delete it, or add a note. A bug that caused this sheet to dismiss itself as soon as it appeared has been fixed, so the detail view now stays open reliably.
What Changed on the Website
The JABA landing page has been updated to reflect the actual state of the app. It now describes what the iOS MVP does: importing transactions, assigning money to categories, tracking remaining balances, and reviewing what came in. The primary call to action is joining the private beta. Features that are not built yet are not mentioned.
The journal has also grown during this period. New articles cover how to use credit cards with zero-based budgeting, how to budget with irregular income, how to choose a starter set of budget categories, and how to evaluate a budgeting app’s privacy practices before downloading it. These pieces are written for people thinking carefully about how they manage money, which is exactly the audience JABA is built for.
Each of these improvements brings JABA closer to the experience it is meant to be.