Local and Cloud Storage

Understand encrypted Local storage and Connected Cloud storage on web and native apps, including recovery, switching, copying, and backups.

InfinitelyZero offers two storage modes: Local and Cloud. They differ in where your budget data is stored and how you access it across devices. Understanding the difference helps you choose the right option and avoid accidentally losing data.

Local storage

In Local mode, each budget's financial state is encrypted at rest in on-device application storage. It is tied to that browser profile or native app installation; it is not exposed as a normal file that you browse and edit. Local environments remain independent from one another.

Signing in does not by itself create an InfinitelyZero Cloud copy of a Local budget. Optional task-specific online features—such as product/UPC lookup or receipt scanning—may send the limited information needed for that task. Local describes where the budget is persisted, not a promise that every optional feature is offline.

Web Local

When you use InfinitelyZero in a browser and choose Local mode, your budget data is encrypted in that browser's built-in storage on that device. It is tied to the specific browser and browser profile where it was created. Under normal use, it remains there when you close InfinitelyZero and return later.

Opening InfinitelyZero in a different browser on the same computer will not show your Web Local budget.
Opening InfinitelyZero on a different device will not show your Web Local budget.
Clearing the browser's storage, cookies, or site data can delete your Web Local budget.

Native Local (Windows)

The Windows app protects the Local budget key through Windows Credential Manager and DPAPI. During ordinary use, the native app uses that protected device key; it does not ask for the recovery key, recovery kit, or recovery passphrase every time the app launches or a budget opens.

Desktop Local (Windows app)

When you use the Windows desktop app and choose Local mode, your budget data is stored in application storage for that Windows installation. Local budget persistence does not use InfinitelyZero Cloud storage, although other app services may still require a network connection.

Local budgets in the desktop app are separated by InfinitelyZero user account — signing in with a different account will not expose another user's local budgets.
Desktop Local does not automatically sync to other PCs or to the web app.
To move a Desktop Local budget to another PC, export a backup and restore it there.

Web Local and Desktop Local are separate

Web Local and Desktop Local are independent storage environments. A budget saved in the desktop app's Local mode will not appear in the browser's Local mode, and vice versa. Switching between the web app and the desktop app does not move or merge local data.

Local encryption and recovery

The first encrypted-Local setup creates one stable recovery key for the Local recovery profile. Save the downloadable recovery kit and verify it by importing it during setup. You may also configure a recovery passphrase. The complete recovery key remains the fallback if the kit file or passphrase is unavailable.

The same Local recovery profile can protect additional encrypted Local budgets created under that profile. Recovery material unlocks encrypted budget data that still exists; it is not a copy of any budget and cannot recreate data that was deleted or lost.

A browser or installed PWA does not have the same persistent operating-system-backed key custody as the Windows app. After a refresh or session loss, the browser may ask for the recovery kit, recovery key, or configured passphrase. Clearing browser/site data can delete both the encrypted budget records and local recovery-profile metadata.

Warning: Keep recovery material and an encrypted .izbackup in safe, separate places. Recovery material unlocks existing Local data; a backup is the separate data copy used when the Local data no longer exists.

No automatic synchronization

Local devices do not automatically sync with each other. Local mode is not a peer-to-peer or local-network sync system. If you use InfinitelyZero in Local mode on a laptop and also on a phone, each device has its own separate Local budget. For the same budget to remain automatically available across supported devices, use Cloud mode.

You can manually move a Local backup to another supported browser or device and restore it there, or copy data between Local and Cloud. Moving and restoring a backup is a point-in-time transfer—not automatic synchronization between Local installations.

Note: Local Edition users should create regular backups. You normally do not restore one during everyday use; it is available if the browser or device copy is lost, reset, or deleted. See Backup and Restore for instructions.

Local Edition access

Local Edition is available with a Lifetime License or an active trial. A Lifetime License gives you permanent Local Edition access — in both the web app and the Windows desktop app — with no recurring subscription.

Cloud storage with Connected

Where data is stored

Connected Cloud storage saves your budget data through InfinitelyZero's Supabase-hosted infrastructure. Your data is saved to a server. Sync between devices is coming later.

Multi-device access

Note: Hosted Cloud storage is available now. Sync between devices is coming later. Cloud storage does not connect InfinitelyZero to your bank.

Until Sync is available, do not rely on Connected as an automatic multi-device budget synchronization service.

Subscription required

Cloud Edition requires an active Cloud subscription (monthly or annual) or an active trial. If your Cloud subscription expires, you will no longer have access to your Cloud budgets until the subscription is renewed.

Note: Canceling a Cloud subscription does not automatically grant a Local Edition license. If you want permanent access after canceling Cloud, you need a separate Lifetime License. See Licensing, Trials, and Billing for details.

Data security

Cloud data is transmitted over encrypted connections (HTTPS/TLS). Your budget data is stored in the InfinitelyZero Cloud service and is accessible only to your account. InfinitelyZero does not sell your data.

Switching editions

You can switch between Local and Cloud editions from the app's storage settings, on both the web app and the desktop app.

What switching does

Switching changes which storage source is currently active. After switching, you will see the budgets associated with the new storage source.

What switching does not do

Switching storage modes does not:

Copy your budget from one storage to the other.
Merge budgets from both storages.
Overwrite the destination storage with data from the source.
Delete data from either storage.

Local and Cloud are independent. If you built a budget in Local Edition and then switch to Cloud, you will see whatever Cloud budgets exist (possibly none) — your Local budget remains in Local storage, untouched, and will reappear when you switch back.

Copying data

Switching does not copy data. Copy to Cloud and Copy to Local are separate, deliberate actions that create an independent destination copy while leaving the source unchanged.

Local to Cloud

To move a Local budget to Cloud:

Open the budget in Local Edition.
Use the Copy to Cloud option in storage settings.
Switch to Cloud Edition and confirm the budget appears.

Cloud to Local

To move a Cloud budget to Local:

Open the budget in Cloud Edition.
Use the Copy to Local option in storage settings.
Switch to Local Edition and confirm the budget appears.

Warning: Copying creates a new independent copy of the budget at that moment in time. After the copy, changes made in one edition are not automatically reflected in the other. Avoid maintaining two active copies of the same budget, as they will diverge.

Name conflicts

Copying never overwrites an existing destination budget. If a budget with the same name already exists at the destination, it is skipped. You can keep it skipped or copy the source as a new budget with a different name.

Refresh requirements

After switching editions or copying a budget, refresh the app to ensure the latest data is loaded. On some devices, a full page refresh may be needed.

Avoiding duplicate copies

Once you have copied a budget from Local to Cloud (or vice versa), consider archiving or deleting the original to avoid maintaining duplicate copies that will diverge over time.