devinsit
Joined 6 years ago
Karma
87
Submissions
30
Member since
Oct 28
Recent submissions
Comment · 5 years ago
This is basically the main reason why I built uFincs (https://ufincs.com/) without any sort of bank integration. As a Canadian myself, the privacy implications of letting a third party like Plaid take my bank password to get my data were, indeed, rather sketchy. I've been looking forward to the day that open banking gets pushed here, so this is definitely good news that uFincs (and every other personal finance app) nmight eventually get some secure bank integrations.
Although, knowing how these things usually go, I'm sure the "2023" target is a little optimistic...
Comment · 5 years ago
I built uFincs (https://ufincs.com) basically because I got fed up with GnuCash's UX. It only supports importing CSVs right now, but I'm open to adding other formats. It's also a web app rather than a desktop app, but you're free try it out/use it without an account (https://ufincs.com/noaccount) and all of your data will just be kept in your browser.
Comment · 5 years ago
Thanks, glad to hear you enjoyed it!
Comment · 5 years ago
Thank you!
Comment · 5 years ago
Yep, that's basically how it's said.
Comment · 5 years ago
Oh I'm well aware of the disconnect. I just disagree that there are only people who care about privacy to the degree that they have to self-host everything. I believe there's room to ride the line between being 'privacy-first' (in that we care about privacy, first and foremost) and offering convenience (i.e. providing a web app).
I'm sure my customers who signed up with ProtonMail and Fastmail addresses can attest to that fact.
And for those who do fall all the way to the self-hosting side, well, there's plenty of other options on the market! Of course, there's nothing stopping us from being one of those options, it's just not our priority at this very moment.
Comment · 5 years ago
Firefly III (https://www.firefly-iii.org/) in particular is a pretty good self-hosted solution.
Comment · 5 years ago
I totally understand that. And I knew, when making the decision to not do any integrations, that there's a ton of people just like you that value automating everything as much as possible.
But I also made the bet that there would be people just like me who value entering things manually. Certainly far fewer people, but hopefully still people.
In any case, I also hope that the app you described eventually gets built; certainly never hurts to have more privacy-friendly options available!
Comment · 5 years ago
The marketing site (https://ufincs.com) uses React + NextJS + Tailwind. The app itself (https://app.ufincs.com) uses a design system that I built completely custom (with plain old Sass).
Comment · 5 years ago
I can definitely see where you're coming from regarding the whole syncing thing. Personally, I've gotten into a habit of recording my transactions right after they happen (or at worst, at the end of the day), but somehow I get the feeling that I'm particularly crazy for doing that.
In any case, I agree that we could do better as far as showing examples/features altogether, but I figured (at least for the time being), just letting people use the app without an account (https://ufincs.com/noaccount) is as good a demo as any.
Definitely useful feedback, thanks!
Comment · 5 years ago
Yeah, deciding to go straight-shooter with some of copy was definitely a risk, but thanks for letting me know that you appreciate it :)
And yeah, the pricing section could definitely be made clearer on that. Thanks for the feedback.
Comment · 5 years ago
Privacy in the sense that, while the bank may own your data already, third-parties like Plaid do not. And at least up in here Canada, we're a bit weaker on the whole 'bank API' system, so it generally turns into a wonderful game of "hand over your bank account credentials".
Anyways, I definitely understand where you're coming from. Plenty of other products that do have bank integrations though, so at least of there's lots of options for you!
And thanks for the design feedback :)
Comment · 5 years ago
Yep, I agree. If you want perfect security and a 100% trust-less solution, then uFincs certainly isn't it.
But I like to think that, at least when put in contrast with other products on the market, choosing to do these privacy/security related things is better than not.
I elaborate on this further in our security doc (https://ufincs.com/policies/security#the-catch) and the FAQ (https://ufincs.com/faq#is-a-ufincs-a-trustless-system).
LinkedIn: https://ca.linkedin.com/in/devin-sit
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