Budget
See the overrun coming
Spent, committed, and remaining on one chart. You find out you're over while there's still something you can do about it.
Renovation tracker for iPhone
Your home renovation, measured.
Home Stories is a renovation tracker for iPhone. Budgets that stay honest, tasks in the right order, photos that prove what happened — exported as a PDF your contractor can read.
5.0
Kitchen renovation58% committed
$12,950
Spent
$1,430
Committed
$10,620
Left
- Price
- Free
- Offline
- Fully
- Account
- None
- Sync
- iCloud
- Requires
- iOS 17
Features
Four screens do the work
No spreadsheet, no shoebox of receipts, no photo roll you can't search.
Tasks
Keep the order straight
Group the work into tasks and items per phase, and mark them off. Electrician before plasterer, every time.
Photos
Prove what was there
Dated photos pinned to the project build a timeline you can scroll — before, during, and behind the wall.
Export
Hand over a PDF
Budget, tasks, photos, and notes in one report your contractor, insurer, or future buyer can actually read.
More
And everything around the edges
The four screens do the heavy lifting. These are the parts that keep the rest of a renovation from slipping through the cracks.
Widgets & Live Activities
A budget ring on your Lock Screen, the next tasks at a glance, and a Dynamic Island timer while you work — without opening the app.
Time tracking
Log hours against a project and see where the days actually went, broken down visually alongside the money.
Notes & documents
Keep contracts, receipts, and tagged notes with photos attached to the project they belong to — not in a drawer.
Items & shopping lists
Save purchases with prices and store details, organised by phase, so actual cost lands next to what you estimated.
Search & Share extension
Search across every project instantly, and save a product straight from Safari, IKEA, or Amazon into the right one.
Real-time collaboration
Share a project over iCloud and keep it in sync with a partner, family, or the contractor doing the work.
Project priorities
Flag each project Low, Medium, or High and sort your list — by priority, date, or name — so the next job is on top.
51 languages, accessible
Fully translated into 51 languages, with VoiceOver and Dynamic Type support throughout. Works 100% offline.
Demo
Watch it run
Three screens, recorded from the app on an iPhone. No mockups, no narration.
How it works
Five steps, start to handover
The order the app expects, and the order a renovation actually runs in.
Step 01
Set the budget
Name the project, put a number on it, and give it a deadline. That number is what everything else is measured against.
Step 02
List the work
Break the job into tasks, then add the materials, fixtures, and quotes each one needs. Estimates now, receipts later.
Step 03
Log what you spend
Enter costs as they land. The chart splits spent, committed, and remaining, so an overrun shows up while you can still act on it.
Step 04
Photograph the progress
Shoot from inside the app. Photos are dated and pinned to the project, which is how you settle what the wall looked like in March.
Step 05
Export the report
One tap turns budget, tasks, photos, and notes into a PDF. Send it to the contractor, the insurer, or the folder you'll want next year.
Vs the spreadsheet
Why not just a spreadsheet?
It works — until about week three. The honest comparison.
- Photos
- A spreadsheetIn a camera roll or folder, unlabeled
- Home StoriesDated and pinned to the project timeline
- Totals
- A spreadsheetFormulas you write and maintain yourself
- Home StoriesSpent, committed, and remaining — automatic
- On site
- A spreadsheetPinch-zooming cells on your phone
- Home StoriesBuilt for iPhone, works fully offline
- Sharing
- A spreadsheetEmailing budget_v7_final_FINAL.xlsx
- Home StoriesLive iCloud sharing, or a PDF anyone can read
- Receipts
- A spreadsheetA shoebox and good intentions
- Home StoriesPhotographed and stored with the project
- When it breaks
- A spreadsheetA deleted formula fails silently
- Home StoriesNothing to maintain — the structure is built in
Reviews
What homeowners say
From people mid-renovation
Home Stories made our kitchen renovation so much easier to manage. The budget tracking feature showed exactly where every krone went, and the photo timeline became a fantastic record of the transformation.
I'm renovating multiple rooms and Home Stories keeps everything organized. Each project has its own tasks, budget, and photos. The PDF export is perfect for sharing progress with contractors.
The budget charts are incredible. I can see at a glance what's spent, what's remaining, and potential costs. No more spreadsheets - Home Stories has everything in one place.
Pricing
Free to run the whole job
The core is free, forever. One small one-time purchase unlocks the deep budget tools.
Free
$0.00forever
- Unlimited projects, tasks, and phases
- Photo timeline with dated photos
- Expense logging and item prices
- Works fully offline
- iCloud sync across your devices
- Home Screen & Lock Screen widgets
Home Stories Pro
$9.99one-time — no subscription
- Budget targets and the budget-vs-cost chart
- Advanced cost analysis
- PDF & CSV export of reports and time logs
- Task reminders and deadline notifications
One-time price from the App Store — it varies by country.
Writing
What we've learned about budgets
Notes from renovations that went over, and the ones that didn't.
- Aug 7 · 10 minHow to Document Your Home Renovation for InsuranceWhat a renovation insurance claim actually needs: the photo timeline, the paper trail, and the honest disclosure most people forget — all before you need it.
- Aug 6 · 7 minBathroom Renovation Order: The Sequence That Saves Time and MoneyBathroom renovation order of work — the step-by-step sequence that keeps trades on schedule, avoids rework, and protects your budget.
- Aug 5 · 9 minHidden Costs in an Older Home: The Surprises That Blow BudgetsOlder homes hide expenses that catch renovators off guard — old wiring, rot, structural surprises, and more. What to budget for and how to avoid budget shock.
FAQ
Questions, answered
Yes, it's free! We also offer a Premium Lifetime upgrade with more advanced features for serious renovators.
Absolutely! Home Stories is designed to work fully offline so you can access your projects, budgets, and photos even without internet access - perfect for job sites.
Yes! With iCloud sync your projects stay up to date across your devices. You can also export professional PDF reports to share with contractors, family, or keep for records.
Simply open your project, tap the export button, and choose PDF. Home Stories generates a professional report with your budget summary, task progress, photos, and notes.
Home Stories is currently available for iPhone and requires iOS 17.0 or later. We're focused on delivering the best possible experience on iOS first.
Yes. Add a budget progress ring and upcoming tasks to your Home Screen and Lock Screen, and use Live Activities with Dynamic Island to keep a project timer in view while you work — all without opening the app.
Yes. Share a project over iCloud and it stays in sync in real time across everyone's devices, so a partner, family member, or contractor can follow the budget, tasks, and photos as they change.
Home Stories is fully translated into 51 languages, including English, German, French, Spanish, Italian, Danish, Dutch, Portuguese, Japanese, Chinese, Korean, and many more, with full VoiceOver and Dynamic Type accessibility support.
Yes — costs live where the work is. Break the project into phases and tasks, then attach the materials, fixtures, labour items, and quotes each one needs. The budget chart rolls it all up as spent, committed, and remaining, and the PDF report itemizes it.
Group the work into phases and tasks so each trade knows what happens when — electrician before plasterer. Share the project over iCloud so a contractor can follow the budget, tasks, and photos live, or export a PDF with just the sections they need.
The budget chart shows spent, committed, and remaining at a glance, so an overrun shows up while there's still time to act. Add the Home Screen or Lock Screen widget to keep the budget ring in view without opening the app.
Yes — with iCloud sync on, your projects live in your iCloud account and follow you to a new iPhone. Everything also works fully offline; changes sync when you're back online.
Measure the next one.
Free on the App Store. Works offline, needs no account, and syncs with iCloud when you want it to. Requires iPhone with iOS 17 or later.
5.0