Show HN: I built uFincs – a privacy-first, encrypted personal finance app • Hacker News Board

Re: Show HN: I built uFincs – a privacy-first, encrypted personal finance app

#31

Post by fragileone » Wed, May 12, 2021, 6:50 AM UTC

devinsit wrote: post #24

huhtenberg wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, the thing is that if you say "privacy-first", you are pitching to people who care about this sort of thing. For these people the fact that uFincs is not self-hosted is an instant no-go. And for people who don't see it as a problem, the privacy angle doesn't matter much either. See the disconnect? You have a good product, for sure, but the pitch needs a revision.

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…

Thing is anyone even passingly interested in privacy will start questioning it - is it open-source? Can it be self-hosted? Is it available as a desktop app? It's privacy theatre unless the privacy can be proven.

Re: Show HN: I built uFincs – a privacy-first, encrypted personal finance app

#32

Post by kemonocode » Wed, May 12, 2021, 6:07 PM UTC

devinsit wrote: post #2

Hey HN! I'm excited to (officially) show off the project I've been working on (for far too long): uFincs, a privacy-first personal finance app! https://ufincs.com Yes, it's another personal finance app. Yes, there sure are a lot of them. But when I got tired of using GnuCash a couple years ago, I figured I should try something a little different and throw my hat in the ring. The result? No banks, no budgets, no data…

Others have already mentioned how it's a non-starter if there isn't an option to self-host so I won't bring that up: instead, for those who don't mind that I'd suggest easier means to import data from existing formats. Offer an on-ramp for people who too are fed up of GnuCash or have been using Ledger up until now and could use something friendlier. Best of luck in your project!

Re: Show HN: I built uFincs – a privacy-first, encrypted personal finance app

#33

Post by skinnymuch » Wed, May 12, 2021, 8:00 PM UTC

qshaman wrote: post #29

devinsit wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

Plaid is own by Visa, but I get your point. As I said, wish you the best!

The deal did not go through. Plaid just got valued at close to triple what Visa was going to spend on it in a recent fund raise at around $14B post money.

Re: Show HN: I built uFincs – a privacy-first, encrypted personal finance app

#34

Post by skinnymuch » Wed, May 12, 2021, 8:03 PM UTC

Is the writing under pricing for yearly and lifetime of entering one transaction supposed to be humor? I’m assuming so based on the overall vibe. I wonder if it will be confusing for people though.

The product isn’t for me at all, personally, because of wanting integrations/automation. But the app and sales pages look beautiful. I feel motivated enough to get off iPad and hacker news and get going on a side React project now.