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Big Picture Money 2026.1 Updates

· 3 min read
Patrick B
Patrick B
Founder, Big Picture Money

Private beta just updated to 2026.1. Below are the list of major features that landed. See the full changelog for all the features and bug fixes that made it in.

More capable AI that you control​

Chat can now suggest edits to transactions (amount, date, payee, memo, and more), tags, views, goals, and budgets. Every mutation arrives as a preview that you can choose to allow or reject. No changes occur until you review them and click Apply. You can batch-apply several pending changes after one consent pass.

AI configuration got easier as well: enable AI, pick a provider, paste your API key. No more having to type in the name of a model or set the token limits and capacities.

Read more in AI assistant, Using AI Chat, and Configure an AI provider.

AI Chat proposing a transaction edit with an Apply preview card

Several budgeting enhancements, including setting expected income​

Monthly setup now has an Income row and a Plan balance: expected income - budgeted categories = remaining balance. Big Picture Money now automatically highlights over-assigned categories, received-vs-expected, and warns of approaching overages. You can also quickly edit a budget category without opening the full plan again.

This helps avoid perceived overages for income that just hasn't landed yet (especially at the beginning of the month, before you get paid.)

Read more in Budgets, Set up a monthly budget, and Track budget progress.

Budget setup showing the Income row and Plan balance

Help for the screen you are on​

F1 (⇧⌘? on Mac) and Help → Documentation for this page open the article for the page or dialog in front of you — not a generic docs home. Settings sections and common modals have their own topics.

Read more in Help and Open Help for this page.

Help window open on the article for the current page after pressing F1

Merchant matching that reads real bank text​

Categorization is better at messy bank descriptors. The app extracts a merchant spine, scores candidates by token overlap against the local merchants database, and shows clearer match explanations and confidence in the inspector. Notes on a transaction are easier to read without opening the editor.

Read more in Merchant recognition and Improve categorization accuracy.

The full list​

Bank balance alignment, transfer review polish, filter cleanup, report date presets, in-app updates, telemetry and issue reporting, and a pile of fixes (including the spending pie chart and paper-check "similar" recategorize) are in this build too.

Read the complete feature and fix list in the docs: Release 2026.1.

Join the beta when an invite reaches you, or start with installing the app.