Help

Getting set up, where the numbers come from, and answers to common questions.

FolioInsight is an independent app. It isn’t made, endorsed or supported by Sharesight, so for help with FolioInsight, email Rob rather than Sharesight’s support team.

Getting started

1. Get Sharesight API access

FolioInsight reads your portfolios through the Sharesight API. Sharesight has to enable API access for your account first. Once it has, create a Client ID and Client Secret in Sharesight under Account › Sharesight API.

2. Connect FolioInsight

Open FolioInsight, tap ≡ › Settings, and enter your Client ID and Client Secret. Until you do, the app shows demo portfolios, so you can try everything first.

3. Your other devices

Your Sharesight details are saved in your Keychain and sync through iCloud Keychain, end-to-end encrypted. FolioInsight on your iPad picks them up by itself.

Using the app

• Portfolios. The list shows your combined total, then each portfolio. Tap one for its holdings, heat map, trades, income and history.
• More or less on each card. Swipe left across the portfolio list to show more on each card, and right to show less.
• The menu. ≡ switches between Portfolios and Outsmart the Open, and opens Settings and About & Help.
• Reorder. Use Reorder in a section heading’s menu, then drag. The widget follows the same order.
• History. Value shows your balance against the money you’ve put in, with buys and sells marked along the bottom. Add a benchmark to compare against an index fund.
• Price or incl. dividends. Charts show price growth by default. Turn on Incl. dividends to see total return. Dividends are compared separately because few people reinvest them all.
• Refreshing. Pull down to refresh. FolioInsight also refreshes when you open it, and iOS refreshes it in the background now and then.
• Widget. Add the FolioInsight widget from your home screen’s edit mode, then edit the widget to choose portfolios and how much detail to show.

Where the numbers come from

• Sharesight supplies your portfolios, trades and dividends. FolioInsight only reads them and never changes anything in your Sharesight account.
• Yahoo Finance supplies prices, price history and exchange rates. Prices are usually delayed, typically by about 20 minutes, and are occasionally unavailable. A clock beside a holding means its price couldn’t be refreshed, so the last saved price is shown.
• Your device works out values, gains and returns. That’s why FolioInsight is fast, and also why its figures can differ slightly from Sharesight’s own reports.

Common questions

Why don’t my figures match Sharesight exactly?

FolioInsight calculates everything on your device from your trades and dividends, using prices from Yahoo Finance. Small differences come from price timing, exchange rates, and how some corporate actions are handled. Check important figures in Sharesight before acting on them.

What does Daily Gain include?

Daily Gain is today’s price movement only. Dividends paid today aren’t added to it, because the price already fell by the dividend on the ex-dividend date, weeks before payment. On pay day, a separate Dividends Today line shows what was paid, and a banknote icon marks the holding. Dividends still count in Total Gain and Dividends.

Why is Realised gain different from Sharesight’s?

FolioInsight shows dividends separately from gains on sales, so Realised covers sales only. Dividends have their own line.

Why do some holdings have an older price?

Yahoo Finance doesn’t list every instrument, such as unlisted managed funds and custom investments. For those, FolioInsight uses the price Sharesight has, which may be less current. If no price is available at all, the holding shows “No price”.

Does FolioInsight work offline?

Yes. It opens with the figures from your last sync and refreshes when you’re back online.

Can FolioInsight lock with Face ID?

Yes. In Settings › Security, turn on Require Face ID. You can choose how long FolioInsight can be away before it asks again, from Immediately to 15 minutes, and whether widgets hide your figures while the lock is on.

What is Outsmart the Open?

A short pre-market brief each ASX trading morning: the overnight scoreboard, where the ASX 200 is set to open, and the news behind it. It’s general market information, not advice.

Day trading is a great way to lose money. If you can’t spot the sucker, it’s you.

Does it cost anything?

No. Your portfolio data is already yours in Sharesight, the prices come free from Yahoo Finance, and the calculations run on your own device, so charging for FolioInsight would be a bit rich. That’s why it comes with a promise: free for at least 100 years, so you know it’ll always be free. No subscription, ads or “pro” version. There’s an optional tip jar in About & Help to cover the Apple developer fees, and nothing is locked behind it.

What happens to my data?

It stays on your devices. FolioInsight has no account, no analytics and no server. See the privacy policy for the details.

Contact

Questions, bugs and ideas are all welcome: hello@folioinsight.app. Emailing from About & Help in the app fills in your app version and device model, which helps with bug reports.