We wanted to keep you in the loop about what we've been working on lately. In 2012 we focused very heavily on making improvements and upgrades to the main website. Unfortunately that meant our mobile apps started to fall behind as far as features and updates went. Well, 2013 is going to be the year of mobile apps. Right now we have apps available for iOS, Android and WebOS. Over the next few months we'll be working heavily on updating our current apps and getting apps out there for Windows Phone, BlackBerry and Symbian devices.

In order to get to that point, we needed to start somewhere. That start is with a huge round of updates we're making to the iOS app. This update we're nearly finished with will be the benchmark we use when updating and creating the other mobile apps.

What does this latest round of updates contain? Well, we've been collecting feedback for quite some time about our apps and we've been working on implementing as much as possible into the app.

Here's what's included in the latest update we're working on finishing now:

• Improved Navigation (easier access to adding transactions)
• User selectable start page
• Jive Mode (to make it easier to jive transactions from your mobile device)
• Running Balances (for premium members)
• Adding transactions offline (to sync up later)

Again, we've been using the iOS app to set the standard that all of the other mobile apps will need to follow. We're not saying the iOS app is going to be 100% perfect after this update, but it will be considerably more reliable and easier to use.

Here are some screenshots of the iOS app under development right now (click to enlarge):

We hope to submit this update to Apple this week. Based on past experience it seems to take about a week for them to approve the app and release it for download. If all goes well, in about 2 weeks you'll be able to install the latest app on your iOS device.

Update (November 28, 2012): The app has been approved by Apple and should be available in the App store for download!

We've been busy working on a huge amount of updates and tweaks to the site plus a new tool that will help people track who owes them money and who they've borrowed money from.

The updates and tweaks revolve around the way we calculate your Overall and Jived balances. Right now, those balances aren't calculated live each time the page loads. Instead, there is a table in our database that is constantly updated when you add/edit/delete transactions. This table is used to calculate your balances. Some of you might have noticed that occasionally this table gets a little out of balance and requires the clicking of the "Refresh Balances" link. This link goes through and re-calculates the balances and corrects any issues.

Well, we're tired of having that table get out of whack every once in a while so we're doing away with it and the need to refresh your balances. Coming soon, your balances will be calculated on the fly each time the page loads so you can be sure the balances that are displayed are the correct amounts.

We're also optimizing the rest of the site to help improve the responsiveness and load times when you navigate through the site. We've cut the number of database queries on the dashboard page alone to 1/4 what they are right now.

The new feature is a Money Lending Tracker that lets you track who owes you money or who you borrowed money from. This feature has been requested by several users and we believe what we created will work well for your needs.

We're working on finishing the tweaks and making sure there aren't any issues with the new updates and then we'll release all of the above updates. Keep an eye out on the blog to learn when the updates have been launched.

You can now add the ClearCheckbook Money Management app through the Chrome Store. The ClearCheckbook Money Management app is a quick link to the main site so you can easily access your account from Google Chrome.

The Chrome Web Store is an online marketplace where you can discover thousands of apps, extensions and themes for Google Chrome.

To add the ClearCheckbook Money Management app, make sure you're using the Chrome browser and then search for ClearCheckbook or click on the following link: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/clearcheckbook-money-mana/ncgheejpeplfmifkibfifpdhceopaifp

Help us get some extra exposure to the site by adding ClearCheckbook to your list of apps!

We're glad to announce that Apple has approved our overhaul to the ClearCheckbook iPhone app. It should now be available in the App Store now. Please download the latest update and let us know how it goes!

The new 2.0 version of the app has been completely re-written and will run much more efficiently than the last one.

• Numeric keypad on amount entries
• Easier to navigate and click on items
• Less loading messages
• Built on a framework for easier future updates
• It doesn't crash every time you open the app

We also just issued another update that will make the app run better on the iPad as well. I'm sure it'll be another week before that's ready though.

We submitted the new iPhone app to the App Store this afternoon. The new 2.0 version of the app has been completely re-written and will run much more efficiently than the last one.

Here are some of the upgrades made to the new app:

• Numeric keypad on amount entries
• Easier to navigate and click on items
• Less loading messages
• Built on a framework for easier future updates
• It doesn't crash every time you open the app

It took a full week for the existing app to get approved, so we'll keep our fingers crossed that this doesn't take quite so long.

The app will also work much better on the iPad and we'll also be working on optimizing it some more to take advantage of the larger iPad screen.