Loved it, but not as reliable in recent years

I’ve used Chronicle for years as it has been truly fantastic in keeping me on track with my monthly, quarterly, biannual, annual, etc expenses. However, I have experienced difficulty with Chronicle syncing between devices, using the wrong calendar(s) for reminders, even creating numerous reminders for the same bill(s). As I work in marketing in the industry (cannot state the name but let’s assume it’s a fruit), I’m well familiar with the machinations involved in syncing data and all my iOS and OS X systems are using current versions. I’ve used “Dropbox” to sync Chronicle between a current gen 27” 5K iMac and new Mac Pro, iPhone 6s’s, and two iPad Air 2’s. I’ve approved “Dropbox” access on all the devices, made certain syncing is active, and that the proper calendar is selected on each Mac in Chronicle. That stated, many times Chronicle decides to switch which calendar to sync in OS X/iOS Calendar, even though neither systems or iDevices have been changed nor calendars deleted or modified. Additionally, for some bills/credit cards that have a standard monthly revolving credit plan yet may not always have a balance, unless you select a billing cycle it defaults to the year 2040. Thus I’ve had Chronicle add duplicates, triplicates, etc for the same bills in three-four different calendars on all my devices. December 31st, 2040 had over 500 reminders. It required a few hours for me to delete each one individually as it overloaded my iCloud (@me.com) account. Once done, Calendars worked without a problem. Yet this problem persists. No changes are made, all devices are up to date, Chronicle is approved to use Dropbox on every device being synced, and my “Financial” calendar in Chronicle has always been the default calendar selected on all the devices being synced.

I logged out of Chronicle on all but one device, reset data on all the others, and went through each bill on one system to ensure each one is properly configured. Once done, I’ve added each device one at a time until all were syncing. A few days later, it happens again. I’ve also noticed the Chronicle app for iOS doesn’t sync in the background. Background refresh in on as well as cellular data, meaning nothing on my iPhones or iPads should keep it from updating whether the app is open or not. I even tried moving to iCloud syncing, activating Chronicle for iCloud Drive on all my devices. This only made matters worse. I even resorted to deleting all data on all my devices, making certain preference files in ~/Library and /Library folders were deleted and no traces of “Chronicle” existed anywhere aside from my Dropbox. Once done, I began with my Mac Pro and added each device one at a time. Still, didn’t work.

I’ve been using Chronicle for years and have sworn by it, often recommending it to friends and family. However, these issues have become increasingly difficult. I’ve read through online support, yet most of the information from “Little Fin LLC” is outdated. I was struck to read help that references “iCal” and “iCal Reminders”, which has been “Calendar” for OS X for a while and “Reminders” is now a fully featured, separate OS X core app. I’m researching alternatives as I cannot allow my financial responsibilities to be managed by an application that seems to be neglected by the developer in recent years (July 1st, 2015 being the most recent update is disappointing). Hope others fare better.

Cdorschel about Chronicle - Bill Management