Maali

Help center

Everything you need to get set up.

Last updated June 2026

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Getting started

  1. Download Maali and open it. On a Mac, drag it into your Applications folder; on Windows, run the installer.
  2. Follow the setup assistant. The first time you open Maali, it asks where to keep your data (a folder on your computer; the suggestion is fine) and which accounts you have. A couple of minutes, no account creation, no sign-in.
  3. Import your first statement. Download a statement file from your bank’s website (usually a button labeled “Download” or “Export”, choosing CSV if it asks) and drop it into Maali on the Settings → Import screen. Your dashboard fills in immediately.

Getting your data in

There are three ways to get transactions into Maali. You can mix and match per account, and switch any time.

1. Upload statement files yourself (most private)

Download statements from your bank’s website and drop them into Settings → Import. Maali recognizes the file, skips anything it has already seen, and sorts the new transactions. Your data goes bank → you with no third party involved at all.

2. Automatic sync with SimpleFIN (most convenient)

SimpleFIN Bridge is an independent service that fetches transactions from your banks and hands them to apps you approve. You pay them directly, and your data flows from the bridge straight to your computer, never through us. To set it up:

  1. Create an account at bridge.simplefin.org and connect your banks there. (Your bank sign-ins are entered only on SimpleFIN’s site there; Maali never sees them.)
  2. Pay SimpleFIN their fee, about $15 per year, directly to them.
  3. On their site, choose New App Connection to generate a setup token, one long block of text.
  4. In Maali, open Settings → Bank connections, paste the token into the SimpleFIN box, and connect. (Each token works exactly once, so paste it fresh.)
  5. Review Maali’s recommended transaction and Wealth setup, then choose Save setup & sync. From then on, Maali fetches new transactions daily while it is running.

3. Bring your own automation (advanced)

If you’re comfortable with scripts, anything that saves your banks’ statement files into a folder works: point your automation at a folder, drop the files into Maali whenever you like, and duplicates are skipped automatically.

Setting up the AI

Maali’s analyst, the part that writes your monthly briefing and flags odd charges in plain English, is an AI model that runs on your computer, not in the cloud. Setting it up is one click:

  • Open Settings → AI and click the download button. The app fetches the model (about 5.0 GB, a one-time download) and takes care of the rest. No extra software to install.
  • What it needs: roughly 6 GB of free disk space and about 6 GB of free memory while the AI is writing. It runs best on a recent computer, an Apple Silicon Mac (M1 or later) or a Windows PC with a modern processor.
  • The app works without it. Every dashboard, budget, forecast, and list works with the AI off or never installed. You just won’t get the written commentary. You can add or remove the AI at any time.

Verifying it’s local

“Runs on your computer” is a claim you can test yourself:

  • The unplug test. Turn off Wi‑Fi and keep using Maali. Dashboards, categories, briefings the AI already wrote: everything still works, because nothing is being fetched from anywhere.
  • The firewall test. Run a tool that shows outgoing connections (Little Snitch or LuLu on a Mac, GlassWire on Windows) and compare what you see against the complete connection list on our privacy page. There are only a few possible connections, all optional, and all explained there.

Troubleshooting

The AI model download stalls or fails

It’s a big file, and flaky connections happen. Click the download button again. The download resumes where it left off rather than starting over. If it keeps failing, check that you have at least 6 GB of free disk space.

Your computer warns you about opening the app

The first time you open an app downloaded outside the official store, your computer may ask you to confirm. On a Mac, right-click (or Control-click) the Maali app and choose Open, or go to System Settings → Privacy & Security and click Open Anyway. On Windows, if a SmartScreen notice appears, click More info and then Run anyway. You’ll only need to do this once.

Where your data lives, and how backups work

Everything Maali knows lives in the folder you chose during setup, as ordinary files on your computer. To create a backup you can restore inside Maali, open Settings → Your data, download a backup file, and keep it somewhere safe. Restore that file from the same screen.

Maali also keeps short-term internal safety snapshots beside its data files. Those snapshots are for advanced manual recovery, not a one-click undo history. For protection against a lost or broken computer, keep a downloaded backup elsewhere and use your normal whole-computer backup system (Time Machine on a Mac, File History on Windows).

An import looks wrong

Re-importing the same file is always safe: Maali skips transactions it has already seen, so you can’t create duplicates by trying again. If a transaction landed in the wrong category, just change it on the spot; Maali learns from your correction.

Starting fresh, or uninstalling

On a Mac, the download includes a helper called Uninstall Maali, right next to the app. Double-click it and pick what you want: wipe your data for a clean start (keeping the app and the AI model), wipe everything but keep the app, or remove Maali completely. It shows you exactly what it will delete and asks you to confirm before touching anything. On Windows, uninstall from Settings → Apps; that removes the app, and your data folder stays until you delete it yourself. Either way, only Maali’s local files are affected; your accounts at your bank are untouched.

Reporting a problem

Open Settings → App & license → Help & feedback and click Build a diagnostic report. Maali assembles a short plain-text report on your computer: version numbers, which page you were on, what you last tried to do, and what kind of error happened. Never your transactions, accounts, files, or setting values, and never the text of error messages. You read every word before anything leaves your computer; if it looks fine, you email it to support@maali.app yourself.

Or simply email us and describe what happened: what you did, what you expected, and what you saw. A screenshot helps. Feel free to blur any numbers. We don’t need them.

Contact

For anything at all (questions, bug reports, refunds, or just to tell us what you’d like Maali to do next): support@maali.app. A real person reads it.