Frequently Asked Questions

Yes — the core Yoley app is completely free, forever. There is no monthly subscription and no hidden fees. You only pay when you collect a card payment, from just 0.99% + 5p per payment.

There is no paid version, no trial and nothing to buy in the app. Everything — unlimited quotes, invoices, expenses, the job diary and the rest — is included for everyone.

Yoley is currently available on iPhone running iOS 18 or later. The Android version is in beta testing now, with general release to follow — you can apply for a beta place. iPad support is planned for a future update.

No. There is no Yoley server and no Yoley account. Your quotes, invoices, customers and expenses sit on your phone and back up to your own iCloud or Google account — accounts we have no access to. Receipt scanning happens on the device itself, so your receipts are never uploaded to us.

That has two consequences worth being blunt about. There is no store of our customers’ trading at Yoley, so there is nothing here for anyone to breach. And if Yoley is asked to produce a trader’s books — by anyone — we have nothing to give. We can’t be compelled to hand over data we were never given. Your books are yours, the way a paper ledger in the van was yours.

Card payments are a separate matter, and a separate company. If you choose to take cards, those transactions are processed by Monek Merchant Services Limited, an FCA-authorised payment institution which, like every acquirer and card scheme, keeps and must produce its own records. Work you’re paid for in cash or by bank transfer involves no processor at all. A few optional lookups (company details, postcode search, local weather) also call third parties — all itemised in the Privacy Policy.

No — we don’t have any of your data to give. Your trading records are on your phone and backed up to your own iCloud or Google cloud storage. There is no Yoley server and no Yoley account, so we hold no copy of your quotes, invoices, customers or expenses. There is nothing here for us to share, with HMRC or with anybody else.

If you take card payments, that is a separate matter and a separate company: those transactions go through Monek Merchant Services Limited, an FCA-authorised payment institution which keeps and must produce its own records, exactly as every card acquirer and scheme does. Work you’re paid for in cash or by bank transfer involves no processor at all.

None of this changes your own record-keeping obligations — and Yoley is built to make those easier, with every expense mapped to its HMRC SA103 box and clean exports for your accountant at year end.

Under two minutes. Download from the App Store, enter your name, business name and pick your trade — and you’re done. No forms, no sales calls, no credit card required to start.

Setting up card payments for the first time takes an extra 2–3 minutes for identity verification (required by UK financial regulations).

Yoley works for any UK tradesperson, including electricians, plumbers, gas engineers, builders, joiners, painters and decorators, roofers, tilers, landscapers, HVAC engineers, and more. If you run a trade business and need to quote, invoice and track expenses, Yoley is for you.

Tap the Quotes tab → + → pick or add a customer → enter a job title → add line items (including Kit Bundles) → tap Save to keep as a draft or Send to deliver by email or SMS.

Open the quote and tap Send. Choose Email, SMS or Share Link. The customer receives a branded quote they can accept with one tap.

Draft = saved, not sent. Sent = delivered to the customer. Opened = customer has opened the link. Accepted = customer confirmed (digitally or via manual approval). Declined = customer said no. Expired = past the validity date without response.

Open the quote and tap the green Manually Approve button next to the status badge. Pick how the customer confirmed (Phone, Text, Email or Other), add an optional comment, then tap Confirm Approval. The comment carries through as a note on the scheduled job.

Open the quote, tap Manually Approve, choose Phone, add a note like "Spoke to John at 2pm", then tap Confirm Approval. This logs the approval with a timestamp.

Open the quote, tap Manually Approve, choose Text, add a note (you can paste the customer's message), then tap Confirm Approval.

Kit Bundles are pre-saved groups of line items for jobs you do regularly — for example a "Standard boiler service" that includes 1 hour labour + service kit + travel. Add the whole bundle to a quote with one tap. Set up bundles in Settings → Kit Bundles.

Yes. Any comment added to a quote — including the note you add during manual approval — is automatically carried through as notes on the job when scheduled and on the invoice when converted.

Open an Accepted quote and tap Convert to Invoice. Line items, customer details and notes copy across automatically. Set a due date (your default payment terms apply) and tap Send Invoice. The invoice arrives with a Pay Now link.

Open an accepted quote and tap Convert to Invoice. All line items, customer details and notes copy across automatically. Set a due date and tap Send Invoice. The invoice arrives with a payment link so the customer can pay by card immediately.

Yes — tap Invoices → + and fill in the customer and line items directly. You don’t need to go through the quote flow if the job is straightforward.

By default, customers can pay by card (Visa, Mastercard, American Express) or Apple Pay via the secure payment link on every invoice, from 0.99% + 5p per payment.

Very. Yoley uses Apple’s Vision framework for on-device OCR and it handles most printed receipts extremely well — extracting totals, VAT amounts and supplier names automatically. You can always review and correct the extracted values before saving.

Handwritten receipts or very faded thermal paper may require manual entry.

No. All OCR processing happens on your device. Receipt images and extracted data are stored only in your iCloud account (via CloudKit) and are never sent to Yoley’s servers or any third-party OCR service.

Go to Expenses → Export. You can export a summary organised by HMRC SA103 box as a PDF or spreadsheet. This is exactly what your accountant needs for your self-assessment return. The export covers any date range you choose.

SA103 is the HMRC self-employment supplementary page of your self-assessment tax return. It has specific boxes for different expense categories (materials, vehicle costs, subcontractors, etc.). Yoley maps each expense you log to its corresponding SA103 box, so completing your tax return is straightforward.

Tap the Job Diary tab → Schedule Job (top right). The sheet shows your accepted quotes ready to book. Select the quote, set the start and end time, review the pre-filled notes and tap Save Job.

When you open a job in the diary, Yoley gets your current location (using Apple’s Location Services), geocodes the customer’s address, and calculates the estimated driving time via Apple Maps. It shows the travel time and distance in miles. Tap Open in Apple Maps to get full turn-by-turn directions.

The forecast comes from Apple Weather. It needs the job to have an address and your iPhone to have a data connection. Forecasts only reach a few days ahead, so jobs further out show the weather as they get closer.

Yes. Tap Schedule Job and choose New Job (No Quote). Enter the job title, customer, date and time. It’s a standalone appointment not linked to a quote.

Card payments cost 0.99% on personal cards, 1.99% on business cards and 2.99% on foreign-issued cards, each plus 5p per transaction. The 5p covers the payment link and reminder messages. There are no monthly fees, setup fees or minimum volumes, and declined cards cost nothing. You only pay when you get paid.

Card payments are paid into your bank account two working days after the payment is taken. Your bank may take a little longer to show the funds.

Not yet — it’s coming soon. Monek is building Tap to Pay on iPhone under its agreement with Apple. It will let you take contactless cards and Apple Pay on your iPhone with no card reader. Until then, send a payment link from any invoice and your customer can pay on their own phone while you’re there.

Payments are processed by Monek, a UK-regulated payment provider authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). Card data is encrypted end-to-end and never touches Yoley’s systems. Monek is PCI-DSS compliant.

Yes. Yoley includes CIS subcontractor management on the Free plan. You can add CIS subcontractors with their UTR numbers and deduction rates (20% standard, 30% unverified, or 0% for gross payment status). CIS deductions are calculated automatically on invoices raised against them.

Not currently. Yoley helps you track CIS deductions accurately, but CIS monthly returns must still be submitted to HMRC via their online portal or through your accountant. We’re exploring direct HMRC submission as a future feature.

Tap the burger menu (three lines, top left) and scroll to App Lock. Toggle it on. From the next time you open Yoley, you’ll be prompted to authenticate with Face ID or Touch ID before the app opens. If biometrics fail, it falls back to your iPhone passcode.

All your data is stored in your personal iCloud account via Apple CloudKit. Yoley’s own servers never hold your business data. If you upgrade to a new iPhone or reinstall the app, everything restores automatically when you sign in with the same Apple ID.

Your data is safe in iCloud — nothing is lost. Use Apple’s Find My app to lock or remotely wipe the device if needed. Install Yoley on a new phone, sign in with the same Apple ID, and all your data will be there.

Tap the burger menu → Settings → Business Profile. From here you can update your business name, address, logo, VAT number and contact details. Changes take effect on all new quotes and invoices immediately.