Frequently asked questions

Clients see this on estimates and invoices: business name, contact name, email, phone, address, and currency. The same details go on the PDF and the public link.

The profile is not a login. You can keep working before every field is filled. Sending still needs a business name in Settings → Business.

Each business is its own workspace: invoices, estimates, clients, price book, online payments, and reports.

1. Open Settings → Business → Switch Profile.
2. Tap Add Business. Free includes one business; Pro includes three; Unlimited has no cap.
3. Fill in that business and switch to it when you work on its documents.

Email, Face ID, and subscription stay on the account. They do not change when you switch businesses.

Linking an email in Settings → Security protects this account, lets you restore it on another iPhone, and is how you sign in to extra features in the web app.

1. Open Settings → Security.
2. Add your email and open the confirmation we send.
3. Email then shows the address with a Linked tag.

If you delete the app before linking an email, that session cannot be recovered. On a new phone, use Restore on this phone with the same address.

An invoice is a draft until you send it. Sending freezes the totals, creates a PDF, and gives the client a private link.

What you need

1. A business name in Settings → Business.
2. A client on the invoice.
3. At least one item.

How to send

1. Save the draft, then go to Preview.
2. Tap Send.
3. Leave Email on to mail the link, or turn it off to freeze the invoice without mail.
4. Tap Send. You can still copy or share the link from the sent invoice.

A sent invoice closes when the remaining balance is zero.

1. On the sent invoice, tap Mark as paid to record the remaining balance as cash today.
2. Or use Record payment for a partial or full amount, with a method and date.
3. If the client pays by card on the public invoice, the invoice closes when Stripe confirms. You get a notification.

You do not need to tap Mark as paid after a successful card payment.

On a sent invoice, tap Record payment. Enter an amount under the remaining balance, a method, and the paid-on date. An optional note can sit under that date.

The list shows partial until the balance is gone. Record another payment, or Mark as paid for the rest.

Card pay on the public invoice charges the remaining balance in one payment, not a custom amount.

Invoices belong to one business. Switching businesses hides the previous list. They are not deleted.

Check this first

1. On Invoices, tap the business name in the header if a chevron is showing, and pick the other business.
2. Or open Settings → Business → Switch Profile.
3. Check the year and month filters, and All / Paid / Unpaid.

If you deleted the app without linking an email, that anonymous session cannot be recovered. Link an email in Settings → Security, then use Restore on this phone on a new device.

Sending an estimate freezes that version and gives the client a link they can approve or decline. Estimates have no due date and no payments.

What you need

1. A business name in Settings → Business.
2. A client on the estimate.
3. At least one item.

How to send

1. Save the draft, then go to Preview.
2. Tap Send.
3. Leave Email on to mail the link, or turn it off to send without mail.
4. Tap Send. Copy or share the link from the sent estimate if you need to.

Convert is on a closed estimate: after the client signs, or after you tap Mark as closed on an unsigned one.

1. Open the closed estimate.
2. Tap Convert to invoice.
3. Edit the new invoice draft if you need to, then send it.

A declined estimate stays open. Revise and send it again before you convert.

A declined estimate stays Open. You edit the same estimate; you do not start a new number.

1. Open the declined estimate. Client comments are at the top if they left any.
2. Tap Edit estimate and change the draft.
3. Send again. The number stays the same, with a revision suffix such as #12-1.

Card payments run on your own Stripe Express account. Billow is the layer that builds the invoice and the pay link. We never see or store card numbers, bank details, or Stripe login secrets.

1. Open Settings → Business → Online payments.
2. Tap Connect Stripe and finish Stripe’s form.
3. Wait until the status shows clients can pay by card.

The client pays on the public invoice page. Stripe handles the card. Payouts go to the bank you set up in Stripe.

Stripe pays out to the bank from your Stripe account, typically daily. Arrival dates come from Stripe. Billow does not hold the client’s money.

Stripe takes its card fee (typically 2.9% + 30¢ in the US). You can pass that fee to the client in Online payments with Client pays Stripe’s fee. The public invoice shows the extra line when you do.

Billow takes 1% of the invoice amount from your Stripe payout (0.5% on Billow Unlimited). That percentage is never added to what the client is billed. Cash and other manual payments have no Billow percentage.

1. Open Settings → Business → Online payments.
2. Tap Open Stripe.

Stripe shows the full payout history and tax forms. Available and pending balances on the Online payments screen also come from Stripe.

1. Open the Reports tab.
2. Pick a year.
3. Tap Export CSV at the bottom of the scroll. Free opens the upgrade screen.

The file lists invoices that were fully paid in that year. Reports totals also break down cash you recorded or that Stripe settled, by paid-on date.

Overview shows four totals for the selected year (and month, if you pick one): Collected is cash that actually landed, from card payments and payments you recorded by hand. Outstanding is the unpaid balance on sent invoices. Paid invoices is a count, not an amount. Open estimates is the total value of estimates still waiting on a client decision.

Below Overview, the same collected cash is broken down by client, then charted by month and by quarter, using the date money was actually paid, not the date you sent the invoice.

1. Open the Reports tab.
2. Tap Custom Date Range under More Reports. Free opens the upgrade screen.
3. Pick a From date, then a To date.

Billow shows collected cash for exactly that range, replacing the year and month totals until you pick a different range or leave the tab.

A Business Report is a snapshot: revenue, top clients, and invoice counts for a period you choose. Once generated, it does not change even if you record more payments later.

1. Open the Reports tab, then tap Business Reports under More Reports. Free opens the upgrade screen.
2. Tap Generate Report and pick This month, Last month, or Custom range.
3. Open the report and tap Share PDF to send or save it.

Automated Reports generates a Business Report on a schedule and emails it, without opening the app. It always goes to the workspace owner, plus one optional additional address, such as a bookkeeper or accountant.

1. Open Reports → Business Reports → Automated Reports. This is a Billow Unlimited feature.
2. Turn on Send automatically and pick weekly, monthly, or quarterly.
3. Add an additional recipient email if you want one, then save.

Advanced Insights, on Billow Unlimited, adds metrics beyond simple totals: average invoice value and average time to payment, estimate acceptance and win rates, how much is converted from an approved estimate to an invoice, an overdue-balance breakdown, top clients and revenue concentration, repeat-client rate, revenue by item, and year-over-year and period-over-period comparisons.

Open Reports → Advanced Insights. Free and Pro see a locked preview and can upgrade from there.

Billow subscriptions are billed by Apple. Cancel in iPhone Settings, or tap Cancel subscription in Billow Settings — that opens Apple’s subscription sheet. There is no in-app cancel that skips Apple.

1. Open the Settings app on your iPhone.
2. Tap your name, then Subscriptions.
3. Tap Billow.
4. Tap Cancel Subscription and confirm.

You keep access until the end of the period Apple already charged. Restoring purchases on a new phone uses the same Apple ID.