# What is longbook Cloud

> longbook Cloud is an optional subscription, $4 a month through Apple, for the features that run on longbook's server. Your longbook folder, both apps and everything in them stay yours without it.

- Page: https://longbook.app/features/what-is-longbook-cloud/
- Group: iPhone and Mac
- Platforms: iPhone and Mac

## On the screen

**longbook Cloud** in the app shows what the subscription covers, its price and period, and **Manage subscription**. It opens from Account, and wherever a feature needs it.

![The Automations screen of longbook on iPhone: the longbook MCP server switched on, AI suggestions allowed, and the Claude email automation with its prompt.](https://longbook.app/features/img/iphone-automations.jpg)

![The Automations screen of longbook on Mac with the MCP server on: a hosted copy for AI connectors, AI suggestions, and one-click setup of Claude Desktop on the same Mac.](https://longbook.app/features/img/mac-mcp-server.jpg)

## What it does

### A hosted copy for your AI

Claude on the web or the phone, and ChatGPT, run on someone else's computers, so they cannot open the longbook folder in your iCloud. Cloud keeps a copy of your longbook on longbook's server and serves it at longbook.app/mcp, so those assistants can read it and suggest changes, each one shown in Changes to keep or undo.

### Statement reading

A bank statement is read into charges on longbook's server, with storage off. Without Cloud, your own AI can do the same step.

### Shared reports

A report becomes a link and a password that open it for a few days. Anyone you send it to can read it and leave a comment, and the comments come back into longbook.

## Why it exists

Servers cost money to run, and the folder in your iCloud does not need one. So the apps are a one-time purchase and the part that runs on a server is a monthly subscription. Nothing about your own folder depends on it.

## Questions

### What does it cost, and how do I stop it?

$4 a month, charged by Apple and renewed every month. The 3-day trial includes Cloud. Cancel in your Apple ID settings at least 24 hours before the period ends; Apple handles refunds. The terms are at longbook.app/terms.

### What can I do without Cloud?

Everything in the apps. On a Mac, Claude Desktop or Claude Code can read and edit your longbook folder in iCloud, or use the local server, at no charge. A Claude or ChatGPT that runs online, and the iPhone's Claude app, can only reach longbook through the hosted copy, which needs Cloud.

### What happens when it ends?

The server features stop. Your folder and the apps are untouched. The hosted copy is deleted 30 days after the subscription ends, and subscribing again brings the connection back.

## Related features

- [Keep your longbook in your own iCloud](https://longbook.app/features/keep-your-longbook-in-your-own-icloud.md): Plain JSON files in a longbook folder in your own iCloud Drive, synced by Apple to your iPhone and Mac.
- [Automate longbook with Claude](https://longbook.app/features/automate-longbook-with-claude.md): Claude reads your longbook and keeps it up to date through longbook's MCP server.
- [Share monthly expense reports with others](https://longbook.app/features/share-monthly-expense-reports-with-others.md): A monthly report as a password-protected link, with comments that come back into the report.
- [All features of longbook](https://longbook.app/features.md)

## About longbook

longbook is a memory for your financial commitments: subscriptions, insurance, rent, loans and every other payment that comes back. It runs on iPhone and Mac and keeps its records as plain files in your own iCloud.

The next payment stays in view on the iPhone widget and in the Mac menu bar. Your AI can read your longbook and update it through longbook's MCP server, and every change it makes shows in Changes, to keep or undo.

- Download for Mac: https://testflight.apple.com/join/g66Nd3Na
- Download for iPhone: https://testflight.apple.com/join/g66Nd3Na