Inspiration
I have a passion for building great digital products, especially ones that solve problems I personally face. Most meaningful ideas come from real needs, and Prisma started the same way.
I needed better software to track my investments. Even though my portfolio isn’t huge, it’s diversified across different assets and platforms, which made it hard to keep a clear overview. I would often focus only on my biggest positions while smaller ones were left unattended. As a result, I sometimes missed good opportunities simply because I wasn’t paying attention.
That frustration inspired me to build Prisma — a personal finance app designed to give anyone a complete, always up-to-date view of their finances.
What it does
Prisma is a personal finance app that gives users a holistic view of their financial life in one place.
Its core focus is automation. Users can connect their accounts and have their finances update automatically, without needing to manually track anything. Manual tracking is still available as a free option, but it’s not the main focus.
Prisma provides:
- Real-time portfolio and net worth tracking
- AI-powered insights into portfolio performance
- Evaluations of individual positions
- Suggestions to improve diversification and growth
One of Prisma’s standout features is Projections (Scenarios), where users can explore how their portfolio might behave in the future. By combining real portfolio data with AI, users can simulate different scenarios and better understand mid- to long-term outcomes.
How we built it
Prisma is built as a native iOS app, with a strong emphasis on performance, privacy, and user experience.
All financial data is stored locally on the user’s iPhone, and the AI runs entirely on-device. This ensures that sensitive financial information never leaves the device.
The app connects to external accounts via Plaid(and maybe other vendors in the future) for automatic updates while still allowing manual input when needed. The AI analyzes real portfolio data to generate insights, evaluations, and projections.
Challenges we ran into
Outside of the timeline, one of the biggest challenges was balancing powerful features with strict privacy guarantees. Running AI locally on a mobile device comes with limitations in performance, memory, and model size.
Another challenge was designing an architecture that supports automatic syncing while keeping all personal data local. Ensuring accuracy and reliability without relying on centralized servers required significant iteration.
Finally, making complex financial data feel simple and intuitive in a mobile UI was an ongoing challenge.
Accomplishments that we're proud of
- Building a fully functional personal finance app that works entirely on-device
- Implementing local AI to analyze real portfolio data
- Creating the Projections feature with realistic, scenario-based modeling
- Prioritizing user privacy without compromising usability
- Turning a personal pain point into a product usable by anyone
What we learned
This project reinforced the importance of building from real user needs.
We learned how to:
- Design systems around automation and trust
- Work within the constraints of on-device AI
- Balance feature depth with simplicity and privacy
- Translate complex financial concepts into intuitive experiences
What's next for Prisma
The next phase of Prisma focuses on refinement and expansion.
Planned features include:
- Budgeting and money management tools
- Deeper portfolio analytics
- Optional family or shared accounts
Any future server-based features will be strictly opt-in. These may include more powerful cloud-based AI or shared accounts that require secure data synchronization. Privacy will remain a core principle as Prisma evolves.
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