A budget in GiftTracker is a number you set and a total the app keeps against it. Nothing is enforced and nothing is blocked. The point is that you find out in November rather than in January.
Set a budget for the event
Open the event and tap Budget, or the prompt on the event itself if you have not set one. Enter what you are willing to spend on the whole occasion and save it.
You need at least one recipient on the event before a budget means anything, so add people first.
Give each person their own
Recipient budgets splits the event budget between the people on it, which is usually where overspending actually happens. Fifteen pounds more on one person does not look like much next to a Christmas total, and it is obvious next to what you meant to spend on them.
Recipient budgets are optional. Set them for the people you want to watch and leave the rest.
Next year’s budget
When you archive an event and set it up again for next year, the new event keeps this year’s budgets, both the total and each person’s. To start next year with no budget, switch Budget off when the archive flow asks about next year. Archiving an event covers the rest of that flow.
Prices are what make it work
A budget can only count gifts that have a price on them. Add the price when you add the gift, or paste the link and fill the price in when you order.
GiftTracker tells you how many gifts it could not count, so a total that looks too good is easy to spot. If you buy something in a shop, type the price in afterwards and the total catches up.
What counts as spent
A gift counts as spent once its status reaches Bought. Anything before that is money you still expect to spend, and the app shows the two separately: what has gone, and what is coming.
If you have added your own statuses, where they sit relative to Bought is what decides which of those two totals they land in.
When you go over
Nothing stops you. The event shows that you are Over your budget and by how much, and it keeps counting.
That is deliberate. A budget you cannot exceed becomes a budget you stop updating, and a list you have stopped updating is worse than an honest number you have gone past.
Currency
Prices use the currency set in the menu, and amounts are formatted for the region your phone is set to. Change the currency there if you are buying in a different one.