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Make it look the way you want

Theme, opening screen, top-card collapse, progress-bar animation, the monthly-vs-annual summary default, and how FirePath adapts to tablet landscape. Every toggle that changes how the app looks, in one place.
{# Hero image is rendered twice — once for each locale — and one is hidden by the lang toggle. The DE copy lives in a /de/ subfolder under the same slug; we strip the trailing "hero.png" and re-add "de/hero.png" so we don't need a custom template filter. Pattern assumes hero_image_filename is always "/hero.png", which is the convention enforced by the seed migrations. #} Make it look the way you want

Quick start

The Display section in Settings is where you change how FirePath looks and where it opens. Nothing here affects your data — it's purely the presentation layer, so feel free to experiment.

  • Theme — System, Light, or Dark. Dark is the default. System follows your phone's day/night switch automatically.
  • Opening Screen — which of the four main tabs loads when you launch the app: Dashboard, Net Worth, Income & Expenses, or FIRE.
  • Collapse top cards on scroll — when you scroll a list, the hero card at the top shrinks down to give you more room. Off by default.
  • Animate progress bars — the fill animation on FIRE progress bars when you open the FIRE screen. Off by default to keep things feeling instant.
  • Default Annual Summary — whether Income & Expenses opens showing monthly or yearly totals by default.

That's all most people ever change. If you want the why-and-how for each toggle, read on.

The rest of this guide is for users who want to tune the screen. If you're happy with the defaults, you can stop here — everything below is optional customisation.

Going deeper

Theme

Dashboard rendered in light and dark themes
① Light theme. ② Dark theme (default). ③ Amber accent consistent across both.

Three choices:

  • System — FirePath follows whatever your phone's dark-mode setting is doing. If you use automatic day/night switching on Android, the app flips with it.
  • Light — white backgrounds, dark text. Most legible in bright outdoor light.
  • Dark — dark backgrounds, light text. Default because most users check net worth in bed or on the couch, and dark is easier on the eyes in low light. Also uses less battery on OLED screens.

The amber accent colour is the same across both themes — that's FirePath's brand colour and doesn't change with dark mode.

Opening Screen

Opening Screen dropdown
① Dashboard (default). ② Net Worth / Income & Expenses / FIRE as alternatives.

Pick which of the four main tabs the app lands on when you open it.

  • Dashboard (default) — the at-a-glance summary. Good if you want the quick-check experience.
  • Net Worth — straight to the full assets/liabilities list. Good if you open the app mainly to log changes or update balances.
  • Income & Expenses — if your main use is budgeting rather than net-worth tracking.
  • FIRE — straight to the FIRE Calculator. For the goal-focused user who opens the app to check "how close am I?"

The bottom navigation bar doesn't change — all four tabs are always available. This setting only controls the landing tab.

Collapse top cards on scroll

On screens with a hero card at the top (Dashboard, Net Worth), this toggle makes the hero shrink as you scroll down. The big net-worth number stays visible but compact, giving the list below more breathing room on small phones.

Off by default because the hero is designed to be the first thing you see — collapsing it on scroll is a trade-off for users with a lot of rows. Turn it on if you have 30+ assets or a tall liability list and find yourself scrolling a lot.

Animate progress bars

When you open the FIRE screen, each variant (Lean / Regular / Fat / Coast) has a progress bar showing how close you are to that target. With this toggle on, the bars fill from zero to their value over about half a second — a visual effect.

Off by default because the screen feels snappier when the bars just appear at their correct length. Turn it on if you like the effect — it's a personal preference thing, no functional difference.

Default Annual Summary

Controls the monthly-vs-yearly toggle on the Income & Expenses screen. With this on, the screen opens showing yearly totals by default; with it off, monthly totals. You can always flip the chip on the screen itself — this is just what it defaults to every time you open the app fresh.

Pick annual if you think in yearly terms ("I want to save $30k/year"), pick monthly if you think in cashflow terms ("I have $2.5k left each month"). Both work; neither is more correct.

Tablet landscape — no toggle, automatic

Two-column Dashboard layout at tablet landscape width
① Auto-switches at ≥840dp. ② Asset-allocation donut appears on the right.

There's no tablet mode setting because FirePath detects your available width and adjusts layouts automatically. At 840dp wide or more (tablet landscape, big phone landscape, Chromebook), the app:

  • Splits the Dashboard into two columns with the asset-allocation donut chart showing on the right.
  • Shows Net Worth assets and liabilities side-by-side instead of in a tabbed view.
  • Widens the FIRE chart to span the full screen rather than stacking cards.

If you rotate a tablet from portrait to landscape, the layout re-flows instantly. Nothing to configure.

Why there aren't more display knobs

Font size, card density, chart colours — all things other apps expose as settings. FirePath deliberately doesn't, for two reasons:

  • Font size — Android's system-wide font-scale setting already handles this. If you bump up your phone's text size, FirePath scales with it.
  • Colours — consistent amber/green/red across the app makes the at-a-glance reading of "up or down?" instant. Per-user colour themes undermine that.

If you find yourself wanting a knob that isn't here, email us — most requests have a story behind them we'd like to hear.

Make it yours — Settings that affect this screen

  • Theme — Settings → Display → Theme.
  • Opening Screen — Settings → Display → Opening Screen.
  • Collapse top cards on scroll — Settings → Display.
  • Animate progress bars — Settings → Display.
  • Default Annual Summary — Settings → Display. Changes the default view on Income & Expenses (you can still flip the monthly/yearly chip on the screen itself).

Questions or feedback? Email us at woohoosoftware@gmail.com