What is the best budgeting app for iPhone?
There are several budgeting apps that iPhone users can try to get a handle on their savings and spending. Here are three great choices to get started.
There is almost always a iPhone app for every task that users need to perform on a daily basis, including expense tracking. However, having a physical printout of things like bank statements and bills or keeping an Excel sheet of weekly figures up to date can work for some people. It’s so much easier and more efficient to have a tally of their monthly figures available at a glance and with just a few clicks. Apple has some of the best apps that users can download to track their budget to make sure there is enough cash to cover all sorts of bills.
The checklist of what makes a good budgeting app is pretty straightforward. It should connect a user’s financial accounts without hassle. Users should also quickly track how much they are spending and categorize expenses into categories that make it easy to review the list later. Other features can be seen as a bonus that sets a great app apart from all the other options out there.
Among all the alternatives available, one of the most popular and reviewed iOS apps to use for budgeting is mint. It is free to use and allows users to sync different types of accounts, such as credit card accounts, bank accounts, and retirement and investment accounts. It also tracks invoices and sends reminders when they are due. Additionally, users can categorize and limit certain expenses, and Mint sends a notification before the limit is reached. It even lets people know their credit score and get free credit monitoring, making Mint a great one-stop-shop for tracking someone’s overall financial health. Of course, like any free phone app, there are downsides, such as annoying ads. There also doesn’t seem to be a way to create joint accounts, and most of the app’s negative reviews complain about occasional connectivity issues with certain accounts. Nonetheless, it’s still one of the most downloaded apps for budgeting for its ease of use and the helpful financial insight it provides, all for the price of zero dollars.
Other budgeting apps to try on the iPhone
YNAB (You Need a Budget) is another budgeting app to consider when planning future financial transactions is a priority over tracking past expenses. People using this app can create goals, assign them to categories, and move funds around to ensure that each category stays within a user-defined spending amount. YNAB is unique because it doubles as a kind of financial planning course, with workshops on helpful money-related topics like proper budgeting and how to maximize the application to phase out debt regularly offered. It also syncs across multiple devices, including Android and iOS products, desktops, and Alexa. People have 34 days to try YNAB for free before it starts costing $14.99 per month or $98.99 per year, a bit more expensive than other budgeting apps. Reviewers say it takes a while to set everything up on the app, but once the accounts are connected, YNAB’s functionality reigns and encourages a more hands-on approach to finance, resulting in users having better skills in money management and budget design.
PocketGuard is a must-have for users who want a simple app to connect their various financial accounts and see how much money is left to spend on monthly essentials without the steep learning curve. iPhone users who like to organize data in spreadsheets can upgrade to PocketGuard Plus, which costs $7.99 per month, $79.99 per year, or $99.99 for a lifetime one-time purchase, and export all transactions in an Excel file. The basic version of the app comes with features designed to help users save more money by reducing expenses where feasible, such as a nifty subscription manager that tracks accounts to premium services which users may want to cancel. When available, users can also fill out the Profile section of the app and receive recommendations to services that offer lower rates than the user’s current providers. Although it does not provide premium features, other financial planning services iPhone are known for, PocketGuard’s simple design makes it a good choice for beginners and experienced planners alike.
Sources: Apple/Mint, Apple/YNAB, Apple/PocketGuard
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