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Allyson Kazmucha
The best budget apps for iPhone to help you spend smarter, save faster, and get your finances under control!
Looking for the best iPhone apps to help you take control of your finances? Budgeting may not sound sexy, but it's what lets us afford all the truly sexy things we love, including iPhones, iPads, and Macs! From bill payments to saving for vacations and holidays, financial planning is all about making the most of what we have, and that's where budgeting apps can help! But which budgeting app is the best choice for you?
BUDGT
BUDGT for iPhone doesn't require you to give it any personal account information or login information, so it's simple to start and even simpler to keep using. Enter how much income you have or enter the amount of money you'd like to budget, it doesn't have to be all of it. Then start adding daily and monthly expenses. Just keep in mind that since budget doesn't pull from your bank accounts, it's completely up to you to manage it and keep it up to date.
If you don't want to hand over bank credentials, BUDGT is a great option that's simple to get started with.
- $1.99 - Download Now
If you want fine-tuned control over all your personal finance accounts in one app, Mint is a great option. You can link bank accounts and credit cards, and from there Mint can pull everything into one place to give you an overview of what 's coming in compared to what's going out. Mint lets you set up budgets or different categories, and since Mint monitors your bank and credit accounts, it can notify you when you're nearing a limit. Mint also supports Touch ID in place of a passcode if you choose.
If you live in the US or Canada, don't want to manually enter transactions, and want granular control over expense categories, Mint is a great option.
- Free - Download Now
Check, now owned by Intuit, is very similar to Mint in terms of functionality and feature set, but caters to a different kind of person. Aside from creating budgets, Check can help you monitor credit scores, investment portfolios, and more. Most of these additional features require a monthly subscription, but may well be worth it if you have a lot to manage, or want to invest smarter.
If you have decent control over your finances already but want to save more and invest smarter, you should consider Check.
- Free - Download Now
You Need a Budget, better known as YNAB, is a subscription based service that gives you a complete snapshot of your financial situation. Start off with the Mac app and enter all of your accounts. From there you can use iCloud sync to bring your transactions down to your iPhone. YNAB supports importing transactions on your Mac as well. Since you have a complete picture of your financial portfolio, YNAB can help you make smarter decisions before committing to large purchases.
If you want a complete budgeting suite for both Mac and iOS, give You Need a Budget a try.
- Free (requires subscription) - Download Now
Pocket Expense by Appxy is a simple to use budgeting app that like BUDGT, doesn't require you to give it any information about any of your accounts. Just set up all your payment and income accounts one time, and then add transactions as you need to. For the most part, recurring stuff only needs to be dealt with once. After that, Pocket Expense requires very little maintenance in exchange for beautiful charts, graphs, and summaries of where you are budget wise in each category. While Pocket Expense is free to use, an additional $5 via IAP gets you syncing support across all your devices.
For a flexible budgeting app that's as customizable or as simple as you want it to be, give Pocket Expense a try.
- Free with IAP - Download Now
Unsplurge is a unique budget app where you can save up for specific things. Perhaps you've been eyeing a new Mac computer or a new iPad but don't feel comfortable making the purchase right now. That's where Unsplurge comes in. Set a specific goal for yourself, or multiple goals, and then add to your savings accounts for each goal as you have money to put towards them. Unsplurge also has a community and social aspect so you can converse with other members and get help staying on track.
If you want a budget app that helps you save money to put towards specific savings goals, Unsplurge is a great utility that'll help you do just that.
- Free - Download Now
We are aware that personal finances are just that, personal. Everyone has different needs and wants when it comes to managing their money. Let us know in the comments what apps you're using to budget your money and save better. How does it work for you and have you seen good results?
Note: Originally published, July 2013. Updated, November 2014.
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