As the iPhone becomes more popular, developers are creating more and more applications to help people manage their money. Some of these apps are just plain fun, while others are incredibly useful at helping you keep track of your finances (or eventually even make extra money).
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Best Apps For Money Management Iphone
Mint, for just about everything
Why we recommend it: Let’s start with Mint’s very high ratings in both the App Store and Google Play. (It also has, by far, more reviews than any other app we reviewed.) It’s free and syncs many kinds of accounts: checking and savings, credit cards, loans, investments and bills.
As far as the actual budgeting, Mint automatically puts your spending into budget categories. You can personalize these categories, which are unlimited. You set limits for these categories, and Mint lets you know if you’re approaching those limits.
Besides those budgeting features, Mint may help users pay down debt, save more money and track goals. The app also shows users their credit score and net worth. Bonus: Mint provides tons of support for using the app, including a detailed FAQ and a list of “known issues.”
Why you may want to think twice: Mint is impressive in many ways, including the fact that it tracks just about everything on your behalf. But that may not be ideal if you’re looking to be more actively hands-on in your budgeting. If you’re searching for an app in which you plan ahead for your money, rather than track it after the fact, other apps on our list may work better for you.
Cost: Free
Apple store rating: 4.8
Google Play rating: 4.5
Note that all ratings were current as of Dec. 15, 2021.
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Goodbudget, for hands-on envelope budgeting
Why we recommend it: Goodbudget is more about planning for your finances than tracking previous transactions. This app is based on the envelope budgeting system, in which you portion out your monthly income toward specific spending categories (called envelopes).
This app doesn’t connect your bank accounts. You manually add account balances (that you can pull from your bank’s website), as well as cash amounts, debts and income. Then you assign money toward envelopes.
You can access the app from your phone and the web. You’ll also find many helpful articles and videos that help you use the app.
Goodbudget offers a free version that allows one account, two devices and limited envelopes. Its paid version, Goodbudget Plus, allows unlimited envelopes and accounts, up to five devices and other perks.
Why you may want to think twice: Because you can’t sync financial accounts, you must enter every expense. If you’re not up for that work, the app probably won’t be effective.
Cost: Goodbudget is free. Goodbudget Plus is $7 per month or $60 per year.
Apple store rating: 4.7
Google Play rating: 4.5
Nerdy tip: Want to try envelope budgeting and sync your accounts? Check out Mvelopes. It didn’t quite make our list but follows the same budget system and allows you to link bank accounts.
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YNAB, for hands-on zero-based budgeting
Why we recommend it: YNAB is designed so that users plan ahead for their financial decisions, rather than track past transactions. This app follows the zero-based budgeting system, which has you make a plan for every dollar you earn.
As soon as you get paid, you tell YNAB how much of your income should go toward various categories, including expenses, goals and savings. The idea is that you become more intentional with your money when you’re prompted to actively decide what to do with it.
With all this decision making, YNAB is about as hands-on as you can get. To help users trek up that learning curve, YNAB’s website offers many educational resources describing exactly how to budget and use the app.
YNAB allows you to link your checking and savings accounts, as well as credit cards and loans. The app works on the phone, desktop, iPad, Apple Watch and Alexa.
Why you may want to think twice: You have to be committed to keep up with YNAB. By design, it works best for users who want to get hands-on while planning for their money. Also, compared to the other apps that made our list, its price is high, and its Google Play ratings are low.
Cost: Pay either $14.99 per month or $98.99 per year, although you can try it out in a free 34-day trial. College students can use YNAB for free for a year.
Apple store rating: 4.8
Google Play rating: 3.2
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EveryDollar, for simpler zero-based budgeting
Why we recommend it: This apps offers a zero-based budgeting framework that’s simpler (and perhaps easier to manage) than YNAB.
First, an explanation of the names: EveryDollar is a free budgeting app. But, to get the app’s extra features, you must become a Ramsey+ member. In addition to a beefed-up version of EveryDollar, a Ramsey+ membership includes other, off-app features, such as audiobooks and courses.
The free version is simple, in part because you don’t sync accounts. You manually enter incoming and outgoing money throughout the month. You also categorize line items in your budget and set reminders for bill payments.
If you sign up for Ramsey+, you can connect your bank accounts so it’s simpler to track transactions. You can also track debts, see reports on how you spent your money and print your transaction history.
Why you may want to think twice: The free version of EveryDollar is pretty bare-bones, and the Ramsey+ membership is more expensive than any app on our list. Also, the app’s website offers few resources to help you understand how to use the app before signing up for a trial.
Cost: The basic version of EveryDollar is free. To access more features, you must join Ramsey+, which you can try for free for 14 days. After the trial, you can pay $59.99 for three months, $99.99 for six months or $129.99 for 12 months.
Apple store rating: 4.8
Google Play rating: 4.2
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Personal Capital, for tracking wealth and spending
Why we recommend it: Personal Capital is primarily an investment tool, but its free app includes features helpful for budgeters looking to track their spending.
You can connect and monitor checking, savings and credit card accounts, as well as IRAs, 401(k)s, mortgages and loans. The app provides a spending snapshot by listing recent transactions by category. You can customize those categories and see the percentage of total monthly spending each category represents.
Personal Capital also serves up a net worth tracker and portfolio breakdown. The app can be accessed through both phone and desktop.
Why you may want to think twice: If your goal is to plan out your spending and saving, you may want to go another route. This app’s budgeting features helped it make the list, but its investment tools are what make it unique. Other apps have more in-the-weeds budgeting capabilities.
Cost: Free
Apple store rating: 4.7
Google Play rating: 4.4
Nerdy tip: Another app worth checking out is Copilot (iOS only). That app tracks investments, in addition to tracking and categorizing expenses.
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PocketGuard, for a simplified budgeting snapshot
Why we recommend it: PocketGuard’s catalogue of features isn’t the most robust on our list, but that’s part of why we like it. The app is big on simplifying.
You can connect your bank accounts, credit cards, loans and investments and track bills. With that intel, the app shows how much you have left to spend after setting aside funds for necessities, bills and goals.
PocketGuard also tracks your net worth and gives you the option to not link your accounts and instead track your finances manually. The paid version, PocketGuard Plus, offers a debt payoff plan, the option to export your transactions and other features.
Why you may want to think twice: This app does a lot of work for you. That’s good for a mostly hands-off experience, but less so if you want to plan for your money. Also, a heads up for Android users: PocketGuard also has one of the lowest Google Play scores in our list of best budget apps.
Cost: Basic PocketGuard is free. PocketGuard Plus is $7.99 per month, $79.99 per year or $99.99 for a one-time lifetime purchase.
Apple store rating: 4.7
Google Play rating: 3.6
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Honeydue, for budgeting with a partner
Why we recommend it: Honeydue is designed so you and your partner can view both your financial pictures in one app. Both partners can sync bank accounts, credit cards, loans and investments. (Although you can choose how much you share with your significant other.)
The free budget app automatically categorizes expenses, but you’re also able to create custom categories. Together, you can set up monthly limits on each of these categories, and Honeydue will alert you when you or your partner is nearing them.
Honeydue also sends reminders for upcoming bills and lets you chat and send emojis.
Why you may want to think twice: Like a few other apps on our list, Honeydue leans more toward reflecting and learning about past transactions, rather than planning ahead for expenses.
Cost: Free
Apple store rating: 4.5
Google Play rating: 4.0
Nerdy tip: Zeta Money Manager and Firstly (previously Honeyfi) are also designed for multiple people to see their finances in one app.
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Fudget, for budgeting without syncing accounts
Why we recommend it: Consider Fudget if you’d rather not sync financial accounts and would prefer a straightforward, calculator-esque interface over fancy features.
In Fudget’s ultra-simple design, you make lists of incoming and outgoing money and track your balances. There aren’t even any budget categories. The Pro account allows you to also export your budget, along with other extras.
Fudget, which is new to our best budget apps list, has a Google Play rating that’s higher than any of the other apps we reviewed and an App Store rating that ties for the highest score with a few other picks.
Why you may want to think twice: This app is likely too simple for you if you’d prefer categorization of expenses, insights or just about anything else besides the basics. And if you don’t have it in you to log every expense, it’s likely best to look elsewhere. We also didn’t find much in the way of user guides.
Free money management apps
Personal Capital
This app provides a real-time view of your financial accounts and offers suggestions for good moves to make. Personal Capital focuses primarily on investments, nudging you toward saving for long-term goals like retirement and your children’s college education. If you’re looking for an app that will provide good analysis and overview of your 401(k), Roth IRA or 529 college savings account, Personal Capital is the way to go.
Personal Capital does try to upsell you on investment-related services and financial planning services, but these are fairly easy to say no to. Their free service primarily serves as an introduction to those more robust planning services.
Mint
Mint also provides real-time viewing of your various financial accounts and offers suggestions for good financial moves. As opposed to Personal Capital, Mint focuses on monthly budgeting and evaluation of your spending and credit cards. If you’re looking for an app that will keep an eye on your spending, watch your checking and credit accounts and help you figure out where you’re overspending, Mint is probably a good fit for you.
Mint often incorporates offers of various kinds directly into the app, such as credit card offers and spending recommendations, though, as with Personal Capital, they’re easy to ignore. These incorporated ads are how Mint makes money.
Acorns
This app takes a different approach to saving. You integrate Acorns with your checking account and when you spend money on your credit cards or debit cards, Acorns rounds that up to the nearest dollar and pulls that money into an investment. So, if you spent $3.61 at Starbucks on your credit card, Acorns will take 39 cents from your checking account and invest it for you, turning that $3.61 purchase into a round $4.
If you use Acorns, your money is being swept into their investment products, so Acorns makes money through the monthly fees on their investment products, which are reasonably competitive. If you accumulate a large balance with Acorns, you may want to move the investment elsewhere, but for small amounts, the convenience of the app is wonderful.
[ SEE: 12 Useless Fees Draining Your Budget. ]
Credit Karma
This is an app that offers you access to your credit report, which a company may use to determine whether to employ you, and a strong estimation of your credit score, which businesses use to figure out what rates to charge you. The app helps explain exactly what your credit score means and how it is likely to impact your applications for loans, credit cards or other services.
Credit Karma pays for this free service by offering targeted ads to you based on your credit score. So, for example, if you have really good credit, you might see ads aimed at people with exceptional credit, but if your credit is shaky, you might see completely different ads for products that can help improve your credit.
Coupon Sherpa
This is the best of the coupon apps out there. It will help you find retailer coupons based on your location and lets retailers scan the bar code from your phone screen. Just glancing at the app when you visit a retailer can end up saving you quite a bit of money on your purchase.
Coupon Sherpa makes money through affiliate programs in which retailers essentially pay Coupon Sherpa to include their coupons in the app and get paid when you use them.
All of these applications are extremely useful and well-designed, with excellent features that can help you with your personal finance situation. As long as you’re aware of how the app is conducting business (ad placement or trying to sell you additional services), you can use these apps with confidence and use the information they provide to make smarter personal finance decisions for yourself and your family.
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