What users complain about in budget apps

The complaints that repeat

Each heading sums up what reviewers wrote; the quotes under it are their own words.

1. 01

   Aggressive, unclosable ads block users upon opening the app (Money manager, expense tracker; Money manager & expenses)

   Several users

   “now it launches with an ad for Quick Books which covers the whole screen with no way to X out of it.”

   “App was fine, but now every time I open it there is an ad for discover that cannot be closed.”

2. 02

   Bank account synchronization frequently disconnects or fails entirely, accompanied by unresponsive support (Wallet: Budget Expense Tracker)

   Several users

   “The problem is that banks don't stay connected for more than a few days or at all in some cases Additionally, my main bank could never connect.”

   “I have had to contact support numerous times because accounts would not connect or account disconnect.”

3. 03

   Credit card payment logic is inverted, increasing debt balances instead of decreasing them (MyMoney—Track Expense & Budget; Money Manager Expense & Budget)

   Several users

   “if you make a credit card payment from your bank account, the payment is ADDED to your credit card balance (thus increasing it) rather than deducting the payment.”

   “Say I have a $50 balance on one of my card accounts, I touch pay, enter $50, and save, instead of being $0, it displays $100 outstanding, like I bought something instead of paying it off.”

4. 04

   Paid licenses fail to restore, or apps abruptly revert paying users back to free tier (Money Manager Expense & Budget; Budget app - spending tracker)

   Several users

   “After inputting a lot of data, the app suddenly reverted to the free version. And there is no way for me to get back to the paid version that I paid for.”

   “when I try to restore the purchase on my ipad it tells me ‘purchase was successful’, but then when i try to use a premium feature like change the app icon, it prompts me again to buy premium.”

5. 05

   Recurring transactions fail to populate future dates or reappear after deletion (Money Tracker-Expense & Budget)

   Several users

   “Marketed as a financial planning tool with the ability to add recurring payments, however these dont populate in future months until that specific date.”

   “Recurring transactions keep coming back after I delete them.”

What users ask for

• Custom pay cycle and bi-weekly budget periods matching salary schedules rather than standard calendar months

  Asked for a few times

  “Pls add custom month which can be started from the salary date rather than having only calendar month.”

• Ability to drill into individual category transactions and carry forward surplus/deficit balances across periods

  Asked for a few times

  “I’d like to be able to later go back and click on the category “Family” and see a list of those transactions.”

• Daily summary of total income and expenses displayed directly beside the date

  Asked for a few times

  “It should show the total Amount earned and spent on a certain day right beside the date. This is a deal breaker. At the end on the day I want to see how much money I have spent at a glance”

• Seamless cross-device automatic cloud synchronization via native ecosystem tools like iCloud

  Asked for a few times

  “i love this app but only thing that's missing is cloud backup, sucks if phone suddenly broken and boom you lost your backup.”

What these apps get right

What users praise, and would expect from anything new.

• Manual, privacy-respecting expense tracking that operates completely without mandatory bank account linking
• One-time purchase monetization model instead of recurring monthly or annual subscriptions
• Structured envelope and zero-based budgeting methodology to enforce spending discipline

Apps we read

• Money Tracker-Expense & BudgetGoogle Play
• MyMoney—Track Expense & BudgetGoogle Play
• Expenses: Spending TrackerApp Store
• Budget app - spending trackerApp Store
• Spending TrackerApp Store
• Wallet: Budget Expense TrackerGoogle Play
• Goodbudget Budget PlannerApp Store
• Money Manager Expense & BudgetGoogle Play
• Money manager & expensesGoogle Play
• Money manager, expense trackerApp Store

App names belong to their owners. Quotes are from public store reviews, and the summaries describe what those reviewers experienced; they are not claims we have verified.