Pennies – Budget and Expenses
reviews and complaints

So I've been using this app for two months now. I love how it shows how much you have each day and how much left for each budget. It makes easier rather than calculating how much I have left. I like that you can creat many budgets. What I want in this app is to be able to see how much I spend on each category, that's something very important to me. I also would like to see how much I spend daily and weekly. Another thing, I wanna be able to add a past date, the app won't let me creat a budget earlier than the day I'm creating it. They should allow this cause sometimes I'm behind in logging information. I want to be able to change the date and amount of the budget without having to delete it. Overall, it's a great app on the go and I'll keep using it at this time.

This is the app I recommend the most to friends. It's so simple, handy, and effective.

No connecting banks, nothing complicated. Just enter your expenses and keep a pulse on your spending.

I've been using this app for a year to maintain my monthly and daily spending budgets and it's made me very conscious of my spending rates and whether different things I do to save money are effective.

This app is so well designed, beautiful, smooth, and clear that it's turned tracking my expenses into a fun game for me.

In the end, just being aware and building a tracking habit helps. As the saying goes "you can't improve what you don't measure."

The developer is super responsive to feedback and you can see it in the frequent, specific, responsive updates.

Great app!

I use Mint to keep track of my finances; it has a built-in budget generator and links with my bank account for constant updates. However powerful it may be, the app is extremely dense. It takes time to load and time to navigate to the budgeting section. Even then, the interface is crowded for the amount of information it tries to display! Pennies is ONLY a budgeting app. It JUST does budgets, but it does them flawlessly. It loads almost instantly on my iPhone, and the interface couldn't be easier or more pleasant to use. No, it doesn't link with my bank account. I view that as a strength. Pennies cuts away an extra layer of complication and vulnerable security. And by requiring that I manually enter my purchases, it makes me really think more about my spending habits. All in all, a stellar budgeting app.

I really want to love this app a lot- I have a separate bank account that gets $50 auto-deposited each paycheck for special events, "mad money" and emergencies. I'd LOVE to be able to use this app to track that account! But the ONE choice I can't make when it comes to a recurring budget is "twice a month". My pay checks are the 1st and the 15th, which there is no option for. (The biweekly won't work for something like this, some months would end up with an extra $50 on that schedule) I can just double up and say I get $100 monthly, deposited on the 15th, but on a month like this where an emergency purchase used most of my funds the program now thinks I'm $30 in the hole. Please add more real-world budget options- like twice-a-month with a choice of what days of the month! I know I'm not the only one who has a budget like this!

I started budget tracking and wanted an app that would let me track my purchases really quickly. A key factor for me was that this didn't link to a bank account -- I'm wary of giving out my bank info with all these security breaches popping up. The slick UI was a bonus!

Here's where this turned into a ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ app: I emailed the developer with a request to add notes to purchases, and he responded within one business day saying that it would go into the next release. Being able to do this has made tracking purchases so much easier.

The only remaining thing I'd like to see would be an option for recurring budgets, but on specific dates. For example, my paydays are always on the 10th and 25th, so it's not quite biweekly. I've made a workaround by creating one-off budgets, but that's not keeping this from five-star status. Download this now!

Elegant and easy to use interface, but it lacks important attributes. The best way I can describe it is: simplicity at the expense of key features.

I would suggest the following:

1. Incorporate Face ID. Currently, it feels as though my financial information is exposed.

2. Make the widget customizable and interactive. Currently, the widget feels like a shortcut to the app. It shows information I don’t need or want to display while my phone is locked. Also, the widget should be interactive in a way that users can enter new transactions directly from the widget.

3. Remove the constant request to subscribe to your newsletter every single time a budget is created. Leave it in the settings as an option or a one time pop up when the app is first installed. Currently it feels very forced.

I absolutely love how beautiful and easy to understand this app is.

Thank you for the opportunity to use your app and provide feedback.

The *otherbudget apps were too complex to be useful for my needs. Good info, I’m sure, but realistically I don’t have time to input all the data they need nor the time or skills needed to interpret their results.

*Thisbudget app, Pennies, I’ve found uniquely practical and useful where it counts. It connects me to my spending and my limits easily and in a visually useful way. Quick. Simple. Check it on the go. Keep it with me all the time.

It does one thing really well: monitor spending progress during the budget period (set by user) and warning you visually with colors when you approach or exceed defined limits. This quick glance system easily shows which budget categories I need to be careful with and slow down to meet my goals

In brief: I’ve tried on a number of apps but prefer this one because it is easy to input data and easy to read and monitor the results. I want it to do just a few things we’ll. Keep it simple. That it does.

I've been looking for a budgeting app since my old one took a dump on me. It's a shame this one is kind of buried in the App Store, probably due to the name, but it's the best one I've come across ever.
It's easy to use and easy to see what you've spent and how much is left. The designer tells you how it can also be used for savings if you want and it works! By transferring the rounded up change from purchases to my "savings" account I do the same thing bigger apps like acorn do, except I don't have to give anyone my bank info, my money is instantly available and I get to keep the interest.
I initially thought the changing colors showing you how good or bad you are for the week was dumb, but I have to admit psychologically they really work! I hate to see the screen turn red so I don't make frivolous purchases I would normally.
Some people might say it needs more bells and whistles and I suppose that would be nice but for me this is a must have app!

Initially I was trying to use pennies to track everything we/I spend. Sheesh. We’re a family of 6 and it was just loony. Stupid too- I know already what our mortgage is each month- why track that? Realized that’s really not the app’s purpose (which I believe the dev. says in the faqs). It excels at providing a place and a means to manage and track the variable expenses, the ones I can control. So if I reduce expenditure in one area I can choose to save it, stockpile it for another month, use it in a different area, etc. What’s great is that as I enter my expenses (in the areas I track) I am forced to think about how that fits with my master plan. Which I honestly need- in the moment I can convince myself to purchase something, eg, that frankly blows my budget and really isn’t needed. Great accountability. So now- I track the variables I can control and manipulate monthly and it is terrific. Easy. Fast to enter. Intuitive. Adaptable to me. Really like it. Brilliant.

Update:

Still a great app, but because I use Thai baht for budgets, the current THB currency prefix makes budgeting more difficult (most of the numbers don't display on the screen because THB takes two additional characters vs ฿). This has a pretty big knock-on effect because Thai currency often comes in 10,XXX+ denominations. Makes using the app become very difficult very quickly, and 4 of my friends who previously used the app have stopped using it for this reason.

I'm pretty sure the single-character ฿ Thai baht symbol used to be in the app, but for some reason, it's been changed to THB, which nobody I know uses (only currency exchange websites, etc).

Anyway, I still personally like the app but hope this gets fixed soon. I will update my review back to 5-stars again when it is.

Previous:

If you need an app to control your budget in an easy, quick, and efficient manner - this is it. Moreover, if you travel and have budgets to manage in different currencies, Pennies is your app. Highly recommend. Thanks, Emile.

This really helps me keep on top of impulse spending. Simple and uncluttered. Fairly easy to use. I gave it 4 stars because I'd love to see the developer make this app more gamey and rewarding to "play with."

...Like being able to put a picture in the background of each budget. I could then load an Alaska picture to my eating out budget to constantly remind me the reason I'm curbing my eating out is so I could potentially afford my next dream vacation. Etc.

...Or earning myself points as I successfully keep my budgets. The app could let me identify a reward if I successfully keep my budgets for x number weeks. It would be fun to have a notification pop up that said Congrats! You've earned "(reward I set)." Enjoy!

Etc.

When I am playing against myself I get even more committed. I know, I know... saving should be its own reward, but gameification is fun. It would be a nice distraction to keep me on the path, and hey, that pair of shoes is a good carrot. Life and every app should be more fun to use. :) Thanks for an otherwise great app.

This is an amazing app because of its usefulness and simplicity as an expense tracker, but also as an expense planner. The "one-off budget" feature is useful for me because I can pick the start and end dates of my budget. Once I enter the total funds available, I can enter my fixed expenses by using the "spend past" feature, so that it doesn't mess with the daily spending monitor. At that time, I also enter my desired spending amount for that period as a "spend past" expense, along with all my other fixed expenses. Then, once I tailor all my expenses to fit within my total funds available, I simply delete my spending expense entry, to free it up for the app's daily spending monitor. I don't miss any link to my bank account because I need to plan all of my spending BEFORE I start swiping my bank card. Perhaps if I had a trust fund (or mommy and daddy fund) it would be amusing to spend at will, then look at some generated pie chart to see what just happened, lol. Unless I'm missing something, it could also be useful to be able to save some of the custom expense names I create to the default list that appears when I am typing...just for quicker selection. Thanks for a great app!

I love this app so much.

First, the aesthetics. It is beautiful to look at and very easy to navigate. The sounds effects are simple and satisfying to hear. Also, love the colors!

Even more importantly though, this app helps me keep track of every single penny going in and going out. And what I *especiallylove is how this app is so versatile! If something changes in my financial situation/needs later on, I can easily switch up my budgeting approach. The minimalistic functions allow for a flexible approach to budgeting and encourages “budget creativity” to use each of the app’s tools in their own way. For me this is what makes it fun—you can do whatever works best for you.

The only thing is, as some users have mentioned, when you have a longer list of budgets (I have 28), the app lags quite a bit when toggling between budgets. It is somewhat frustrating at times when I am trying to balance my budgets quickly. But if you have fewer budgets or don’t mind exercising a little (sometimes a lot of) patience, then it isn’t *thatbad. I will continue using this app because of the flexibility it allows me for my budgeting needs. Plus, I have tried several apps in the past, and this Pennies one works best for me. Otherwise, the lagging truly would be a dealbreaker because it interrupts my budget planning flow.

This is a great app for those needing a little help with tracking their expenses. It is extremely efficient for "jotting down" your purchases on the run. Yeah, it was free from a Starbucks suggestion; but am thinking of paying for the "spreadsheet" component due to my happiness with this app
For those that want robust interaction with checking Accts, savings Accts, stock Accts; just fork up the money for something that will do that. The benefit of this app is it's simple to input expenses on the run. That way, you could see a running total. Again, the benefit of this app is simplicity. For a simple use, and simple to use.

If you got "bill pays", monthly autodebits, etc. those are all set amounts every month and most people have set paycheck amounts. Therefore, setting the "budget" in this app to (paycheck amount minus monthly bills) will give you the amount you want to "manage" with this app.

I especially like the snide about "it only has a category for rent not mortgage, obvious whom this app is designed for". So, mister snooty pants needs help with keeping track of his nickels and dimes..?

This app takes care of a simple task very easily. The only critiques I could offer have been voiced already: being able to set the triggers on the colors, instead of set categories - modifying labels, twice a month option. Otherwise, any person will find this app both useful and specific to their needs.

I love the way this app works in theory, but it’s too unstable to rely on.

Every few months I’ll run into performance bugs where it will freeze for ~30 seconds when adding new entries. Sometimes performance is addressed with an updated version, sometimes the problems persist for weeks, then mysteriously go away.

I’ve reached out for help from the developer before and they’ve tried to offer support, but the last time it ended with their suggestion that one of my budgets was corrupted in an older version of the app and I should wipe them all out and start fresh.

Two problems with that: First, that’s a pretty drastic recommendation. Second, this is when I also discovered I cannot reliably export my past budgets from the app. Attempting to export my complete budget history crashes the app and doesn’t work. I have to manually export one month at a time, any more than that and it fails and crashes again.

So the recommended fix for my performance problems is to delete my budgets and start over, and exporting my data prior to deleting my budgets is a painfully tedious process because that functionality is also broken.

This is unacceptable for an app that wants me to rely on it for something as important as my financial data.

And one last weird bug, reported to the developer (and corroborated by at least one other user), traveling to a different time zone throws off the math in the budget, screwing up your totals, until you return to your original time zone. Reported this in January, no fix provided. So don’t rely on this app if you travel.

I got this app for free with a Starbucks promotion. So far it is working well, but I'd like to see some adjustments:

Pros:
- I like that it isn't tied to my personal bank account info like some other apps. I prefer to keep that info separate and enter my spending manually
- There doesn't seem to be a limit to the number of separate budgets you can have and I like the flexibility of an ongoing budget with or without rolling over the funds or a one-shot budget.
- The interface is clear and fairly easy to use.

That said, cons:
- It can be tiresome to flip through all the budgets to get to the right one. It would be nice to just be able to go to the list and select the budget you want. UPDATE: this has been resolved. You can go to a list and select a budget.
- If you want to do a bi-weekly budget, make sure you are doing it on the day you want it to refresh. For example, I get paid every other Thursday. I set up my grocery budget as biweekly on what happened to be a Monday. Even though I told it I wanted it to "refill funds" on Thursday, they still show up Monday's for "the next fortnight." I'll fix that budget on my next payday so it is appropriately aligned.
- It is cumbersome to select currency with each budget. I appreciate that the app is international but I feel like that is something that can be done in settings vs every time you set up a budget. Make it a default currency with the option to change if you want to. I don't know how many people have one budget in €, one in £, and another in ¥. But what do I know? I haven't traveled internationally since pre-Euro time.

Overall this app is helping me stay in budget (a chronic problem for me). I appreciate getting it for free but I still think it can be improved.

I've both used the app and read many of it's positive and negative reviews and have this to say...

If you're looking for a full on financial planner to track multiple bank accounts, all your expenses and give you an outlook for your future, this isn't it.

What you need is a different app or to learn to use a spreadsheet. Either way, it'll be way more complicated than this app.

However, if you just want to get a grasp on how you spend your money, want to lessen what you spend on certain things, or to have a supplement to your more complicated app/spreadsheet, this may be for you.

How I use it...

My wife and I have a monster spreadsheet that tracks wages and tips, expenses and bills, checking and savings, which gives us our current financial state as well as a "guesstimate" of our future outlook. It's extremely complicated and doesn't translate to an easy on the go smartphone experience. Our planned monthly expenses include individual Allowances, $xxx a month that we can spend on anything, no matter how frivolous, without having to ask permission or to feel guilt. We don't track every purchase, just our remaining Allowance balance.

That's where Pennies comes in. We each only have one Budget, Allowance. As I buy apps, video games, expensive coffees that I don't need, random Amazon stuff, clothes I don't need, etc., I enter it into Pennies. Same for my wife.

It's beautiful and very easy to use, right there, on the spot.

You know what you've spent so you know what you can still spend. You know what you spent it on so you can start to see "oh, if I didn't spend so much on expensive coffee that I don't need, I could spend more on clothes that I don't need".

At the end of the month, we add our remaining Allowance balances to our spreadsheet.

It's an easy and quick supplement to our bigger, more powerful, more cumbersome overall financial tracker/planner.

Dev- Please add the option of seeing the Monthly balance of a budget in the Widget rather than the Daily balance. Knowing that I can spend $2.27 today doesn't help me decide if it's ok to pick up the $32 lunch bill.

The concept is good but the app is too glitchy. It keeps creating new and deleting my current budgets. I will download once this is fixed.

The past month I’ve tried to use this app is deletes most of the expenses I mark down, thus making it impossible to track my spending. Really annoying.

I love the look and the user friendliness. It ticks me off though that you can’t edit all the details of a budget once it’s been created. You have to delete and start over.

So, I put in the amounts that I have budgeted, and it shows some absurd amount left. But when I go into each individual category, then it shows the correct balance remaining.

I’ve patiently held onto this app for years waiting for collaboration features that have been promised for 2 years. Still nothing. I’ll change to 5 stars when my wife and I can update the same budget.

I can see how this app would work for most, but the fact that the app doesn’t let me enter future payments truly doesn’t work for me and the planning ahead I need to do for my work. I would love to get my 4$ back being I didn’t realize this before purchasing

Can't modify entries without deletions, no graphs that I can find. I want to add money, bit not delete from it with the negatives, but unable. You cannot do much with an app, that you pay for. Not worth the money I paid for.

I wish I could get my money back and return this APP!

I was very excited to use this app to track my spending and budgets. I use iPad Pro and iPhone X, the app has never worked for me. It always displays the updating screen and never progresses. I have tried uninstalling and reinstalling along with iOS updates, leaving me with the same result.

Have been using for years, and it was the perfect simple solution. Recently though it has started crashing and slowing down my phone. I’m unable to enter an expense without a long lag time which affects all other apps on my phone as well. The problem only occurs when I try to use the pennies app.

I have been using the app for a few months and initially I really liked it. It’s a very simple budgeting app and is really just what I need. But recently the app has been very unstable. It crushes a lot especially when I tried to input some older spendings/changing the date (IOS 12.1 and iPhone X)

I know I didn’t accidentally deleted because I would have seen a pop up menu asking if I was sure I wanted to delete the app. It was my 5th budget and in a non-US country. Maybe that had something to do with it. I don’t know. But this is really frustrating because now I lost all my data on how much I spent so far this month.

I installed the most recent update and ever since I’ve been having issues with it crashing, freezing, taking forever to load, etc. Please fix whatever you did that caused this.

Prior to the most recent update I didn’t have any issues. This app was great for easily tracking spending. Now it takes forever to add an item. I’d give the previous version 5 stars.

I love this app...when it works. The last few months it freezes which leads me to have to force quit the app. It then freezes my entire phone for a bit. Now it’s a miracle if it opens. Tried three times today and it shuts down. It’s a shame, as I really do like it. But it’s getting harder and harder to use, then freezes my phone (and drains the battery every time it does). Fingers crossed they fix it soon.

This application is so simple that I don’t understand the need for it. It would be useful if it was able to sync with your bank accounts and track your spending for you. There are a number of much more advanced free applications such as mint that I get a lot more out of. If you are really looking to save money and change your finances, download mint and acorns. If you have a hard time using a calculator or spreadsheet I guess you could use pennies app.

I have used this app for years. It works fine. It does lock up my phone, it takes a good minute or two for it to release whatever resource it’s using. Wonderful app, I purchased it once, but it nags you for tips. Which I did give once and I figured maybe that would stop the locking up, but no it still locks up and I may just stop using this and look for another app. 2 stars because it’s useful but locks up the iPhone. Would be a strong 4 if this didn’t happen at all.

The designed functionality and features themselves are no problem. Aesthetics are nice too. However, the app is really laggy and crashes on me without fail nearly every time I try to make any type of change, making it impossible and really frustrating to use efficiently (kind of defeating the purpose of having this app in the first place). My list is about 23 items long, if that helps as a reference. I wasted at least a good 30 minutes on trying to complete my updates. This had been an issue on my 6S for months so I stopped using the app completely, and when I recently upgraded to one of the XR, I was hoping there would be no issue. Unfortunately, the same issue persists.

This is not a “budgeting app” in a classic sense. This is something your kids can use to see if they can afford to eat out and buy jeans. There’s no serious application for any adult. When I input what I make weekly and my bills, it wants to know how much money I’ll have left after every budget? You do the homework and the app divides the money by how many days are left in the month to tell you how many dollars you can spend a day. This is a childish attempt at a real financial app. Total waste of $3.99.

I put in my expenses and payroll for this month and it still says I have all of that money to spend.

Nice try guys, the app looks good, but it’s for high schoolers or children, not adults.