Pennies – Budget and Expenses Reviews

by Ange Tea

I love Pennies 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, Pennies helps me keep track of every single penny going in and going out. And what I *especially* love is how Pennies 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 Pennies ’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), Pennies 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 *that* bad. I will continue using Pennies because of the flexibility it allows me for my budgeting needs. Plus, I have tried several apps in the past, and this this app one works best for me. Otherwise, the lagging truly would be a dealbreaker because it interrupts my budget planning flow.

by Dooksta123

Hi. I love your app this app and it really helps me keep track of my spending. I do have a privacy concern, however, that when I put this app as a Complication on my Apple Watch, I like it to be in the middle where I can see my money at a glance. The problem is that when the watch is taken off, the entire thing locks but the money still shows. This is a problem because if someone steals my watch, they would know how much money is on me and that would be a problem. Is there a way I can set it so that the money hides when I take off the watch?

By the way, the Complication I’m most interested in that I’m talking about is the one that say “Today” and “Period.” It would be great if I could use that safely, again. In the meantime, I’m using a smaller Complication that does in fact lock when I take off the watch.

by DisbeLulu

This is the literal only app that I can find that doesn’t cause me to break my budget to have to pay for it and offers custom timelines for you budget!! My husband and I get paid every two weeks but it’s not always on the same day and we are not salary workers so it’s not the same every month. It’s super helpful for me to budget from paycheck to paycheck so I know how much we have left over for fun things instead of unknowingly allowing a random amount of money to a trillion categories. I only gave 4 stars because there is no way for my husband to login to the same account so that we can both see the same budget. That would be the only thing that is a little inconvenient.

by Matmcc25

Pennies is slick and looks great. It’s easy to use and only gets easier the more you use it.

The only gripe I have with it is how finicky and hard it is to swipe on the main screen. Swiping right or left both have the function of switching through your budgets, or if you start your swipe closer to the edge of the phone it’ll go to all your budgets or your expenses. It’s a little hard to operate.

Other than that, it’s really clean and simple. One thing to note is that it does not link to you bank account and automatically track your expenses. However, I prefer this more because automated expense tracking often messes up or categorizes incorrectly. That’s just something to keep in mind.

by D9

This is a great solution for simple tracking of your budget and expenses. Easy to setup and use, the entry and viewing of purchases is very effective. Moving from one budget category to the next is quick, and the context of showing diminishing funds for each is excellent. There is also plenty of ways to set your categories to track (weekly, monthly, etc).

Its biggest issue is the user experience such as having to repeat entry of custom notes (“takeout”) and lack of tagging (“family”, “work”). It’s also a bit buggy on Apple Watch..crashes a lot.

Nonetheless, the simplicity and clean interface makes this a great app for the single task of tracking your expenses to a budget.

by Brenook Trouilly

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, Pennies 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! this app 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. this app 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.

by Sarahwieder1

I have been using Pennies for about a year now after trying MANY different saving apps. The thing I love about this one is the flexibility it offers because you can create your own categories and budgets for each one. Many of the other apps I tried automatically put your charges in categories and they would often be incorrect. Pennies requires more manual labor because you have to physically enter your purchases, but I actually think that’s a good thing because you consciously think about how much you are spending. Love the simplicity of the design too!

by Kristie Hanson

Tried a few of these spending tracking apps. This has been the one that has been so easy that I’ve been able to keep it up for over a year. Before I could not find the extra to put into savings even though I knew I had extra $. Since I’ve started using it I’ve not missed my savings goal at all. So blessed to have Pennies!!! This one is so simple to use that keeping it updated is doable so much more than the other apps I tried.

by The Phantom 710

I was on the hunt for a good simple app to track my spending and I found this perfect app. It’s so user friendly and it doesn’t ask for my bank info. The only thing I wish is to be able to make different categories of spendings on different products. For example, in the debit&credit app, it automatically list depending on specific products. Basically a way for you to see and determine which product you spend the most on, so that you can adjust your spendings on that specific products.

by Bkmmkb9448

Wow. Pennies is exactly what I was looking for. Something to simply state how much so budgeted for extra expenses, how much I've spent, and what I've got left. You'd think all the other finance and budgeting apps would have this simple process but they don't! Pennies is worth the $4 I spent to be able to accurately track my expenses. I'm so excited to start a new journey towards better financial health and I have this app to partly thank!! The only improvements I would like are to be able to Edit the Note (Type In a Custom Note) AFTER you've already put the spending in for your budget. And I would also like to color-code budgets, since as of right now, they all have the blueish-green color. Anyway.. can't wait to see where Pennies goes and the wonderful additions it incorporates! Wonderful app! Buy it! You won't regret it!

by Mynameisreco

Pennies has been a great use so far, and it’s nice to see which “envelopes” are nearing their end and which ones are still full with money. Being able to transfer money from one budget to another is really nice too. For the price, Pennies is great.

One thing I would like to see is graphs. I’m a visual person and as much as I enjoy the minimalistic look of Pennies, the list of transactions can only go so far for me. I would love to see graphs (bar, line, etc) of my spending and transfer habits, as I love to look at the impact of my expenses and spending habits over time.

by Siddhwat

As someone who historically has been super disorganized with my finances Pennies is a godsend. I use a couple of apps to get everything organized now and they all have their place. They are all great for future planning or looking at the past. The one thing that was missing was the immediate “can I afford this?” With this app I know immediately what I can and can’t buy. It also has the flexibility of changing along wit my needs of large expenses come up. It’s just perfect. Emile, the developer, is also great at responding to queries and feedback. I couldn’t recommend this more.

by John747$3627

I've been using apps like this for the past several years, to ensure I don't spend more than I have each week. I've probably downloaded 20+ similar apps and paid for five. This is by far the best that I've found.

It's dead simple. No useless categories. Set your budget at your desired interval. Enter your expenses manually, so that you're aware of your budget each and every time you buy something.

The only thing that could be improved is to reduce the taps required to enter an expense amount. Right now you have to click the New Entry button, and click the Expense/Income button. These could be displayed simultaneously to reduce the taps.

Also, cents don't really matter (at least for me, I just round up for each entry) so it would be even faster to have only full dollar amounts, which further speeds up entry by not having to click 00 for each entry.

by James Pk

After downloading finance apps that I payed for which were hard to figure out. I came across Pennies for free. So I went with it. Pennies is logical and simple to use. It was just want I am looking for. You can put different accounts in, set an amount for each account monthly or weekly. Add and subtract your spending. Also in the setting they give you the choice of paying for Pennies by giving the developers a tip. I was so struck by this I give $2.99. I wish all app would give you a choice to tip or not. I think they would make more money on there apps. Great job developers. I will use Pennies for years.

by Aqua62

The *other* budget 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.

*This* budget app, this app, 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.

by Team_Tiger

I already track all our expenses using Quicken. What I'm looking for is a simple, visually appealing, easy to use app to track how I'm doing in a few specific categories each month. That's something that's too cumbersome on a computer, especially when you're out and about. How much do I have left this month to go out to eat when I'm standing right in front of a restaurant? Check this app and boom! Decision made! I contacted the developer and he said that the ability to sync with someone else on different iCloud account is coming soon. That would make this great app perfect. Now my wife and I can be on the same page all the time with our budget!

by HarborMaster22

What’s great about this app is that unlike other apps you can pull out and see at a glance how much money you have left for the day/month in your budget/account. It is not a complicated comprehensive analysis of your finances. It is great for a spending account. I love how Pennies adapts your daily “allowance” based on your spending. Pennies is beautifully designed and is very pleasant to use.

I would like to see an account sync version on the Mac with supported security. Sometimes I forget to enter my expenses so this sync feature would help correct my ways. For what Pennies set out to do Pennies has earned the 5 stars and has earned it in a beautiful way.

by Amb2016

I have been using this app for about a year and I think it is great expense tracking tool for people on both end of the financial spectrum. A person just trying to get handle on their spending and develop some basic budgeting skills, will appreciate how easy it is to keep track of spending. I'm on the other end of the spectrum with a good handle on spending and managing my finances. I appreciate that I don't have to enter all my accounts and credit cards like on some other apps. I manage all of that just fine. I just want to see when I go over budget and track spending trends. Successful budgeting requires tracking spending as we all know, Pennies is great for just that, and it does it very well.

by Nigelbloomy

I have a budget where I live on a weekly allowance. It was so hard to find an app that would work well with a weekly budget instead of a monthly one. This one works perfectly for me. It is simple to use, fast, looks slick, handles recurring income or expenses, handles several budgets (we have one for the family and one just for me), it doesn't connect to my bank account or anything else which is great, it tells me how many days are left in the week which is a nice reminder, it keeps a history of everything I've spent, it didn't need me to create categories or anything like that to get started, I like just being able to put in an expense and a short description and be done. Super simple, super effective, and it looks great.

by Flabbykins

I rarely write reviews, I think this might be my third one ever. But I love this software. It is absolutely perfect for my needs. I’ve been using it for quite a few years now. I like to keep my budget extremely simple, only two categories, non-variable expenses and variable expenses. And I like to track my budget by week rather than month. this app has been excellent for this. It has been a key part of moving my life from a life of debt to a life with enough extra funds to put a large chunk in savings in addition to doing a foreign vacation at least twice a year.