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“Spending Time:” Finances on the Go — iPhone Apps from Mint, Quicken and Wesabe

Mint, Wesabe, and Quicken have now let their Apps out of the bag. Here’s a rundown of each one.

 
 

Mint

Here’s how Mint describes what you can do with their app (full blog post here):

• Check your credit card balances from that seemingly endless checkout line.
• Monitor your gifts budget in real time, in case your loved ones are burning up the plastic at another mall.
• Stay on top of your finances while traveling. You’ll know if your paycheck cleared without navigating your relative’s dial up service.
• Watch your investment performance, distributions and dividends. Helpful in deciding when it’s okay to sell and realize those capital losses, sadly.

Word ‘Round the Web:

Another thing worth noting about security is that if you don’t have your iPhone passlock-protected, anyone can fire up the application and see the dollar value of each of your accounts. I’m a little surprised Mint hasn’t placed its own special passcode security system for those first using this app…The best you can do is simply log off in between use, but that’s not a good long-term solution.

(Josh Lowensohn for Webware/cnet)

“The app’s user interface is friendly, simple, and attractive…Mint’s functionality is limited, however; don’t expect to be able to add transactions on the fly or adjust your budget when you find yourself spending too much.”

(Jeff Phillips for MacWorld.com)

 

Quicken Online

Here’s how Quicken describes what you can do with their app (full post here):

• Save cash when you need cash: Using the iPhone’s GPS feature, you’ll be able to locate your own bank’s ATMs no matter where you are.
• Get a forward-looking view of your money: See what bills and other financial obligations are coming up before your next paycheck.
• Track transactions on the go: Enter that rent check before it clears or keep track of where that $50 from the ATM really went by categorizing it on-the-go.

Here’s their video (the only one of these three iPhone apps with a demo video!!):

Word ‘Round the Web:

By predicting your paychecks and recurring bills; Quicken products don’t just show you how much money you have in all of your combined accounts, they give you an idea of how much money you actually have to spend. Often, those can be two very different figures.

(David Weliver for MoneyUnder30.com)

Bottom line: Quicken offers a seamless, user-friendly app to track your money and to stay on track.

(Michelle Maltais for LA Times Technology)

 

Wesabe

Here’s how Wesabe describes what you can do with their app (full post here):

• Signing Up– If you do not have a Wesabe membership, you can create one right from your phone.
• Your Accounts– Any accounts you have on Wesabe will automatically appear on your phone…You can add a cash account from the phone by clicking the “+” button in the upper right of your Accounts list.
• Adding Transactions– Wesabe will use your phone’s location, and the Yahoo! Local API, to find the merchants nearest to where you are standing. Click the merchant name and you won’t have to type anything in but the amount.
• Graphing Your Spending– When looking at your Accounts list, turn your phone sideways to see a graph of your spending and earnings.

Word ‘Round the Web:

Ultimately, the choice of which app you’re going to use on the iPhone will come down to which service you use. But if you’re deciding which to sign up for and being able to edit your finances easily on a mobile device is important to you, than Wesabe may be a good choice.

(MG Siegler for TechCrunch)

Overall Thoughts:

For most people, the app they use depends on the site they already use–but that won’t be the case for everyone. Both word of these money management tools and of the power of mobile apps is spreading (Apple has an iPhone print ad, showcasing its apps–including Mint.com’s–that’s running in The New Yorker and The Wall Street Journal ). Considering when and how these money management tools are most useful, the smartphone app may soon be the primary way people manage their basic bank accounts.

So which one is the best for you if you’re new to online money management? Hard to say–while Mint.com has the cleanest and easiest user experience, Wesabe’s recent upgrade did wonders for its usability and overall look. It’s clear that Mint’s iPhone app (which was released Dec ‘08) offers fewer features than the other two (Quicken with its your-bank-ATM finder and Wesabe’s GPS business search, both released in the last couple weeks), and I think it’s ridiculous that the app lacks its own security. But of course Mint will roll out another version soon, and we can only speculate about what it will include.

Quicken’s App is more impressive than I expected; the projected income visualization looks sleek and the ATM finder golden. I think Wesabe’s app looks the best, but it will take some time to gain traction. In terms of popularity, the Quicken app is ranked highest (#4), Mint’s app is a close second (#6), and Wesabe is lagging (#49), but these numbers don’t indicate the quality of the app, nor whether the app is right for you.

I’ve seen in Mint and Wesabe forums many requests for a similar tool on the Android and Blackberry platforms, so for those of you drooping with sadness that you can’t use these tools yet, just have patience. Also, for anyone without a smart phone, each of these programs offers text message alerts and text finance updates, so unless you have only a land line, there’s a way for you to keep your finances in line, on the phone, anytime.

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