Comments on: Eight Great iPhone Apps for Managing Your Money

By: HollyP

HollyP — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 12:46:39 +0000

I use Pocket Money to track cash & credit card transactions. It interfaces with MS Money, so I can download the transactions onto my PC.

Pocket Money is very simple to use, and was well worth the $3 price tag.

By: CardMaster

CardMaster — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 11:35:33 +0000

I really like Loan Shark from FoggyNoggin. It’s not free (something like six bucks), but for those of us who are sometimes a bit, er, impulsive when spending (guilty), the reality check it provides can quickly pay for itself. Basically, the thing calculates how long it will take you to pay off a credit card purchase or some other financed item. That new Playstation 3 seems a whole lot less of a good idea once you realize it’ll take you a decade to pay it off…

By: Nickel

Nickel — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 17:24:05 +0000

ageekymom: What sort of screen protector do you have? I’ve heard that the glossy protectors can be problematic, though the screen itself is quite glossy.

By: ageekymom

ageekymom — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 16:37:05 +0000

I also have Cardstar and have had no luck actually getting handheld scanners to recognize it. I do have a protective film on my screen, so I wonder if that’s the problem. The CVS and Kroger clerks really thought it was cool, though.

By: Nickel

Nickel — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 17:04:12 +0000

Re: Mint.com — I agree that this would be a very useful app, but I don’t use Mint, so I’ve never used the Mint app. Since it gets such rave reviews, maybe I should check it out…

By: Nickel

Nickel — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 17:03:19 +0000

Kate: If you’re a premium subscriber, Evernote will auto-OCR your pdfs. It also retains the OCR data (and searchability) even if you later downgrade to the free version. Also, like I said in my comment above, you can save the cleaned up image as a jpg or whatever, so you can still make use of the free OCR.

By: Nickel

Nickel — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 17:00:33 +0000

Just to clarify, I don’t *need* JotNot for use with Evernote, but I really like the added functionality, and I also use it as a standalone app when I need to send someone a document.

Snap a picture (or select one from your camera roll) and up comes a frame. Simply drag the corners of the frame to the corners of the document and click process. JotNot crops out the background, removes the “keystoning” that results from taking a picture at an angle (i.e., it “squares up” the image), and it also cleans up the image to remove shadows, etc. and results in a document that looks like a photocopy/scan (color or b&w, your choice). You can then save in one of multiple file formats. I typically use pdf, but you can use an image format if you wish.

Like I said, this essentially turns your phone into a document scanner. Very nice if you need that sort of functionality, esp for the price ($4.99 is way cheaper than a portable doc scanner, and it’s also way more portable).

By: RB @ Financial Samurai

RB @ Financial Samurai — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 16:51:39 +0000

Nickel – What if I don’t have an iPhone? Do you think I’ll save more money by not buying and paying the monthly usage fee?

I must say though, when a buddy whipped out his iPhone on the golf course to calculate the distance to the hole, and then use another ap to cheat on the greens, I thought that was so cool!

Best, RB

By: kyle

kyle — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 16:30:33 +0000

I agree with Kate. I just use Evernote to snap pictures of my receipts and store them in an expense notebook.

By: J. Money

J. Money — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 16:30:10 +0000

Big fan of Splash ID too And the USAA App – makes online banking SOOOO much easier, esp with the “deposit via taking picture” feature! holler.

By: Kate O'

Kate O' — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 15:48:06 +0000

I’m not sure why you’d need JotNot with Evernote, since Evernote takes picture notes. It may not make PDFs out of them, but it saves them as JPGs which it then performs OCR on, so it’s even better.

By: Leigh

Leigh — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 15:41:04 +0000

Thanks for this. I just upgraded to an iphone a couple of weeks ago and I’m mind-boggled by the apps out there.

By: John @ Hard Work = Blogging

John @ Hard Work = Blogging — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 15:33:20 +0000

I too think any list of financial tools should have the Mint.com app. Mint.com is the easiest tool for managing you finances. The financial planning portion far surpasses many paid budgeting tools. The interface is simple yet includes many powerful features. My small credit union is even supported. No iPhone should be without it.

By: philip

philip — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 15:18:44 +0000

I tried that cardstar program, in theory it is cool, but I could not get it to scan at the self scanner at the grocery store, need to try it at a counter where they use a hand scanner or something to see if it actually works.

By: Chris K

Chris K — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 15:10:22 +0000

I use the Mint.com app all the time. Plus various Craigslist ones.

By: Ray

Ray — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 12:07:57 +0000

If you are self-employed or can write off car expenses I suggest:
MileBug it’s a great tool keeps track of your mileage even in different cars, keeps all the required information and you can email it to yourself in spreadsheet.

If you want to keep a close tab on your budgeting:
Spend: is a great tool as well very easy to use