Amazing potential, but half baked and distracted development.
(appears earlier review vanished?)
This app has so much potential and purchased straight away. Developer was eager, full of ideas but has since moved onto other projects and remains distracted for at least the past six months. Developer has been aware of each point below for maybe close to a year at this point.
Here are some insights to assist deciding on purchasing. I personally can not recommend in its current state (without fixing major issues below,) and with a hobby developer who really isn’t vested or prioritizing development.
FOCUS
App wants to say it does everything and can’t decide. Dedicated spot for subscriptions, a rather small function but given high priority. App wants to be a budget minder (why subscriptions would e a sub of budgets (?,) maybe because that leaves the app looking rather empty.) Worst part is the noise. The developer seems mighty proud being able to access and show countless data points of an account, when a simple focus study would support prioritizing and focusing on common wanted datapoints. Then, THEN, throw in a ton of info graphics as if trying to show off or show value yet, again, is likely not desired by majority of users. Developer remains insistent on all decisions made being critical? Recommendation made was to, at a minimum, allow the user to hide unwanted data points.
Be prepared to muscle through irrelevant data to get what you need to see.
PLAID
Connecting to banks (for me, credit card accounts at banks) is critical.,without it the app is nothing more than (not even) a run of the mill manual budgeting app. Connections initially work well after putting in the effort to get your accounts connected…and it takes a while. Once connected you will get transaction updates, and can hunt around for transactions on a card (operative word ‘hunt’ more on this under opportunities.
Problem kicks in with the frequency these account connections break. Doesn’t matter if the issue is Finma, Plaid or your bank as it is all the same result - which is you are forever putting on an admin hat to fix connections. This KILLS the experience. It is faster and easier to log into an OEM bank app than it is keep reconnecting accounts. This is the single biggest issue that keeps me from really using the app.Exhausting.
Bank connections always break.
NOTIFICATIONS
You are getting weird notifications all the time. Developer is not based in United States and maybe financial notifications needs are different in India. You will get expected notifications of a transaction for any card connected - awesome (until connection breaks.) You will also get a high frequency of useless or indecipherable notifications to the point you sacrifice wanted notifications to stop the madness.
Notifications are not well thought out.
BALANCE VS LIMIT
The app does not do well understanding the difference between credit limit and credit balance. This results in balances and notifications getting totally reliably hosed.
When the app interposes limits and balances you can’t trust the data. You will see high negative balances for example why they are credit limits, not amounts owed. Nuts.
INTERFACE UX/UI
Lot of opportunities to make the app simple and straight forward. Will not get into the weeds here.
WEIRD THINGS
Privacy
You need to be signed in to access the data, BUT the most important data (your numbers) are masked. That is the perspective that someone will be using the app with an audience? Imagine signing into any bank or credit app and not seeing you numbers straight away. You need to take extra steps to see your numbers. You need to do this every time you sign in. No setting to change a preference or reverse this backwards thinking.
Then there is a Privacy Mode which can be found inside settings. Turn this on and you will get dummy data in place of your numbers for screen shots. Ok? Turn it on and you don’t get fake numbers, you get glyphs and shapes.
Still, if you take a screenshot, even with privacy mode enabled, you get a scholar’s crossbones sensitive data warning. Not opposed to this with a toggle to decide, yet option in settings is too deep for a fleeting use case where the forced sensitive data panel suffices.
Marketing
Images shown to market product are not reflective of the actual app. For example you will not see balances for credit cards when viewing list of accounts (image with large square tiles - balances don’t appear.
Response from developer
Thanks for the review. I’m working on adding direct bank integration for US, Canada, Europe banks. I hope you try it again in future.
Old transactions disappear
Cannot trust the information it gives.
The developer has stopped responding to emails
Wow
So much potential yet…
Finma has a great deal of potential. If the developer could focus and keep updating the app there is potential for Finma to be a market leader. That said key gaps and bugs remain and developer appears focused elsewhere.
Few examples:
- The software has a hard time effectuating between an outstanding balance and credit minutes. Balance and limit get mixed up so often that notifications are rendered nearly useless.
- That screen showing all accounts in one place, with a balance showing on each tile? The balance does not exist. Screenshot remains incomplete, as it can only show a bank account balance but NOT credit card balances.
- Too many datapoints. Development places a lot of focus on info graphics and packing every available financial factor in your face. Most users care about 5-7 datapoints. There is no way to hide content that is not relevant. Then add attempts for the app to look smarter with its own data amassed.
- To the point above, the app can not decide what it wants to be…if it is related to personal finance, then by god Finma wants to include. Subscription tracker? Sure, why not? Budget builder - tel. Bill pay, nope. Points tracker, nope.
- Buggy - look at release history for starters. A bug issue remains active connections. The app uses Plaid to sync banking data. Hard to say where the responsibility rests, but as a user you will need to be your own admin always fixing connections. You might need to reconnect banks every few weeds or days. While writing this review I signed in to discover three banks need to be reconnected before Finma can do its thing. Developer has tried to make the process smoother, yet as a user be prepared to always be fixing.
- Some concepts remain flipped backwards. For example, if the user has protected their phone with biometrics, then your balances are hidden from you. You need to manually toggle balances. However, if you turn off protections, then balances are visible. Development remains steadfast in the backwards understanding.
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Note: if you are wary of connecting accounts, there isn’t much value to the app…best you will get would be a manual subscription tracker and budget maker….nothing different than countless other budget and subscription trackers.
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Developer -,please keep progressing the potential. The app is so close yet such key gaps.
Response from developer
Thanks for the review. I’m working on adding direct bank integration for US, Canada, Europe banks. I hope you try it again in future.
Add Support
Have your paid subs but would really need this feature to get most out of this.
Also would like to have automatic Apple Pay txn to be captured in spends
Best Daily Expense tracker for ios
1. Money Transfer Option from 1 Acc to other ( Now it is very complicated process)
2. Option to manually set start date of month
3. Option to manually select the account to exclude in total balance
Overall this app is the best with great UI and good charts and graphs.
This app is just too good.
Truly remarkable work that rivals all the budgeting apps in the store by a talented solo developer.
Unable to add my Hotmail account to retrieve email statements
The sync does not work
Review for Finma - AI Finance Tracker
Amazing app
Good job!
Response from developer
Already working on a shared budget/subscriptions/goals feature! I really appreciate the review, thank you so much!
Excellent budget tracker
👌🏻
Best Finance App I’ve Ever Used
what really makes it even better tho is the dev. replies to emails fast, actually explains stuff if you’re confused, and doesn’t just send some copy-paste answer. super patient and helpful.
once you get used to how effortless this is, there’s no going back. huge shoutout to the dev. amazing job.
Solid app, solid dev
Excelente
Response from developer
Thanks for the feedback. While I’d like to keep the app minimal, I’ll add an option calculator in the transaction entry view.
Poor
Good UI, off target features. Dead-end software.
1) No live connections
2) No reporting
3) Zero details on integration with other software such as Quicken, Moneydance etc.
Personally, no need for budgeting or subscription tracking.
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Yes, the app intentionally tries to bridge the gap of live connections with receipts, email and such. But so what? Even if it worked well the solution falls short of what finance tracking requires.
If these features suit your needs, 1) G*d bless you for simplified finance life and 2) this app does the same as many that came before it, yet charges a great deal more. You can find similar for less.
Response from developer
Thanks for the review. I’m working on adding direct bank integration for US, Canada, Europe banks. I hope you try it again in future.
