# PocketGuard - Budget App — user reviews > 349 indexed App Store user reviews of PocketGuard by PocketGuard, Inc., rated 4.58/5 from 7,681 ratings. - Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/pocketguard-budget-app/id949414211/reviews - App overview in markdown: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/pocketguard-budget-app/id949414211.md - Rating breakdown: 5★ 5,934 · 4★ 1,011 · 3★ 279 · 2★ 110 · 1★ 340 ## Is PocketGuard safe? PocketGuard - Budget App appears safe based on user ratings. The AppsHunter Safety Score for PocketGuard is 91 out of 100. This assessment is based on 7,681 user ratings, with an App Store average of 4.6 out of 5. Of 7,674 App Store ratings, 90.5% point to a safe experience, 3.6% suggest some concerns, and 5.9% point to a risky experience. ## Is PocketGuard legit? PocketGuard - Budget App appears to be a legitimate app. The AppsHunter Legitimacy Score for PocketGuard is 93 out of 100 points across 7 verification signals from App Store and developer data. ## What do users think of PocketGuard? Reviews of PocketGuard are mixed: the Finance app is rated 4.6/5 from 7.7K App Store ratings. What users like most: efficient app that helps track spending, customizable budgeting categories. Top complaints: recurring issues with bank account syncing, security concerns with 2FA/MFA requirements. Summarized from real user reviews. **Pros** - 🚀 Efficient app that helps track spending - 👍 Customizable budgeting categories - 🚀 Real-time transaction updates - 👍 Intuitive and user-friendly interface - 🚀 Helpful for getting finances under control - 👍 Responsive customer support **Cons** - 🐛 Recurring issues with bank account syncing - 🔒 Security concerns with 2FA/MFA requirements - 🚫 Lack of support for certain banks/credit cards - 💰 Expensive subscription model - 🐛 Buggy app performance and frequent crashes - 🤔 Confusing budgeting features and layout **Commonly reported bugs** - Inconsistent transaction syncing and labeling - Inability to delete or manage connected accounts - Budgeting data disappearing or not updating properly **Most requested features** - Ability to carry over unspent budget to next month - More advanced reporting and analytics - Light/dark mode theme options - Improved transaction categorization and learning - Support for multiple users/family budgeting ## Newest reviews (11 of 349) ### 2/5 — Bank won’t sync *2026-10-04, version 5.20.4* I actually really liked using this app and having it to help me budget! I found it helpful and was planning to renew my subscription after my year had passed. Unfortunately, at one point the bank I use unsynced from the app and PocketGuard has been unable to get it back, no matter what I try. It’s very frustrating. Because of this, I am paying for an app that doesn’t work for me. If you bank with a larger bank, this might not be an issue for you, I have no idea. But if you bank with a local bank in your area, beware this may happen. ### 2/5 — Transactions Disappear *2026-09-23, version 5.20.3* For the last month all the transactions will disappear then a day or two later they will just reappear. It’s been doing this for a month or two. About to give up on the app. ### 3/5 — Refreshing accounts *2026-09-07, version 5.20.2* I used this app for the last year and really liked it, but the last couple months neither my CIBC or RBC accounts will refresh. I reached out to pocket guard and they said it is a bank issue, but I haven’t been able to figure out what the issue really is. The app doesn’t work very well for my planning when I can’t refresh my bank accounts ### 2/5 — I used to love it *2026-09-03, version 5.20.2* Honestly I’m so sick of the updates. Every time I log in there’s an update, which is fine except it cancels connection to my banks and then it takes me forever to reconnect . And even after the reconnect the data isn’t updated so now I’ve invested hours into something that should make my life easier but is inoperable. All my data is incorrect, everything I’ve paid can’t find, all my income not tracked. I’m bummed because it didn’t used to have these issues. But now every month I remember I’m annoyed by this app because it doesn’t work when I need it. ### 3/5 — Sync Reliability Lacking *2026-08-29, version 5.20.2* The app is fantastic for budgeting; however, I’ve had recurring sync issues with my financial institutions. Sometimes the app fails for sync for weeks at a time, which prevents me from properly tracking my expenses. The team unfortunately never advises customers that they are having issues, so in the meantime you’re trying various fixes until you contact support and they tell you what’s happening. One issue that I have is that if you delete a financial institution, it also deletes all previous transactions associated with it. You don’t have the option to keep previous transactions. So, if you ever change banks or if you need to delete and reconnect a bank (due to sync issues), you lose everything and have to redo it manually. So, for long term budget tracking and planning, this app is less than ideal cuz you cannot retain reliable data over a number of months without the system somehow screwing up. ### 1/5 — Billing issues *2026-08-15, version 5.19.5* Even when I canceled they keep charging, support is helping ### 1/5 — They stale you to keep your money *2026-08-07, version 5.19.5* They are having connection issues with several banks and the app is unusable. They keep you engage for weeks before acknowledging that they are actually facing a problem and they don’t know when it will be solved. At first I didn’t understand why, but when I asked apple for a refund I understood: the refund is prorated! So they try to keep you engaged as much as possible to get more money from you. Don’t get this. If you already did, contact apple support immediately when you have an issue and request your refund. My problem was no the sync technical issue, my problem was their support. They are washing their hands saying this is handled directly with apple support, but they took 2 weeks to informed me of that. Let them say it was my responsibility to just know it, it doesn’t change the fact that I was mistreated and staled. Happy to share here how their support team told me “they don’t have a crystal ball” when I asked for deadlines. Really unprofessional. ### 1/5 — Inoperable *2026-08-02, version 5.19.5* I’ve had this app since 2021 and used it daily for budgeting. In the last year, the app started by not being able to connect with my credit union anymore. After several weeks, they told me they could no longer support my credit card connected to my bank. I was so committed to this app, I actually moved all my purchases to my AmEx. In the last month, the app stopped communicating with my AmEx. After about 3 weeks, they told me they could no longer support my AmEx. Ok, I get a small credit union, but my AmEx?! I signed up for a different app and bam! Immediately connected to my credit union and AmEx and haven’t had any issues. I had a lifetime membership and they told me to get a refund from Apple. Apple says I’m not eligible. Disappointed all around… ### 2/5 — Execution isn’t good, predictions inaccurate, not worth it *2026-07-26, version 5.19.5* I’m coming from YNAB so I’m a little spoiled. But PocketGuard is cheaper since they have the lifetime subscription, if it wasn’t for that I wouldn’t have gotten it. I’m guessing that’s why they have the lifetime option because it tricks you into thinking you’re getting a good deal when you’re just getting a subpar app. With YNAB I paid basically $100 a year BUT the goal is to save money, right, so you have to cut spending anywhere you can, UX/UI is a luxury so I ditched YNAB after 10 years with them. I’ve played around with other apps and even excel spreadsheets. I got this because of all the overselling of the features especially the prediction feature. But I’m mostly just tolerating this app. My biggest gripe is that their big selling point the Plan feature (where you can get an estimate of what will be leftover or how much income/expenses are predicted) only works if your income and bills transactions are precisely the same each month. So if your paychecks are different amounts well then you can’t trust the numbers. Same with your expenses, if your utility bill is going to be up $100 this month well PocketGuard doesn’t know that so good luck making any smart predictions. I used to have an app that went away called Prism and that app actually connected to all your bills so it actually knew exactly what amount they would be. I miss those days. Seems like a small ask: Just tell me the exact amount of my upcoming bills please. Insights are okay but my banking app already does that with the pie chart of your expenses and stuff. So not a feature I *need* to pay for. The Rules setting needs UI improvements—it’s not visually friendly to use, it looks like some backend stuff with the if/then statements, nobody wants to think about if/then statements. Also whatever tool they use the pull in the transactions could use improvement with naming conventions and how it categorizes stuff, I know that’s case by case basis but nobody gets a budgeting projection app wanting to edit every single transaction. My Amex card always thinks my account is being hacked whenever PocketGuard pulls transactions. Here comes another annoying notification… Overall I’m underwhelmed and feel like I have no use for this thing aside from the fact that it combines spending across different accounts but I’m thinking about simplifying my life to one or two cards max anyway and at that point this app will definitely be useless to me. At this point I’m hoping they improve and that lifetime members are grandfathered in, worse case I’m out $140 and sticking to my banking app because it does the same thing for free ### 1/5 — Misleading subscription *2026-07-15, version 5.19.5* While I understand it is my job to read the fine print, the app marketed their subscription prices month by month, however charged me for a whole year. Disappointed that an app made to help you budget and manage your subscriptions, marketed their subscription in a not so clear/transparent way. ### 4/5 — Best budgeting app I have ever used but why is there no light mode??? *2026-07-01, version 5.19.5* thank you for making my life easier when it comes to managing finances.. one complaint, in the age of ai, there should not be a single reason to not offer both light and dark mode. Light mode is super helpful for visibility in certain conditions. Please. Learn from Apple’s wallet app! ## Most critical reviews (10 lowest-rated) ### 1/5 — New Ai functionality means no functionality *2026-10-14, version 5.20.5* I am a lifetime subscriber. I wish I could get my money back. The company turned itself over to AI. The new reports are nonsensical. The links stopped working with my credit card company so now I get no data. The help feature scrolls at superhuman speed and then declares the issue resolved when it is not. What a waste. ### 1/5 — Sync problem *2026-10-12, version 5.20.5* Money wasted, app does not sync with BMO. Apple refund not eligible ### 1/5 — Inconsistent *2026-09-25, version 5.20.3* The app used to be good but now it constantly struggles to pull recent transactions and will show transactions from years ago until it is refreshed multiple times. I frequently have to sign out of the app and sign back in to fix it. ### 1/5 — Good when it syncs *2026-09-18, version 5.20.3* I’ve enjoyed using this app for several years (after Mint shuttered). It’s how I budget and track spending. There were occasional issues with syncing but they always resolved within a day. However, I’ve now been unable to sync my BMO account since Aug 21 and my TD account since Aug 26. I reached out to the app developer and learned it’s a known issue with the banks that they’re working to resolve. I find it frustrating that the app developer didn’t reach out to affected users to let us know. If it’s a known issue impacting your users, shouldn’t you reach out to them? Shouldn’t you be sending out regular updates? How about putting something in the help and support section? Will they be issuing a credit for the downtime? I’m sympathetic to the fact it’s a bank issue and they’re working hard to fix it, but some communication would go a long way to help frustrated users. ### 1/5 — Good when it syncs otherwise useless *2026-09-15, version 5.20.3* I’ve used this app for years and, when it works, I believe it’s one of the best financial apps out there. Unfortunately, its value depends entirely on being able to sync with your financial institution. It has been unable to sync with BMO for about a month now, with no clear resolution or timeline in sight. At this point, I’ll be cancelling my subscription and requesting a refund. In my opinion, the app should not be listed as a viable option for BMO customers when the service has been unable to sync for this long. I’m disappointed because I’ve been a long-time user and have otherwise been very happy with the app. Sorry, guys, but this needs to be resolved. ### 1/5 — Used to work, doesnt anymore *2026-09-13, version 5.20.3* Connections stopped working with my main bank, bmo, with no updates from customer service. Worked well for a year then one day stopped with no explanations. ### 1/5 — The Decline of an App *2026-08-21, version 5.20.1* I’ve been using this app for the past few years and it has gotten worse with each update. Removing the ability to easily compare spending among categories between the current and past months was the final straw. To make matters worse, the insight section that replaced it is unintuitive and isn’t even completed. Why release an update when 2/3 of the tools aren’t even completed? It’s sad to see a great app slowly decline and become unusable. ### 1/5 — Update makes it unusable *2026-08-20, version 5.20* This used to be such an amazing tool. I was easily able to see what I was spending in each category and compare month to month. With the newest update, every time I click on the breakdown of categories, the app forces closes. There’s no way for me to tell what I’m spending in each category. I also can’t compare categories month to month. ### 1/5 — August 2026 update *2026-08-19, version 5.20* Huge downgrade in UI. Went from a simple budgeting tool to an over analytical version. I subscribe to the KISS method. This recent update will make me cancel the subscription and get a different app. ### 1/5 — Update Insufficient *2026-08-18, version 5.20* The new insight tab is not intuitive. I’ve lost the ability to easily compare expenses month to month. The transactions are not accounting correctly. And only 1/3 of the features are releases. I will have to consider finding a different app to meet my needs ## Most praised reviews (10 highest-rated) ### 5/5 — Total game changer. *2026-10-12, version 5.20.5* PocketGuard has made budgeting much less stressful for me. Total game changer. Transactions are automatically tagged and categorized as they happen. It's paid for itself for the next few years since we caught a few duplicate or unused subscriptions. ### 5/5 — Works well *2026-10-05, version 5.20.4* I kept this budget app after trying several others. Works well to track budgeting. Takes a while to set up, but mostly works as advertised. ### 5/5 — Helps me keep track *2026-09-26, version 5.20.3* I’ve been using this app for about 6 years now and it helps me stay on budget and know when to stop spending money. Also, whenever I have an issue with the app, the developers fix it fast. ### 5/5 — Charged me for a subscription i didn’t ask for *2026-08-31, version 5.20.2* I downloaded the app, tried it out for free, let it look at my spending, then deleted it 10 minutes later. I never requested a subscription because I was comparing apps. Later, while reviewing my finances, I saw a charge for the app after I had deleted it, so I had to download it again, but it said I have no active subscription. The AI chat support said to simply request a refund from Apple, but I shouldn’t have to do that for a faulty charge.This seems very sketchy.then answered my review stating that i probably did a free trial and forgot to cancel. If that were true then there woukd ve an active subscription. The apo says no active subscription and i know that i did not do a free trial. It was not worth a free trail just from looking around the app for a few minutes. Im not askinf for a refund because it was just $12. I am warning other users not to put their bank info in this app. I see many other 1 star reviews saying the same thing so its not an isolated incident. ### 5/5 — Great App *2026-08-25, version 5.20.2* PockerGuard is easy to use and a simple way to track expenses ### 5/5 — Mind blowing *2026-08-22, version 5.20.2* I’ve found this to be an extremely helpful budgeting and expense tracking app ever since purchasing it a couple years ago. Definitely worth the month. But the most recent update with the Insights tab has actually blown me away! Somehow this visual representation and the ability to slice and dice info in different ways takes this app to a whole new level. Amazing and wonderful. Definitely helpful and worthwhile for anyone who wants insight into their finances. ### 5/5 — The frickin new 5.20.1 update *2026-08-21, version 5.20.1* Let’s go!! Finally, PocketGuard is getting with the times and giving us more analysis tools in the app. I’ve been using this app faithfully for over a year and it’s been sooo simple. Almost too simple. Since I’ve had it, in order to really analyze data I’ve had to export it to excel and make charts and stuff from there. Glad the goons who made this app are figuring out how to code this thing better. Probably with Claude lol. Now just stop locking months when they’re done. If people are too dumb to not mess up their finances after the months over, that’s not your problem. But it’s annoying the heck out of the rest of us. Keep adding cool gadgets, fellas. ### 5/5 — Love love love!! *2026-07-31, version 5.19.5* Excellent app for managing my finances. Keep the updates coming. I wish the team at PocketGuard all the best and hope they continue to grow. 💗 ### 5/5 — Good money management tool *2026-07-19, version 5.19.5* Continuous improvements and changes; takes input and feature requests. ### 5/5 — Perfecto *2026-05-22, version 5.19.3* Gmgood app --- *Data collected daily from the US App Store and indexed by [AppsHunter](https://appshunter.io/). User reviews are verbatim App Store reviews. Ratings, prices and chart positions refresh continuously; this snapshot is from 2026-10-26.*