Difficult to tolerate much less love
Honestly, it is beyond awful. Maybe, somewhere, there is something in here but honestly I don’t know. I run my own business so would like to think I’m not completely thick but this software makes me feel like the village idiot.
If you are from YNAB please, please look at reviews online first before you jump as this is honestly one of the most frustrating things I have ever done.
Original review:
I’ve moved over from YNAB to PocketSmith and I have to say, so far, so bad.
I was lured by the promise of bank integration and, in fairness it does this very well.
That’s probably where the good ends though and the bad begins. Honestly, I’ve been setting it up since what feels like the last age. It takes forever.
Even after owning it for a couple of months I still am not really close to getting what I want out of it (a budget).
I’ve got ChatGPT and Claude working around the clock and their standard answer to most things is “yeah, that’s just a limitation of PocketSmith” or “you’ve hit a well known frustration”.
Maybe the mobile app is amazing. Who knows, you have to configure it all on web and I will probably be dead before I complete that.
If your are on YNAB and thinking “I wonder if it’s worth the pain of moving so I don’t have to manually import transactions?” the answer is “would you jam a rusty knife in your own eye?”. Probably not.
Response from developer
Thanks for giving PocketSmith a go, Jason - we appreciate you being candid about how the switch has felt. Getting started in PocketSmith can take a bit of groundwork, especially if you’re moving from a different budgeting style and trying to shape it around the way you already manage money. AI tools like ChatGPT and Claude can often send people in the wrong direction. They’re not trained on the ins and outs of PocketSmith, and they can present assumptions as fact, particularly around what is or isn’t possible in the product. We have an excellent dedicated support team, so we’d really recommend reaching out to them at help@pocketsmith.com so they can help you get things configured in a way that works for you. PocketSmith Sidekick was always intended to be a companion to the web-based/desktop app, as the complex functionality can’t be fully replicated in a mobile setting. However we’re fully committed to evolving and improving how we bring PocketSmith to mobile, which you can read about here: https://www.pocketsmith.com/blog/an-update-on-the-future-of-pocketsmith-on-mobile/ Thanks again for taking the time to share this feedback. It’s helpful, and we’re sorry this first stretch with PocketSmith has been such a slog. Please feel free to get in touch if you have anything else you’d like to share.
Great App for managing my finances
App login
No email log in support
Google Login Option
Fading patience
Not great at daily money management of spending which I would think most people are needing assistance with. Recently Aus super has introduced MFA and our data via Yodlee hasn’t synced for a month or two with no apparent solution timeframe and ability to manually update. Not a PS issue I know but it’s one ecosystem to me.
The new budget rollover feature lacks reasonable logic with previous and current month available budget not making any mathematical sense. It also assumes you will spend every dollar of unused rollover budget this month and calculates the overspend to be the sum of all of these amounts, rather than it being a larger budget to use.
The app is next to useless now and data seems totally divorced from the website, with duplicate entries and multiple requests to categorise transactions that are categorised on the website. My partner cannot easily access and categorise transactions on her phone which is crucial when dealing with family budgets.
Response from developer
Thanks for your review, and we're sorry about your experience. We're committed to evolving and improving how we bring PocketSmith to mobile: https://www.pocketsmith.com/blog/the-future-of-pocketsmiths-mobile-applications/ We wish you the best in finding a financial tool that better aligns with your needs and expertise.
Little more than a balance summary
Useful but it could improve a bit
Best budgeting App in Australia
One bit of feedback - it would be great to be able to set a custom time period within the app like you can on the website. Thank you for a great budgeting solution!
Response from developer
Thank you so much for your fantastic review! Our team is so delighted that you took the time to write a comment. We love hearing about how PocketSmith is a part of your financial management journey - it sounds like you're a categorisation pro. You can see what we've got planned for the app here: https://www.pocketsmith.com/blog/the-future-of-pocketsmiths-mobile-applications/
Trash app
Billing model
Good but could be better
Response from developer
Thanks for the feedback. We're committed to evolving and improving how we bring PocketSmith to mobile in 2025. Read our recent blog post to learn more, and let us know your thoughts: https://www.pocketsmith.com/blog/the-future-of-pocketsmiths-mobile-applications/
No update in 8 months
Response from developer
Our mobile app is designed to be a companion to the full desktop version of PocketSmith, where most of the advanced features and updates happen. That said, we understand how important the mobile experience is, and we have plans to improve the app this year - check out our blog post for more details on what's coming: https://www.pocketsmith.com/blog/the-future-of-pocketsmiths-mobile-applications/ We appreciate your patience and support as we work on making the app even better. If you have specific features you'd love to see, feel free to share them with us!
Disappointing app
Response from developer
We appreciate the feedback. The Sidekick app was always intended to be a companion to the web-based/desktop app, as the complex functionality can’t be fully replicated in a mobile setting. However, we’re always looking at improvements to the mobile experience, so watch this space. If you have any mobile-specific feedback, you can email us at mobile@pocketsmith.com.
One simple request
That being said, the webpage works really well on a phone browser so I might just stick with that for now until the app gets better.
Response from developer
Thanks for your feedback, we’ve passed this onto our Engineering team. The Sidekick app was always intended to be a companion to the web-based/desktop app, as the complex functionality can’t be fully replicated in a mobile setting. However we’re always looking at improvements to the mobile experience, so watch this space.
Feel in control of my finances
Pretty Good Little App
Example 1: When I enter Home Depot in the transaction search box, the app quickly lists all Home Depot transactions but it doesn't give me the total of all transactions it found. The desktop application does.
Example 2: The desktop application allows me to display budgets for any time period. I can pull up This Month, Today, Last Year or any date range I choose. Sidekick only allows me to display the current month.
So, I give the truly awesome Pocketsmith Desktop Application 5+ Stars and Sidekick only gets 3 Stars. I really hope someday the Sidekick Team catches up to the Pocketsmith Team
Response from developer
Appreciate your feedback. The Sidekick app was always intended to be a companion to the web-based/desktop app, as the complex functionality can’t be fully replicated in a mobile setting. However we’re always looking at improvements to the mobile experience, so watch this space.
Great app, but expensive
No login with Google option in mobile app
Not the easiest system I came across!
Response from developer
Thanks for your feedback. Keep an eye out for the continual improvements we’ve got in the works for the app, or if you have any further feature-specific feedback you’d like to share, you can email us at mobile@pocketsmith.com.
