Comparison

Amex vs Shortfall

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

Amex

Manage your American Express account securely from anywhere. Track spending, view rewards, pay your bill, and discover personalized offers. Enjoy quick, safe access with biometric login and instant alerts for added peace of mind.

Highlights
  • Secure account management
  • Track spending and rewards
  • Pay bills and manage balance
  • Card activation and Apple Pay setup
  • Freeze/unfreeze credit card
  • Real-time alerts and notifications
  • Discover personalized offers
Features
Currently charting
Read full description

The official American Express App for iPhone allows you to access your Account from anywhere. Track spending & rewards, find offers, review your balance, pay your bill and enjoy features only available in the Amex App. Touch ID and Face ID login (on supported devices), gives you quick, safe and secure access. Make the most of your Membership with the speed, security and convenience of the mobile Amex® App. SECURE ACCOUNT MANAGEMENT • Enhanced activation experience for you to confirm new Cards and setup your Account. • Activate your Credit Card for Apple Pay in the Amex App, then simply unlock, tap and pay. • Freeze and unfreeze your Credit Card instantly at any time. STAY ON TOP OF YOUR SPENDING • Check your American Express Account balance, pending transactions and sort charges by amount and date. • Go paperless with access to past PDF statements. • Turn on AutoPay to pay your Amex bill automatically from your bank account each month. • Check your spending power. Enter an amount for an expected purchase and you’ll see if it’ll be approved. Approval based on account status at the time of request • Filter transactions to see spending and subtotals for each card on your account. For Basic Card Members Only. PROTECTION WITH REAL-TIME ALERTS • Turn on purchase alerts to be notified when your Credit Card is charged. • Receive instant fraud alerts if suspicious activity is detected. • Never miss a payment with payment due reminders. • Manage all your notifications in the Amex Account tab. EXPLORE REWARDS AND BENEFITS • View your Rewards balance and find ways to use Membership Rewards® points* - from gift cards to credits on your statement. • Use points to cover your eligible charges via a credit on your Account. * • See personalized recommendations for other ways to use points. • Refer a friend and earn rewards when friends and family get an American Express Card through your referral. For eligible Card Members only. AMEX OFFERS * • Discover offers from places you shop, dine, travel and more. • Explore a map of nearby offers. • Get Amex Offers notifications direct to your device. MEMBERSHIP SCREEN* •Benefits apply only to applicable products. AWARD-WINNING SERVICE • We’re here to chat 24/7. Start a chat with us in seconds and revisit conversations any time in the app. We’d love to hear from you! Stay in touch with us using our social media pages: Twitter: @AmericanExpress Facebook: facebook.com/AmericanExpressUS/ Instagram: @americanexpress Send & Split® enhances the way you send money and split purchases with other Venmo and PayPal users, all in the American Express app.* Now you can pay friends with more flexibility and without the standard Venmo or PayPal credit card fee§. You can also seamlessly split your Amex purchases with others and get paid back directly to your Card as a statement credit. Best Part? You’ll be the one to earn the rewards for the purchase you split. Enrollment Requirement. Terms Apply. § PayPal may charge a fee when sending to non-US recipients. The American Express® App and app features are available only for eligible Card accounts in the United States. American Express® prepaid Cards and Cards issued by non-America Express issuers are not eligible. To log in, Card Members must have an American Express user ID and password or create one in the app. Apple, the Apple logo, iPad, and iPhone are trademarks of Apple Inc., registered in the U.S. and other countries. iOS is a trademark or registered trademark of Cisco in the U.S. and other countries and is used under license. App Store is a service mark of Apple Inc. *To see the full Terms and Conditions, copy and paste the following link into your browser and scroll to the bottom of the page: https://amex.co/AmexApp-Terms For J.D. Power 2024 & 2025 award information, visit jdpower.com/awards.

About

Shortfall

This app helps car buyers avoid hidden fees by scanning contracts and flagging charges higher than typical for their state. It provides a free initial audit and an optional one-time purchase for unlimited use and advanced features like tracking dealer revisions.

Highlights
  • Scan car contracts with camera or PDF
  • Flag fees higher than typical for your state
  • Analyze interest rates and doc fees
  • Track dealer contract revisions
  • Check Kelley Blue Book trade-in values
  • Private by design, no account needed
Features
Read full description

Buying a car this week? Don't sign until Shortfall reads the paperwork. Car dealers know most people won't study the contract. That's where the extra charges hide. Shortfall reads the paperwork on your phone and flags every fee that's higher than typical for your state. One free audit included, then a one-time $4.99 in-app purchase unlocks unlimited future audits. No subscription. WHAT'S FREE, WHAT REQUIRES THE $4.99 UNLOCK Free, no purchase required: • Your first full contract audit — complete verdict, every flag, full Walkaway Card share • Your first Four Square Decoder round — back-solved interest rate and verdict • Checking Kelley Blue Book trade-in values and saving the numbers — always free, no cap Requires the one-time $4.99 in-app purchase: • Every contract audit after your first • Capturing revisions when the dealer rewrites the numbers at the desk • Every Four Square round after Round 1 (for the same negotiation or a new one) • Saved audit history across all future car purchases HOW IT WORKS Scan the contract with your camera or import the PDF. In about a minute, Shortfall pulls out the price, interest rate, doc fee, warranty, GAP insurance, and every add-on, and compares each one against what car buyers in your state usually pay. You walk into the dealership knowing: • Whether the doc fee is legal (12 states cap it) • Whether the interest rate matches your credit • Whether GAP and the extended warranty are marked up • Whether the monthly payment actually adds up Every flag reads in plain English — "$300 above typical for your state" — not a judgment. You decide what to push back on. STUCK IN THE FINANCE OFFICE? The Four Square Decoder figures out the interest rate from the monthly payment, even when the salesperson "forgets" to write it on the page. Round 1 is free. Capturing each revision they hand you after that requires the one-time $4.99 unlock — so when they rewrite the numbers, Shortfall shows exactly what moved. TRADING IN? (ALWAYS FREE) Shortfall opens Kelley Blue Book right in the app so you can look up your trade-in range yourself. Save the numbers — when the dealer throws out a low offer, you have something to check against. No in-app purchase required for the trade-in tool. PRIVATE BY DESIGN • Everything runs on your phone • No account, no email, no cloud • We don't sell your data because we never collect it Works in all 50 US states. Every benchmark cites its source, and you can check and correct any number Shortfall reads from your contract before it's compared. Pricing: the app is free to download with one free contract audit and one free Four Square decode included. A single one-time $4.99 in-app purchase unlocks unlimited future audits and capturing every dealer revision. No subscription, no recurring charges. Requires iPhone 15 Pro or newer. Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

Screenshots

Amex4 screens
Shortfall4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Amex at none against Shortfall's 1. Amex also leads on ratings volume (4.4M vs 1) and chart position (#23 vs unranked). Shortfall's advantage is ads (none vs shown). On price, rating, update cadence and device support there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Shortfall sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Amex asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.9 for Amex against 5.0 for Shortfall. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Amex has 4.4M ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Amex ships an update every 2 weeks, Shortfall every 3 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 15, 2026 and October 3, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard6 real differences · 5 level
Amex versus Shortfall: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterAmexShortfall
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.9 (4.4M ratings)5.0 (1 ratings) — better
Positive reviews63.1% of reviews—
Number of ratings4.4M — better1
Update frequencyEvery 2 weeks — betterEvery 3 weeks
AdsYesNo — better
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationFree — betterFree with in-app purchases
Best chart rank#23 — better—
DevicesiPhone, iPad — betteriPhone
Requires iOS18.2 — better26.0
Further details — not scored
Size525 MB4 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperAmerican ExpressSteven Knauss

Customer experience

Amex

All ratings4,413,310 ratings
Positive97.6%
Neutral0.9%
Negative1.5%
Written reviews3,403 reviews
Positive63.1%
Neutral4.3%
Negative32.6%

Shortfall

All ratings1 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

Bugs and requests

Amex

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Scrolling glitches in the mobile app
  • Inconsistent display of account balances
  • Inability to view high-yield savings accounts

Requested features

5 requests
  • Improved rewards tracking and redemption
  • Integrated dispute submission and status tracking
  • Automatic offer activation based on transactions
  • Better account balance and payment information
  • Seamless integration between mobile app and website

Shortfall

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

None

Amex

No in-app purchases

1 purchases

Shortfall

One-time1
  • Unlimited Audits$4.99

Questions

Is Amex free?
Amex is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Shortfall free?
Shortfall is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Amex or Shortfall?
Shortfall is rated higher. Amex averages 4.9 out of 5 from 4.4M ratings, while Shortfall averages 5.0 from 1 ratings.
Do Amex or Shortfall have ads?
Amex shows ads; Shortfall does not.
Which is updated more often, Amex or Shortfall?
Amex ships an update every 2 weeks, and Shortfall every 3 weeks. Most recently, Amex was updated on October 15, 2026 and Shortfall on October 3, 2026.

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