Control vs Daily Spend Widget
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Control
An elegant budgeting app designed for clarity and control over your finances. It offers features like voice transaction entry, bill splitting, and AI-powered financial insights. Track expenses, manage multiple jobs, and monitor investments with beautiful reports.
- Apple Pay transaction import
- Voice transaction entry
- Split bills
- AI-powered financial insights
- Investment tracking
- Shared budgets
- Receipt scanning
Read full descriptionHide full description
Control is an elegant budgeting app designed for clarity without complexity. Its beautifully crafted interface makes managing finances feel magical. • Apple Pay transaction import • Bank notification transaction import • Add transactions by voice • Split bills when adding a transaction • Groceries list with Live Activity • Travel Mode for trip expense tracking • Work page to track hours, shifts, and pay across multiple jobs • Net worth and portfolio tracking, with prices you update yourself • Live Activities and Dynamic Island support • Ask AI - instant financial insights powered by AI • Apple Watch • Business page • Credit cards • Debt tracker • Past trips page • Wishlist shopping page • Quit Tracker for breaking habits • Interest rate for your bank deposits • Receipt scanning with camera • Add transactions by sharing a receipt, email, or webpage • Monthly/weekly/yearly and category budgets with visual progress • Investments transactions • Beautiful reports and spending insights • Wrapped - your year in review summary • Recurring payments and installment tracking • Home Screen and Lock Screen widgets • Multiple currency support with conversion • Tags for organizing transactions • Siri Shortcuts • Custom budget start day • Rollover budget • Photos for transactions • Custom budget start day • Variable recurring payments amount • Appearance customization with themes and gradients • iCloud backup • Face ID • No ads, no tracking, no data collection Take control of your finances today. Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/
Daily Spend Widget
Read full descriptionHide full description
See what you've spent today, right on your Lock Screen. One number that updates through the day. Think of it as a step counter for your spending. No bank login. Daily Spend never asks for your bank password, can't see your balance and can't move your money. It only reads the purchase alerts your bank already sends you. Requires a subscription. Start with a 3-day free trial. HOW IT WORKS 1. Sign in with Apple and get your private Daily Spend address. 2. Turn on purchase alerts in your bank or card app and send them to that address. Daily Spend walks you through it for each bank, with videos for Chase, Capital One and Wells Fargo. 3. Add the Daily Spend widget to your Lock Screen. It takes about thirty seconds. 4. That's it. Each purchase shows up in your total moments after your bank sends the alert. WHAT YOU GET • Today's spending on your Lock Screen • A total that updates as you spend, not the next day • Works with Chase, Capital One, Discover and Wells Fargo • Your full spending history, day by day • Privacy mode: hide your total from the Lock Screen with one switch • Family: assign a card to a family member and see their spending under their name WHAT YOU DON'T GET, ON PURPOSE • No budgets to set • No categories to maintain • No weekly reports or email digests • No streaks or gamification PRIVATE BY DEFAULT • We never ask for your bank login or password • We only read the purchase alerts you choose to send us • Encrypted in transit and at rest • We do not sell your data • Delete your account any time from Settings PRICING A paid subscription or the one-time Lifetime purchase is required to use Daily Spend. New subscribers start with a 3-day free trial, then $4.99/month or $39.99/year. Lifetime access is $99.99, paid once. All purchases are billed through the App Store. Subscriptions renew automatically unless cancelled at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. Manage or cancel in your Apple ID settings. The free trial is for new subscribers only. iPhone only. Requires iOS 17 or later. Terms of Use: https://dailyspend.ai/terms Privacy Policy: https://dailyspend.ai/privacy
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: Daily Spend Widget at 5.0 against Control's 4.3. Daily Spend Widget also leads on iOS requirement (16.4 vs 18.0). Control's advantage is update cadence (every 3 days vs weekly) and ratings volume (11 vs 2). On price, review sentiment, ads and in-app purchases 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
Both are free to download. Control sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $3.99 per month and Daily Spend Widget sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
Daily Spend Widget holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.3. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Control has 11 ratings behind it against 2, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 96% of Control's written reviews are positive against 100% of Daily Spend Widget's.
Control ships an update every 3 days, Daily Spend Widget weekly. The most recent releases landed on October 25, 2026 and October 24, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Control | Daily Spend Widget |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.3 (11 ratings) | 5.0 (2 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 96.0% of reviews | 100.0% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 11 — better | 2 |
| Update frequency | Every 3 days — better | Weekly |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free | — |
| Devices | iPhone, Mac, Apple Watch — better | iPhone |
| Requires iOS | 18.0 | 16.4 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 55 MB | 51 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 12+ |
| Developer | Alex Patrick Palacean | Daily Spend INC |
Customer experience
Control
Daily Spend Widget
In-app purchases
Control
- Control Monthly$3.991 Month
- Control Club$3.991 Month
- Lifetime payment$17.99
Daily Spend Widget
- Monthly subscription3 Days trial$4.991 Month
- Yearly subscription3 Days trial$39.991 Year
- Lifetime$99.99
Questions
Is Control free?
Is Daily Spend Widget free?
Which has better reviews, Control or Daily Spend Widget?
Do Control or Daily Spend Widget have ads?
Which is updated more often, Control or Daily Spend Widget?
Other comparisons















