Comparison

Control vs Daily Spend Widget

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

Head to head
About

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.

Highlights
  • Apple Pay transaction import
  • Voice transaction entry
  • Split bills
  • AI-powered financial insights
  • Investment tracking
  • Shared budgets
  • Receipt scanning
Features
Read 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/

About

Daily Spend Widget

Features
Read 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

Control4 screens
Daily Spend Widget3 screens

Verdict

The call

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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

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.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

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.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

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.

Scorecard5 real differences · 5 level
Control versus Daily Spend Widget: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterControlDaily Spend Widget
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.3 (11 ratings)5.0 (2 ratings) — better
Positive reviews96.0% of reviews100.0% of reviews — better
Number of ratings11 — better2
Update frequencyEvery 3 days — betterWeekly
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree—
DevicesiPhone, Mac, Apple Watch — betteriPhone
Requires iOS18.016.4 — better
Further details — not scored
Size55 MB51 MB
Age rating4+12+
DeveloperAlex Patrick PalaceanDaily Spend INC

Customer experience

Control

All ratings11 ratings
Positive81.8%
Neutral0.0%
Negative18.2%
Written reviews25 reviews
Positive96.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative4.0%

Daily Spend Widget

All ratings2 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews2 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

In-app purchases

3 purchases

Control

Subscriptions2
  • Control Monthly$3.991 Month
  • Control Club$3.991 Month
One-time1
  • Lifetime payment$17.99
3 purchases

Daily Spend Widget

Subscriptions2
  • Monthly subscription3 Days trial$4.991 Month
  • Yearly subscription3 Days trial$39.991 Year
One-time1
  • Lifetime$99.99

Questions

Is Control free?
Control is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Daily Spend Widget free?
Daily Spend Widget is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Control or Daily Spend Widget?
Daily Spend Widget is rated higher. Control averages 4.3 out of 5 from 11 ratings, while Daily Spend Widget averages 5.0 from 2 ratings.
Do Control or Daily Spend Widget have ads?
Neither Control nor Daily Spend Widget shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Control or Daily Spend Widget?
Control ships an update every 3 days, and Daily Spend Widget weekly. Most recently, Control was updated on October 25, 2026 and Daily Spend Widget on October 24, 2026.

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