Not too long ago I would go around saying “Managing finance is not my cup of tea.” Creating a custom budget, tracking expenses, and keeping a tab on overspending on top of the ever-mounting workloads seemed way too much for me. Then, I came across some nifty expense trackers that made the process of tracking expenses painless. Those spending trackers sort of changed the way I used to look at finance management. Furthermore, they also encouraged me to look for the best personal finance apps for iPhone and Android to manage finance right from the fingertips. Having given them a fair amount of spin, I would like to present my top picks.

To get started on the right note, choose the app that fits your bill. To make your task a tad easier, let me break down a few points upfront.

  • The Core Fundamentals of Personal Finance Management
  • Mint: Your Smart Personal Finance Assistant
  • PocketGuard – Take Control of Extravagant Spending
  • MoneyStandards – Bolster Your Saving
  • Mobills – Best Insightful Graphs and Detailed Reports
  • Fudget – Astute Budget Planner
  • Money Lover - Mange Your Money Like a Pro
  • Personal Capital – Your Top-Notch Portfolio Tracker
  • Credit Karma – Make the Most of Your Credit Score
  • Clarity Money – AI-Powered Finance Management
  • IOU - Your Ideal Debt Manager

The Core Fundamentals of Personal Finance Management

Efficient personal finance management starts with structured planning that consists of three core fundamentals:

To get going, be sure you set up a budget that is committed to adhering to the strict rules like stopping unnecessary expenses. Besides, it’s better to start with a financial goal that has a clear saving plan. And with the real-time tracking of where your money is going, you will remain in the know about what’s going on and be able to take the appropriate actions at the right time.

1. Mint: Your Smart Personal Finance Assistant

Managing finance becomes a hassle-free experience when all the accounts are in perfect sync. Thus, you don’t have to run from pillar to post to keep track of things like expenses and credit card bills. Well, Mint aims to do just that, ensuring your accounts and spending are in one place. As a result, you are able to monitor everything – from budgets to transactions to expenses – with ease at your own pace.

Why Should You Try Mint?

  • In-depth insight into your accounts
  • Ability to set your financial goals
  • Handy bill tracker
  • Actionable tips
  • Money management advice

Install: iOS and Android (free, $24.99 for the Mint Live version)

The key to saving plenty of money is to have better control over extravagant spending. So, if you think that your overspending needs to be stopped sooner than later, PocketGuard can go a long way in assisting you to guard against unnecessary expenses. The app comes with some pretty helpful money management tools that can enable you to create a custom budget, track every spending, and find ways to double down on saving.

Even in terms of security, PocketGuard is top-notch as it uses bank-level security ( 256-bit SSL encryption) to keep your sensitive information safeguarded. Besides, it supports not only PIN code but also biometrics, like Touch ID and Face ID to prevent anyone from having unauthorized access to your app.

  • Helpful money management tools
  • Set up unlimited financial goals
  • Useful subscription management
  • 256-bit SSL encryption
  • Supports Touch ID and Face ID

Install: iOS and Android (free,$4.99/month for the premium version )

Managing finance doesn’t have to be a tedious affair when you have a smart assistant always ready to let you sort out the hurdles and discover ways to maximize the saving. Powered by Strands (the popular FinTech partner of more than 500 banks), the app offers straightforward access to your account balances, budgets, financial transactions, and even spending habits.

What’s more, MoneyStandards also provides pro tips to enable you to sort out the hurdles that are preventing you to achieve your financial goals. By creating a budget, you can monitor your spending based on different categories like groceries, entertainment, travel, and more. And with the integrated calendar, you will be able to plan your budget properly and also check out when your expenses happen.

  • Option to create a flexible budget and set financial goals
  • Makes it pretty easy to track expenses
  • Provides Detailed charts and graphs
  • 256-bit SSL encryption

Install: iOS (free )

With “Mobills” at your beck and call, you won’t have to spend much time to figure out where your money is going or for that matter what actually has derailed your finances. Unlike ordinary finance app, it provides in-depth graphs (including the cash flow ones) that help you have better insight into your money.

Additionally, it offers insightful reports to keep you in the know about both the upsides and downsides. Featured like credit card manager, bill payment alerts, and expenses with geolocation assist you to remain in complete control. Plus, the app has a proficient financial goals manager to prevent you from being out of track.

  • In-depth graphs and personalized reports
  • Reliable offline functionality
  • Credit card manager
  • Bill payment alerts
  • Seamless cloud synchronization

Install: iOS and Android (free, $4.99/month)

To me, better finance management starts with a custom budget set around your financial goal. And if you think that your budget planning is not up to the mark or needs astute management, Fudget can be a serious contender for your requirement. The finance app sports a pretty intuitive user-interface and makes it quite easy to make a budget keeping in mind all of your expenses and finding a way to fix overspending.

Moreover, Fudget also offers you the flexibility to let you plan your spending without any time constraints. For instance, you can make a weekly or monthly budget and then set personalized notifications to stay alerted.

  • Flexible budget planning
  • A handful of colorful themes
  • Save Data to Dropbox and restore it
  • Export your data as a CSV file
  • Super handy calculator

Install: iOS and Android (free, $3.99 for the pro version )

For the folks who think that managing finance is not one of their virtues, I would recommend them to try out Money Lover. Putting a clean user-interface and ease-of-use functionality at the forefront, the app makes sure you are able to manage your money like a pro. And that too without having to break any sweat.

Money Lover features a smart money manager that allows you to track expenses, income, bills, debts, and payments as well as debt right from one spot. You can set up recurring transactions and get notifications before due dates so that you never forget to pay your bills before the deadline. Besides, there is also a saving planner to let you follow a trusted path of saving more money.

  • Track expenses and income with ease
  • Precise financial report
  • Export your data to a CSV file
  • Saving planner
  • Built-in calculator

Install: iOS and Android (free, in-app purchases start from $0.99)

Personal Capital is an efficient portfolio tracker that you can use to keep a tab on your finances and investments. Probably the best part about this app is the retirement planner that helps you plan your retirement wisely. Moreover, it also offers you the option to talk to a financial advisor to have a personalized plan.

  • Efficient portfolio tracker
  • Sync all of your accounts in one place
  • Useful spending tracker
  • Retirement planner

Install: iOS and Android (free)

Are you yet to solve the riddles that come bundled with credit score? If your answer is in the affirmative, Credit Karma is the one you shouldn’t miss out on. The app puts entire emphasis on helping you get the most out of credit scores. You can check what hurts your credit card scores and get expert tips to get rid of the downsides.

  • Personalized approval odds
  • Boost your credit score
  • Expert tips
  • Connect with major government programs

Install: iOS and Android (free, $2.99/month)

Clarity Money leverages artificial intelligence to analyze personal finances and provide personalized suggestions to enable you to manage your finances smartly. The app also provides tips to have better control over budget and reduce overspending so that you can maximize saving. By letting you link your accounts, Clarity Money allows you to monitor your finances right from one spot. The unified accounts eliminate unnecessary steps and also simplifies the entire process of financial management.

  • Link all of your accounts in one place
  • Smart expense tracking
  • Personalized suggestions
  • Timely alerts

IOU aka I Owe You is what you should try out to prevent your debts from compounding and even running away with your precious sleep. Thanks to a set of useful features like recurring debts, a history of settled debts, and partial payments, the app makes sure you remain in sync with everything that matters. With custom alerts for overdue debts, it saves you from paying unnecessary fines.

  • Recurring debts,
  • A history of settled debts
  • Partial payments
  • Cloud synchronization

Install: iOS and Android ($3.99/month)

So, that ends this roundup of the best personal finance apps for Android and iPhone. As outlined above, these apps are flexible and allow you to manage your finance at your own pace depending on your specific goals. Featuring tools like a saving planner, spending tracker, and real-time alerts, they can go a long way in putting your finance back on track. So, which one of these finance apps are you going to choose to manage your money wisely? It would be a pleasure to know your top finance assistant.