Despite all the benefits of using cloud-based personal finance apps, such as syncing information across devices and pulling data directly from financial institutions, some people still prefer a more old-fashioned and manual approach to managing their money. Checkbook (free; $2.99 for Pro version) is an iPhone app that caters to this crowd. It's a straightforward app, with no account signup and no integrations with your banking data, that lets you add income and expense line items either as they occur, or on specific dates.
What you don't get from offline finance apps such as Checkbook are the conveniences of automated expense logging and having those expenses appear on all your various devices (tablet, smartphone, online account, etc.). Checkbook comes with all the right tools for basic money management, though it doesn't have anything to help you create budgets or savings plans. If you think of it like an electronic checkbook ledger that you can use for all your accounts, it will live up to your expectations.
When you download Checkbook, the app first asks you to create some accounts. Accounts can be checking accounts, credit cards, or whatever you want. The app asks for the starting balance in each account, and that's pretty much all the setup you have to do.
From there, you simply log expenses and income either as they occur or on specific dates that they will occur. You might also log past expenses and income that haven't cleared with your financial institution yet. You should not, however, log transactions that have already occurred (that is to say, back data from previous weeks and months) because Checkbook asks for your starting balance at the present. Without this back data, you won't be able to get a historical look at where and how you've spent your money.
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The Mint iPhone app (our Editors' Choice), on the other hand, is a more-sophisticated system that automatically pulls information from several months back to help you understand your existing spending habits. That's not Checkbook's game, though.
Checkbook gives you ample tools for classifying your expenses and income. If a classification doesn't exist, you can add it. And if the preexisting list of options is filled with irrelevant choices, you can delete those.
The app has a feature, too, for recurring expenses. If you pay your rent once a month, you can set up an automatic entry for the first of each month. If you get paid every two weeks, you can establish an automatic income entry for that as well. You can't, however, set up a payment for twice a month (a lot of people get paid on the 15th and last day of the month), which is a minor feature I'd like to see added.
Other great features in Checkbook include the ability to export data (CSV, QIF, HTML) and select your currency. (One of Mint's shortcomings is that it's only supported in the U.S.) And thank goodness you can optionally add a passcode to this app. All personal finance apps should have a passcode option, and users should turn it on. While most personal finance apps don't directly store any account information that would allow a hacker to get at your funds, you still wouldn't want anyone to learn where you bank, where you shop, how often you withdraw money, and so forth.
I don't want to get hung up too much on Checkbook's visual design but it's kind of homely. I'm a big believer in the concept that good-looking apps are better to use than ugly ones because we enjoy using them. Checkbook isn't hideous, but a fresh coat of paint would go a long way toward improving the overall experience.
Mint, our Editors' Choice among iPhone apps for personal finance, simply goes above and beyond what most other apps offer. Mint automatically tracks all your income and expenditures by connecting directly (and safely) to your financial accounts, and then it adds a great set of tools for correcting or adjusting your line items as needed. But if you'd rather not connect an app to financial institutions directly and instead want to manually reconcile your accounts, Checkbook is very good option.
If you're looking for an iPhone app to manually reconcile your checkbook and other financial accounts, the free Checkbook is a straightforward option. It won't wow you with amazing features or design, but it will help you keep an eye on your income and expenses.
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