Review Insights · App Store
PocketGuard・Budget Planner App
PocketGuard, Inc. · 7,643 ratings · ★ 4.6
4.6
★★★★★
7,643 ratings
🎯 Build a better version
Top complaints - extracted from 56 negative reviews
Recurring phrases mined from 1-2★ reviews. The bigger the percentage, the more users have the same problem. Fix the top 2-3 in your version and you have product-market fit on day one.
1
"account"
13 negative reviews mention this · 23% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Waste or time & money. Paid for annual subscription and seemed to be great for a few months. FINALLY, got everything lined up after many hours now my bank is not updating data. This is the second time. I contacted support and they apologized and just said their t…" - twomoms42
2
"subscription"
12 negative reviews mention this · 21% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Trial Subscription Cannot Be Cancelled. Beware!! This app does not show up as having a subscription in the AppStore settings, so the free trial cannot be cancelled!!! This is horrible!" - BeamerDude
3
"free"
11 negative reviews mention this · 20% of all complaints
★★★★★ "This app is only free to download. Once downloading the app there is no way around a paywall. Where they want you to sign up for a free trial of their premium services. I just wanted the free plan. Thanks for nothing." - Caitland988
4
"transactions"
10 negative reviews mention this · 18% of all complaints
★★★★★ "So many bugs. This app is way more worse than two years ago. A lot of issues including not able to set my default not counting credit card payment, reset all my previous split transactions" - Mr.C_yoho
5
"work"
10 negative reviews mention this · 18% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Waste or time & money. Paid for annual subscription and seemed to be great for a few months. FINALLY, got everything lined up after many hours now my bank is not updating data. This is the second time. I contacted support and they apologized and just said their t…" - twomoms42
6
"been"
10 negative reviews mention this · 18% of all complaints
★★★★★ "TLDR - There are way better options, like Monarch.. When Mint went EOL, I, like many others, migrated to PocketGuard. I find budgeting very difficult and Mint worked extremely well for me. I read that PocketGuard was the most similar, and they have released updates that made it more similar.…" - Fush47
7
"trial"
9 negative reviews mention this · 16% of all complaints
★★★★★ "This app is only free to download. Once downloading the app there is no way around a paywall. Where they want you to sign up for a free trial of their premium services. I just wanted the free plan. Thanks for nothing." - Caitland988
8
"money"
9 negative reviews mention this · 16% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Waste or time & money. Paid for annual subscription and seemed to be great for a few months. FINALLY, got everything lined up after many hours now my bank is not updating data. This is the second time. I contacted support and they apologized and just said their t…" - twomoms42
9
"bank"
9 negative reviews mention this · 16% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Waste or time & money. Paid for annual subscription and seemed to be great for a few months. FINALLY, got everything lined up after many hours now my bank is not updating data. This is the second time. I contacted support and they apologized and just said their t…" - twomoms42
10
"support"
9 negative reviews mention this · 16% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Waste or time & money. Paid for annual subscription and seemed to be great for a few months. FINALLY, got everything lined up after many hours now my bank is not updating data. This is the second time. I contacted support and they apologized and just said their t…" - twomoms42
11
"doesn"
8 negative reviews mention this · 14% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Security Concerns. Within a week of opening my account, I received a security alert ping from one of my credit cards due to potential fraudulent activity. Additionally, they use Billshark to offer bill negotiation services, but that 3rd party service is very …" - Pereidenko
12
"free trial"
7 negative reviews mention this · 13% of all complaints
★★★★★ "This app is only free to download. Once downloading the app there is no way around a paywall. Where they want you to sign up for a free trial of their premium services. I just wanted the free plan. Thanks for nothing." - Caitland988
📋 All 56 negative reviews
Every 1-2★ review we fetched. Use the copy button to grab them all for your own analysis (paste into ChatGPT/Claude with a prompt like "summarize core user problems, group by theme, ignore bugs, focus on missing features").
This app is only free to download
Once downloading the app there is no way around a paywall. Where they want you to sign up for a free trial of their premium services. I just wanted the free plan. Thanks for nothing.
Trial Subscription Cannot Be Cancelled
Beware!! This app does not show up as having a subscription in the AppStore settings, so the free trial cannot be cancelled!!! This is horrible!
Unfortunately
I would give a better review if the app would allow me to access it, instead all I get is “suspicious ip address”
Waste or time & money
Paid for annual subscription and seemed to be great for a few months. FINALLY, got everything lined up after many hours now my bank is not updating data. This is the second time. I contacted support and they apologized and just said their tech was working on it. After 6 weeks decided to delete the account and start over-lost all my work. Now it happened again. Money and time lost…not good in this economy when I am trying to budget.
Don’t Bother
I never write reviews but I feel like I should warn people since the company won’t. Unless you are willing to pay for a subscription or check your account every day, they will reset everything. After every 24 hours all your data will be gone with no way to get it back. No warning either. Seems a little ridiculous for an app promoting good money habits to make people addicted to looking at balances.
wow
The fact that this app can’t successfully sync with American Express renders it completely useless for us. I’m disappointed that they don’t disclose this bug ahead of time because it compromises ease of use, which is literally the whole point of the app. I spent more than 30 bucks on a broken product. I wish I could get my money back.
App doesn’t work
Not sure if it’s a bug? But hopefully this review will pop up to the developers and they can fix it. I can’t get past the start my membership screen because it redirects me to my browser to a blank page that won’t load. Will probably have to go with another app if they don’t fix this soon.
DON’T START TRIAL
I got charged $68 at the end of my trial but cancelled my trial the day of getting it due to me not liking the overall app in general. Thankfully my bank flagged and declined it but very scammy app. DONT RECOMMEND
Awful
Doesn’t sync up right. Amounts of bills will randomly change. Doesn’t categorize spending accurately. Will have bills show up as other spending. Constantly having to edit income, spending, and budgets. Overall worst app and complete waste of money. Will not buy again
Easy fix but they’re not interested
Tried the free trial. Couldn’t see any pending transactions. Checked-my bank DOES share them with PocketGuard. Reached out to PG support and they took a long time to answer. Then they wanted screenshots of my banking app with the missing transactions. They refused to help without it. But kept sending me emails asking how they could help optimize my experience. Cancelled the trial.
No paying through the app store.
You folks do this to make it impossible to cancel.
Cancelling
Just way too complicated
Couldn’t create an account
Kept saying error.
Number registration fails
Number registration fails. Why brother creating an app and then put a complicated registration on it? Complicated in the sense it is easy for users but fails also. Glad it failed not doing business with a company like this. Don’t even download this… use excel.
Poor tech support
Approximately a year ago I bought a lifetime membership, and the application was satisfactory until the recent updates. Consequently, I was unable to use the application and asked to purchase Plus membership. Despite submitting multiple tickets, I have yet to receive a response. I am deeply disappointed and regret my decision to purchase the lifetime membership.
Beware!!They will charge you for yearly subscription even if monthly selected!!!
Do not trust them with billing
Absolute garbage
Before signing up, I was told I could just manually enter my income and expenses without having to link my bank account. When I first signed up to create a profile, it was trying to force me into linking a bank account with no other option. I thought maybe I messed up somewhere in the signing up process, so I tried to backtrack all the way to the beginning, and it wouldn’t let me. So then I deleted the profile and tried to start again, then it said that my IP address was suspicious, which makes no sense, and it wouldn’t let me create a new profile. So to hell with it!
Garbage
This software is garbage. It fails to connect either several financial institutions. Therefore, it is worthless.
Doesn’t work
I liked this for awhile until it got progressively worse -
Pending transactions don’t sync so you can’t categorize purchases for 5-7 days (at which time I forget what they are) and all my accounts randomly unsync so I’ll think I have a certain amount of money left for the month but there are purchases that aren’t loaded.
I purchased another product that works much better with 7 months left in this subscription but I can’t seem to get anyone to reply about a refund for the unused potion so I’m out $50
Pending transactions don’t sync so you can’t categorize purchases for 5-7 days (at which time I forget what they are) and all my accounts randomly unsync so I’ll think I have a certain amount of money left for the month but there are purchases that aren’t loaded.
I purchased another product that works much better with 7 months left in this subscription but I can’t seem to get anyone to reply about a refund for the unused potion so I’m out $50
nothing about this is free
there are no free options. you literally can’t continue in the app unless you pay. i should not be paying for an app that is made to help me save money.
Won’t sync USAA
I don’t know what’s happened to PocketGuard but it no longer syncs to USAA. I’ve deleted and reinstalled the account. It sees the total but won’t update any transactions anymore. Cancelling PocketGuard
Spam emails
Can’t unsubscribe
Annoying
They will send you 20 emails a day, extremely annoying and hard to turn that off
Stole My Money.
They took $70 out of my account, I reported fraud and thankfully got my money back. This app is ridiculous. Also was very pushy to get me to spend more money.
Horrible Customer Support
I liked this program when I first got it, enough to pay for a subscription. For 3 months, 1 of my institutions hasn’t been able to connect, and now a second one hasn’t connected for almost a month. The support team hasn’t said anything in well over a month, and the updates before that just said to be patient. RUN as far away from this product as you can and definitely don’t give them any money.
Can’t login
I can’t login because of the 403 error
Greedy
I’ve used this app for more than an year and when I decided to go for the free version , they decide to push customers for an upgrade so they don’t get the free version anymore . Total theft !!!
Non Responsive Support
I have had an open ticket for over 3 months now. The way they handle a situation where a credit card gets lost so you get a new one is horrible. You have to download historical transactions and reimport them. They come in a CSV. It’s a simple CSV. But their system still cannot import it correctly. And no one responds with an update that’s truthful.
No “Free” version
It’s a 7 day free trial. Online says they have a free version with less options.
App lacks common sense
I downloaded and set up the app. I created budgets and noticed my amount spent was off by my credit card payment. The app recorded my regular monthly credit card payment as income on the credit card side and recorded the expense from by bank account netting it to zero.
How stupid do you have to be to design an app like this. Don’t waste your time.
How stupid do you have to be to design an app like this. Don’t waste your time.
Doesn’t Work
To sign up it requires your phone number but after you input number it won’t continue.
Useless
Yet, another app that requires you do all these things before you can-TEST DRIVE.
It’s called a DEMO!
I don’t mind paying I just don’t want you to waste my time.
I don’t see any value in wasting my time.
Time in fact-is the whole point of the app, correct?
This is another useless app to me.
It’s called a DEMO!
I don’t mind paying I just don’t want you to waste my time.
I don’t see any value in wasting my time.
Time in fact-is the whole point of the app, correct?
This is another useless app to me.
Keeps trying to charge me even though I canceled
I canceled my subscription with the app but it keeps trying to charge me over and over and my bank keeps notifying me. Not the best experience.
Subscription required
There’s no free version which is so disappointing, a little ironic that an app to help you save and track money is just another subscription 🙄🙄
Won’t Even Let Me Sign Up
So I decided after researching that I wanted to try this app. Went and created user/password and then it asks me for my phone number to verify.
Put in my phone and click - ERROR - but it does send me the text! I just can’t do anything with the number they texted me because I can’t move on after the error message.
If it can’t get this right…yikes!
Look elsewhere.
Put in my phone and click - ERROR - but it does send me the text! I just can’t do anything with the number they texted me because I can’t move on after the error message.
If it can’t get this right…yikes!
Look elsewhere.
App error/ support no working
Since April, I haven't been able to update one of my accounts in the app. It's in a constant loop. I can't reconnect to the bank, delete it, or do anything else. Support doesn't work and they can't solve the problem.
Updated and now cannot log in. PAID USER
No way for me to contact help. I’ve used this app for almost 2 years and now I can’t login to the account that has paid for all the bells and whistles. When I tried to make a new one I also couldn’t log in to even get help. Contact me devs. The sign in button is dim and cannot be pressed either logging in or even creating a new account with Apple ID
Beware
The app said I was getting a 7 day free trial and then charged me up front and now refuse to refund me. Beware signing up for a trial if you aren’t sure you want to keep the app.
CONSTANT bugs. Save yourself the trouble.
**An update after a few months: Now, I can't even edit my transactions without an error message. This is ridiculous. I wish I could put zero stars**
I've been a user for 2-3 years and the app started off great. Over the past year and a half, they keep rolling out updates that consistently make the app function worse and worse.
The sync to my bank is no longer working (it now picks up one account but not the other). It will randomly change the labels for my budgets. I'm not sure it's even worth keeping at this point.
Save yourself the headache and choose a different app.
I've been a user for 2-3 years and the app started off great. Over the past year and a half, they keep rolling out updates that consistently make the app function worse and worse.
The sync to my bank is no longer working (it now picks up one account but not the other). It will randomly change the labels for my budgets. I'm not sure it's even worth keeping at this point.
Save yourself the headache and choose a different app.
Recent July update is bad
The app is no longer working for me since I updated it yesterday. I was going to pay for a subscription but cancelling now bc I can’t even use the app!
Constantly changing categories
Liked the app, good setup, easy to use. I could see using it long term if it worked properly. Attempted to use for two months, and transactions that I recategorized CONSTANTLY revert back to previous category. Even after waiting for them to go from pending to posted, transactions would still revert to previous category, even when rules were not instituted. Impossible to use as a budgeting app when some transactions had to be categorized 3 or 4 times. Refund process has been difficult.
Transactions disappear
Liked the trial enough to pay for a year. But in the week since entries are disappearing leaving me to have to go through the app and re-enter/sort bills more than once.
So many bugs
This app is way more worse than two years ago. A lot of issues including not able to set my default not counting credit card payment, reset all my previous split transactions
Great concept- terrible customer service
Had high hopes for this app as I like the easy adaption but I was unable to log in on my laptop to my account as it would only clock and I was also unable to get my joint accounts with my husband as primary integrated into the app. Emailed several times for customer service assistance with screenshots but went days without a response and no help. I feel like a simple call would have rectified this but going back and forth by email for weeks isn’t helpful. Will be canceling the app and requesting a refund from Visa due to lack of customer support.
Security Concerns
Within a week of opening my account, I received a security alert ping from one of my credit cards due to potential fraudulent activity. Additionally, they use Billshark to offer bill negotiation services, but that 3rd party service is very challenging to cancel. Finally, the app doesn’t offer a great layout for all of your finances if you split bills with other members of household , and makes it difficult to track transfers between accounts. Would not recommend.
TLDR - There are way better options, like Monarch.
When Mint went EOL, I, like many others, migrated to PocketGuard. I find budgeting very difficult and Mint worked extremely well for me. I read that PocketGuard was the most similar, and they have released updates that made it more similar.
UNFORTUNATELY, PocketGuard has several fundamental flaws that make it so irritating to use that I stopped using it entirely and my finances suffered as a result. I’ll start with the good.
The good: you can set budgets and roll them over into the next month. This rollover feature was not an offering when I started using it, somehow. You can also now set rules to categorize transactions automatically which was not the case when I started using it; I initially had to recategorize every individual transaction if PocketGuard thought it belonged in a different budget. (This is still the case if the payment issuer name changes but I can’t really fault them for that.)
The bad: one of pocketguard’s selling points is its bill tracking feature. Unfortunately, this feature is actually a drawback, as whenever PocketGuard says something is a bill, it breaks it out from your budget entirely and does not let you set a monthly budget for it. This is fine for rent, but it is utterly broken for things like quarterly water bills, when the app says “scheduled for [month]” and does not count a portion of that quarterly or yearly bill towards your monthly budget. Instead, when you hit that month, suddenly you’re completely over budget because your entire quarterly water bill or annual Strava subscription or property tax is counted towards that month alone. Many times I tried to figure out a way to make this feature work for me, but it just does not. It is also a pain for the purpose of tracking things like streaming subscriptions, because even if you set an entertainment budget and categorize Spotify as entertainment, the app then DOUBLE COUNTS that recurring payment as a) a bill and b) part of your set entertainment budget. It also does not automatically deduct recurring payments such as these from your budget so that you can easily see the actual amount you have free to spend. Most of these issues have been immediately fixed for me by moving to Monarch instead. I only wish I had done so before my annual PocketGuard subscription had pinged.
UNFORTUNATELY, PocketGuard has several fundamental flaws that make it so irritating to use that I stopped using it entirely and my finances suffered as a result. I’ll start with the good.
The good: you can set budgets and roll them over into the next month. This rollover feature was not an offering when I started using it, somehow. You can also now set rules to categorize transactions automatically which was not the case when I started using it; I initially had to recategorize every individual transaction if PocketGuard thought it belonged in a different budget. (This is still the case if the payment issuer name changes but I can’t really fault them for that.)
The bad: one of pocketguard’s selling points is its bill tracking feature. Unfortunately, this feature is actually a drawback, as whenever PocketGuard says something is a bill, it breaks it out from your budget entirely and does not let you set a monthly budget for it. This is fine for rent, but it is utterly broken for things like quarterly water bills, when the app says “scheduled for [month]” and does not count a portion of that quarterly or yearly bill towards your monthly budget. Instead, when you hit that month, suddenly you’re completely over budget because your entire quarterly water bill or annual Strava subscription or property tax is counted towards that month alone. Many times I tried to figure out a way to make this feature work for me, but it just does not. It is also a pain for the purpose of tracking things like streaming subscriptions, because even if you set an entertainment budget and categorize Spotify as entertainment, the app then DOUBLE COUNTS that recurring payment as a) a bill and b) part of your set entertainment budget. It also does not automatically deduct recurring payments such as these from your budget so that you can easily see the actual amount you have free to spend. Most of these issues have been immediately fixed for me by moving to Monarch instead. I only wish I had done so before my annual PocketGuard subscription had pinged.
I like the concept but app doesn’t work
My accounts will not stay linked to the app for whatever reason and it’s becoming very annoying and tiresome to keep attempting to link them
Free trial not long enough
So my last app that I used for years was YNAB. I took a break from them and I came back this year and they gave me a one month free trial.
It’s not that I’m tight on a budget however I have autism spectrum disorder and ADHD. On top of that I’m also a student. So this little one free trial of week was not long enough for me to be able to test out the app properly to see if I wanted the premium edition. SMH.
I guess I’ll try out a couple of other apps that were recommended. Also, CapitalOne doesn’t sync up with their app.
It’s not that I’m tight on a budget however I have autism spectrum disorder and ADHD. On top of that I’m also a student. So this little one free trial of week was not long enough for me to be able to test out the app properly to see if I wanted the premium edition. SMH.
I guess I’ll try out a couple of other apps that were recommended. Also, CapitalOne doesn’t sync up with their app.
Keeps reverting categories back
I’ve been using this app for months now and loved it, still do but recently like one of the reviews said I noticed the app not running smoothly once I got the yearly subscription. Had it on a week to week subscription, also why the hundred type of subscriptions? Going back to my point I recently logged out of my account because for some reason some charges were showing twice which was a clear mistake. I for some reason couldn’t delete them. I changed the date that it was posted and it wouldn’t move to the edited date I put. When I logged back in it fixed the double charging issue, BUT it converted all my categories back to the old ones! It’s a headache having to deal with it now! Again I really like the app and still want to hang on to it just cause I’m so used to it but I’m currently looking for a better app to use it’s just too much at this point.
Frequent sync problems
About a third of the time I click into the app, I see that there’s a sync problem and my bank account is no longer connected. Steps I take to fix this don’t work; I just have to wait for it to magically fix itself. I’ve been in contact with support twice, and they’ve never gotten back to me. Super frustrating because besides this fundamental flaw, the app is great.
+ 6 more in the clipboard copy
Sentiment summary
91%
Positive (4-5★)
4%
Neutral (3★)
6%
Negative (1-2★)