Mobile savings apps: the must-know pros and cons

It’s fair to say that living through lockdown has brought about a lot of changes. Many of us are using the extra time we’ve found ourselves with to exercise more, take up new hobbies or tackle those DIY jobs that had previously gone unnoticed.

Which got us thinking, what better time to take a look a look at the way we save as well? It may be that cutting down on the commute and nights out means you have a little extra to put aside. And even if your spending habits haven’t changed that much, it’s always worth trying to do something different to save a little extra here and there.

With more and more people turning to mobile savings apps to manage their money, we thought now would be the ideal opportunity to explore their pros and cons…

Mobile savings apps: five pros

1. Control: using Artificial Intelligence technology (AI), a lot of mobile apps out there are able to analyse and categorise how you spend your money. At-a-glance graphics give you a handy snapshot of exactly where your money is going, helping you stay in control.
 
2. Auto-save: they can even squirrel away money for you too. Just set up a Direct Debit and your app will feed your savings account on a regular basis. Some savings apps will even round up purchases to the nearest pound and put the extra away for you. Every little bit counts!
 
3. Set goals: let your app know how much you want to save and it will help you get there. Many mobile savings apps have ‘mood’ settings which allow you to ramp up and down how ‘aggressively’ you want to save. Grrr.
 
4. Invest: with selected savings apps, you get the opportunity to immediately channel your savings into an investment, such as a stocks and shares ISA.
 
5. Chat: you can even link up some savings apps to your social media platform. So you can get updates about how your savings are performing.

Mobile savings apps: five cons

1. Cost: quite a few savings app come with a subscription fee – so you need to balance this against how much money you can save whilst using your app of choice.
 
2. Data: as with any app on your phone, money savings apps can eat up your data. Depending on your contract and phone’s memory size, it makes sense to double-check before downloading.
 
3. Security: it always pays to be safe on public wi-fi – but especially so when your dealing with your finances. So always use a virtual private network (VPN) and don’t connect to unsecured networks.
 
4. Choice: whilst this may sound like a good thing, there are so many different savings apps out there, each doing different things. So before choosing, make sure you know what you want from your app first and that its features match your needs.
 
5. Tech-crash: like any piece of digital kit, there’s always the chance your mobile savings app might crash or get a bug. As this particular app is dealing with your all important finances, it pays to have a Plan B in operation.

This guide is intended as a summary only and does not constitute legal or financial advice given by Leeds Building Society. No reliance should be placed on this guide. We recommend that you seek independent legal advice and/or financial advice if you have any questions or queries. Leeds Building Society does not recommend or endorse any particular app.