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Show HN: An iOS budget app I've been maintaining since 2011

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Re: Show HN: An iOS budget app I've been maintaining since 2011

#31

Post by Priotecs »

sgt wrote: post #2

Looks great, and I was also happy to see that it has offline capabilities and will sync once you have a signal. There needs to be more apps built using this model.

Thanks! I strongly agree.

A local-first, offline-capable model turned out to be one of the best long-term decisions. It makes the app faster, more reliable, and usable in situations where connectivity is poor or nonexistent. Sync then becomes an enhancement, not a dependency.

It also changes how you design software: you optimize for resilience and data ownership instead of assuming a server is always there. I’m convinced more apps would benefit from this approach, especially for tools people rely on daily.

Re: Show HN: An iOS budget app I've been maintaining since 2011

#32

Post by Priotecs »

chrisvalleybay wrote: post #4

I love this. I also built a business like that[0]. It's super niche. I have maintained this small business for soon to be 13 years now. Most of what has worked has been maintaining great relationships with the few customers I have. I think the most important thing for me have been offering amazing support. I always reply to all e-mails right away and make it my top priority giving them my best help. Congratulations o…

Thank you — and congrats to you as well, that’s an impressive run.

I completely agree: in a small, niche business, relationships and support matter far more than scale. Replying quickly, taking users seriously, and actually helping them goes a long way over many years. It’s probably one of the few real advantages solo developers have over larger teams.

13 years in a niche is no small achievement. Best of luck to you too, and thanks for sharing your experience — it’s always encouraging to hear similar stories.

Re: Show HN: An iOS budget app I've been maintaining since 2011

#34

Post by chrisvalleybay »

Priotecs wrote: post #32
chrisvalleybay wrote: post #4

I love this. I also built a business like that[0]. It's super niche. I have maintained this small business for soon to be 13 years now. Most of what has worked has been maintaining great relationships with the few customers I have. I think the most important thing for me have been offering amazing support. I always reply to all e-mails right away and make it my top priority giving them my best help. Congratulations o…

Thank you — and congrats to you as well, that’s an impressive run. I completely agree: in a small, niche business, relationships and support matter far more than scale. Replying quickly, taking users seriously, and actually helping them goes a long way over many years. It’s probably one of the few real advantages solo developers have over larger teams. 13 years in a niche is no small achievement. Best of luck to you…

Thank you! I agree, it's so motivating to read stories like this. Thank you for sharing :)

Re: Show HN: An iOS budget app I've been maintaining since 2011

#35

Post by Priotecs »

Carrok wrote: post #27
Priotecs wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That’s a fair point. Automated bank imports sound essential at first, especially with many accounts and cards. In practice, though, I found them less useful for budgeting than expected. A bank statement tells you how much was spent and where, but not what the expense actually was. “$100 at a supermarket” could be groceries, pet food, a lawn mower, or business expenses — that context is what makes budgeting meaningful…

This was true, but today I would much rather have an llm categorize my expenses. Me doing it manually will never happen.

That’s fair — and I agree if enough context exists.

The key limitation is that a raw bank transaction usually contains very little semantic information: amount, merchant name, date. From that alone, an LLM can only guess based on patterns or prior behavior, not actually know what the expense was for.

“$100 at a supermarket” could be groceries, pet food, a household item, or something work-related. An LLM can infer probabilities once it has enough historical data and feedback, but that still means the user has to correct or confirm things at some point.

So I see LLMs as very helpful for assisting categorization (suggestions, defaults, learning over time), but they can’t fully replace intent unless the underlying data becomes richer than what bank statements provide today.

Re: Show HN: An iOS budget app I've been maintaining since 2011

#36

Post by eddyg »

Priotecs wrote: post #28
eddyg wrote: post #20

The questions that come to mind for me: 1. How long after releasing the iOS app did you start on an Android version? 2. Are you using some kind of cross-platform framework, or are the apps mostly “mobile-friendly web views”? 3. How much code is shared between the three architectures? 4. How much of the app functionality is “server based” instead of “on device”?

Good questions. - The Android version came about two years after the iOS app. iOS was always my primary focus and the main success driver. - Both apps are 100% native. No cross-platform framework and no web views. It may sound more complex, but for me it was actually simpler and more controllable that way. - There is very little shared code between platforms. Concepts and ideas are shared, but the implementations are…

Wow, that is so rare these days (and not the answers I expected)! A tip of the proverbial hat to you for doing things "the right way".

(And thanks for the reply!)

Re: Show HN: An iOS budget app I've been maintaining since 2011

#37

Post by sgt »

chrisvalleybay wrote: post #9
lloydatkinson wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That looks really cool. Seems like it could work for hotels or holiday apartments too, especially if they have smart home appliances?

Thank you! Yes, it definitely could. I haven't thought about holiday apartments.. Thank you for the good idea!

I thought holiday apartments like Airbnb would be the biggest use case when I first saw your site.

Re: Show HN: An iOS budget app I've been maintaining since 2011

#38

Post by sandinmyjoints »

Priotecs wrote: post #35
Carrok wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This was true, but today I would much rather have an llm categorize my expenses. Me doing it manually will never happen.

That’s fair — and I agree if enough context exists. The key limitation is that a raw bank transaction usually contains very little semantic information: amount, merchant name, date. From that alone, an LLM can only guess based on patterns or prior behavior, not actually know what the expense was for. “$100 at a supermarket” could be groceries, pet food, a household item, or something work-related. An LLM can infer pr…

Is there any chance it could become richer? What governs the content of credit card and bank statements? Is there anyone pushing for them to be more useful?

Re: Show HN: An iOS budget app I've been maintaining since 2011

#40

Post by VoidWhisperer »

sandinmyjoints wrote: post #38
Priotecs wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That’s fair — and I agree if enough context exists. The key limitation is that a raw bank transaction usually contains very little semantic information: amount, merchant name, date. From that alone, an LLM can only guess based on patterns or prior behavior, not actually know what the expense was for. “$100 at a supermarket” could be groceries, pet food, a household item, or something work-related. An LLM can infer pr…

Is there any chance it could become richer? What governs the content of credit card and bank statements? Is there anyone pushing for them to be more useful?

I think (granted, this is from a quick bit of research so I could be wildly wrong) - the message you see in your credit card app with a transaction is usually mainly the merchant name and location which is part of ISO 8583, so it may be a bit hard to extend it to include an arbitrary message in a way that works without merchants having to replace card reader/POS systems en-masse.
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