Back
Cashmonki is a mobile expense and budget tracker with the ability to scan and record details captured from photos of receipts.
finance
mobile
ux
Product
iOS application
Contribution
Product design
Feature development
Design system guidelines
shipped
Established a budget management feature with a push for user control and viewability
(01) what
Cashmonki was initially developed with one feature: users could add and track transactions by either manually inputting details or automatically filling them in through scanned receipts, which doubled as a way to set the app apart from others.
When we explored expanding app functionality, it became clear that the next step was to develop a budget management feature. This meant adding the ability to set and track limits over a certain period of time.
(02) why
As a chronic tracker of my personal budget and expenses, from spreadsheets to mobile apps, I have found that in similar apps, budget management provided a deeper insight and better forecast of expenditure.
The ideal personal finance management app would have a dedicated space for budget allocations, giving users a full overview of spending habits and allowing them to plan ahead.
60% of consumers
didn’t know how much money they spent the previous month, according to a 2020 Intuit study.
Almost 1 in 2 people
have expressed concern regarding their personal finances, based on a 2024 study by Ally Financial.
(03) But
We realized while developing this feature that each of us had different priorities and definitions for what “budget management” meant.
Our lead wanted to track specific purchasing habits over shorter timeframes and fixed periods for travel. I wanted to reprioritize my spending habits by comparing broader expenses against budget allocations over a longer range of time.
To account for both scenarios and more besides, we explored the option of setting budgets across an adjustable time range.
(04) how
When we conducted a competitor analysis, we noticed that similar apps don’t allow for setting budgets by day or week, instead fixed on a per-month basis.
Another challenge we faced with implementing this approach was accessing budgets across different periods. We had to answer the question, “What would a daily budget look like on a weekly or monthly basis?”
(05) end
Since categorizing budgets by time period along with transaction type would introduce too much complexity within a mobile screen, we decided to simplify the budget view to: Daily, Weekly, Monthly, Quarterly and Yearly. From there, users can then navigate between their desired range of time for a full overview of budget allocations within the period they set.
To answer the question of what a budget would look like under a different time period, we added an option to calculate budgets across all periods (or not!), giving users full control over their budgets and how they are viewed.