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Bottom line: Honeydue is a budgeting app that makes it easy for partners to share financial information and work toward mutual financial goals.
iOS app rating | 4.5/5 stars |
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Android app rating | 3.3/5 stars |
Cost | Free to download and use |
Imagine you're looking at the budgeting app you share with your partner. You happen to notice a debit for $75 and wonder where it was spent. If you're using the Honeydue app, you can send an emoji or chat to your partner, asking about the mystery debit. Just as quickly, your partner can respond, letting you know where the money went. Honeydue not only allows partners to see what's going on with their money, but it may also cut down on money-related financial misunderstandings by allowing both people to ask real-time questions.
One of the more interesting features associated with Honeydue is the ability to control what your partner can see. While the app is meant to increase financial transparency, you have the option of choosing whether your partner can see it all (balances and transactions) or see balances only (transactions would be your little secret). You can also set it up so your partner can see nothing at all from a particular account.
Blocking access to certain information may make sense in some situations. Let's say you and a sibling inherit rental property and want to share the expenses and income related to the property. Honeydue would allow each of you to privately maintain your own bank accounts, but share any information related to property expenses.
There's no desktop version of Honeydue, but it's easy to download the app to both iOS and Android devices. Once one person has downloaded the app, they send an invitation to their partner, asking them to sign on. Then, it's just a matter of setting up a budget and linking bank accounts.
The app also allows you to link up to credit card accounts and investment accounts. In addition to linking to your bank account(s), Honeydue provides access to a joint bank account in case you and your partner decide to bank together. The joint account, FDIC insured by Sutton Bank, comes with a debit card. There's no minimum deposit required, no monthly fees, and free instant activity alerts.
The Honeydue app is broken down into three sections. There's one for your individual expenses, one for your partner's expenses, and one for shared expenses. There's also a shared calendar for bill reminders. Next to each bill reminder is how much has been budgeted for that expense. Once the calendar is set up, it will send alerts to both you and your partner when a bill due date is coming up.
One of the best features of the app is the ability to enter a spending limit in each budget category. You can even request a notification once you've hit a certain percentage of that limit. For example, if your monthly spending limit for entertainment is $200 and you request a notification be sent once you've spent 75% of that amount, you'll receive an alert once you've hit $150.
Honeydue is one of the most attractive budgeting apps for couples. Here are a few of the reasons why.
For a budget-minded couple, paying for another subscription may undermine their budgeting goals. Honeydue is free to download and use.
You don't have to watch the app like a hawk to know when you're getting close to a spending limit because Honeydue lets you know when it's time to slow down.
With most couples, one person manages the bulk of the finances. Honeydue allows people to budget better as a couple. Not only do they get to make decisions together, but neither is left alone without the know-how they need to take over bill paying.
Honeydue is a strong budgeting app, but not perfect. Here are a few things that could be improved.
It's easy to imagine that some users would rather pay a small annual fee to use the app rather than deal with the visual clutter of advertising.
One of the complaints regarding Honeydue is that there's a bit of a learning curve involved in using the app. Unfortunately, the bulk of support comes from an online forum as opposed to a dedicated customer service department.
The convenience of a desktop version of Honeydue would make budgeting and bill paying more comfortable for users who don't particularly enjoy taking care of business via their smartphone.
If you want an app that helps you save money: Pocketguard is an alternative that offers to negotiate with companies to lower your monthly bills. It also lets you know how much you'll have left each month so you can make plans for those funds. But you may want to stick with Honeydue if you want to share your budget with a partner. Pocketguard is not designed with couples in mind.
If you want an app that simplifies budgeting: Mvelopes is an alternative that allows you to set up an easy "envelope" budgeting system. It also keeps you on track by indicating how much you have left in each envelope. But you may want to stick with Honeydue if you're looking for a free app. While Mvelopes does offer a free version, you'll pay $5.99 per month for their most comprehensive plan.
Honeydue is free to download and use.
Couples who share some bills, but not all. Also, partners looking for a way to stay on the same page financially will likely find this app useful.
Budgeting together means one person does not control 100% of the purse strings. Not only can this be helpful to a relationship, but budgeting together means one person can take over if the other becomes seriously ill or dies.
The biggest downside to Honeydue is definitely the need to sit through advertisements.
This biggest benefit is being able to track what's going on with your bank, credit card, and investment accounts all in one place.
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