What’s the latest trend in computing? It’s everything, everywhere. Todo lists sync from Mac to iPhone to iPad. Photos are flying all over the cloud between our iDevices.
What about managing your money? I’m not so sure that my money management needs to go wherever I go, but having an iPad money manager means the far more expensive Mac stays at home. How do you manage money on your iPad and sync the data to a Mac?
iBank, Therefore, iPad
It wasn’t that many years ago when it seemed as if Intuit had decided the Mac didn’t have a future, and Quicken development pretty much stopped dead cold.
Just a few years later and Mac sales were booming, and Intuit had to scramble to get out a new version of Quicken.
Along the way, faithful Mac developers saw an opportunity in the making, and launched a few dozen Quicken replacements.
One of the top rated money apps is iBank, which also has an iPad version– iBank for iPad, so your money can go places (instead of just leaving).
This is the first iPad money manager that actually looks serious; almost businesslike. No. It is business like.
iBank for iPad comes with what you’ll think are Quicken-like features. Connect to thousands of banks to retrieve data from your accounts.
Right from your iPad you can update your checking account, manage credit cards and savings accounts, and even follow and manage investments.
Yes, there are options for loads, mortgages, lines of credit, even money market accounts. Downloaded data can be retained, edited, reconciled, split, fondled, but not mutilated.
Navigating iBank for iPad is fingeriffic. Touch and swipe to move about. The onscreen keyboard is always available for data entry.
This is not a checkbook balancing app. The investment tools alone put iBank for iPad in a different class.
It’s easy to review trades, positions, and history, as well as stock performance with realized and unrealized gains. Quotes come from Yahoo! Finance.
Transactions can be downloaded into iBank for iPad (or, enter numbers the old fashioned way– slowly). Reports are of a similar eye candy vein as iBank for the Mac.
Instead of clicking, though, simply touch and drag to analyze spending over a range of consecutive months. iBank lets you schedule income and bills in a budget, then compare actual spending to budgeted amounts.
To show you how serious a money management app can be on an iPad, iBank for iPad also features an extra expense called Direct Access (that’s what lets you retrieve data from your banks). Fortunately, that feature comes with a 30-day trial, so you can check to see if it’s both worthwhile and your bank is supported.
As serious as iBank for iPad is, and it’s visually stunning, there are some issues. Data sync between iPad and Mac is problematic. There’s no iCloud or Dropbox capability. Wi-Fi sync is so 1999, and some data just doesn’t seem to want to sync back to the Mac.
Mac App Store reviews are mixed. Some love it. Some hate it. So, your mileage may vary. I haven’t used the Direct Access functionality yet, and I’ve kept my usage simple– a few checking accounts, a savings account, and I’m adding stocks now. So far, so good.
About Alexis Kayhill
