TUAW First Look: Cha-Ching Touch

Version 1.01 is going to fix the long time that it takes to enter a transaction..

http://www.midnightapps.com/chaching/iphone/video/15secondsorless.mp4

Also, tags are gone but categories are customizable. I see this as a non-issue. categories will help tighten your budget for example if you have a dining budget and you tag 3 transactions food, dining, and dinner but you don't have dinner set up for your 'dining out' budget it doesn't get counted.. with categories you don't have this issue.

I thought the coolest thing about Cha-ching was Tags because I could take care of my budget in the simple way that I want to, rather than having 50 different categories that don't actually help me budget.

But alas, Cha-ching Touch has no tags. I sycn it with the desktop 2 Beta, and Touch doesn't recognize the budgets I made in Cha-ching desktop because desktop uses tags and touch uses categories.

Categories ARE in 2 beta, but I can't remove all 50 of them I won't use, and I can't apply them to multiple transactions at once, and I can't see the point of them over tags.

Hmmm. I use the desktop version so the big thing for was sync. I don't want to download transactions from the bank. I want to enter them myself and then make sure they match the bank. Cha-ding works great for that. As to the speed of entering transactions, perhaps my expectations are just different but so far I haven't really found it to be difficult or take too much time.

I think the main appeal is that this is an iPhone app that interfaces with a desktop version of the same software. Mint is OK, but it's limited to the US only. And for all its faults, Cha-Ching is good at what it does: simple money tracking and budgeting.

Huh. I found it useful and interesting. I own Cha-Ching for the Mac and was considering purchasing Cha-Ching Touch, so reading this review has helped me work toward a decision.

After reading this review I will be sticking with pennies. For the sole fact that it is so fast to punch in stuff. Every downfall pennies has is made up in the fact I can to the one thing I want it todo incredably fast...

I hate that I haven't been able to find something better than plain old Quicken. I was hoping one of the browser based apps would work, but integrating with bank accounts always seems to be an issue. I don't like the app to edit my transactions, I just want to see what my bank says cleared so I can reconcile it. Cha-Ching seems to be getting closer, but they have a long to go yet.

I also found Cha-Ching Touch a little time consuming to enter data and a little difficult to navigate when editing accounts. There's also no way to set up a starting balance.

I use Ledger and feel it is far supirior than most of the finance apps out there because it's very simple and organic. It uses the debits and credits system which is confusing at first but very useful in the long run. Unfortunately at the moment it is missing two key feateurs that a lot of people want which is reporting and budgeting.

I use my desktop to manage all my accounts but when I am at a store, I need a way to say how much can I spend? I was holding out for Cha Ching based on the screen shots. I bought it immediately realized is wasn't the mobile register I was looking for and found Accounts and Spend which I'm evaluating now. Spend's color scheme is terrible, but I'm finding it is flexible with budgets but simple for transactions and I'm leaning that way.

If it doesn't connect directly to my bank accounts, it's too much hassle. As pretty as it might be, I just know I won't use it.