A developer’s guide to building an expense tracking app like Mint and Expensify

Facing a cash crunch? You’re probably not alone, around 55% of Americans do not budget their finances, in the same situation. Even 56% of respondents in another survey admit that they didn’t know how much money they spent last month.?

The wave of the digital revolution has ignited a range of tech innovations & tools to simplify our lives. The rise of Fintech validates the role of high-tech finance solutions, whether it’s about online banking or stock market investments, they’ve got you covered with all sorts of financial needs. Expense trackers arose to gain prominence when they simplified the traditional tactics of budgeting for modern & tech-savvy users.?

Fintechs who're desirous to invest in expense tracking platforms shall need a descriptive guide for product development. Here is our article on the ins & outs of building a robust expense tracking app like Mint & Expensify.?

Further to the budgeting survey report by The Penny Hoarder, people who earn less than $50,000 in a year are less likely to budget their expenses, notably from the age group of 25-44 years who’re not so fond of using expense trackers to check out daily spendings.

Out of those who’re active users of expense trackers, 42% are using Mint for monitoring their expenses, followed by 17% for EveryDollar, 8% for Mvelopes, 4% for YNAB, & remaining 3% for Personal Capital.??

Top Features to cover in Expense tracking app development?

Before you start your journey to find the right app development service provider to build your dream finance app for expense tracking, you need to understand your requirements and the features you want to make it stand out from other apps. Let's brief you on the key features of expense tracking apps like Expensify & Mint:

1. Securing data

Security comes on top of the priority list when it comes to your sensitive details. Every programmer working on an expense-tracking app development project must be serious about this specific functionality.?

It's a critical feature of an expense app that enables users to build next-level security. In case a user's device gets stolen or damaged, expense tracking is secure enough to retrieve account details & information.

2. Generating reports?

The next crucial feature in our expense-tracking app development list is report generation. It helps users to create balance sheets, expense & revenue reports, profit & loss statements, and more.?

One can use this feature to get detailed reports of budgeting & inventory management.?

Get our exclusive Fintech app development guide with all the critical steps of building a product from scratch.?

3. Receipt managing & organizing

Another must-have feature of every expense tracker is payment receipts management. Whenever they process any payment offline or online & want to save the receipts for further records, they can do it on an expense tracking app like Mint.?

They only have to click a photo of the receipt each they send or receive payments and keep it under the right category to further get a reminder for the next time.

An expense tracking saves all bills & receipts in the cloud, which a user can access whenever they want to.?

Want to know how cloud computing works? Read our article.?

4. Inventory Management?

Most often we get to realize that you're running out of funds at the last moment. Lack of inventory management is a big reason behind this hassle.?

If you're working on an expense tracking app development project then you must consider the advantage of using a feature that enables users to track products & get alerts whenever they run out of inventory.

One can also keep a check on available items or services & analyze if they're useful or not.

5. Process automation?

Expense trackers like Mint and Expensify are equipped with a functionality that automates the methods of creating, sharing, & analyzing expense reports so that users won't have to do it manually.

It's time-saving for businesses who want to get custom alerts for any product or service their customers are looking for. It further helps them to boost client relationships, monitor cash flow, &?

Moreover, these automated alerts build client relationships, boost sales, and increase cash flow.

6. AI-based Insights And Data Analytics

The blend of AI & data analytics can do wonders for the expense tracking app. Developers must work on these technologies to bring ready-made reports, charts, graphs, smart visuals, & other integrated add-ons for tracking their expenses.

Users can make use of such reports to create & examine insights. It can be used as a default tool to determine the success of the business or evaluate the areas for improvement.

7.? AI-powered Robo-Advisors

The application of conversational AI is not limited to traditional chatbots, which is common in Fintech in eCommerce, and has now reached beyond banking in insurance & finances.?

Expense tracking apps feature smart Robo-advisors driven by AI, to impart financial advice to the customers so that they can manage their expenses more effectively.

Such AI-based Robo-advisors generate algorithmic solutions to let users evaluate, monitor, & improve their future investments.

8. Deals And Offers

Expense trackers present value-added services & offers to users. Customers get the best deals on products or services they need based on their preferences.?

It outlines special discounts & offers to the premium customers so that users can make the cost-effective decision with their expenses at the time of purchases. The plus point of event-tracking app development comes when users see it as a money-saving opportunity.?

9. Recurring payments?

When it turns frustrating to track multiple payments simultaneously, budgeting apps like Mint are big saviors for anyone.?

Finance trackers mark recurring bills & payment transactions if they happen too frequently. It takes action to look after recurring expenses & further automate the entire workflow of invoices, bills, expenses, & more.

10. Tracking travel expenses

It's a prominent feature to include in your expense tracking app where users can do the budgeting either for their own travel expenses or for the business trips of the staff members.

One needs to add the trip destination & get a detailed chart of estimated expenses with affordable resources to plan a budget-friendly vacation or business tour.

11. Agreements with Vendors

Developing an expense tracking app like Mint & Expensify will benefit your users to find the details of vendors they're planning to associate with & also, categorize them accordingly.?

In addition to this, expense tracking app users also get options to keep records of all the payments they make with all details of the amount & vendor to whom the payment is made.

12. Budget Monitoring

Expense tracking app development is meant for smart budgeting that actually marginalizes the areas of income & expenses.?

It brings a complete picture of their earnings & spending so that users can keep a balance b/w the two. It guides users to profound insights into the funds they can use for a specific expense & amount they need to save.?

In this way, event tracking app users get clarity over their budget & learn the patterns of their spending so that they can stick to a specific budget, staying away from unwanted expenses.??

Innovate robust Fintech solutions with Hie HQ, a product partner for startups & big business

Building an expense tracking app like Mint & Expensify is a great idea for every Fintech startup, bank, & financial institution. The innovation of such apps is a game changer for finance businesses and customers who deserve a convenient & secure way to do budgeting for personal expenses and all sorts of financial investments they do on stock trading apps like Robinhood.??

Ensure the success of your expense-tracking app development project with a team of highly dedicated product engineers at Hie HQ, a leading name in the industry. Our phenomenal excellence is a note of our dominance in product designing, product development, product transformation, & business transformation.

As our motto follows, we co-build products together to grow together. Our expertise in product development & startup-centric approach brings 100% satisfaction to every project we deliver to our valued clients from diverse industries.?

Interested to know more about our industry-specific services & products? Check our portfolio section to find our featured project today. And get in touch with us if you find us right to discuss your product idea!