Including how safe is Emma?
If you are looking for a money budgeting app that helps you manage your finances on your phone then have a look at Emma. The Emma app is an all in one place app that aims to help you save money.
There are loads of budgeting apps on the market, so why is this one so special? Well, Emma is really easy to use and is a great tool to help you keep track of your savings.
Download the Emma App for free here on Apple or Android phones*
If you are looking for other budgeting apps then have a look at our huge post here called The 7 Best Budgeting Apps in the UK Right Now.
If you are struggling with money right now then have a look at:
103 Frugal Living Tips That Will Save You Thousands in 2021 – This runs through all the ways that we save money as a family. It includes everything from food to saving money on household bills.
No Money for Food? This is What You Do When You Really Have No Money To Feed your Family – If you are struggling then this post helps you to find the right people that can help.
Money Saver: This is How we Saved Over One Thousands Pounds in a Year – If saving is your goal then read here how we save money ourselves.
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What is Emma app?
Emma is a money management app that uses open banking. This means that you can link all your bank accounts to the app and see all your accounts in one handy place.
Is the Emma app safe to use?
Yes, the Emma app is safe to use. They are registered with the Financial Conduct Authority and unlike a bank, don’t hold your money. They show all your accounts in one place and try to advise you on ways you can save money.
That does mean that they are handling a lot of your financial data though. This done using bank-level security and they only have read-only access. This means that they can’t move any money or do anything without your permission, pretty much like a retail bank.
Download the Emma App for free here on Apple or Android phones*
Emma app features
The Emma app is pretty impressive. It offers a lot of useful features that can really help you save money.
Money dashboard – This is where you can see all your accounts in one simple app. You connect everything from your credit cards to your debit and investment accounts. What we like is that it’s really simple to add the accounts and looking over your whole portfolio really helps to keep your money in check.
Spending habits – What we like the most is that you can set Emma up however you want to manage your spending habits. You can have the app look from payday to payday to see how much you are spending and what on or do it weekly. Whatever fits in with your current financial plans.
Monthly budgeting – The Emma app can help you to budget. It looks over what money is coming in, what you are currently spending, and works out how much you can save and how much needs to go to your bills.
Manage subscriptions – A great thing about the Emma app is that it tracks wasteful subscriptions and lets you know which one’s you need to cancel.
Custom categories – You can set the app to sort out all your finances in handy categories so you can quickly see how much you are spending on lunch or on your bills.
Spending tracker – The app can go into real detail on what you’ve spent or saved. You can really dig down into the data if you want to.
Bill saving – The app reviews all your bills and can suggest places where you could be saving money. This could be on your mobile phone bill, energy bill, or insurance.
Set saving goals – You can set saving goals and Emma can help you reach them. The app can suggest how much you can afford to save as well as how much you need to save to reach your goal.
Bank fees – The app can show you quickly which accounts are incurring charges.
Cashback – One plus is that they offer cashback on any offers you take up within the app. So for example, if you use their switching service for your energy bills then you’ll receive some money back.
Friend mode – They have a mode that means you can show a friend how the app works without showing them your account details. They also have a great referral scheme if you recommend a friend.
Download the Emma App for free here on Apple or Android phones*
How does the Emma app work?
If you haven’t already, download the Emma App for free here on Apple or Android phones*. The app will then talk you through how to add all your accounts to it.
You can even start with just one if you prefer until you really get the feel for it. if you are used to online banking then this will be really easy for you. If you’ve never used a banking app before then you may need a little help to get started as you do need to enter in your bank account details.
The whole idea of the app is for it to help you keep track of your money and plan for the future. Think of it like a fitness app tracker. It’s there to keep you on track and informed of your progress.
By adding all your accounts, the Emma app can really see where you are financially and help to guide you depending on your goals. It can even look at historical financial data if you want to dig deeper into your own financial history.
Can anyone use Emma?
The Emma app really is for anyone that needs help to manage their money. Don’t worry if you aren’t overly technical as the app is really easy to use and their in-app help guide lays out step-by-step how each feature works.
It does what it says on the tin really. Once loaded, you add your accounts and you can set your goals and it will help you to reach them.
We use it more for the dashboard and to see all our accounts in one place. It has helped us to save money though especially on our energy bills.
Download the Emma App for free here on Apple or Android phones*
How much does Emma cost?
Emma is free to use for everyone but does offer an Emma Pro version. This can be charged monthly or annually. Emma Pro gives you extra features which include custom categories, data exports and added saving goals. It currently costs £59.99 a year. We currently don’t use the pro version and think the normal free version works well enough.
Why use the Emma app?
We like the Emma app as it is really easy to use and doesn’t take any brainpower to work out what is going on with our money as the app works it all out for us.
They support loads of the major retail banks including American Express, TransferWise, and Ulster Bank which some of the other budgeting apps don’t.
Download the Emma App for free here on Apple or Android phones*
Investment wise they support all the big names but don’t currently support FreeTrade, Vanguard or MoneyBox.
We use it mainly for its budgeting capabilities really. It lays out really simply what you’ve spent in categories and you can set these for whatever time period you like.
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We set ours over a month and can clearly see that at times we’ve done over our “takeaway budget” a few times but are under on our “petrol budget”. All these details can be pulled up quickly. The app can also give you an average spend looking at past data so you can quickly see how much you “normally” spend on certain items.
The Daily Balance tool is also really useful. Because it syncs all your accounts, you can quickly see what is actually in your account. We set up a morning notification so it bings straight to my phone.
Laura x
If you enjoyed this post and would like some more money saving ideas, then head over to the saving my family money section here on Savings 4 Savvy Mums where you’ll find over 50 money saving tips to help you save your family more. There’s enough tips to help you save over £300 a month! You could also pop over and follow my family saving Pinterest boards for lots more ideas on how to stop spending and save more; Money Saving Tips for Families and Managing Money for Families.
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