2025 Pocket Guard Review – CNET

If you’re looking Budget appyou may come across a pocket guard in your search. It has been around since 2015, and has received a lot of praise from Android and iPhone users, and has gained a lot of fans over the years.

Like Rocket MoneyPocketGuard is perfect for the average budgeter with a variety of features, ease of use and affordable prices. What stands out most is its ability to have debt planning. Repayment of unpaid balance.

Is PocketGuard the perfect budgeting tool for you? We took it for a test drive to help you decide.

How does a pocket guard work?

PocketGuard works like most budgeting apps: you can link using your checks, savings, investments, credit card accounts Lattice Also, when importing data in seconds without sharing your account number or sensitive information.

PocketGuard automatically sorts some of the transactions into spending categories, but I had to sort many of my transactions manually. But that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Take your time Think about where your cash is heading It can help you manage your money better.

You can also label your recurring fees, set savings goals, and implement all the regular budgeting measures that come with most other budget apps.

PocketGuard’s most valuable feature is its debt payoff tool. This will help you create a payment plan, calculate how much you will pay, and track your progress.

I was disappointed that the app didn’t encourage me to see if it could be put aside further to pay off my credit card balance. If you need an app that will challenge you to become a better budgeter, and to keep you accountable for your goals – you may consider Cleo.

What we like

• Debt Reward Plan: Debt can be overwhelming, and PocketGuard can help you create strategies to tackle your own. Many budget apps do not offer this feature.
• Extra security layer: PocketGuard requires unique pins to access your account. It also provides face and fingerprint recognition to sign in.
• Bill negotiation service: PocketGuard will automatically try to earn regular invoice savings like cable, home security, and mobile phones. If the company successfully lowers the bill, it will require 40% of your savings. (Rocket Money They also provide this service and charge between 30% and 60% of their first year savings. )
• Personal Finance Education: The app includes a free 20-minute self-guided tutorial that covers a variety of approaches to budgeting, debt management, goal setting, and more. The information is pretty basic, but it can be useful for anyone in the early stages of creating a money plan.

Things we didn’t like

• Limited exam period: PocketGuard’s free trial period is only 7 days, and it’s not time to check if the app is right for your needs. If you decide to pay for the app, we recommend that you first select the monthly billing option. It’s more expensive at $12.99 a month, but I don’t want to lock myself up to $74.99 a year without being convinced that I’ll actually use the app. PocketGuard has a free version, but it’s quite bare bones.
• There is no subscription cancellation service: This app can view repeat subscriptions and provide instructions to cancel them, but you will need to do legwork. Rocket MoneyMeanwhile, you can identify and cancel your subscription.
• Unknown Data Privacy and Marketing Policy: PocketGuard said: “We make exclusive money by not selling your data, not displaying ads, and selling subscriptions and better services.” However, our privacy policy includes a disclaimer that uses financial information to generate offers for products and services from marketing partners. When I started using the app, I had to ask other websites not to track my activity.

Is the pocket guard safe?

PocketGuard checks all boxes when it comes to keeping your data safe. The company uses 256-bit SSL encryption and is taking it a step beyond many other budgeting apps by asking them to create unique pins for account access. You can also enable facial and fingerprint recognition for an additional layer of protection.

Who is the best pocket guard?

PocketGuard is a solid pick if you juggle your credit card balances and want an easy way to create a payment plan and monitor your progress.

An alternative to the PocketGuard budget app

If you are considering PocketGuard, be sure to check out Rocket Moneythis was the best comprehensive budget app CNET editor choice pick for 2024. RocketMoney is equally easy to use, low price, and offers all the basic budgeting features you need. It offers free subscription cancellation service and credit score monitoring, but does not have PocketGuard’s debt payoff tool.

Check us A summary of the best budgeting apps For other options worth exploring.