Rating: 

Verdict: PocketMoney is a handy intermediate personal finance solution that's open enough to cover most eventualities

Pros: Add as many accounts as you like, good help pop-ups, online tutorial videos

Cons: Lack of wizards makes setting it up laborious

Version reviewed: 2.3.1

Publisher: Catamount Software

Price: £2.99

More Info: The PocketMoney website

Although Pocketmoney offers fairly comprehensive management of your finances, its real strong point is in catering for those that don‘t already have a degree in Quicken. Each time you open a new tab or screen for the first time, a pop-up appears telling you exactly what it's for - especially useful for UK users as Pocketmoney contains some Americanisms. However, this can only take you so far when you're at first skimming through the app.

After this, there are video tutorials made by the program's makers. These aren't actually built into the initial download, but since you're unlikely to setting out on the road to financial zen while on the bus, it's not much of a sacrifice. Including them would have inflated the app's size by hundreds of megabytes anyway.

Before you look at these though, Pocketmoney doesn't seem too inviting. It's got a very plain interface that's all black and white, with a layout that, while intuitive on the most superficial level, is ripe for confusion-making scenarios under the surface. Partly, this is down to the nature of the app. Personal finance comes with its own jargon set and rules, so it's something you have to get set up properly to get the most out of. While the tutorial pop-ups are useful, there are no ‘beginner's guide' wizards.

Still, invest in the video tutorials and you'll have your accounts setup in no time, while integration with Google Charts means you can add a spot of colour and shape to your otherwise figure-based finances. The interface is roughly split up into two sections, managed using two tabs at the bottom of the screen. The first is ‘accounts' where you view the balance of each of your accounts, while ‘budgets' shows you your monthly outgoings, split into things like groceries, club memberships and travel - whatever you fancy really.

You can fully customise the names of your accounts and expenses within PocketMoney, making it a blank canvas of sorts. When you're starting from scratch, setting all of this up can seem like a bit of a mammoth task, and it's where we wish there were a few speedy wizards to help out, but if you're planning on using PocketMoney extensively, the expenditure is well worth it.

Pocketmoney's not best suited to those who have years of experience using similar apps - there are probably more powerful packages out there - or those real beginners likely to be intimidated by its lack of ultra-beginner features. As long as you're somewhere in between though, it's a good buy.