Mint’s New Android App: A User Review

The new Mint.com app for Android has just been released, and it’s everything you’d expect from the team that brought the intuitive navigation and easily-understandable visuals of Mint to the web. The new app is easy—easy to learn and easy to use!

And to prove it, they tested it on me—a 20-something writer that’s techie enough to have customized an old PC but luddite enough to have never used one of those new-fangled Android tablets.

And I have to say that I’m impressed! The new app brings all the power of Mint.com to the Android tablet, allowing you to quickly understand the story of your finances without wasting your time. This is tops for me, because I need to take charge of my finances but I don’t want to spend more time doing it – especially in front of my old PC.

The Overview Screen – Everything You Need to See at Once

Mint built its app around an easy-to-access overview screen that shows you everything you’d immediately want to see in order to understand where you’ve been spending and where you need to save in order to maintain your budget. Most of the time, all I needed to do was glance at it quickly. Two seconds in and I knew exactly what I wanted to know.

Of course, the main screen features Mint’s signature “wheel,” that great multi-colored pie chart that shows how much money’s going to gasoline (too much), to alcohol (too much) and to groceries (Eh…). Tap on the wheel once to enlarge it, hold a finger down on it, and you can spin it around. Stop the wheel and a smart little window displays how much you’ve spent in that category in the last month or takes you to a list of your transactions. It’s pretty fun and definitely easy.

If “Wheel of Fortune” is not your style, a side-flick replaces the spending-by-category wheel with a bar graph that shows spending over time. Thus, I quickly saw I spent way more money last-minute shopping around Christmas than in all of November, reminding me once again that I need to just bake pies for my family next year!

The Budget Bar

One of the most important features on the overview screen turned out to be the budget bar because it shows how much I have already spent against my budget. Another tap pulls up other budget bars for each of my spending categories. Now, I have an easy way to see when I need to slow down my spending. I like to think of it like a breathalyzer for my wallet!

However, it’s the bottom of the main screen that actually contains the Holy Grail—the streaming feed that warns of due bills, suspicious activity and low balances and offers advice on how to save money. This feature may not be news to regular to Mint users, but for you newbies out there, Mint both watches your back and shows you great deals from partners.

The benefits of warnings on due bills, suspicious activity and low balances are pretty obvious, so I’m glad that Mint included this feature from the website to the app. But I’m really glad that Mint also included the partner offers. I never seem to make the time to search for better interest rates at other banks or insurance companies, so I love that Mint finds these money savers and money makers for me! At the end of the day, these recommendations are still the main reasons why I share Mint with my friends.

An App Wizard in Five Minutes or Less

In summary, the new app basically lets you use enjoy all the benefits of Mint but from the convenience of an Android tablet. As a bonus, it’s a snap to learn. If you’re already familiar with the features of Mint.com, you’ll know what to look for and you’ll know what to expect. If you’re new to Mint, I guarantee you’ll figure out everything you need to know about the app in five minutes or less, because it’s pretty easy to tap your way around.

“Mint’s New Android App: A User Reivew” was written by Sydney Jarod.