What budgeting apps are popular to use in the UK? Are they safe? Who has the easiest app to use, the smartest visualisations, neat features? Who has the best security and encryption? Let’s breakdown who the most popular apps and their safety features.
We all know it can be pretty time consuming to use spreadsheets to manage your finances. Especially when it comes to tracking your money and breaking it down. The good news is there are some great apps out there that can now automate this part of your finances. The big question to ask, is are they safe?
When you are linking up bank accounts with apps you want to be confident that they are safe and secure. You want to ensure that nobody but you has access to your bank accounts and money. You will also want to feel happy with how the company is managing your data.
Knowing how a company sells you data is extremely important. You will want to look into this aspect, especially if the app is free. This is because if they are not selling you a product (e.g. monthly fee), then you are the product! This means monetizing your data.
This brings us to the definitive question, what budgeting apps are popular to use in the UK and are they safe?
Please note: this is not financial advice and you are responsible for your own investment decisions. This article may contain affiliate links.
#1 Nova Money App
What is Nova Money? Nova is the outstanding leader of money management apps right now. I’ve never encountered an app which can give you such clear and accurate insights around your finances. This means, you can step back from your spreadsheet and let Nova’s AI do the hard-graph for you.
Most money apps are great at categorising your money at the most granular level, but how much does that actually help? By contrast, Nova is perfect for giving you the harsh reality of your net savings each month. Want to save for a goal, it can give you an accurate prediction on if It’s realistic.
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Is Nova Money Safe?
The best thing about Nova, is that you feel confident that it’s a safe to use money app. Let me also just say, I’ve been using Nova Premium for the last couple of months and it feels very safe and secure from the moment you start using it. If it isn’t already, Nova should be one of the most popular budgeting apps to use in the UK.
I’ve spoken with the CEO and Co-Founders of Nova Money App. They talked me through the security and privacy aspects around the app. This included talking me through how they use secure data steams authorised by your bank, to access and analyse your data for you. This means they are:
Registered with the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) – the same authority that regulates UK banks and we use the highest standard of encryption. (FCA registration number: #923683).
Data Protection registered (#ZA543319)
Open Banking certified
256-bit encryption
The CEO and Co-Founder Sam, also has an excellent history of working with some major banking and investment institutions. So he knows his stuff!
Does Nova Sell Your Data?
Nova has a Freemium business model. This means that Nova offers basic features to users at no cost and charges a premium for supplemental or advanced features. This means they don’t have to:
Sell your data
Advertise
Give cashback incentives to encourage spending.
FYI – Premium is well worth updating too, in order to fully experience the app. So make sure you get a 3 month free premium upgrade using my unique download link.
#2 Snoop
Snoop is a free money management and budgeting app, helping you track your spending, cut your bills and control your finances. Everything you need to beat inflation. So how legit is Snoop and it is safe to connect bank account with Snoop?
The Snoop app is built with bank level encryption. In order to prevent unauthorised access to, or disclosure of, your personal data, they have physical, electronic and operational procedures to safeguard and secure It.
They protect they personal data by deploying secure sockets layer (a security protocol) and high standard encryption algorithms. They also ensure that they meet security standards imposed by law that are applicable to the operation of Snoop. Snoop connects your accounts through Open Banking and has bank level security standards.
Do Snoop sell your data?
Snoop do not currently sell your data or personal information. It’s just that they use your data create tailored suggestions to help you spend, save and live smarter. You can read more about their Privacy Policy here.
The main caveat with the Snoop app is that they do share your anonymised data with third parties to generate revenue. This is by way of the partner services you decide to use. For example, if you take them up on a switching offer to save £1500 on your bills.
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#3 Cleo AI Money App
Cleo is an entirely new style of budgeting app. That’s because it’s powered by an AI chatbot which helps you manage your money. It’s a super-novel experience and I’d recommend downloading the app just to check it out.
Cleo are also really starting to focus on aspects like credit score building. It’s making those tougher aspects of personal finance more accessible. This is why Cleo is trusted by 4+ million users, making is one of the most popular budgeting apps in the UK. It’s highly regarded too. It’s been featured as:
Featured App of the Day – Apple App Store
Best Money Management App of 2020 – This is Money
Best Budgeting App of 2019 – Marie Claire
Is Cleo A Trusted App?
Cleo uses something called Salt Edge, as open banking software to link and enrich your data. This what handles the connection to your financial institution. It’s the mid-point between Cleo and your bank.
SaltEdge is a very trusted technology and is used by nearly 3,000 financial institutions in 55 countries. Cleo and Salt Edge use the highest security standards such as ‘credential tokenisation’ and ‘encryption algorithms’.
Salt Edge’s platform (Spectre) also PCI DSS complaint, which means they have met a widely accepted set of industry standards. These standards related to procedures intended to optimise the security of credit, debit and cash card transactions and protect card holders against misuse of their personal information.
Once a secure connection is established, SaltEdge enables Cleo to analyse and categorise thousands of historic transactions as well as current balance information, securely and automatically.
You can read more about Cleo’s security policy. Learn who they work with and share your data with. Also What happens if Cleo gets hacked.
Does Cleo Money App Sell Your Data?
Cleo will only share your personal information to offer you products and services or as permitted by law enforcement. You can also read more about this on their privacy notice. The reason Cleo doesn’t need to do this is because their main source of revenue come from its subscription products. These are Cleo PlusandCleo Builder. These have features such as cash advance (borrowing) and credit builder features.
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How To Know What Budgeting Apps Are Popular And Safe To Use In The UK?
We’ve covered just a three of the popular budgeting apps available to use in the UK. As you can see, there’s some real high tech security featured underpinning these apps. I’ve picked the three apps out that I have felt I can really trust when it comes to:
Connecting by bank account.
Trusting how my data is stored and used.
Receiving accurate insights on my finances.
As you’ll see the apps above use bank level encryption and security standards. This is something you should check out if you find any other money apps you want to use. Before connecting your bank accounts you should check out their security page and ask yourself?
Are they using open banking software?
Do they have bank level encryption?
How are they using my data? As a result of thumb, if the product is free then you and your data are usually the product.
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