iBank for iPad Review

Financial apps are perfect for portable touch devices. Having a good set of financial apps is like having a home office with us constantly with all of the paperwork, budgeting, bills, and receipts that go with it. Most financial apps are worth their prices in utility, not only occasionally does a financial app release with a well-designed interface. iBank for iPad is one of those apps. The app is powerful enough for nearly everyone's budgeting and billing needs, while presenting information in an easy-on-the-eyes kind of way.

iBank for iPad presents users most of the information needed at a glance on the main page of their account book. The only downfall to this is that the onslaught of information can be a bit overwhelming. The main screen displays a summary of funds (cash, cards, loans, investments, etc), reminders (for bills), a budget graph (specifying budget and actual information), and the balances on specific accounts and credit cards. Summary and Reminders cannot be expanded on, but the Budget and account sections can be tapped on for additional information.

Tapping the budget allows users to set up various budget categories as well as view a detailed history of how budgeting has gone over time. Each individual budget even has a slider that displays how much money has been spent on that budget compared to the allotted amount for that month. The budget screen is probably going to be the second most popular screen for users to view after the home screen. As for the accounts, each can be tapped on to view transactions as well as displaying detailed information and graphs on the balance of those accounts.

While the interface is designed extremely well, iBank for iPad trades simple usability for power and complexity. Since users can do so much with iBank, it's hard to make using it as simple as other apps (I'm specifically referring to the innovative and simple CoinKeeper budgeting app). Otherwise, iBank for iPad is nearly perfect.

These sorts of apps need to sit on a continuum from usable to powerful. It's tough to make an app that's perfect in both categories. This one is as usable as they come for being as powerful as it is. That power and complexity is reflected in the $14.99 price. Don't grab this one if you aren't serious about keeping a detailed budget and viewing detailed information on your finances. This one is a serious financial application for the iPad, comparable to anything you'll find on a PC.