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iBank Personal Financial Manager

Finding Something Else

Written by TM from Arkansas City

Jul 12, 2009

After 9 months of this nonsense, I am cutting my losses both money and time. I am going to find something else for my personal finances (back to First Edge most likely.) I just wanted something quick to keep track of accounts since most transactions are online. I didn't need all the features but if I am paying for them they should work. Reports and charts are a joke. It's easier to set up a budget on Quickbooks. Forget reconciling to a statement. Data entry in cumbersome, especially dates. I liked the idea of using my ipod touch to enter as I go, but not as easy as it seems. A Numbers spreadsheet would work better.

37 of 48 people found this useful

iBank Personal Financial Manager

Big gaps in check printing

Written by DB from Belmont

Jul 9, 2009

I have used quicken to run my household checking account for a long while and wanted a replacement for mac.

Unfortunately, iBank does not seem to have thought through the paper check use case at all.

1. Does not track which checks are to be printed
2. Does not automatically assign check numbers, based on the last number used + 1, with options to change the starting number at print time
3. Does not assign check numbers at print time
4. Does not allow user to confirm that the checks printed properly, with cancel or retry starting at an adjustable check number
5. Does not present a list of checks available for printing, in check date order
6. Does not allow user to select how many checks should be printed on the first page (I have 3 checks per page and often will need to print on a partial page left over from earlier printing)

I would consider these features to be among the minimum requirements to offer a product that manages a checking account. Quicken has had them for over a decade, and workarounds are manual and awkward.

It's great that they got an Apple Design award, but I frankly don't care about the pretty pictures as much as ease of use and functionality.

If I could get a refund, I would; but I bought it through the Apple store. If IGG fills the gaps, my rating will move to 4-star.

20 of 23 people found this useful

iBank Personal Financial Manager

The best of what's out there

Written by MK from Simpsonville

Jul 9, 2009

iBank is a work-in-progress. The one star reviews are a bit unfair. I'm still using MS Money via VMFusion, but wanted to see what was available as MS Money sunsets in a year. Have tried MoneyDance, MoneyWell, MyMoney, Money 3.3.3, and iBank is the best.

It has about 75% of the functionality that MS Money or Quicken has. Good functionality for OFX "Direct Connect" banks (most banks), isn't able to handle "WebConnect" banks like HSBC.

At $59.99 it is too expensive (considering that they are still adding what some would consider to be fundamental features). The last time I bought MS Money is was $39.99 and that was for a mature and extremely robust product. Would suggest that iBank "rightsize" the price to $29.99 - 34.99.

56 of 57 people found this useful

iBank Personal Financial Manager

Best Personal financing app on the Mac

Written by BR from Greeley

Jun 30, 2009

I've tried several financial apps on the Mac and this is by far the best of the best. It isn't bloated and confusing much like Quicken and other BIG BOX apps out there. But it still has a great mix of features (budgeting, statement downloads, smart imports which I love) which are easy and intuitive to use. But with that said it still could use a tweak here and there to make it a five star app. Plus they are releasing an iPhone app which will sync with the desktop version. Can't wait for it to be released in the app store (hint, hint, Apple).

16 of 18 people found this useful

iBank Personal Financial Manager

Not Very Good

Written by MM from Waukesha

Jun 29, 2009

The only program I had that locks up consistently. I tried it for budgeting. Cannot print any reports. I returned it for a refund and now use Quicken online for free.

10 of 14 people found this useful

iBank Personal Financial Manager

Too Basic for Money Users

Written by TK from Tolleson

Jun 25, 2009

When I received a new MacBook Air I needed a Mac solution to replace MS Money (after 10 years+). Unfortunately, iBank falls short of this even for basic needs. As other reviewers have mentioned, the lack of online bill payment is problematic. I would also appreciate the option to review all payments to a single payee (for example, show me a screen with all my car payments, the total and details about the payee). Because there's no bill payment function, the reminders should have the option to add notes. Many of my bills are paid automatically but I don't always remember which ones, so I would like to have notations in the reminders screen. Reconciling accounts is also very tricky at first; it gets simpler with practice but it's not user friendly at all. One final and important point--there are several references to using iBank Mobile with the iPhone but it's nowhere to be found in the App Store! I will probably have to stay with iBank since I've invested lots of blood, sweat and tears to get this far but I will keep looking for a better solution--yes, one that's more like MS Money!

17 of 18 people found this useful

iBank Personal Financial Manager

Is there no financial software for the Mac?

Written by DP from Lake Zurich

Jun 15, 2009

I though this would replace Quicken (another one star wonder), but it is just as bad. Boldly stepping into 2001. I love my Mac, but my PC did finance so much better...

Save your money, this is not worth effort unless you needs are very limited--at which point you have to ask, why am I using a computer.

19 of 26 people found this useful

iBank Personal Financial Manager

GREAT ALTERNATIVE TO QUICKEN

Written by ML from Wheelwright

Jun 4, 2009

I have been using the program for several months now on my Early 2008 Intel based iMac, it is a great alternative to quicken. The software developer seems to always be fixing any issues that may show up (unlike Intuit). It is a fantastic program for tracking expenses and your portfolio. I have never had it quit on me and works correctly every time. I don't know what people are talking about saying it does not add or subtract correctly. Plus it works under 10.5.

33 of 34 people found this useful

iBank Personal Financial Manager

Ck local bank

Written by SA

May 24, 2009

no bank in fla provide online bank with ibanks BE CAREFUL

6 of 33 people found this useful

iBank Personal Financial Manager

HORRIBLE

Written by PD from Forest Hills

May 23, 2009

Basic Math problems like adding and subtracting don't work.
I used this for about three weeks and the bugs are horrible.
You start with 2000 in your account, spend 100 and creative math takes over in which you are left with -250. Pretty scary. 1 star is generous.

10 of 27 people found this useful

iBank Personal Financial Manager

Horrible and no recourse if you purchase in store

Written by AZ from Brooklyn

May 3, 2009

I foolishly disregarded the negative reviews here and purchased iBank from the Apple Store. I have a spanking new MAC and this application froze my computer. I am a veteran Quicken for PC user of 15 years so I consider myself somewhat savvy with online banking and the use of a financial application, but this one is impossible. Neither BofA nor Citibank support it and there is no number to call at IGG. I have deleted the program and lament the sixty bucks I spent as it is not refundable. If you must try it, DOWNLOAD it as then you have a 30 day money back guarantee; but don't purchase it in the store or you'll be stuck with it as a lot of reviewers here have been.

66 of 72 people found this useful

iBank Personal Financial Manager

Perfect fro my needs

Written by RM from Champaign

Apr 23, 2009

After using (fighting with) Quicken for many years and paying full price for negligible upgrades, iBank is a breath of fresh air. Easy to use, does what I need (bank accounts, credit cards, some investments), smoother downloads than Quicken, frequent free updates. I can see that it may lack some tools for sophisticated investors, but keep watching - it is getting better with time.

27 of 28 people found this useful

iBank Personal Financial Manager

A Fantastic, dependable total replacement for Quicken at LAST!!!!!!

Written by HM from THOUSAND OAKS

Apr 23, 2009

I bought iBank as a replacement for Quicken, because Quicken has become buggy bloatware. Old Quicken was wonderful in its DOS and early windows versions, but now the company forces you to update each year to a version that is buggier than the last one, and I am tired of fixing their bugs with no support. iBank is better software than Quicken ever was!

28 of 29 people found this useful

iBank Personal Financial Manager

very bad

Written by TR from Bement

Apr 21, 2009

I bought iBank as a replacement for Quicken, because Quicken didn't seem to have an intuitive interface when it came to budget monitoring. Although iBank does have a straightforward budget monitor, it crashes frequently (on my old PowerPC MacPro), and the reconcile feature is completely counter-intuitive. Split transactions are horrible, I still don't understand how they are intended to work. The product looks good on the surface, but it takes more than a few good visualizations to make a product worth the money, and this product is poorly designed from a user interface perspective. Wait for Financial Life from Quicken.

27 of 34 people found this useful

iBank Personal Financial Manager

needs lots more work

Written by MW from Fort Pierce

Mar 20, 2009

I expect software to be pretty user friendly, a couple clicks here and there, and for the most part having pretty good accuracy......Perhaps I just need to play ore but nothing went right in downloading from my bank, making all my ending balances in the negative. I was excited to find something i could use with my iphone but so far I can't even get the thing to work on my computer, much less the iphone.

27 of 40 people found this useful

iBank Personal Financial Manager

iBank not Quicken

Written by PC from Triangle

Feb 28, 2009

I have been a Quicken user for many years prior to my recent purchase of an iMac. I read all your reviews for Quicken for Mac and IBank. I decided to take the plunge and stay with the apple application. I have been using iBank for a month and find that it meets my need for home finance. It manages my accounts very well. It doesn't have all the features of Quicken, then again, it's not Quicken. Online set up and downloads are much easier in iBank. I'm finding new features each day. I enjoy my break from my PC and look to use apple applications whenever possible. It's a good program, just different.

119 of 122 people found this useful

iBank Personal Financial Manager

Needs Work

Written by MT from Mendota

Feb 19, 2009

I am an Apple fan and I wanted to write a glowing review on iBank. Problem is I can't.
I too got aggravated using older versions of Quicken and I had hoped that iBank would
have at the very least strong checking and savings management attributes. I am not
one for many bells and whistles yet I would like to see better Reconcile features and
even a warning about duplicate checks would be nice. It is a good start but it needs work.

56 of 68 people found this useful

iBank Personal Financial Manager

Worthy of ZERO stars

Written by PM from Mesa

Feb 15, 2009

Since Quicken for Mac hasn't been updated since 2007, and MS Money does not exhist for the Mac platform, I thought I'd give iBank a try. Big mistake. It could not import my Quicken file from Windows (even in a stripped down state).

Also, I could not import document images without sever errors. Check images would reverse. This is the lamest financial program on on the market. Serious financial tracking still needs to be done on the Windows machines.

34 of 58 people found this useful