Mobile Money: Top 5 Financial Apps for Android

Using finance apps with your Android phone can be a convenient way to stay on top of your money and manage your financial transactions while on the go. These apps can help you set and follow budgets as well as conduct some transactions. Android phones are increasing in popularity, and since many new apps have been or will be release for these phones, some financial apps stand out as some of the best apps that can help you
1. Mint.com for Android

This app is a mobile connection to the popular Mint.com site, which serves as an all-in-one place to manage and monitor your budgets, credit cards, bank accounts, and investments. Once you have linked your financial accounts to Mint.com, you will be able to use the Mint.com app for Android to view transactions, organize transactions into your budget categories. The app will show you a graphical view of how much of your budget you have spent, as well as which transactions you have spent it on. The Mint.com app will also show alerts for events like a low account balance, running over budget, or unusual spending on one of your accounts. All of the information is organized in one place so that you don’t have to log into many separate accounts to check your financial status.

2. Paypal

Many people have used Paypal through eBay or other web transactions, and now sending and receiving money is even easier with the Paypal app for Android. The Paypal app allows you to view all of your account information such as your current balance and recent transactions. Anything you can do with the Paypal app is secure – you can set a pin code to protect your account on the phone. Also, the app will log out of your account when you exit so that your information will not appear if someone “accidentally” opens the app or gains access to your phone. The Paypal app for Android also comes with a new feature that allows you to directly send money to any of your Android contacts, provided they have a Paypal account.

3. Key Ring

This handy app allows you to collect all of the data from your rewards cards, loyalty cards, or other discount cards that you have collected over time from different retailers. After you scan the bar codes from your cards, you will no longer have to carry around a key chain or wallet full of rewards cards. Once you have scanned the bar codes, you can simply show the bar code on the screen to the cashier and they can scan it directly from your screen. This app will also retrieve any special offers from your card retailers to make sure you stay up to date on deals.

4. ShopSavvy

The ShopSavvy app for Android is a bar code scanning app that helps you to compare prices to make sure you get the best deals. All you have to do is use the Android phone’s camera to scan the bar code, and ShopSavvy will compare other local and online retailers to see which one has the lowest price for the item. This app isn’t meant to compare prices on smaller items such as candy bars, but is really meant to find you good deals on consumer electronics, books, music, DVDs, and selected other household items.

5. Real Estate Droid

Shopping for a new home can be made easier by using the Real Estate Droid app. Real Estate Droid will search databases of homes for sale based on the location and other criteria. You can choose to save homes to view later, and when you go to visit one of the homes you can add your own pictures and notes to the entry to help you remember what you liked or didn’t like about the property. Neighborhood information is also available, as well as a mortgage calculator to help you make an informed decision.