I just wanted to give an update. We are working hard on iBank integration with the iPhone. We have the shell of an application up and running. Some of the infrastructure is in place and we are working to finish the rest. The big item for this next week is hooking up the database.
We got a lot of feedback about syncing via MobileMe verses directly with the local machine. They each have there pros and cons which I will try to sum up. MobileMe can provide a constantly synced experience so you never have to think about it. Syncing locally is free and you do not have to worry about the dangerous internet.
Everyone wants to know which one are we going to support? The good news is that we are going to try an implement both. We have started with MobileMe because there are more moving parts. We have a first pass working from the phone and we are going to move onto hooking up the database. Once we have a fully functional prototype then we are going to loopback and add local machine syncing. So if I mention MobileMe (or dotMac or iDisk because I am old school) syncing it is not because that is the only version we are going to do, it is just the first that we have working. Please keep your comments coming it does help us to make better decisions.
Thanks,
James
- Direct Access 2 and Open Banking Support in the UK and EU - February 17, 2021
- A chunk of sync update - June 27, 2014
- 2013 In Review - December 17, 2013
I’m a corporate type (read as “I’m a PC”) but have always appreciated the beauty–and sometimes simplicity–of a Mac (read simplicity as “well designed GUI). More specifically, I’m a financial planner at a $115B bank in Ohio.
I haven’t made the leap to an iPhone yet because I’m waiting for useful apps that will bring greater value to the higher and ongoing charges.
I’ve been using MS Money for nearly 10 years (yes, I’ve archived some history): I won’t ditch my Samsung M320 and Dell Latitude until I can run my finances on my phone with a secure backup to a richer web app.
Consider:
–two calendar years on the phone (current and prior) and access to everything on the web; as a long-time user, I rarely go back to last year (less frequently before that);
–immediate access to credit card and bank account registers on the phone;
–positions/values on investments (don’t need these registers on the phone);
–making iBank a web app designed for access via a larger screen (same features, just bring it to the web; I believe MS and Intuit are headed there)
I’ll keep watching.
Thanks,
Brandon
Hey there, I have an iPod Touch and I use iBank on my Mac at home. I’ve been wanting some way to have iBank on my iPod Touch. However, the only current way is to go through MobileMe at $100.00 per year. This is the sole reason why I do not use the current iBank for iPhone web app.
I just have to say, please make local syncing possible (directly with my computer). If not, people will be tied to MobileMe, and will have to pay in order to sync. This will severely limit the amount of people that purchase this app from the App Store, guaranteed. I think that having the option to sync via MobileMe is great, but don’t make it the sole way.
We(my wife and I) have used mobile products to sync to our quicken via pocket quicken. We loved the ability we had to both input transactions on different palm pilots and sync both of them to the same account on quicken. Since we have switched to mac about 6 years ago we have yet to find a good alternative. We do have mobile me and would love the ability that would occur to have the transactions sync seamlessly to both of our ipod regardless of where we are.
The most important thing for us would be to have multiple ipods sync to one account (We share checking, savings, and loan accounts) on ibank to our desktop at home.
We also would like to view our loans and loan amortization’s (Home & Car loans) if possible.
I’ve been using iBank for a year, I would love to see a native iphone application for iBank, let me know if you guys need some help to make this true, i can help with code or beta testing.
Thank god this is finally coming true! Good to see some real updates IGG!
just though I would share my thoughts on the perfect iphone finance app. I am looking for an app that I can enter transactions quickly and then sync them to a desktop app to do any reporting and reconciling. So for me adding a transaction needs to be as few steps as possible. Here is what I see. On the main screen there needs to be an add transaction button. When that’s clicked you are prompted for the Payee. As I type in the payee it searches through perviously added payee’s. Like when you start typing an email address in the mail application on the iphone. Once you either click a pre populated payee or hit a submit button you are prompted to enter the amount of the transaction. Sense you never spend the same amount twice in a row you are given an empty text box with the number pad key board. Not just the numbers and symbols part of the normal key board. From there if it’s the first time entering a transaction for the payee you are prompted to select the category, type, etc. all on one page. If you have entered a transaction for this payee before after entering the amount you are shown the finished transaction with the auto populated category, type, etc. with a submit button so you can change any of these auto populated fields. that’s it, you can add a transaction in 5 steps including launching the app.
Syncing is a whole other thing. I would really like to see a back ground service that runs on the desktop that allows you to sync with out having to have ibank open. Syncing is also something that is done often and it would be great if that was simple. There should be a way to save the computer you are syncing with so all you have to do the second time around is press sync.
Any way those are just some of my ideas. Things I haven’t seen yet and would really like to so I am telling every one. 🙂
One thing I would recommend is keep it simple. I stopped using Omnifocus on the iPhone, which also supports mobile me OTA sync, because it took as long as a minute plus to sync when I launched the app. That’s just not acceptable for regular synchronization. Keep the app simple and keep the amount of data transferred simple so that you can have quick OTA synchronization, this is remarkably important.
Will it happen in 2008?