Why Linaw doesn't do budgets

I built Linaw because I tried 12 finance apps and bounced off each one. They all wanted me to set up budgets, link banks, plan goals. I just wanted to log a coffee and move on. So I built that app.

That's the note at the bottom of the App Store listing. People ask about the missing budgets more than anything else, so here's the longer answer.

What happened with the other apps

Every one of them started the same way. Before I could log anything, I had to decide how much I'd spend on food this month, link a bank, name a goal. That's an hour of setup before any value.

Then the month started. A budget is only as good as the logging behind it, and the logging was slow: open the app, find the screen, type the amount, pick a category from a long list. I'd fall behind by Wednesday. By the end of the month the budget showed red bars for categories I hadn't logged honestly, so it was measuring my logging, not my spending. I'd feel bad, stop opening the app, and a few weeks later try the next one.

The budget wasn't the problem on its own. It sat on top of a log that wasn't there.

What Linaw does instead

Linaw does two things: it makes the log fast, and it shows you what the log says.

• Fast: tap the mic and say "180 for lunch." When Linaw is sure, the card saves itself. Most logs take under three seconds, so they happen at the counter instead of never.
• Clear: Home shows three numbers, what's left over, what came in and what went out, for the day, week, month or year. The calendar shows each day. Insights shows where it went.

There's no number for you to hit and no bar that turns red. The numbers are what happened.

"Where you're headed" isn't a budget

Linaw Pro adds one forward-looking card on Insights. It takes your pace so far this month and estimates where you'll land by month-end, with a short written note: how this month compares with the same point last month, and which category is biggest. It's worked out on your phone from your own logs.

It's an estimate, not a target. It doesn't ask you to set anything, and it doesn't tell you what to do. It says what the pace looks like and leaves the rest to you.

What Linaw doesn't have

What Linaw doesn't have: investment tracking, envelope budgets, savings goals, debt schedules, bill calendars. We don't think you need them. We think you need to log fast and see clearly. That's it.

Each of those is a reasonable thing to want, and good apps exist for every one of them. Adding them would turn Linaw into the app I kept leaving: more setup, more screens, more ways to fall behind.

The rule we keep

Linaw Pro is US$3.99 a month. If we add a feature, we'll think hard about removing one too.

If you already have a budget that works, Linaw is happy to be the fast log underneath it. And if budgets never stuck for you either, a month of just logging and looking at three numbers might turn out to be enough.

— Kristoff