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In this Emma app review we look at the features and cost of this Money Management app, to help you decide if it’s a good choice for you!

Running an overdraft you could have avoided is a costly mistake. 14 million Brits run an unarranged overdraft every year, while average overdraft rates have more than doubled in the last year, to close to 27%, according to Moneyfacts.

This is one of the problems the Emma App wants to help you with. This money management app also looks at your unwanted subscriptions, which is an area that we waste a staggering £800 million on according to YouGov figures from 2019. So, how can this app help?

What Is the Emma App?

This budgeting app was created by Italians Edoardo Moreni and Antonio Marino, who met while studying in the UK. In 2018, they raised half a million pounds in funding for their idea. They tried to launch it in Germany first of all but the complexities of the German market meant that they returned to the UK to bring out Emma (using their initials as the name, in case you were wondering where Emma came from).

The firm is registered with the Financial Conduct Authority and soon become the first British money management app to hit the North American market too.

What Do They Offer?

The Emma app uses open banking to let you connect all of your accounts in one place. It then gives you the following features and functions. 

• Helps you to avoid overdrafts by making it easier to manage your money across all accounts 
• Track your subscriptions, to see if there is something that you need to cancel 
• Set up your monthly budget or use different budgets for various reasons 
• Analyse your spending habits and see how they change over time 
• Track the bank fees you are paying out 
• You receive notifications when important things happen, such as getting paid or a direct debit payments 
• It is possible to sign up for special offers and cashback from affiliates 
• Quests are added to give a gamified experience to your online banking 

What Does the Emma App Cost?

When you download the app, you automatically get the free version of Emma. The Emma Pro level adds in extra features such as smart rules and cashback rewards. To upgrade to this package, you need to subscribe at the cost of £59.99 per year.

Emma App Reviews

The overall opinion on Emma seems to be positive, with a lot of reviews pointing out how easy it is to use and how it makes managing your money so much simpler. Many people seem to have found that it has been a great help in understanding their financial situation more clearly.

While most reviews and feedback are positive, there are a few complaints on Trustpilot about the refer a friend scheme. However, co-founder Edoardo has replied to some of those users explaining how it works. It appears that the poor rating given were mainly down to people not fully understanding how the scheme works.

The free version is highly rated, but I couldn’t see a lot of feedback on whether people think that the paid service is worth upgrading to. It does offer a reasonably long list of extra features that might make it attractive to people who have a lot of accounts of complex banking needs. For most people, the free version seems to be enough to get with, though.

How Do You Get Started?

This is a mobile-only app, so you need to download the Emma app from the Google Play Store of the App Store. The app uses bank-level security, meaning that you can start using it without any fears.

Set it up on your phone and then add in details of the bank accounts you would like to link to Emma. Most of the British banks are included on the list. You will also see pension providers, crypto exchanges and investment platforms. Choose ‘add an account’ and look for the providers you use, then add in as many of them as you can, to see a more complete financial picture.

Some people have mentioned it taking a while to get their open banking details set up, but in theory it should only take a few minutes. Once you have chosen the institution, you will be taken through to their site and asked to enter your details. This then links it to the Emma app.

The next thing you might want to do is set your budget. This is something you can change or start over with again in the future, so don’t worry about making a mistake. Just try and make it as accurate as you can to get you started. You can then start tracking your banking activity and adjusting the budget as needed.

Conclusion

This is far from the only budgeting app that has been released in the UK in the last few years. Chip and Plum are a couple of the other options where you can see all of your transactions in one place and analyse your financial habits more carefully.

There is no doubt that this is a good idea, and it is something that could even change your finances for the better. You should be able to save some money in bank fees and unwanted subscriptions just by briefly using the Emma app.

For anyone who is more serious about making their money work more for them, the pro subscription lets you analyse all your incoming and outgoing funds as closely as you want to. You can spend as much or as little time as you want to studying the analytics and setting up new budgets.

This is a flexible app that most people should find some sort of use for. If you are just looking to cut out some financial waste, the free version is well worth giving a try, as you have nothing to lose. If it doesn’t suit your needs, then you might decide to try one of the alternative money management apps on the market.

Basically, anything that makes it easier for us to look after our money has to be a good thing. The Emma App is a great starting point if you want to see how you can use your mobile device to track your money more conveniently from now on.

This blog does not constitute financial advice. If you’re unsure, seek independent financial advice.