What Are the Best Money Saving Apps?

• Apps for budgeting, freebies, and money saving tips
• Bills rising and wages stagnant- saving more important than ever
• Which app is your favourite?

Money saving apps that help you to budget, give you freebies, and give tips on how to cut costs, are very popular right now.

But with so many on the market, how can you tell what ones to use?

Latest Deals put together a list of the best apps that will help you to stretch your budget.

Black Friday

Little known fact about the Black Friday app is that it works all year round.

The top deals at every retailer. For example, shop for the best discounts at Amazon, or by category, Health & Beauty.

The offers are curated by hand which makes it unique amongst price comparison and other similar apps.

Plus, there's a nifty save function which means you can come back to a deal you like later.

It's free to download on both Google Play and Apple App Store.

Monzo

Monzo is essentially a hybrid between a budgeting app and a prepaid credit card, paid for by you.

It’s great for knowing your spending and learning how to budget, and you can see all of your spending on the app.

It’s a Mastercard that is linked up to an app, which tells you where you spend your cash day to day, and sending notifications each time your card is used, and how much you spent.

This way, you can see a really clear and accurate picture of how much you’re spending, and you can get familiar with your daily, weekly, and monthly spending.

Monzo is a great app if you’re just getting to grips with budgeting, by giving you a really clear picture of all your outgoings, and letting you see what areas you need to spend less on.

mySupermarket

As it implies in the title, this app is great for saving on your supermarket shop.

Whether you do your food shopping online or in store, you can use this app to make sure you always pay the lowest price for your shopping list items.

To use it, you create a shopping list on your phone with the app, and it will then tell you which of the major supermarkets are selling the items for cheapest.

The app also tells you if a supermarket is doing a special offer on an item on your list.

If you’re not sure what you need until you get to the supermarket, you can use the app to scan a product barcode and the app will tell you if you can pick it up cheaper elsewhere.

The app is really good if you have big supermarkets near you and can choose between them, but less useful if you live rurally and only have one or two.

CheckoutSmart

This is a free app where you can get cash back on certain items in supermarkets.

The app will give you a daily list of items that they’re offering cashback on, and also indicates which major supermarkets the deal will be available at.

You then just have to find the items, buy them, and then take a photo of the receipt on your phone so you can submit it on the app.

You’ll then get credit on the app which you can transfer to your bank account or PayPal.

This app is really great if items you frequently buy come up on the lists, as you can get free money for buying things you actually need.

However, it’s very easy to buy things you don’t need with it, which wouldn’t be saving you money.

There is also a catch with getting money out of your account- if you withdraw less than £20 from it, you’ll be charged a £20 fee, so it’s worth waiting until you have more than this amount before taking any out.

Chip

Chip is really great if you find it hard to save money each month.

The app is free and compatible with most UK bank accounts.

To use it, you just connect it to your online banking, and then it gathers information about your spending, similar to Monzo.

The app then uses this data to work out how much you can afford to save, and then every few days will transfer an amount it believes you can afford into a separate savings account.

You also get 1% interest on the amount in the savings account, and you can change the amount that you want to put in it if you wish.

The app is really great for longer term savings, rather than instant gratification, as it automatically builds up a savings account for you to use in the future.

O2 Priority

This is a great app for getting exclusive deals- and you don’t even need to be an O2 customer to get it!

You’ll need an unlocked phone, and then order an O2 Pay & Go SIM and put it in the smartphone to activate it.

Once the SIM is in, connect to WiFi and download the free O2 Priority app.

Deals and freebies tend to update on a weekly basis, so you’ll need to insert the O2 SIM when you want to check.

The app is always will with freebies and discount at high street stores, as well as offers on gig tickets, restaurant vouchers, and other freebies.

The app is great for a variety of deals and discounts, so there’s always bound to be something that you’ll like, although the main downside is that if you’re not a regular O2 customer, it is a bit of hassle to check for deals.

The Trainline

Train tickets have reached extortionate levels, as recently shown by Latest Deals founder Tom, and this app is a great way to find the cheapest tickets.

The Trainline app is one of the cheapest ways to find train tickets and save money when travelling by rail.

It shows you the cheapest ways to make all your journeys, including booking in advance and if splitting a ticket would save money.

The app if great if you travel a lot, and it’s easy to use on the go.

The main issue with the app is that compensation for cancelled trains can be harder to get if you book through a third party app, but just because you use the app doesn’t mean you won’t be able to get compensation.

Stocard

Stocard is a digital wallet for your loyalty cards, so you won’t miss out on discounts and point in shops.

The app is free, and you scan your cards on to it, then when you want to use them, as the cashier to scan the relevant barcode and points or discounts will automatically go onto the loyalty card.

If you’re not sure what loyalty cards are best, Latest Deals rated different supermarket loyalty schemes to see which gets you the most for your money.

Tom Church, co-founder of Latest Deals is a big fan of Stocard. He said, "I love my loyalty cards but you end up too many. My wallet was bursting at the seams. With Stocard, you just take a photo of them and it stays on your phone. Then, at checkout, you scan your phone instead."

Squirrel

Squirrel is similar to Monzo and Chip- it helps you to budget and save your wages.

You put your monthly salary into an account, and the app will then split your spending into three categories- commitments, spendings, and savings.

When you need to use to app to pay bills, etc., it will release funds back into your current account the day before they’re due to be paid, so you won’t be able to spend it on other non-essentials.

Once necessary spending has been done, any left over is classed as spending money.

You can decide what to do with this- whether to transfer it back to your account, or save it.

The app is really great for keeping to a budget, especially if you’re not very good at it, and it can also help you to save money.

The main downside is it is the only app that isn’t free- you get the first three months as a free trial, and then it costs £3.99 a month after.

Wuntu

Wuntu is similar to O2 Priority. You can get free coffees, cinema tickets and Domino's pizza. It is made for 3 Mobile customers but again, there is a trick to get it if you're not.

Wuntu is relatively new to the scene and good deals come and go. They're often limited in availability so you have to go fast. The app is free to download.

Comparasaurus

Comparasaurus is a free app which compares the prices of food items in supermarkets.

It's brilliant for doing a quick scan of where to get the cheapest products. Made by Miguel Barclay, author of One Pound Meals, he uses it for his budget cooking.

Tom Church, co-founder of Latest Deals said, "I find this app super helpful when sticking on a tight budget. For example, when I'm doing the 3-30 Money Diet."

Do you use money saving apps? Which do you think is best? Let us know in the comments.