Dollar Wise

Short version

Dollarwise is a subscription budgeting app from Hammer Media, the company of YouTuber Caleb Hammer. It syncs US bank accounts through Plaid and Quiltt, sorts spending into needs, wants and savings/debt through a weekly swipe review, builds a plan on the 50/30/20 split, and shows a safe-to-spend figure. It runs on web, iOS and Android. The App Store history shows it launched in January 2025 under an earlier name and was later renamed.

Research-based profile, not hands-on testing. Built on 2026-10-06 from the vendor site, privacy policy, store listings and public reviews. I did not sign up, start a trial or connect a bank.

How it works

You connect accounts, set a monthly income, and the app proposes a plan across needs, wants and savings (debt payments above the minimum count as savings). Each week you swipe through new transactions to confirm their bucket, which the vendor pitches as about five minutes. Custom categories and merchant-based recategorization were added in 2026. Insights come from rules the vendor says it can explain, not a model. Version 7.1.0 (Oct 1, 2026) added split transactions, notes, built-in tags (Taxable, Business, Reimburse, Recurring) with filtering, and account settings for balance-only accounts. The Recurring item is a tag; I found no scheduled bills or forecast feature.

Cost

• Monthly: $9.99/month for the first 3 months, then $14.99/month.
• Yearly: the website showed $99.99 with a $79.99 discounted price through 10/9; the App Store lists $89.99 yearly and $39.99 quarterly. These conflict, so check the checkout screen.
• Trial: Google Play says 3 days; the App Store text gives no length.
• No permanent free tier. The App Store also still lists older 'Central' purchases ($149.99 and $499/year); I could not tell whether they are sold today.

Privacy and data

The vendor FAQ says it does not sell data and has no ads, and that bank connections go through Plaid and Quiltt. The privacy policy (revised Feb 2025) says Dollarwise never sees bank logins, mentions optional 2-step verification, and says it will deactivate or delete an account on request. Google Play lists data encrypted in transit. Encryption at rest, independent audits and data export were not confirmed. The same policy also says targeted ads for the app itself may run on other platforms, and the App Store label lists advertising.

Who it suits

US users who want automatic transaction import, a light weekly check-in and a simple 50/30/20 frame rather than detailed category control. People who want envelope-style targets, scheduled bills, sinking funds or goal tracking will likely find it thin: an independent reviewer in June 2026 liked the swipe flow but wanted better saving tools, and store reviewers ask for rules and goals.

What users say

Store ratings are mixed: about 3.8 from 3.9K ratings on iOS and 3.6 from about 2.3K reviews on Google Play (100K+ installs). Recurring complaints are miscategorized transactions, accounts that stop syncing, and billing or upsell emails. The vendor also runs a paid referral program with a $1,500 earnings cap, so promotional coverage may be incentivized. Vendor-hosted testimonials were not counted.

Not confirmed

CSV import/export, multiple budgets, shared budgets, goal tracking, debt payoff tools, report types, reconciliation workflow, the status of the old 'Central' purchases, and encryption at rest.

Ratings are set separately against a shared rubric.