Best Money Saving Apps for iPhone — What I Actually Use

I'll be honest — for a long time, the most expensive thing about my iPhone was the iPhone itself. Every app on it was costing me money (subscriptions, impulse purchases, food delivery at midnight), and none of them were helping me save any.

That changed when I started deliberately filling my phone with apps that work in the other direction — tools that automate saving, find money I'm wasting, and make it easier to be intentional without requiring a lot of willpower. Because in my experience, willpower is not a reliable savings strategy.

If you're on iPhone and want to save more without overhauling your entire life, these are the apps that have actually moved the needle for me.

Acorns — Saving Without Noticing

Acorns connects to your debit card, rounds up every purchase to the nearest dollar, and invests the spare change automatically. Buy a $4.35 latte, and $0.65 goes into your investment account. You don't think about it. It happens in the background.

What I like: The "set it and forget it" factor is real. I went three months without checking my Acorns account and had accumulated over $200 in round-ups alone. Beyond round-ups, you can set up recurring daily, weekly, or monthly deposits. The app also has a retirement account option (Acorns Later) and a checking account with built-in saving features.

The honest downside: Acorns charges $3–5/month depending on the plan. If your balance is small, that fee as a percentage is steep. On a $200 balance, the $3/month Bronze plan works out to an 18% annual fee — which is way more than you'd pay for a standalone investment account. The math gets better as your balance grows, but it's worth knowing about upfront. Acorns is best as a supplement to a primary savings strategy, not a replacement for one.

Best for: People who struggle to save consistently and want something completely automatic. The round-up feature works especially well if you make a lot of small purchases.

Rocket Money — Finding Money You're Already Wasting

Rocket Money scans your bank accounts for recurring charges and flags subscriptions you might have forgotten about. It also negotiates bills on your behalf — internet, phone, insurance — to try to get you a lower rate.

What I like: The subscription tracker is where Rocket Money really earns its keep. In my first week, it surfaced three subscriptions I'd completely lost track of — a streaming service I hadn't used in months, an old cloud storage plan, and a fitness app from a New Year's resolution that clearly didn't stick. That was $47/month I was throwing away. The bill negotiation feature saved me another $30/month on my internet bill. All I had to do was approve the negotiation, and they handled the phone call.

The honest downside: The premium version costs $4–12/month (you choose your price, which is an unusual model). The bill negotiation service takes 40% of your first year's savings as a fee — so if they save you $360/year, they keep $144. That still leaves you ahead, but it's a meaningful cut. And once you've cleaned up your subscriptions and negotiated your bills, the ongoing value of the app drops. It's most impactful in the first month or two.

Best for: Anyone who suspects they're leaking money on forgotten subscriptions. Even if you use it for one month, clean house, and cancel, it's probably worth it. I kept the free version running for ongoing subscription monitoring.

Apple's Built-In Savings (Through Apple Card)

This one requires an Apple Card, which won't be right for everyone, but if you already have one (or are considering it), the built-in savings account is worth knowing about. Apple partnered with Goldman Sachs to offer a high-yield savings account directly in your Wallet app. Your Daily Cash rewards get deposited automatically, and you can add extra funds anytime.

What I like: The interest rate has been competitive with online high-yield savings accounts — hovering around 4.00-4.50% APY recently. The integration is seamless. Your Daily Cash (the cashback from Apple Card purchases) flows directly into savings without you doing anything. And seeing your savings balance right in the Wallet app, alongside your spending, creates a useful visual connection between the two.

The honest downside: You need an Apple Card to open the account, and Apple Card isn't available to everyone (credit approval required). The savings account has no joint account option, so it's individual only. And the rate isn't guaranteed — it's variable, so it could drop. Also, the account is through Goldman Sachs, and moving money out takes 1-3 business days, which is slower than some standalone high-yield savings accounts.

Best for: People who already have an Apple Card and want a frictionless way to earn interest on their savings. It's not going to replace a full savings strategy, but it's a smart place to park your cashback and short-term savings.

How I Use These Together

Here's my actual setup on my iPhone:

Rocket Money runs in the background monitoring my subscriptions. I check it once a month to make sure nothing new has crept in. It's a defensive tool — it stops me from wasting money I don't realize I'm spending.

Acorns handles my passive micro-saving. The round-ups add up over time, and I've set a $10/week recurring deposit on top of that. It's not my primary savings vehicle, but it's money I'd probably spend on nothing otherwise.

Apple Savings is where my Apple Card cashback goes. I don't think about it — it accumulates on its own. Every few months, I check the balance and it's a pleasant surprise.

None of these apps replaced the fundamentals — I still have a separate emergency fund and retirement contributions set up through my main accounts. But they've added a layer of automatic, low-effort saving that genuinely adds up. Between the three, I'm saving roughly $200-250/month that I wouldn't be saving otherwise, most of it without making any active decisions.

The apps on your phone can either drain your money or help you keep more of it. Might as well tip the balance in your favor.

For a broader look at the tools I use for budgeting, investing, and money management, check out my resources page — it covers more than what's on this list.