Re:Show HN: An iOS budget app I've been maintaining since 2011
by Daveenjay on Tuesday January 13, 2026 @11:31AM
(#46603268)
This is something I kept bumping into when building my own tracker (Simple Wallet - https://simplewallet.app).
You're right that "$100 at a supermarket" is useless but I found even knowing "I spent $400 on groceries" wasn't that useful either. I kept asking myself "okay, but on what?"
So I leaned hard into making categories the starting point instead of the endpoint. Groceries breaks down into what I'm actually buying. Turns out I was spending way more on coffee than I realized.
Did you ever consider going deeper into categories, or do you find users just want the high level view? I've been torn on how much detail is actually helpful vs. overwhelming.
You're right that "$100 at a supermarket" is useless but I found even knowing "I spent $400 on groceries" wasn't that useful either. I kept asking myself "okay, but on what?"
So I leaned hard into making categories the starting point instead of the endpoint. Groceries breaks down into what I'm actually buying. Turns out I was spending way more on coffee than I realized.
Did you ever consider going deeper into categories, or do you find users just want the high level view? I've been torn on how much detail is actually helpful vs. overwhelming.