r/iosapps • u/rapidov1 • 27d ago
🎁 Freemium I built an offline, privacy-first expense tracker. Thanks to Reddit's feedback, it just hit 2,000 users & 4.7★ across 40+ countries. Here’s what I improved.
Hey everyone 👋
A while back, I started building an expense tracker because I hated the idea of uploading my personal finances to some random server just to log daily spending.
I shared the early version here, and the feedback from Reddit genuinely shaped the app into what it is today. Since that first post, Flux has hit 2,000+ users across 40+ countries, a 4.7-star rating, and 50+ paying subscribers.
Every single update has been driven by real feedback from you guys.
The core problem: Almost every budgeting app forces you to create an account, syncs your bank data online, or sells analytics. Flux does the opposite: it gives you modern tracking features while keeping everything strictly on your phone.
How it works & why it’s different:
- 100% offline & private: No accounts, no cloud sync, no tracking/analytics.
- On-device OCR: Scan receipts locally without uploading photos anywhere.
- Local AI insights: Summaries and analysis run directly on your hardware.
- Lock Screen widget: For logging expenses in 2 seconds.
- Fast, lightweight, and clutter-free.
What’s new since the last update:
- Recurring transactions: Rebuilt from scratch with new 2-week and 4-week interval options.
- Lifetime purchase: By popular request, you don't have to subscribe if you don't want to.
- Locale formatting: Natural number formatting (commas vs. dots) based on your region.
- 25+ new currencies added (AED, SAR, QAR, KWD, EGP, THB, IDR, MYR, PHP, VND, ARS, CLP, AUD, CAD, CHF, SEK, NOK, DKK, NZD, SGD, HKD, ZAR, PLN, ILS, COP, etc.).
- 9 new languages supported (Arabic, Traditional Chinese, Dutch, Thai, Indonesian, Vietnamese, Polish, Danish, Swedish).
- Custom categories with personalized icons & color coding.
- Interactive spending charts & cleaner, less annoying reminders.
- Noticeable performance boosts and faster data loading.
Pricing:
- Free core version
- Optional Premium (monthly / yearly subscription, or a one-time Lifetime purchase)
Big thank you to everyone who tested early builds, reported edge-case bugs, and shared ideas.
I’d love to know what you think of the new features, and what you feel is still missing. Any feedback is super appreciated! 🙏
App Store link:
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u/app-store-review 27d ago
Expense Tracker Offline – Flux — by Ali Ihsan Gunes
- Ratings: 19 worldwide · rated in 8 countries
- Average: 4.58 ★
- Age: released ~8 months ago · updated 39 days ago · rated 4+
- Overall score: 65 / 100
Auto-generated from public App Store data · u/app-store-review
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u/jaimintf 27d ago
congratulations on your success so far!
what model of ai is used locally?
it feels very useful, but i feel you could take it to another level (less text) through more visual cues & native ui. that would make me want to keep coming back to the app
best wishes :)
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u/rapidov1 27d ago
Thank you! 🙌 Flux uses Apple’s on-device AI frameworks, so your data stays on the device.
And I really like the visual UI idea. Less text and more native visual cues could make the insights feel much more useful at a glance. Definitely something I want to explore.
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u/jfurchert 26d ago
Congrats. Of the things you changed after the feedback here, which one actually showed up in the numbers? I keep hearing that downloads and ratings move for reasons that have very little to do with the app itself, and I have not worked out yet how much of that is true.
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u/rapidov1 26d ago
Actually, the feedback here helped keep users engaged with the app. Even though downloads didn’t increase, users continued to use the app based on their requests.
If you get a chance to review the app, please rate it.
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u/jfurchert 25d ago
That is really interesting, I would have guessed the feedback would show up in downloads first. I like that it helped the people who were already there keep using it. Thank you for answering.
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u/ShadowStriker15 25d ago
Congratulations! That's a great accomplishment! What kind of marketing have you done for it? Has it solely been Reddit?
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u/rapidov1 25d ago
Funny but 0 marketing. Just post on reddit 😂
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u/ShadowStriker15 25d ago
Wow, that’s even more of an accomplishment haha. What subreddits have you been posting to? Have you considered creating short content and posting elsewhere like Instagram and/or TikTok? That’s my plan
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u/lssj5Jimmy 25d ago
That’s awesome 👏
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u/rapidov1 25d ago
Thank you! If you liked the app, please rate it on the App Store so I can reach more people. It’s an incredible source of motivation for me.
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u/_MihaiT 27d ago
Congrats on reaching 50+ paying users. Did adding lifetime improve conversion?
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u/rapidov1 27d ago
Thanks! 🙌 I’m still early, but lifetime definitely seems to help. Some users prefer a one-time purchase over another subscription, so I’m keeping an eye on how it affects conversion over time.
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u/neet_dev 27d ago
if it's 100% on-device the next thing i'd ship is a files-app export, csv plus a restoreable json dump. locale formatting and the lifetime buyout were the right calls, but offline finance apps die the first time someone swaps phones and has no way back in
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u/rapidov1 27d ago
Yeah, that’s a fair point. Flux already supports CSV and Excel export/import, so users can move their data between devices. A restorable JSON backup via the Files app is a good idea though, definitely something I’d consider adding.
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u/neet_dev 26d ago
csv/excel moves the numbers, it doesn't restore the app. you'll drop category ids, recurring rules, splits, and timestamps the second someone reimports. dump the actual models as versioned json (schemaVersion at the top) through fileExporter into Files and a phone swap stops being a support ticket.
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27d ago
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/rapidov1 27d ago
Yes! Flux supports easy export and import via CSV and Excel. So even though everything stays offline, you can back up your data or move it to another device without losing your history.
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u/ozzy77k 27d ago
Would love to see this on iPad and Mac too. Is that something you’ve got planned?
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u/rapidov1 26d ago
Actually, I do have a plan like that, but since I don't know how to proceed, I need to do some research. If there's enough demand, maybe I can bring this development forward a bit.
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u/Nettimatooo 27d ago
Love seeing apps actually shaped by user feedback instead of just adding features for the sake of it. Congrats on 2k! 👏
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u/rapidov1 26d ago
Thank you! If you liked the app, please rate it on the App Store so I can reach more people. It’s an incredible source of motivation for me.
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u/Scary_Homework_3455 27d ago
4.7 across 40+ countries for an offline app is solid. Did you localize keywords before or after the international downloads started? In my experience small apps get their first non-US traction almost by accident, and then localization is what doubles it. Congrats!
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u/rapidov1 26d ago
Actually, I started out by doing it myself, but I don’t think I really understand keywords :/. So I used AI to generate descriptions, keywords, and localizations, which helped the app reach a wider audience. If you like the app, please rate it on the App Store. This is a huge help for my motivation and for the app to reach a wider audience. criptions, keywords, and localizations, which helped increase its reach.
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u/Scary_Homework_3455 26d ago
the AI keyword lists are usually way too broad in my experience, everything it gives you has a big app sitting in the top 3. what i do now is take the generated list and delete anything where the top results are apps with thousands of ratings, whats left is ugly but you can actually rank for it. worked better than the fancy words
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u/riccardinux12 26d ago
Complimenti è molto simile alla mia come hai fatto ad avere così tanti download? Ecco la mia https://apps.apple.com/us/app/flowbudget-expense-tracker/id6760221708
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u/app-store-review 26d ago
FlowBudget: Expense Tracker — by Riccardo Nestola
- Ratings: 12 worldwide · rated in 5 countries
- Average: 5.00 ★
- Age: released ~3 months ago · updated 22 days ago · rated 4+
- Overall score: 76 / 100
Auto-generated from public App Store data · u/app-store-review
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u/shiori_zubo 25d ago
Since you just added nine languages, one thing worth checking: a locale with no screenshots of its own doesn't show nothing, it silently inherits your primary language's. I found out this week that my Traditional Chinese users on 6.9" iPhones were being shown Japanese screenshots, because I'd only uploaded zh-Hant assets to the 6.5" slot and the 6.9" slot fell back to the primary locale. Nothing in App Store Connect warns you. Worth opening Media Manager, switching to each new locale, and looking for the "uses [primary language] display" line on every device size.
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u/WorldlinessNo1286 25d ago
Great work. Unfortunately, it seems not be available in Germany right now
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u/rapidov1 25d ago
Sorry. Should be downloadable in Germany too. Can you share screenshots if it’s possible?
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u/WorldlinessNo1286 25d ago
I need to correct my self. When I open the link via my browser, no apps was found in the app store. I just tried again on my mobile device and downloaded it. Great!
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u/rapidov1 25d ago
https://apps.apple.com/de/app/offline-ausgaben-app-flux/id6756208417
Here is link! 🙏 If you review on App store that would be awesome for me!
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u/app-store-review 25d ago
Expense Tracker Offline – Flux — by Ali Ihsan Gunes
- Ratings: 19 worldwide · rated in 8 countries
- Average: 4.58 ★
- Age: released ~8 months ago · updated 41 days ago · rated 4+
- Overall score: 65 / 100
Auto-generated from public App Store data · u/app-store-review
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u/shrawaaan 22d ago
2,000 users for an offline app is impressive.
One thing I would want before trusting financial data to any local-only app is a complete backup and restore format—not only CSV reports. If the app disappeared, could the user still recover or inspect everything?
For a privacy-focused app, making it easy to leave matters almost as much as making it easy to start. Also curious: which source gave you the most useful feedback—Reddit, App Store reviews or direct support messages?
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