5 iPhone Apps That Can Save You Money
If you’ve just spent all of your savings acquiring the new iPhone 5 then you might be looking for ways to cut down on your spending in other areas. Thankfully, your brand new gadget will be able to help, with a number of iPhone apps designed to save you money. Here are just five of the best money-saving apps that you can download from the App Store and start using on your iPhone today.
Since the recession kicked in, major brands have been looking to encourage people to part with their cash by offering them discount codes and vouchers. The VoucherCloud app caters for people who want to make savings through digital coupons, allowing you to get money off with retailers, restaurants and a host of other businesses. The app can even use your current location to find offers nearby, which is a nice touch for serious bargain hunters.
Although iPhone apps are usually inexpensive, buying a bunch of them together can put a bit of a dent in your bank account. With Free App Tracker you can keep an eye on the marketplace and see when apps that were previously sold at a premium have had their prices slashed.
Drivers have been hit by constant rises in fuel costs, but that doesn’t mean that you can’t shop around in order to find the cheapest petrol. The MyGas app will show you the locations of nearby filling stations and also tell you how much each is charging. You can even find the brand for which you have a loyalty card, or simply head straight for the cheapest station.
Most people have Skype’d with their friends and family located in far off places, but this fantastic VoIP functionality isn’t limited to your PC or laptop. The Skype app for the iPhone allows you to make voice calls over a data connection, either Wi-Fi or cellular, without having to pay per-minute charges if you are chatting with another VoIP user. You can also make calls to landline and mobile numbers from within Skype if you have an account. The cost of calling internationally through this service is almost always far cheaper than if you simply dialed directly from your iPhone.
One of the best ways to save money is to do all of your shopping online rather than heading to the high street, since prices are invariably cheaper if you scour the internet for bargains. However, this requires a fair bit of price comparison and searching, which can be a chore, particularly if you find a product that appeals when you’re out and about and want to see how much it sells for online. The RedLaser app lets you scan barcodes and use this data to pull down product prices from a number of major e-commerce sites without any fiddly manual searching. It even identifies high street stores in your area which may stock an item cheaply, ensuring all the bases are covered.
What Other Apps Can Save You Money?
I have a whole two folders on my iPhone dedicated to money saving apps — but I’m sure I’ve missed out on some great ones. Let us know your favorite money saving apps in the comments below.
Editor’s Note
This is a guest post from finance blogger, Ian Nuttall. You can email him here.
