(Credit:
Screenshot by Jessica Dolcourt/CNET)
It took a little while, but an update for Mint.com for iPhone brings the financial monitoring app in line with iPhone's 3.0 features, including push notification for the notable financial events you designate online. Push notifications will appear automatically, in the same way you would get an alert via Mint.com when you go over budget or when the bank charges a fee.
While a perk, other enhancements will prove more significant to frequent users, like editing transaction details instead of just viewing them. This includes assigning a spending category from the iPhone, tagging a transaction, and adding notes.
The update also opens up Mint's recently added online budgeting tools to read-only access from the iPhone. You'll be able to drill down a few layers to view activities in your budget categories, and individual transactions. The description view is where you're able to add those tags and notes.
The last major feature addresses security by instituting an optional four-digit passcode you'll need to enter each time you open or refresh Mint.com on iPhone. Mint will also now log you off when you receive a call or text. If you're frequently interrupted, reentering the passcode grows old fast, but it's worth it to keep your budget, bank balances, and investments for your eyes only.
The editing features give Mint greater value, though your management options from the iPhone are still limited in this release. You can't add a budget or an account, for instance.
Related story: Mint.com brings personal finance to the iPhone
Mint.com released a new and free iPhone application early Monday. Similar to PageOnce's mobile efforts, Mint's lets you monitor your credit card and bank accounts from your phone. It also throws in things like your monthly budget, incoming cash flow and expenses, along with any investment accounts you have synced up to Mint.com.
For security, Mint seems to have taken a page from PageOnce in letting you enable or disable mobile access from Mint.com. If your phone gets lost or stolen, you can simply cut off its access to your account, keeping any would-be identity thieves from taking a look at past purchases, or getting an idea of your net worth. It doesn't show any of your account numbers, or even let you add new accounts from your mobile device (which PageOnce does), but can be a treasure trove of information in the wrong hands.
Another thing worth noting about security is that if you don't have your iPhone passlock-protected, anyone can fire up the application and see the dollar value of each of your accounts. I'm a little surprised Mint hasn't placed its own special passcode security system for those first using this app, or even provided the option to require a password between sessions. The best you can do is simply log off in between use, but that's not a good long-term solution.
Security issues aside, it's a good first start for Mint, and for regular Mint users this is yet another way to get at things like your budget and accounts without having to rely on your bank offering a site that can be accessed on mobile devices. The alerts are also very handy and can tell you if a credit card bill is close to being due, if you're spending more than usual, or if there have been large deposits or withdrawals into your various accounts. For those things alone, it's worth downloading the app, just be sure to flip on your iPhone's built-in security lock feature.
Mint's iPhone app lets you check out bank accounts, credit cards and monthly budgets.
(Credit: Mint.com)
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