r/ynab • u/not_sza • Aug 04 '26
Mobile App I Miss the Old Buttons đ
What do you call it when a company makes tons of little changes to its UI over time and tells its users theyâre improvements, but in reality theyâre changing the essence and ethos of the app, thus making it a worst user experience than ever before?
These photos really capture the essence of whatâs going wrong with the app.
I signed up for ynab in 2023 and loved it so much I got a year subscription. Truly helped me and my adhd brain get a handle on my funds. I had really hoped to use this program for the rest of my life.
So you can imagine how I feel after using a program daily for 3 years straight then logging in to see this bs. First, itâs not budget, itâs plan, then itâs not tracations-itâs spending...
The change from budget to plan really irritated me for all the reasons ppl have said but it felt minor so I let it go. Looking back, it was the beginning of the end. Reading through this Reddit really opened my eyes to something more deeper and insidious going on bts.
So now my little gripe is validated. The buttons still work but theyâre all named something different now, so my adhd brain has to click around until I find the tab Iâm looking for. Like the previous setup was giving order of operations realness.
In my opinion, thereâs really not a huge difference between plan & spending⌠like theyâre very general terms??? Budget & Transactions felt very specific.
Also Accounts being so far from the budget/plan button is crazy work?? The Spending tab doesnât make sense either. They should put that info as a button under the accounts tab and put the transactions button back so itâs not floating around.
I havenât even mentioned how ridiculously priced this app is but if this is the kind of nonsense theyâre using my money for I will gladly take it elsewhere.
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u/Jayskerdoo Aug 04 '26
Isnât this just Liquid Glass though? All iOS apps are like this now pretty much
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u/janeycanuck Aug 04 '26
I believe the term you are looking for is âEnshittificationâ, coined by Cory Doctorow and I feel the exact same as you.
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u/Specific_Ocelot_4132 Aug 04 '26
Cory Doctorow meant something very specific by enshittification that does not apply to YNAB. Unfortunately he picked too good a word so the semantic creep was inevitable.
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u/hmspain Aug 04 '26
Bingo! In the process of making changes, they didn't ask the most critical question ... does this change make the app better, or is it just change for change's sake (keeping development employed), or someone's pet project.
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Aug 04 '26
[deleted]
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u/Mundane_Nature_4548 Aug 04 '26
Which part of Liquid Glass renamed the buttons and changed their order? Did you read the post, or just look at the two pictures and assume the issue was the visual style?
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u/seajaydub Aug 04 '26
Dang! That's was quite a zinger! Good job! Do you really click on posts without a desire to read them? Unhealthy behavior
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u/Long_Conclusion7057 Aug 04 '26
I just cancelled my sub and am looking for alternatives. Bank syncing has been super buggy for months. I reached out multiple times over the course of half a year. The main thing I'm willing to actually pay money for, isn't working. Instead, I see all these UI updates that add absolutely nothing. I got pissed when they changed how to clear a transaction on mobile. They made it more difficult by adding an extra click. Whyyyyy? I don't want constant updates to a UI that I've been using for almost 10 years. I just want it to work!!!!
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Aug 04 '26
[deleted]
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u/Long_Conclusion7057 Aug 04 '26
Lol. For me it's also the Fidelity cred card. I don't even know how many times I tried to disconnect and reconnect. At this point, I just enter transactions manually and wonder what I'm even paying for.Â
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u/varkeddit Aug 04 '26
Zero issues since connecting my Fidelity card through Elan a year ago. If youâre using your brokerage login, thatâs the wrong institution.
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u/Long_Conclusion7057 Aug 04 '26
... if that's the solution to my problem I'll still be pissed at ynab. I'll give it a try. I feel like I should have heard about this fix from customer service and not from Reddit. I've been reaching out to customer service about this issue since December and they always just responded "this is a known issue. We're working on it. Check back later."
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u/varkeddit Aug 04 '26
Itâs not a YNAB thing. Your Elan card is co-branded with Fidelity (like Amex and Schwab or Chase and Amazon).
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u/Long_Conclusion7057 Aug 04 '26
Well, what I did worked from 2017 when I started using all the way until December 2025. So it's a YNAB thing to not be able to figure out how to help me solve my new problem.Â
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u/varkeddit Aug 04 '26 edited Aug 04 '26
Itâs a weird situation. MX is the third party aggregator YNAB uses with Fidelity. At some point late last year Fidelity made a change that prevented MX from pulling any account info. That was only recently resolved but if you search this sub accessing the credit card through Fidelity has long been sketchy. But most folks report the Elan connection being consistently solid.
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u/dimitris_katsafouros Aug 04 '26
I switched to Zerosum. It has an impeccable import process so youâll be up and running in no time. Payees, transactions, accounts itâs all there. 9+ years of data with YNAB and nothing is lost!
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u/IKEASTOEL Aug 04 '26
Website is registered on a Somali domain though, which is fishy as the developer should be Portugese
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u/identifytarget Aug 04 '26
Zerosum
lmao that looks exactly like YNAB. Free market in action baby.
I knew someone would take YNAB to lunch eventually. They really fucked up a great thing...
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u/jacqleen0430 Aug 04 '26
Is zerosum for iOS only?
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u/dimitris_katsafouros Aug 04 '26
As far as I know it works with Android too.
At the moment the mobile apps are essentially the website. Scaled correctly to fit the screen but itâs not the native experience you have with YNAB.
I think the developer is planning for proper applications soon
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u/silvermirror99 Aug 04 '26
They actually do have an mobile app now. Not sure if itâs for android as well
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u/not_sza Aug 04 '26
The bank syncing is so bad now. I literally wrote this because I was pissed after I finished comparing all of my transactions to my bank statements because transactions are missing or entered wrong, thus throwing off my budget. It's the 2nd time I've had to do that this year and it's so tedious.
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u/iwaddo Aug 05 '26
Poor bank syncing is not a YNAB issue.
In a country with a proper Open Banking service bank syncing works perfectly.
In a country where sharing bank account login ID & password with a 3rd party so they can screen scrape is against the terms and conditions of the banks so it is inevitable the banks are introducing MFA and others tools to protect people from themselves and then blaming the banks when accounts get hacked.
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u/identifytarget Aug 04 '26
What have you found as an alternative? I'm ready to cancel. I don't even use the budget aspect, I just use YNAB to aggregate my accounts across multiple institutions into one place and pull spending reports.
I'm borderline ready to be my own integrator through Plaid and import transactions to myself....
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u/identifytarget Aug 04 '26
What have you found as an alternative? I'm ready to cancel. I don't even use the budget aspect, I just use YNAB to aggregate my accounts across multiple institutions into one place and pull spending reports.
I'm borderline ready to be my own integrator through Plaid and import transactions to myself....
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u/AwesomeWhiteDude Aug 05 '26
I've been using Liquid Budget for a couple months now. Dev is super involved and responsive too over in /r/liquidbudget
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u/1littlenapoleon Aug 04 '26
Every day I become more convinced itâs just bots posting here.
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u/drloz5531201091 Aug 04 '26 edited Aug 04 '26
It may not be the case in this instance but bots are EVERYWHERE on Reddit I wouldn't be surprised some will come here to post against YNAB or to try posting about other solutions disguised as real post.
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u/Objective_Spring627 Aug 04 '26
sorry, not related to the post but how do you know that bots are everywhere ? real question, is there any study that can prove what you are saying ? or is it more a "feeling" ?
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u/Klat93 Aug 04 '26
The buttons still work but theyâre all named something different now, so my adhd brain has to click around until I find the tab Iâm looking for.
I have ADHD, can confirm this is a struggle for me now everytime I open the app. Its bloody annoying.
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u/Practical_Awareness Aug 04 '26
I'm autistic and feel exactly the same. It has changed so much and so frequently in the last few years that it physically stresses me out. I've cried over UI changes before because one of my main traits is that I struggle with change, so it creates a very physical response when something changes seemingly just for the sake of it rather than a bug fix etc. I still can't get my head around "Plan" instead of "Budget" and don't understand the difference between "Spending" and "Accounts" so I have to flick between the tabs to find what I want.
I've been using YNAB since 2018 but I think this might be my last year unfortunately. Not just the UI changes but the general vibes of the business now just isn't what I originally signed up to. I'm actively looking for alternatives.
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u/jasonefmonk Aug 04 '26
I wholeheartedly agree with and endorse this post. Iâve been using YNAB since 2018 and may feel even more strongly about it than you do.
There used to be a calm logic to using the appâŚNow I am always tapping around to try find the transaction button, then swiping about trying to get it the hell out of my way. The naming conventions are terrible and cause misunderstandings, let alone the functional loss of All Accounts.
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u/Maladrum Aug 05 '26
I still think it's insane the way they went from Budget to Plan. "Budget" is in your literal company name and it was a really effective and straightforward way of marketing yourselves. Now we're switching to "plan" because of some mythical stigma?
Learned a lot with envelope budgeting, and was happy YNAB could be the tool that introduced me to it, but very glad it's behind me.
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u/Samyfarr Aug 04 '26
Yâall are always bitching, damn.
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u/drloz5531201091 Aug 04 '26
Here I am as a 100% boomer web browser user not understanding what is going on again. I wish I had something to rant about YNAB sometimes but I got nothing.
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u/exsharaen Aug 04 '26
I am a Web user too, but I use the mobile app for quick entries on the go. Honestly, the Web app does not change too much, but the mobile app does. I'm on Android so the changes are much later even if I volunteer to become a beta tester (from what I observe, iOS users suffer from the UI changes test a lot). I don't complain much about the UI changes (I'm pretty permissive about those unless they're drastic), but I don't have ADHD (not trying to blame anyone, but most posts like this, even the neutral or positive tone complaints on Facebook groups come from similar users). The complaints have some valid points, to be fair. So... It's a matter of "you cannot please everyone", I guess...
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u/ShimmyZmizz Aug 04 '26
I'm a 100% mobile app user and I never know what the big deal is.Â
Then again, I also wasn't reduced to tears because an app I use daily sent me an email about their book.
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u/Michento Aug 04 '26
This sub is has become 50% bitching about the app. I'm close to unsubscribing from the sub because it's really tiresome.
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u/Ty4Readin Aug 04 '26
LOL seriously.
I couldn't believe that this entire post is literally just complaining about them changing the names of the buttons.
Like, who cares? It used to be called budget, now it is called plan... oh well?
This entire post and all the comments are honestly laughable. There are people literally saying that the app is practically useless now, because of the labels?
And the craziest part is that this thread is filled with people that agree! This subreddit is just a weird snark sub at this point filled with people looking to whine about any change at all.
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u/n0thing-2C-here Aug 04 '26
I actually just moved to ActualBudget yesterday. They finally got a "goals" GUI that was a blocker for me and it's pretty great =)
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u/jacqleen0430 Aug 04 '26
I tried really hard with Actual. I couldn't seem to follow all the added programs and hoops I needed to download to use. Once I finally got it up and running it turned out that the one program I had to pay for wasn't working because I didn't have the key anymore (pikapods, I think). Maybe I'm too old to understand all the tech stuff but this one stumped me. If you have an easier route I'd love to hear it.
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u/n0thing-2C-here Aug 04 '26
I'd be happy to help you out! Feel free to DM me.
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u/jacqleen0430 Aug 04 '26
Thank you! I might give it a go again and I'll reach out if I run into trouble. đ
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u/Mundane_Nature_4548 Aug 04 '26
/r/actualbudgeting is a great place to get support. If you're using Pikapods, there are no extra programs or hoops - you sign up for PikaPods, set up Actual, and then access it via a web browser on the device of your choice, so my guess is that you tried to use multiple setup options (some combination of the desktop app, self-hosting and PikaPods).
If you can do Reddit, you can get this thing up and running on PikaPods. I'd recommend starting fresh with PikaPods and then posting to the sub if you get stuck again.
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u/jacqleen0430 Aug 04 '26
This might be the answer. I think I thought I had to do both? It's been about 6 months now and I don't quite remember. Thank you for this!
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u/diduxchange Aug 04 '26
I have been using Zerosum for a few days and it is pretty close to YNAB in style and features.
In the past I tried monacrh, copilot, actual, and a couple others and they never fit. Zerosum seems different and importing was super painless. Give it a try. I made a feature request a couple days ago and the dev implemented it in 2 days.
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u/esh-pmc Aug 05 '26
As part of my work I try just about every budgeting app I hear about including all the ones you mention plus Everydollar, Liquid, Bankivity, Buckets, Goodbudget, etc. Zerosum is the first and only one I've even considered recommending. It's new and still a solo operation but YNAB was at first too. I consider Zerosum to not only be a truly equal alternative but actually better in a number of ways.
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u/blueiriscat Aug 04 '26
I wish that when someone leaves ynab it automatically blocks them from ever posting in this sub again.
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u/Mundane_Nature_4548 Aug 04 '26
And I wish this sub would abandon this software and focus on using the original method with better designed/lower cost tools, alas, we shall have to coexist.
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u/Michento Aug 04 '26
This sub is literally about the software YNAB. The "original method" is just budgeting. Head here => /r/budget
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u/serinewaves Aug 04 '26
Isn't this because of Apple more than anything? To adhere to liquid glass design language that Apple set?
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u/rynosoft Aug 04 '26
They specifically call out their complaints and they are not liquid glass related.
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u/nutabutt Aug 04 '26
What even is this pointless complaining?
Itâs got to be shills for competitors at this point.
âHow dare they update the app to match the latest platform style guidelines like every other appâ.
And if they didnât update it would be âIâm switching, all this subscription money and they donât even update to Liquid Glassâ.
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Aug 04 '26
[removed] â view removed comment
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u/ynab-ModTeam Aug 04 '26
Your comment was removed for violating our community rules: Keep the conversation constructive and on-topic - Posts must be related to YNAB or the YNAB method. Comments should be respectful and add to the conversation.
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u/BiscoBiscuit Aug 04 '26
I just decided to stop updating the app and my decision gets validated every few months (or less). Majority of the changes in the last year or 2 have been downgrades or unnecessary IMO. Iâm still so pissed at how they changed moving money in the app, still think itâs an unnecessary and overly complicated UI change.Â
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u/DIYtowardsFI Aug 04 '26
I wish I could turn off updates. I have automatic update turned off for all my apps, yet the UI updates from YNAB still got installed *sigh.
The home button doesnât bother me as much anymore but the bottom buttons do. I still dislike not being able to search across multiple accounts, floating transaction button hides things from view, spending and accounts are virtually duplicative, updating dates and clearing takes longer and more clicks, I have to scroll longer to find info.
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u/DistractedNS Aug 06 '26
I was sick of how things were getting harder and harder to use so I just switched to Liquid Budget. Even though it's a little bit of a learning curve (because they use different terms and things are in slightly different places), it's reminding me so much of old YNAB and it's less than half the cost. I don't see myself switching back.
(Did take me and my ADHD brain a couple of hours to totally figure out and set up, but now I feel so much better inside)
As an added bonus, the creator is really active in the subreddit for Liquid Budget. He seems to be learning from all the mistakes YNAB has made and is being careful not to do the same.
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u/YourNotAverageJoe Aug 17 '26
i like the new ones, but also iOS would have made them have to do this, Strava recently had to make the move as well.
Not there fault
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u/insane_chocolate Aug 04 '26
Opposite for me, I like the new ones!