Simplifi is very close but it's too cumbersome to use for me

Chrobrego

I switched from another product that raised its cost, and thought Simplifi would be an ideal solution. However, after a year of using Simplifi, I am leaving and going back to my old app. The biggest reason why is that Simplifi feels, to me, very cumbersome to use. I can get nearly the same information in Simplifi that I can in my older app, but while I can access my budget and know exactly where I'm at with my spending with my old app, Simplifi makes me navigate through multiple screens. I have have to do extra work like 'releasing' funds from my old month which I never really understood. I also thought the spending plan was a great concept, but it really needs to be incorporated on a wider budget page. I don't trust the spending plan because it doesn't provide any details — I have to go 'search' out the details on yet another page. In short, Simplifi should be called Complicate. It's just not a very streamlined and easy to access UI and work flow for me — compared to other competitors. I think instead of bolting requests onto a faulty flowchart like budget categories that retain funds month after month, Quicken should do a rethink and try to consolidate and really simplify the entire UI process. Notice how damn busy the Home Screen looks? It's information overload and messy. Why not have an account bar on left and the budget on the right with the Spending Plan data on the top of the budget — all in one place?

Chrobrego

another case in point. In the spending plan, you take up an entire half of my screen on the left with a 'Spending Plan' that features something like five categories — you need a whole half screen for that?

I have to click on one of these sections like 'planned spending' to see my budget on the right. However, I can never see my budget in its entirely and need to scroll through three screens to see just a fraction of it. I should see my ENTIRE budget on one screen and no more than two if I have a large budget.

Secondly, I can now make the budget categories a bit smaller (thank you) than the giant Lego Duplo block categories but they are still massive and taking up too much space. I get some information but if I seem to be going over my budget category somewhere, I can't just adjust my budget category. I have to click on it, then click on 'edit' for the next screen then click on save on the third. A prominent competitor just allows me to see my whole budget and I can make changes to it on the fly like a spreadsheet.

With 40 plus years of designing financial software, I would think you guys would know how to design a simple to use, feature rich and functional UI. Your design works, but it is not enjoyable for me to use, it takes up too much time, makes me go through too many needless steps and doesn't present all the information that I need to make an informed decision on a single page. Why can't I see my ENTIRE spending plan budget with every section on a single page (no more than 2.)?

Coach Jon

Hello @Chrobrego,

Thanks for your feedback. We always appreciate it. We are sorry that some of the suggestions you mentioned are not yet implemented in Quicken Simplifi, but as a program we are always improving and adding new features.

Thanks,

Coach Jon

Flopbot

@Chrobrego ,

Sorry to see you go. Don’t forget you can -somewhat - customize the home-screen and hide things. While I haven’t used this feature much yet, it might help get Simplifi closer for you.

SRC54

Yes @Flopbot I am sorry that it didn't work for @Chrobrego but I have to admit I like the overload of information on the Dashboard. It would be nice if the Dashboard were more customizable, and it seems that he wanted the Spending Plan card especially to be customizable to the info he would like to see. You cannot really hide things, just move it down lower. (Maybe thats a distinction without a difference 😀)

I like getting the overall picture in the Dashboard, and then I can drill down to see details if I like. This is not to deprecate anything someone else wants. I've used everything and tried out all the rest, and there is no perfect app. We all tend to want the things we got used to. And there is nothing wrong with that.

I hope to move permanently to Simplifi but I have years of data in Quicken and I quit it once so I have a gap of a year even in it. So I fear discontinuing it. I would like to be able to open my old Quicken files in some sort of viewer or get to them online, but that isn't how Quicken works. OTOH, having two apps means I can find errors more quickly as I compare reports.

Good luck to Chrobrego!

UrsulaA

https://community.simplifimoney.com/discussion/comment/40533#Comment_40533

I admire your patience in using both apps (Quicken and Simplifi) in parallel. I used Microsoft Money briefly in the 2000s and then made the leap to Mint followed by Simplifi.

I agree with most of the changes @Chrobrego proposes. I changed my workflow in Simplifi using watchlists with limits to track overall expenses instead of focusing on sub category lines. If I kept the same workflow as I had in Mint with all my subcategories, Simplifi would have been frustrating to use with the spending plan tiles being too big.

SRC54

@UrsulaA Yes, it is sometimes a pain and something only a retired person has the time to do. I understand that so many people are busy and just want something easy and fast so they can get back to work, the kids, the spouse, life, etc. I used Mint on and off for several years too. It was frustrating to use in a web browser. I started with it when I had a Windows Phone, then Intuit dropped the Windows App! Then I tried using the Quicken App for Windows. It was bad and buggy at first. Now the Quicken App is fine, except it is really a bridge from the Quicken Program on your computer to the Quicken Cloud to your phone. Simplifi is a much better as it is all in real time.

Ultimately, after Microsoft dumped us customers one too many times (Windows Phone, Microsoft Money, etc), I dumped Microsoft and went to Mac and iPhone and so was able to use Mint again. And it seems that Intuit followed the Microsoft model and dropped Mint and earlier sold Quicken for that matter. So glad that Quicken is its own company now.

But every time I see that Quicken is a trademark of Rocket Mortgage, LLC I wonder if that means that Quicken may one day lose the rights to use the Quicken name. 😀 I hope the lawyers got a nice long option!

RockLee

@SRC54 "and there is no perfect app" Yup, this sums it up. I don't love Simplifi but it works good enough and better (for me) than other apps. @Chrobrego makes some fair points!

DannyB

Another point of view and a nod toward the subjectivity of this kind of discussion. I find my experience of QS to be quite different finding this app to work far better (now the subjective part) for me. I have tried working with other apps even over the past 2.5 years using QS and I haven't found one that works as well (here it is again) for me. So much so that I find myself quite resistant to a number of the "feature" requests that get posted in attempts to make QS more like other apps. I do vote for ones I think would be useful, but many I just can't get behind. But, once again, that's me speaking out of my experience of this app in comparison to other.