Centsible

Inspiration

The inspiration for Centsible came from the realization that managing personal finances is often viewed as a daunting task. Many people find checking their bank account balance overwhelming. We wanted to make financial awareness more accessible, engaging, and fun. By encouraging personal finance through social interaction, we aim to transform the way people perceive and manage their spending, while also fostering accountability and community.

What It Does

Centsible is a unique social finance app that reimagines how we think about and manage personal finances. Unlike traditional finance apps that focus solely on tracking spending or budgeting, Centsible turns financial management into an interactive, engaging, and even fun experience. It is designed to promote transparency in your finances, but more importantly, it creates a space for sharing, connection, and accountability with the people in your life.

The core idea behind Centsible is that personal finance doesn’t have to be a lonely, stressful experience. Many people struggle with checking their bank accounts or budgeting because it feels isolating. Centsible turns financial management into a social experience, helping users engage with their finances in a positive way by connecting with friends and being more open about where money is going.

Centsible is a social finance app designed to make financial management more engaging and transparent. Users can view their friends' purchases on their feed and also share purchases of their own choice, which helps promote awareness of financial activity and incentivizes/inspires users to be more mindful. The app leverages Knot's API to track transactions from authorized merchants (i.e., Amazon, DoorDash, Walmart, etc.). We used Gemini to provide witty (and humbling) commentary on users' purchases. Users can also comment and react with emojis on the posts of others. Centsible also has leaderboards that gamify good habits by ranking those who've saved the most and those who’ve spent the least each month to promote healthy competition. Another significant feature of Centsible allows users to share upcoming trips, whether it's a grocery store run or a vacation, to invite friends to join, split costs, and incentivize overall group saving. Users can also look at shared memories, like getting a meal with someone for the first time, and see a history of owed money between each other. Centsible fosters a sense of community and accountability.

How We Built It

Centsible uses the Knot API to access user transaction histories and details from different authorized merchants. Our app parses through this data, and we use AI like Gemini to provide witty and humorous commentary on purchases in the feed section. We utilized Swift for app development, despite nobody on our team having any Swift experience whatsoever. Additionally, 3 out of 4 of us are first-time hackers, and we're super proud of our progress and detailed prototype, which we see as a tool for creating genuine excitement around personal finances while also promoting accountability and community. The frontend was designed to be user-friendly, allowing easy navigation for viewing friends' transactions, commenting, and engaging in activities like grocery runs. We built a system that syncs seamlessly with real-time transaction data, ensuring the experience feels interactive and up-to-date.

Challenges We Ran Into

As first-time hackers, learning how to effectively use Swift and integrating it with external APIs posed a steep learning curve. Prior to this, none of us had any experience building mobile apps. To get over this learning curve, we sifted through documentation and utilized AI to help us, and now we feel more comfortable with developing mobile apps. Choosing which features to prioritize in this prototype was a challenge as well. Connecting the Swift app to the Python backend was also challenging because we had to transfer our existing experience with web development to app development and new computing environments.

Accomplishments We're Proud Of

We're incredibly proud of how far we've come in transforming a traditionally boring aspect of personal finance into a social, engaging experience. We were able to create an app that integrates transaction data with social features, encourages financial accountability among friends, and fosters community building. We’re also very proud of our ability to adapt to new technologies, such as Swift and various APIs, and integrate them into a cohesive product, especially with 3 out of 4 of our team being first-time hackers and none of us having used Swift before.

What We Learned

Throughout the development of Centsible, we learned how to work collaboratively on a product from start to finish. We gained experience using Swift for app development and connecting to external APIs like Knot. We also learned the importance of balancing user engagement with utility, ensuring the app is both fun and functional. Most importantly, we learned the power of community—how shared experiences, even in finance, can make a significant impact on people’s habits and mindset.

What's Next for Centsible

In the future, we plan to expand Centsible's functionality by adding more merchant integrations through Knot and improving the AI commentary to make it even more personalized and relevant to each user's spending habits. Additionally, we would like to introduce more ways for users to collaborate, such as creating shared savings goals and budgeting challenges. Ultimately, we want Centsible to grow into a comprehensive platform that not only tracks spending but also empowers users to make smarter, more informed financial decisions.