Subscription Tracking App Development – How to Guide

From media streaming to cloud services, subscription is one of the most widespread business models for digital products and software. The model charges money based on a monthly or annual basis from users. 

However, sometimes users may find it challenging to track all their subscriptions and expenses. Thanks to subscription tracking apps that offer efficient money management by keeping track of all personal subscriptions.

The demand for subscription-tracking apps is growing continuously, encouraging many businesses & entrepreneurs to know how to create a subscription-tracking app.

Source: Grandviewresearch.com

The market size of subscription billing management was valued at $4.77B in 2021 and is expected to grow at a CAGR of 16.1% from 2022 to 2030.

You can continue with this article to learn how to create a subscription-tracking app.

Capabilities Of Subscription Management Services

Subscriptions are becoming a common part of many popular businesses worldwide. Many industry giants like Zendesk, Google, MailChimp, and others use a subscription model for their products. 

The subscription model allows companies & users to plan their revenue in advance and benefit their business with new updates and convenient payment methods. 

Also, the subscription models enable their customers to pay in a convenient way, rather than having a need to make a big one-time purchase. Customers can choose the frequency of their payments, whether monthly, quarterly or annually.

Know the essential features for apps helping their users to track subscriptions.

Essential Features Of the Subscription Tracker App 

The subscription tracking app consists of the following features:

1. List of subscriptions

There will be two variants of subscriptions. The first will allow users to pick up from the pre-compiled list and enter their contact details. After filling up the contact details, the subscription tracker app will make calculations.

The second variant will automatically scan user bills and determine their subscription with the help of a complicated machine-learning algorithm. 

You can extend the functionality of your app by implementing the Plaid API with the help of a team of developers. This API will let your app integrate with 15,000 US-based financial institutions to access the data related to credit and debit cards(that’s about 98% of the market).  

2. Categorization  

The feature will let your users divide expenses into several categories, for example, business services, cloud storage, telephone bills, etc.

After linking the app to a bank account, the app will load transaction data that will categorize daily depending on the subscription name. 

Subscription tracker apps can use machine learning to empower their categorization algorithm and improve accuracy. 

Moreover, the app can utilize the geolocation feature to allow users to instantly match the transaction to the place of purchase. This will enable users to choose from nearby companies and find where the transaction was made. 

3. Monthly report feature

The feature will let users avoid double-spending if they have already paid for the subscription by detecting any changes in subscription fees.

You can access many ready-made solutions focused on creating various graphics in diagrams for generating visual reports based on users’ data.

For example, developers can use the charts library for iOS or MPAndroidChart for Android apps. Using these tools, the developer can add any chart type in just a few lines of code. 

4. Subscription cancellation feature

Another important feature that will help you enhance user experience on your app. The feature will allow users to reach out to the support of each individual subscription service from which they want to cancel their subscription.

This feature should be designed in such a way that it protects users from having to reach out to the support of each individual subscription service if they want to cancel their subscription. 

They should be able to do it easily in one tap without much hassle. Some subscription management services automatically generate emails to support informing them about the cancellation.

5. Push notifications

It is crucial to have a push notification where users will get notified regarding new deals and updates on your subscription tracking app. 

Having push notifications will let you ensure that your app users won’t miss out on any important information, and you can update them instantly straight from the app. 

6. Scanning checks

Consider adding scanning checks to your app when you want to deliver a universal solution for solving the expenses from app development. 

For scanning, you can allow users to enter their purchase data manually. 

You can implement this feature with the help of optical character recognition technology (OCR) which extracts text from photos and turns them into data. 

Later the scanned data is converted into a convenient chart that showcases the expenditure statistics of the users. You can add a service called “Expensify” that automatically scans checks and turns them into users’ spending data. 

7. Security 

User data consist of sensitive information such as bank accounts, credit card details, etc. Any app, be it a subscription tracking app or others that have access to user bank information, needs to be fully secure and encrypted. 

Offering encryption in your app will help you gain your user trust regarding the safety and security of their private information. 

8. Data storage 

Storing and securing your user data is another important aspect to consider. It can be a huge mistake to store users’ data on less secure devices. 

You should go for a server equipped with SSL encryption to enhance the security of your users’ data even further. 

Let’s check the best examples of applications that help users to track their subscriptions. 

Top Subscription Tracking Apps 

The list of best apps is as follows:

1. Billbot 

The app allows users to add subscriptions to over 200 popular services such as Dropbox, Spotify, Netflix, etc. There is a straightforward process for adding a subscription to Billbot.

Moreover, the app provides reminders to alert users about the subscription due for renewal. 

Also, the app offers a currency conversion feature through which users can convert subscription costs between currencies to access and enjoy subscription services overseas.

Talking over another plus point, the Billbot app does not need users to sign up for their profile. Instead, the app offers spaces where users can classify their subscriptions into separate spaces. 

Available on	Android & iOS
App ratings	4.3
Developed by	Cravy
Price	Free | Paid (in-app purchase)
Top features	Subscription reminder Currency conversion Tracking more than 200 subscription services

2. Bobby

The app “Bobby” is available exclusively for iOS devices, supporting hundreds of subscription services on the internet. 

Unlike other subscription tracking apps, users don’t need to manually enter services. Instead, they can choose from the list and start filling in the relevant subscription details.  

The app provides various options to view the total expenditure, including monthly, remaining, and total expenses, along with providing iCloud sync to extend the app functionality even further. 

With its paid version, the app allows users to customize some elements. 

Available on	iOS
App ratings	4.7
Developed by	Yummygum
Price	Free | Paid (in-app purchase)
Top features	Bill due reminder  Adding custom subscriptions  Categorizing subscription

3. Subby

The app allows users to track their subscriptions across various apps and services. Subby provides an easy-to-use user interface that automatically sets an icon of a specific subscription service as soon as users enter the service name. The app also lets its users categorize subscriptions into different categories to make searching easier when needed. 

Subby provides exact detail about subscriptions, such as payment method, subscription expiry date, subscription price, payment cycle, etc. The app also allows users to back up their subscription data on their Google Drive account.

Available on	Android
App ratings	4.1
Developed by	DevnNotFoundException
Price	Free | Paid (in-app purchase)
Top features	Subscription data backup Categorizing subscription

4. Recur

Recur is an iOS-exclusive app that offers a clean and easy-to-use interface, which makes navigation a lot easier for users to add their subscription to the app. 

Much like Billbot, Recur app doesn’t need users to sign up for an account, enabling users to add subscriptions directly on the app. The app comes with various features, such as a graph on the home screen that offers visual data on users’ all subscription expenses. 

The app also comes with its pro plan that offers varieties of widgets that users can access right from their home screen, along with many customization options to personalize the app based on their preference. 

Available on	iOS
App ratings	2.9
Developed by	Swapnanil Dhol
Price	Free | Paid (in-app purchase)
Top features	Home screen widget customization  Visualized data graph Support to unlimited subscriptions

5. Rocket Money

Rocket Money is another popular subscription & expense management app. The app allows users to manage all their finances and spending on subscriptions. 

The app offers a summary of users’ financials, making them easier to view all their subscription costs, bills, and other expenses. 

When tracking subscriptions, users can monitor all their service subscription apps in one place with an option to cancel all their subscriptions right from the app.

Available on	Android & iOS
App ratings	4.4
Developed by	Rocket Money
Price	Free | Paid (in-app purchase)
Top features	Monthly expense tracking  Monthly budget builder

Now, let’s understand the process of making an application for your subscription-tracking business.

How to Create a Subscription Tracker App?

Follow the steps to create your app. 

1. Define the app’s objective

Identify your target audience and understand what they want to see in the subscription tracker app. You can perform market research to find out your competitors’ strengths and weaknesses.

Properly studying your targeted industry will let you explore areas of improvement you can benefit from by implementing solutions with subscription-tracking app development. 

2. Add subscription tracking app features

Knowing what features you want in your subscription tracking will let you simplify your app creation journey. 

Subscription tracker apps need features like tracking subscriptions, renewals, billing cycles, monthly report features, scanning checks, etc. 

However, you don’t need to make an effort to explore the list of required features when partnering with a reliable app development company. The app developers know all such features and will build them for your app.  

3. Select & integrate the payment gateway

There is a need to handle secure transactions of your app users. You can integrate a payment gateway in subscription-tracking apps like PayPal, stripe, etc. 

Also, you can create your own payment app to eliminate commission charges from your platform. 

4. Hire app developers

Creating a subscription-tracking app requires years of expertise in programming. You need to set up a team of app developers, which can be costly if you hire them full-time. 

However, to reduce your app development expense, you can consider outsourcing your project to an app development company. 

When outsourcing your project and defining your app objective, the team will follow the steps below 

I. Tech stack selection

The selection of the tech stack will depend on your project requirements and estimated app development budget. However, the required tech stack in app development is as follows.

Programming Language	Python, JavaScript, Java, C/C++, Ruby
Frameworks	React, Node.js, Django, Ruby on Rails, Spring
Databases	PostgreSQL, MySQL, MongoDB, Redis, Kafka
Android	Java, Kotlin, Android Studio, Jetpack Compose, Android UI (template)
iOS	Objective-C, Swift, XCode, AppCode, UIKit, SwiftUI
Push Notification	Firebase Notification

II. UI design

The user interface will determine the usability of your app. Therefore, the team will follow a systematic design process to ensure your users can easily access all the required features by implementing a clean and easy-to-use user interface. 

The basic process in the designing stage will be as follows:

• Architecture and workflows
• Style guide
• Mockups
• Prototype
• Wireframes

III. Backend development

The stage involves building decided features to make your subscription tracking fully functional and ready to use. The required tools for back-end development will depend on the platform you choose for app development, such as iOS or Android.

However, when you decide to go with hybrid app development, you can build the app for multiple platforms simultaneously. The basic process in this stage will be as follows:

• Building app features 
• Integrating the backend with the front end 
• API & third-party integration

IV. App testing 

After the development process, your subscription tracking app will be ready to launch. However, it is crucial to ensure your app functionality is going as far as expected.  

The team will perform app testing to check the working of all the features, identify bugs and make changes to the areas of improvement. The app testing involves the following process:

• User experience testing
• Device and platform testing
• Functional testing
• Performance testing
• Security testing

V. App launching

After app testing, the team will launch your app on your targeted platform. The team will ensure they have properly followed all the app store optimization and release processes for your app. 

Along with app launching, you can perform marketing practices to promote your app & get more app downloads. The basic process of in-app launching is as follows:

• Writing app description
• Putting the app in the right category
• Designing launch icon
• Keyword optimization
• Placing app store screenshots

5. Monitoring app performance

After launching the app, the team will monitor your app’s performance to improve its user experience. They will use analytics tools to track user behavior, identify problems, and make necessary updates.

The analytical tools will help you track user behavior and their interaction with your app. The following metrics will determine app performance:

I. Acquisition 

• App downloads 
• Return on ad spend
• Customer acquisition cost 
• Customer lifetime value 

II. Growth metrics

• Trial Conversions
• Monthly recurring revenue (MRR)
• Annualized Customer Value (ACV)
• Trial Start Rate 

III. Retention metrics

• Subscription Retention
• User Journeys

IV. Support metrics

• Net Promoter Score (NPS)
• Successfully solved support cases

Conclusion 

Subscription tracking apps have provided an excellent way for users to manage all their expenses in one app. Although subscription-managed apps should not be limited to the above-discussed features. 

To gain a competitive advantage, you can consider adding more unique features to your subscription tracking app.

However, building an app needs support from app developers. They can help you create and launch your subscription tracking app for your targeted platform.

The best way to hire app developers for your project is to outsource your app. Outsourcing will let you economically leverage the expertise of app developers. 

If you are looking for the best outsourcing agency, look no further. We are here, ready to help. 

We are a team of app developers who will work on your project by analyzing your business needs and will develop a subscription-tracking app for your business. 

You can consult a free consultation call with our team to let us know more about your business idea and offer you the best solution.

Contact Idea Usher 

Email:

[email protected]

Phone:

(+1)732 962 4560

(+91)859 140 7140

FAQ

1. How to create a subscription tracker app?

You can follow the steps to create your app:

• Define the app’s objective
• Decide app subscription tracking feature
• Select & integrate the payment gateway
• Hire app developers 

2. How do subscription tracker apps work?

The subscription model enables customers and companies to plan their finances in advance and benefit from new upgrades and flexible payment options.

Furthermore, subscription models allow their clients to pay more conveniently rather than having to make a large one-time purchase. Customers can select whether to make payments monthly, quarterly, or yearly.