Why the Best Finance Apps Don't Need to Be Downloaded from the Play Store

How many finance apps are installed on your phone?

One? Three? Six? The average Indonesian has 2-4 finance apps on their phone, and most of them are opened less than once a week. Each one takes 50-150 MB of storage. Total: hundreds of megabytes for apps that spend 80% of their time sitting idle on your home screen.

There's a more sensible way to do this.

The problem with native finance apps

This isn't about whether the apps are good or not. It's about a distribution model that's become outdated for modern needs.

• Storage bloat: Finance apps average 50-150 MB, growing larger with every update. On a 64 GB phone that's already half full, this adds up.
• Forced updates: Almost weekly update notifications. Skip them and some features stop working or security warnings appear.
• Slow bug fixes: A bug reported today can take 1-7 days to reach you after going through the App Store review process.
• Platform lock-in: Android apps don't run on iPhone. iPhone apps don't run on Android. Switch phone OS and you start from scratch.
• Higher prices: Premium subscriptions on App Store cost more than web because developers have to cover the 15-30% commission to Apple/Google.

PWA: a finance app you don't need to download

A PWA (Progressive Web App) takes a different approach to app distribution. Instead of downloading from the Play Store, you install directly from your browser. The result still appears on your phone's home screen like a regular app, without all the problems above.

Wealio is a concrete example. Total app size under 1 MB. Install from browser in 30 seconds. Updates automatically without you doing anything. Works on Android, iPhone, and laptop, all from the same account.

"But how is this different from opening a website in a browser?"

Fair question. Here's the difference:

• No address bar after installation. Full screen like a native app, not like a browser
• Icon on home screen: open directly from home screen without opening a browser first
• Faster loading: assets are cached, no need to reload from the internet every time
• Can receive notifications, just like a native app (on Android; limited iOS support)
• Feels like an app, not a website. Smooth page transitions, no page reloads

For a finance app, this is more than enough

Let's be honest: what do you actually do in a finance app?

• Log expenses → no camera, GPS, or sensors needed
• Check balances and budget → data from server, no special hardware required
• View monthly reports → charts and numbers, not AR or 3D
• Transfer and categories → regular form inputs

Not one of those activities requires the advantages of a native app. PWA handles all of them, without the 120 MB you'd need to clear from your phone's storage.

When you might still need a native app

I won't pretend PWA is perfect for every situation. There are scenarios where native apps genuinely are better:

• You need to scan receipts directly with your camera (this feature isn't in Wealio yet, but it's on the roadmap)
• Finance apps that integrate with Apple Pay or Google Pay for direct payments
• You're in an area with very limited internet and need full offline mode

For needs outside of that, which covers 90% of personal finance app users, PWA is the more practical choice.

Try Wealio without downloading anything

If you've never tried a PWA-based finance app, Wealio is a great place to start. Nothing to install first: just open your browser, sign up, and start tracking. If you want to install it to your home screen, the process takes 30 seconds.

Or if you want to install to home screen first: