LifeBudget
A web and Android budgeting app that logs spending automatically from Blu Bank SMS messages, tracks monthly and instalment credit (like SnappPay and Digipay) separately, and reminds you before an instalment is due. Built with vibe coding.
Why I built it
Logging every expense by hand is tedious, and buy-now-pay-later credit like SnappPay and Digipay each has its own rules: one is settled monthly in a single payment, the other splits every purchase into four instalments. In between, I kept forgetting what I had bought on instalments and when the next one was due.
I built this app for my own daily use: bank SMS messages are logged by themselves, every kind of credit has its own model, and everything (budget, instalments, assets, to-dos) is in one place. A demo is now available to try.
Features
- Automatic logging from SMS: the Android app reads Blu Bank SMS messages and records the amount, date and balance without typing. One tap on the notification sets the spending category.
- Monthly credit: limit, usage and settlement day for credit like SnappPay.
- Instalment purchases: each purchase on four-instalment credit (like Digipay), with instalments left and the next due date.
- Loans and due-date reminders: a withdrawal that matches an instalment amount is logged as that instalment automatically, and a reminder arrives a day before.
- Monthly budget on the Persian calendar: a spending limit per category, alerts at 80% and 100%, and a monthly report with charts and PDF export.
- Assets and a checklist with costs: dollars, gold ETFs and physical gold; and a checklist that totals the costs.
How it works
- The Android app only picks up SMS messages that contain "Blu" and "Rial" and sends them to the server; no other messages are sent.
- The amount, Persian-calendar date and account balance are extracted. A duplicate SMS is never logged twice, and if the internet is down it is sent later.
- A notification offers the three most-used categories; one tap files the expense, with an alert if it goes over the budget limit.
Without the Android app you can paste the SMS text into the web version or add a transaction by hand.
Technical decisions
- No foreign dependencies: fonts, styles and every asset are served from the app's own server, and the dollar rate comes from Wallex (a local exchange), so it keeps working on Iran's national internet.
- Isolated accounts: each account's data is fully separate from the others.
- Trial limit enforced on the server: after 14 days an account becomes read-only, enforced by the server rather than only in the UI.
- Web + Android: the web version installs as a PWA, and the Android app (Android 7+) is the web version plus automatic SMS capture, notifications and reminders.
Status and limits
A demo with a 14-day free trial is live at lifebudget.hoseinhayati.ir. Only Blu Bank is supported for now, there is no iOS version, and the Android app isn't in any store; it installs from an APK.