Piggy Bank Allowance - Bomad

Review by eFreeware

The idea behind Bomad is simple enough to explain in one line: the balance shown in the app is not money sitting in a bank, it is what you owe your child. Parents keep the cash and record it in a virtual account, and the child watches that figure move. The name is short for Bank of Mom and Dad, which tells you most of what you need to know about the approach.

That framing is what makes it interesting. Instead of opening a real account for a young child, you run the ledger yourself and let the app do the arithmetic and the reminding. It suits parents who already hand over pocket money in coins or notes and want a record of it, and it suits children old enough to care about a number going up.

There is a second app for the child, running on a tablet, phone or another device, so the two sides see the same balance. It is built around teaching money habits rather than acting as a bank, with savings goals, chores, and for older children, expenses and transfers toward a real account.

Recording an allowance without moving any money

The core job is tracking an allowance. You set the app to add a regular amount each week, and the balance grows on its own from there. Weekly is the rhythm the developer favors, particularly for younger children, on the reasoning that a short gap between payments keeps the connection between waiting and receiving fairly clear.

The part I find most useful is how it handles cash that arrives from elsewhere. Birthday money, a note from a grandparent, the tooth fairy: you keep the physical money, add the amount to the child's balance, and the record stays accurate. Nothing has to be deposited anywhere, and you are not rummaging for change when the moment passes.

Spending works the same way in reverse. If your child asks for something, you buy it yourself and then log the amount in the app. The balance stays honest because every movement is written down, and the child can look back at where their money went rather than trying to remember.

Notifications and the running balance

Every transaction triggers a notification on the child's device, including the arrival of the weekly allowance. That small piece of feedback does a lot of work: it turns an abstract number into something that visibly changes, and it means you are not the one who has to announce that the money is there.

The child side also shows the current balance and a record of what has been spent. For a child saving toward something specific, that history is the useful part, because it shows the effect of small decisions over time rather than just a total.

This is where the app's teaching claim either lands or does not. A balance on a screen only means something if the child checks it, and the notifications are the main mechanism for pulling them back. Parents who want the numbers to stay in their own head may find the whole exercise unnecessary.

Jars for saving, spending and giving

Allowance does not have to land in a single pot. Bomad lets you split an incoming amount across separate accounts, and the developer gives spending, saving and giving as examples. That is a neat way to build the habit of setting something aside before it gets spent, without needing three separate envelopes.

Savings goals sit alongside this. A child can track progress toward a target, which answers the question that matters most at that age: how many more allowances until I get there. Seeing the gap close week by week is more motivating than being told to be patient.

Chores are the other source of income. The developer lists payment for jobs done around the house as a feature, so effort and money can be connected in the same ledger. For families who already pay for extra tasks, this keeps the arrangement in one place instead of scattered across a kitchen calendar.

When children get older

Bomad does not stop at pocket money. Older children can claim expenses through the app, and they can request transfers to a real bank account so the money can be spent on a debit card. That gives the tracker a longer life than a simple piggy bank, because the same record can follow a child from coins to a card.

The move to real transfers is also where the app's role changes. Up to that point the balance is a promise between parent and child; once money moves to a bank, the app is coordinating rather than standing in for the account. Parents who want a single tool to cover both stages will find that transition useful.

It is worth being clear about what the earlier stage is. Until transfers come into play, the child is not holding the money, and the balance depends on you keeping the record straight. That is the trade-off the whole design rests on.

Setting it up and what the two apps do

Getting started means creating a virtual account for each child from the parent app on your phone. From there you set the allowance schedule, add one-off amounts when cash changes hands, and record spending as it happens.

Both halves need to work together for the arrangement to function. The parent app is where every entry is made, and the child app is where the notifications and the running total appear. The developer's comparison points are other family money apps, which is a fair indication of the territory this sits in.

The app is free to download and carries in-app purchases. It has been updated recently with minor fixes and enhancements, so it is receiving attention rather than sitting untouched.

Families this arrangement suits

The clearest fit is a household that already gives pocket money and wants a written record of it, with children old enough to follow a balance and care when it changes. If the allowance is currently tracked in your head or on the back of an envelope, moving it into an app that both sides can see is a genuine improvement.

It also suits parents who want to introduce saving and giving as separate ideas early. Splitting each allowance across pots makes those categories visible from the start, and savings goals give a child something concrete to aim at rather than an abstract instruction to save.

Families with teenagers heading toward a debit card are the other group that gets value here, since expenses and transfer requests extend the same system past the pocket money years. With more than 50,000 installs and a 4.4 average from 726 ratings, it has clearly found an audience among parents, though the free download with in-app purchases is worth factoring in before you commit to it as a long-term habit.

A virtual ledger for pocket money

Bomad is a well-judged take on a small problem: keeping track of money you owe your children without opening an account for them. The ledger model is honest about what it is, the child side makes the balance visible, and the jars, goals and chores give the arrangement enough structure to teach something rather than just record it.

The trade-offs are built into the design. For younger children that is exactly the point, and the weekly allowance rhythm the developer recommends keeps the habit regular.

I would suggest it to parents who want pocket money to be visible to both sides, who like the idea of splitting an allowance across saving, spending and giving, and who expect to keep using the same app as their children grow toward a debit card. The free download, the in-app purchases and the 4.4 rating from 726 reviewers make it an easy thing to try with one child before deciding how far you want to take it.

What's new in version 2.0.266

Some minor bug fixes and enhancements