Your subscriptions, tracked
Because nobody remembers half the things they're paying for
Every time I meet a user in person, the conversation eventually lands on the same question: "When are you adding subscriptions?" Honestly, I needed this feature just as badly. I try out way too many tools every month, forget about free trials, and then get hit with a random charge wondering what went wrong.
So, subscriptions are finally here.
Auto-detecting your subs
If you've used Kiwi Money for a couple of months, the app can now scan your transaction history and identify your recurring subscriptions automatically.
It's about 90% accurate. Not perfect. We're working off SMS data, so the detection relies on spotting recurring amounts and frequency patterns. Sometimes a one-off payment looks recurring, or a subscription you only kept for a month doesn't get picked up. But for most people, it catches the bulk of what's going out every month without you lifting a finger.
The long-term fix is email. Forwarding subscription invoices would make detection significantly more accurate, and it opens the door to email-based tracking across the app. That's coming, but not yet.
Manual setup that doesn't overwhelm you
You can add subscriptions manually too. We looked at what the popular subscription apps do and most of them throw a massive form at you. Fill in the name, amount, billing cycle, category, start date, renewal date. It's a lot.
We took the same progressive setup approach we used for budgets. One step at a time. Less cognitive load, more focus.
For the subscription list itself, we didn't just dump 500 generic options. We looked at actual usage patterns from Kiwi Money users and built the list around what people here actually subscribe to. We added suggestions from users too.
Free trials get their own toggle
This one came from conversations with users who had the exact same problem I did. You sign up for a trial, life happens, and suddenly you're paying for something you forgot existed.
Now you can mark a subscription as a free trial. The app reminds you before it renews. Simple as that.
Reminders (and the architectural change)
Notification support is something we've wanted to bring to Kiwi Money for a while now. Months of putting it off, actually. It required an architectural change that we kept pushing down the road.
Subscriptions forced the issue. Reminders are the whole point of tracking subscriptions. There's no version of this feature that works without notifications. So we finally made the change.
Starting now, you'll get reminders before a subscription renews. You can set the frequency yourself. And because we built the notification infrastructure properly this time, it won't stay limited to subscriptions. Budgets are next.
We also changed what you see first
We redesigned the main dashboard card. I talked to about 10-12 users to understand what they actually wanted to see when they opened the app. The answer was consistent: today's spending, how many transactions, and where the money went. Not weekly trends. Not monthly graphs. Just, what happened today.
That redesign also gave us the space to surface upcoming subscription charges right on the dashboard. So every time you open the app, you see what's coming before it hits.
What's ahead
Subscriptions v1.0 is the foundation. Email-based detection, smarter auto-categorisation, and expanding notifications across the app are all on the list. If something feels off or missing, reach out to us at support@kiwi-money.com.
