Subscription Tracker for iPhone and Android

A subscription tracker that works on both iPhone and Android is almost always a web-based one: a web app you install to the home screen (a PWA), because the best-known native trackers each live on only one platform. If you have an iPhone and your partner has a Pixel, the well-reviewed app everyone recommends is usually one only half the household can open.

The best-known trackers pick a side

This isn't an oversight; it follows from how native apps are built and sold.

Bobby, one of the most popular manual trackers, is Apple-only. Its website links to the App Store and nowhere else, and its App Store listing says "Only for iPhone" (it also runs on Macs with an M1 chip or later), synced through iCloud. On Android it doesn't exist.

Tilla is the mirror image: a well-rated tracker on Google Play that, according to its developer's FAQ, needs Android 6.0 or later. There's no iPhone version, and its Premium sync runs through your own Google Drive or Dropbox.

Each app's sync stops at its platform's edge. iCloud never reaches a Pixel, and a Google Drive backup made by an Android app can't be opened by an iPhone app that doesn't exist. So the market quietly asks the whole household to pick the same phone.

Why mixed-device households need it most

• Shared subscriptions get bought twice. One of you starts a family plan; the other, not knowing, signs up separately. Nobody notices for months.
• Billing is split across two stores. Some subscriptions bill through Apple, some through Google, and neither store shows the other's. App Store subscriptions hide easily, and in a mixed household they hide in two places.
• The person tracking isn't always the person paying. If only one of you can open the tracker, the list is only ever half right.

How a web-based subscription tracker gets around it

A PWA is a website that installs to your home screen and behaves like an app: its own icon, full screen, offline support and push notifications. There's one version, and it runs in the browser every phone already has.

Disclosure: Subgrove is our app, and we take no referral fees from any app on this page.

Subgrove is built this way. In practice that means:

• The same app on every device. iPhone, Android, tablet, Windows or Mac laptop. Sign in and your list is there.
• Nobody has to change phones to see the subscriptions.
• Everyone gets updates at once, with no app-store review in between.
• It works offline once installed; here's how that works.

One thing to be clear about: each person signs in to their own account. To share one list of household subscriptions and split their cost, the account owner needs Pro and invites the others, who can stay on the free plan. Our guide to tracking a family's subscriptions covers how that works.

Installing it on each kind of phone

• iPhone: open the site in Safari, tap Share, then Add to Home Screen. Push reminders on iPhone need iOS 16.4 or later and the home-screen install, because that's when Apple added web push for home-screen web apps. Email reminders work either way.
• Android: open it in Chrome and accept the install prompt, or choose Install app from the menu.
• Desktop: Chrome and Edge show an install icon in the address bar; any browser can simply use it as a website.

Where a native app is still the better choice

If your household is entirely Apple, a native app with iCloud sync is a great choice, and Bobby is a lovely one. The same goes for an Android-only household and Tilla. Crossing platforms is the one thing a PWA does better; if you never need to cross, that advantage disappears.

Installing a PWA is also less familiar than tapping Get in a store. It takes a few seconds, but it's a step some people haven't seen before.

And like any manual tracker, Subgrove doesn't read your bank. You type subscriptions in, or paste a statement into the subscription finder to pull out the recurring charges in your browser. Skipping bank linking is a deliberate choice, and it's also why the app works the same in any country.

Getting both of you set up

Start with a sweep for forgotten subscriptions: bank statements, email receipts, and both the Apple and Google subscription pages. Then add each one with its price, billing cycle and next renewal date, and choose how far ahead you want reminding.

Sign up on whichever phone is in your hand. The free plan covers five subscriptions with reminders, and the person with the other kind of phone opens exactly the same app.