u/BestOfDays32

A – Answer: What specific problem does your app solve?

Tabsy solves the problem of forgetting what people owe you.

B – Better: Why is your app better than top-named alternatives?

Tabsy differentiates itself from other apps by being more privacy focused. it does not require account creation. If you entrust me with your data by using the premium cloud sync feature I will protect it to the best of my ability. Your cloud sync data is end to end encrypted AES-256-GCM E2E encryption meaning if my backend got compromised your data would be safe. No other app in this category uses end to end encryption.

C – Cost: The app is free with a 99 cent per month membership for those who want the ability to change up the look of the app or use cloud sync and backup to sync across multiple devices or have reminder push notifications on more than one tab.

App Store: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/tabsy/id6755607962

I am a software engineer and I am considered to be a bit of a prodigy, I am not trying to come off as arrogant but I have been working with technology since I was 10 years old, doing things like designing circuits using simple logic gates on my mom's laptop. Now I'm an adult with a few years of professional experience in Software engineering. I felt compelled to build Tabsy because I have a friend with ADHD in my friend group who keeps forgetting to pay me back through no fault of his own. I wanted to create a tool that removes the financial stress from lending money to this friend without forcing them to download an app, create an account, or click a suspicious link just to see what they owe for lunch.

The goal was making the app fast and as easy to use as possible. You log the debts, click request payment, and send a summary through any messaging app in plain text. There is no tracking, no sign up pop ups, and no sharing of weird links. It just gives them the info they need to Zelle you.

The app was working so well for me and my friends that I decided to turn it into a mobile app and publish it to the App store. If it can make people's lives easier why not share it with the world. I published Tabsy 5 months ago and have been maintaining it ever since with frequent updates.

On the technical side. The app is built with AES-256-GCM E2E encryption for people who use cloud-sync(A paid feature.) The keys stay on your device in the Keychain or Keystore. I also stripped out the usual bloat. There is no Firebase, no Meta SDKs, and no Google Analytics. I literally cannot see your data or your friends names even if I wanted to. If you don't purchase a subscription to use the cloud sync feature all the app data stays local, nothing ever leaves the device.

I keep the local app 100% free with no limits because I believe basic utility should not be a luxury. I charge $0.99 a month for cloud sync, but that is strictly a sustainability fee to cover the encrypted backend so I do not have to resort to ads or selling data to keep the project alive.

I wanted to address a few common questions I have seen:

Why use this instead of Splitwise?

Splitwise has its place, but Tabsy is designed specifically as a non-invasive, privacy-focused alternative. Tabsy does not harvest your data. It does not ask your friends to create an account just to see a total, and it does not require you to create an account to use the app.

Why not just use the Notes app?

The Notes app is a great all-purpose tool, but Tabsy is a specialized tool made for one job. It is significantly faster for recording IOUs and sharing that information. It allows you to keep a long history without losing the at-a-glance readability that a standard note eventually loses. Think of the Notes app as a general-purpose tool and Tabsy as a dedicated instrument for managing debts with friends.

What if someone makes fake transactions?

This is where Tabsy helps keep friendships stable and prevents gaslighting. If someone is sending you fake requests, that is a relationship issue, but the app provides the transparency to catch it. You can quickly identify fake entries by looking at the summary text. It has a detailed breakdown of what was borrowed, the cost, and the date. This creates a digital paper trail you can refer back to. If you suspect someone is being dishonest, you can clip those summaries together as solid evidence to back your claim.

Side note: This is not some app made as a weekend project using AI, most of the code was written manually because AI can’t write clean and maintainable code, sure it can make a working product but if you look under the hood you will see a mess of spaghetti code, violations of SOLID design principles everywhere and security issues like hard coded API keys. In short, I built this app over several months not overnight so it is higher quality than most apps on the App store.

App Store link: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/tabsy/id6755607962