Considering that neither app adds anything new to your life that you cannot already gain by logging in to the O2 website it is only fair that both cost a very reasonable 59p. While they don’t add anything new, they do however put everything into a simple, easy to access app on your iPhone – which is always faster than going to the O2 website!

So, which app is the better of the two then? Firstly both apps will now be referred to by their springboard short names: ‘Allowance’ and ‘MobileMinute’. On first launching both apps you are asked to enter your O2 website login details which I do, for once, remember. However, I have two contract numbers linked to my O2 online account (a leftover from an old contract) and MobileMinute also requires you to enter the contract number. This meant I had to go to my computer, log in to O2 and then find and enter my contract number into the app.

Allowance login screen

MobileMinute login screen

Allowance did not require this extra input, it managed perfectly adequately with just my username and password. It’s not really a major issue, right? Surely the apps are able to  remember your login details, right? Wrong! If MobileMinute is unable to log in for any reason, such as when the O2 site is down for maintenance, you need to re-enter your login details which of course means logging back in to the O2 website to find the contract number completely defeating the whole reason behind the app! Allowance stores your login details unless you specifically go to the ‘change log in details’ option.

OK, so I had some initial problems with logging in but let’s now take a look at the main point of both of the apps – checking your monthly allowance. Upon loading, Allowance automatically updates the screen with your remaining allowance and, over wifi, this takes about 8 seconds.

Allowance data

MobileMinute data

MobileMinute takes a similar time at 9 seconds over wifi but then you realise that the data is out of date – there is a ‘Data acquired’ field at the bottom that tells you when it was last updated but this can be days old at times! You then need to manually refresh the data which can then take anywhere between 40 and 100 seconds over wifi!

Both apps display the minutes and texts used out of your allowance as well as how many days of your current ‘cycle’ (usually 1 month) have elapsed. With Allowance you can press any of the data fields to change the display method, for example to switch between ’9h 34m left’, ’574m left’ and ’26 / 600 used’ for the minutes, and ’20 days left’ or ‘Wed 2 September’ for the next monthly cycle. Allowance also shows your current spend outside of your monthly freebies and pressing this field then gives you a breakdown for Minutes, Texts, Roaming, Roaming internet and Other (e.g. premium texts sent when entering the Gadget Show competitions!).

MobileMinute shows some extra, but pointless, information – my current contract includes 600 texts and an online offer of a further 600 texts; i.e. 1200 in total every month. MobileMinute shows three lines for messages: ’600 Messages (Used 0 of 600)’, ’600 Online double messages (Used 66 of 600)’ and ‘Inclusive allowance totals (Used 66 of 1200)’ – I can’t work out why it splits them up this way, I have 1200 messages to use and I don’t care whether these are my normal free messages or my bonus free messages – either way they are free messages for me to use! Again, it may seem trivial but when you have to scroll down to see all the information it makes me wonder why the extra lines are there. Allowance fits everything onto a single screen. MobileMinute does, however, show your data usage (if that is on your contract) which Allowance does not.

MobileMinute bill screen

MobileMinute also has a ‘Bills’ section – a nice idea but poorly implemented. The Bills section shows a breakdown of your last bill which can be handy (although I prefer Allowance’s guide to what charges are on your next bill) and it also has a ‘Make a Payment’ button which is active even when you pay by Direct Debit. I was intrigued by this and all it does is send you to the O2 website via an in-app browser. MobileMinute does actually log you into the site but then you have to try and navigate the O2 site to get to the bill payment part itself. This isn’t the easiest of tasks on a desktop computer and is practically impossible on a custom-browser with no landscape mode to gain some extra width. Like I said, it’s potentially a good idea – a direct link to pay your bills – just poorly implemented.

MobileMinute: Navigating the O2 site

We’re nearly there, only two more sections and then onto the conclusion! The apps rely on the O2 website for them to function and any changes to the O2 site can throw a spanner in the works. From experience this will happen one or two times a year. Allowance updates are usually submitted to the AppStore within one or two days. I can’t vouch for the update speed for MobileMinute as I purchased the app shortly after Allowance was last updated to fix the O2 website change – I assume therefore that the speed of updates are relatively equal. Support on the other hand is a different matter. I sent a query to each of the published contact addresses around 11pm on 28th July. I had a personal reply from Michael, the author of Allowance, in my inbox at 10am the following morning which answered my query as well as giving me an update on things to come. It took eight days to get a reply from MobileMinute’s author, PageOnce, and then it was an automated response with nothing to do with my original query. Not very helpful at all.

The final part is what many people’s initial thoughts will be – what does the app look like? Unfortunately Allowance is pretty plain looking – a grey/blue screen with groups of white buttons; not too dissimilar to the iPhone settings screens. MobileMinute, on the other hand, has a nicely designed splash screen, different coloured information bars and a nice fade effect when switching between Usage view and Bills view.

If you like pretty colours and nice fade effects then you will like MobileMinute. However, if you want a fast app that does what it says, with all the information you need fitting onto a single screen and with support that is second to none then I readily recommend Allowance.

So, in case the above wasn’t clear enough, the winner is Mobile Allowance!