Issue #214 | Subscribe

In Issue #202, I hinted at an app I built and submitted for review on the iOS App Store.

Well, that launch didn't go as smoothly as I had initially planned, but long story short, after spending the entirety of February waiting for the app to be reviewed and published, I decided to change direction.

What started as an Apple ecosystem app (iOS and macOS) is now a platform-independent one, starting with the Web version.

Introducing Ducat, an app to track your expenses and paid subscriptions, and visualise your spending habits without complicated dashboards:

My goal with this app is not to make it another wallet app. Instead, build intentional features that keep things simple and help build good financial hygiene by regularly surfacing important facts about our spending habits.

I've been using the app for a while now, and here are some of the things I'm finding useful quite often:

The home screen tells me about my current finances, today's spend and upcoming payments at a glance:

On the Subscriptions page, I can spot my top subscriptions, total due this month, and more in a quick scan:

The top subscriptions section is especially helpful because it helps evaluate whether a subscription is worth keeping. I was shocked to see that I had already spent over ₹21,000 (~$222) on Netflix and YouTube each over the years.

Another subtle feature in tracking subscriptions is that you can specify where you have subscribed to this service, and Ducat can give you a direct cancellation help page link whenever available:

The report breakdown reads like a briefing and lets me understand my spending details and habits over any period of time in a few minutes:

This introduction would be too long if I kept going. The best way to understand the app is to use it yourself.

There's a 2-week free trial, without requiring a credit card upfront.

The iOS app is nearly ready, and I'll resubmit it for review in a month or two. In the meantime, you can use the Shortcuts integration to log expenses from your phone. A Raycast extension is already ready and submitted for review to be included in their extensions store:

I'm working on building an answer engine-like search feature, ways to import and export transactions from and to other apps, and many more thoughtful additions.

Try out the app if it feels useful to you. Let me know if you have any feedback.

Now, let's move on to the rest of this newsletter issue:

Your Next Read

Mindset

Beyond Belief

This book explains how beliefs can be tools that we can harness to shape our minds. It goes beyond just saying ”believe to make it happen” and discusses the process from a scientific standpoint.

Apps & Services

Ducat

See where your money goes

Ducat lets you track your expenses and paid subscriptions in one place and then visualise that data into easy-to-read, actionable reports that tell you how you spend your money. AI-assisted autofill makes adding transactions quite easy. Available on the Web for $29.99/year.
Moods Faster

A better way to track your state of mind

The Apple Health app’s state of mind feature is a great way to track daily mood changes. But I dislike its questionnaire interface for logging. This app makes the process much faster and enjoyable. Available on iOS and is free for basic use.
Capture

A quick capture tool for Obsidian

If you use Obsidian, this companion app will be helpful in quickly saving ideas, notes and resources to your vault. Press a keyboard shortcut, and a Things-like quick capture bar opens up, autofilled with relevant information wherever it makes sense. Available on macOS for $7.99 one-time.

Handy Shortcut

⌘

Shift

U

Toggle the read status of a thread in the Messages macOS app.

Interesting Reads

Matchboxes from the Subcontinent

10 min read

This piece is a bit tangential to the topics of this newsletter, but it’s an enjoyable one. Enjoy scrolling through a massive collection of 750 matchbox designs collected in India for over around 10 years.
Employers are Using Your Personal Data to Figure Out The Lowest Salary You’ll Accept

8 min read

I’m not sure how many companies are actually doing this in practice, and most of the companies in the article denied allegations, but this sort of dynamic wage setting is quite likely. Another case of our data being used against us.
I Swapped Doomscrolling For Reading Comic Books

3 min read

I can tell that this works. Reading a book and reading posts on social media before bed have vastly different effects on the state of mind. As I wrote in an article, app blockers don’t work that well, but redirection does.
The ‘Busy’ Trap

10 min read

Idleness or time-off is often portrayed as a shortcoming by many merchants of busyness, but it’s the time when our minds have enough of a workspace to connect seemingly unrelated things and come up with ingenious ideas. This piece is a good read for those striving for a healthy dose of busyness.

Watch Next

This video is a good introduction to how paper money works and what causes inflation over time.

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