Cell Minute Tracker vs. AT&T’s myWireless Mobile App

I was really excited when I found the Cell Minute Tracker app a few weeks ago and downloaded it to my iPhone. I thought to myself this the app that is going to save me some money each month and keep my husband from asking if I know how many text messages I’ve sent each time he hears my iPhone ding. I wasn’t very big on texting before I got my iPhone but it’s so easy to do now…and why get on the phone for a ten minute conversation when you can quickly type something up and send it off? You save nine minutes and spare the person on the other end of the phone from listening to the screaming chaos going on in the background of your home. But back to the app and my initial excitement. It lasted until I was telling my husband about Cell Minute Tracker and he asked me why I didn’t download the free AT&T My Wireless Mobile app instead. Oh. Ok, so apparently there’s a free app that’d give me the same information about my cell phone usage. Now granted Cell Minute Tracker is only $.99 but if I can get a free replacement that’s just as good it’s a no brainer. So I downloaded the AT&T app to see how the two compare.

Cell Minute Tracker pulls up your cell phone’s account information and shows you how many minutes and texts you’ve used up in your billing cycle. You can look at it and know how close you are to having to pay for those pricey overage charges. You’ll need to have an AT&T online account to use the app but it only took me a few minutes to set mine up. Once you’ve done that you open the app and enter in your cell number and AT&T password. It takes a few more minutes for the app to update but after that you can view your usage. (You won’t have to enter your information every time you open the app.) Our information shows up as a “Family Talk Group” and also as our individual phone numbers. The data information (including those pesky text messages) won’t show up on the group screen. You have to select the individual number to see those. You can also view your current bill from within the app and go from the app to the AT&T website to pay your bill.

AT&T’s myWireless Mobile gives you the same information, but in a slightly different format. You’ll also need to have setup an AT&T online account to use this app. The first time you use it you’ll have to enter your wireless number and AT&T online password. It’ll take a second but then your account information will be available.The “Usage” button takes you to the screens that show you how many minutes you’ve used. To see your data charges you have to navigate to the “Individual” screens. Here’s where you’ll find the text messages. With the “Features” button you can add on new features to your cell plan directly from the app. The “Bill & Pay” button will show you a summary of your bill, including your last payment and your current balance and due date. You can view the full bill as a PDF and make a payment through the app. It’s all very well laid out and easy to read.

So what we’ve got here are two apps that do almost the same thing but one is free and the other isn’t. For me the plus to using AT&T myWireless Mobile  is being able to access my bill and make payments from within the app. You can also do this with Cell Minute Tracker but you have to go through the additional step of logging into the AT&T website and the information is harder to read and navigate through. The plus to using Cell Minute Tracker is that you DON’T have to enter in a password every time you open up the app. For me, personally this is more important than being able to easily pay my bill. I don’t think I’d do that very frequently but I do know that in the short time I’ve been testing out the apps I’ve had to repeatedly ask my husband what the AT&T password is so I can login to myWireless Mobile. That is a deal breaker for me and why I’m going to stick with the $.99 app.

*Cell Minute Tracker*

Price when Reviewed: $.99

Available at iTunes

Seller: Pageonce, Inc.

*AT&T myWireless Mobile*

Price when Reviewed: Free

Available at iTunes

Seller: AT&T Services