Budget Buddy

Budget Buddy helps you manage financial stress. AI-smart, voice-assistant support, and built for financial freedom; track, save, and conquer your finances like never before. Welcome to money mastery.

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Inspiration

The idea for Budget Buddy was born from our frustration with clunky, uninspiring budgeting apps that felt more like a chore than a tool. We wanted to create a personal finance app that’s intuitive, engaging, and accessible, especially for young professionals, students, and anyone juggling tight budgets. The Bolt.new Hackathon inspired us to leverage cutting-edge tools like ElevenLabs voice AI and scalable infrastructure to make financial management feel like a conversation with a trusted friend. Our vision was to empower users to track income, manage expenses, and plan for the future smartly and effortlessly, all while having fun.

What it does

Budget Buddy is a voice-activated, mobile-first app built with React Native and Expo, designed to simplify personal finance. Users can add income and expenses via voice commands (powered by ElevenLabs) or manually by touch, view real-time budget insights, and lock savings with a Stripe-powered wallet. The app offers a Gemini AI-driven “Budget Expert” for personalized tips and predictions, a sleek UI with light/dark themes, and a RevenueCat paywall for premium features like fund-locking and AI insights. It’s cross-platform, running seamlessly on iOS, Android, and web via Netlify, with a focus on accessibility and user-friendly design.

How we built it

We built Budget Buddy primarily using Bolt.new, which enabled rapid prototyping and deployment. The tech stack includes:

Frontend: React Native, Expo, TypeScript, and lucide-react-native for a responsive, mobile-first UI with reusable components (modals, cards, carousel). Navigation: react-navigation and expo-router for smooth screen transitions. Voice AI: ElevenLabs for text-to-speech and voice command parsing via a Supabase Edge Function (simulated for demo due to free-tier limits). AI Expert: Google Gemini API for budget insights and mini-chat functionality. Data & Auth: Supabase for authentication, real-time database, and Row-Level Security (RLS) to ensure data privacy. Payments: RevenueCat for subscription management (Pro features) and Stripe for the Budget Safe wallet. Media & UI: Unsplash API for media visuals, expo-vector-icons, and custom themes (light/dark modes). Deployment: Netlify for web deployment, with Expo for mobile compatibility.

The app’s folder structure (/app, /components, /contexts, /services, /supabase, /types, .env) kept development organized. We prominently displayed the “Built on Bolt” badge in the Account page UI, adhering to Hackathon rules, and shared our build journey publicly for the Top Build-in-Public Bonus.

Challenges we ran into

Integrating ElevenLabs voice system was a significant hurdle, as the free-tier account restricted API access, preventing full voice functionality; we had to simulate voice responses for the demo. Integrating the Stripe-powered wallet system was another challenge, requiring careful handling of secure transactions and user authentication. Ensuring the app worked seamlessly across all devices: iOS, Android, and web demanded extensive testing and debugging, particularly with Expo’s web export and cross-browser compatibility on Netlify.

Accomplishments that we are proud of

We’re thrilled to have successfully implemented the Stripe-powered wallet system, enabling secure fund-locking and transactions, which added a powerful feature to Budget Buddy. Integrating Gemini AI for the “Budget Expert” was another major achievement, delivering personalized budget insights and predictions that enhance user experience. We’re also proud of delivering a polished, cross-platform app within the Hackathon’s tight timeline, with accessibility features (ARIA labels, high-contrast themes) and a vibrant UI that testers loved.

What we learned

This project taught us the power of Bolt.new for rapid development, allowing us to focus on innovation over boilerplate setup. We gained expertise in Supabase’s real-time capabilities and RLS for secure data handling. Working with ElevenLabs and Gemini deepened our understanding of AI and voice integration. We also learned to prioritize user experience, balancing advanced features with simplicity, and honed our skills in cross-platform deployment with Expo and Netlify. Most importantly, we learned the value of iterative feedback and public documentation to refine our work.

What is next for BudgetBuddy

We plan to enhance Budget Buddy with advanced AI features, like predictive spending models and automated savings plans via Gemini. Full ElevenLabs integration (post-free-tier) will enable seamless voice interactions. We aim to add banking API integrations for real-time transaction imports, multi-currency support for global users, and gamification to reward budgeting milestones. Scaling with Supabase will prepare the app for millions of users, while exploring more RevenueCat paywall features will enhance monetization. We’re also excited to expand accessibility, adding multilingual support and more robust voice command parsing.

Challenge Compliance

Budget Buddy aligns with multiple Hackathon challenges and bonuses:

Deploy Challenge: Deployed on Netlify for web access (Netlify Team account slug provided), ensuring cross-platform compatibility. RevenueCat Challenge: Uses RevenueCat for Pro subscriptions (Budget Expert, Budget Safe; RevenueCat project ID provided). Voice AI Challenge: Integrates ElevenLabs for voice-activated income/expense tracking, though currently limited by free-tier API restrictions, requiring simulated voice responses (ElevenLabs account email: ronaldabel1996@gmail.com). Startup Challenge: Built with Supabase for scalability (Supabase Organization Slug provided), ensuring readiness for millions of users. Top Build-in-Public Journey Bonus: Documented our development process publicly via posts, sharing progress and challenges. Other Bonuses: Eligible for Uniquely Useful Tool, Creative Use of AI, Most Beautiful UI, and Most Viral Project due to its innovative AI, sleek design, and broad appeal.

The app was newly created during the Submission Period (May 30, 2025 – June 30, 2025), precisely on May 20, 2025, primarily built on Bolt.new with the “Built on Bolt” badge displayed, and complies with all eligibility, intellectual property, and submission requirements (e.g., public demo URL at https://budget-budddy.netlify.app, a 2-minute YouTube video, English materials). The project is accessible via Expo Go for mobile testing.

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