Hiatus App Review 2023 [My Honest Thoughts]

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Keeping track of your monthly expenses isn’t an easy job, especially when we’re talking about subscriptions and bills. You can easily find yourself occupied for hours trying to sort things out.

Sometimes we completely forget that we are still subscribed to certain TV cable services, video streaming services, phone apps, and a bunch of other services we no longer use. However, it can be a daunting task to figure out everything you’re being billed for on a monthly or even yearly basis.

If you don’t want to continue losing money on such unnecessary things, there are a few apps that you can choose to assist you in managing your financial expenses.

One of these apps is the Hiatus app. In this Hiatus app review, I’ll do my best to give you my honest, unbiased opinion, mentioning both the strengths and the weaknesses of this so-called bill-saving app.

What is Hiatus?

In a nutshell, Hiatus is a bill and money manager.

It’s an app that helps to track your subscriptions and bills automatically and effortlessly. It’s quite popular, and they currently have more than 1 million users. This app basically works as your automated personal financial assistant that can negotiate bills on your behalf and help you to save money.

Founded in 2016, the Hiatus app uses a team of experts along with an intelligent app to help manage your finances and expenses.

Features of the Hiatus app

There are quite a few notable features the Hiatus app has to offer. They’ve got:

• Bill Tracking: It automatically tracks your monthly bills and subscriptions all in one place so that you can see where your money is going on a month-to-month basis.

• Bill Negotiation: Hiatus will provide a team of negotiation experts to help you negotiate with vendors on your behalf. They used to charge a fee for this, however recently they have done away with that.

• Budgeting: Much in the same way other popular apps such as Mint by Intuit and Simplifi by Quicken allow you to budget all in one place, Hiatus does the same.

• Privacy & Security: Hiatus is committed to taking privacy and data security seriously using 256-bit encryption – which is a standard level of encryption for banks.

• Overdraft Fee Control: This app will help you to prevent overdrafts from occurring.

How much does the Hiatus app cost? Is it Free?

Hiatus app in it’s basic form is free to use. Although some of the features that you want to use are part of a premium monthly subscription. If you use the free version of the Hiatus app, you would only be able to take advantage of its basic budgeting tools. However, it will be a great place to get started.

The premium features costs $9.99 per month as a subscription.

What are Hiatus app premium features?

• Negotiate monthly bills
• Cancel unwanted subscriptions  
• Set smart budgets
• Receive personalized financial tips

How much does Hiatus app premium cost?

As of 2022, the Hiatus app charges a monthly fee of $9.99 per month for its premium features.

If you want someone to actively negotiate a better deal for you on bills, be it electricity, mortgage or even student loans, this feature would be well worth your money. As of 2022, Hiatus is the only app we found that does not charge a percentage for their bill negotiations. Other apps such as Rocket Money and BillShark will charge you an upfront percentage of the savings they get you.

Hiatus used to charge 50% of the savings they get you, but now they only charge the monthly fee of $9.99.

Sometimes all it takes is a call to the right place to be able to save some money, and new deals may be available that we simply do not know about.

This Hiatus app charge is automatically and directly charged to your bank account.

Does Hiatus App lend you money?

At the moment, Hiatus doesn’t offer any cash advances through their app. However, they are partnered with a third-party lending marketplace – called LendingTree – which on its own has built quite the reputation as a trustworthy company for borrowing money from.

Will the Hiatus app still charge you if you don’t actively use it?

Keep in mind that ironically, even though Hiatus performs a service of reducing your monthly bills, the app itself can become one of those monthly bills that you may forget about if you don’t actively use their services. Unlike other services that Hiatus purports to remove if unnecessary, they won’t suggest you remove their own app if you fail to use it.

You need to understand that linking your bank account means you are allowing Hiatus to take money from your account because you will automatically activate their premium features.

Pros and Cons of Hiatus

Pros

• Clear pricing structure. Users pay a flat rate of $9.99 a month to unlock their premium features. It’s the one place where Hiatus truly outshines Truebill. The most you’ll ever pay for Hiatus’ service is $9.99, plain and simple. If they save you money via their negotiations on your bills, you still pay $9.99 max.
• There’s no confusion about what features are and aren’t included in the subscription, unlike Rocket Money (previously known as Truebill).
• Financial tracking features allow you to view your entire financial situation in one place. Users can look at their student debt, mortgage, car payments, insurance, utilities, and subscriptions, all within the Hiatus app.
• App’s ease of use. Their features are easy to understand, and the app offers a great overview of your financial situation. Users appreciate the intuitive features and functions of Hiatus.

Cons

• Their lack of a track record. While there are some great reviews, there isn’t as much of a user history with Hiatus as some other popular bill-cutting apps. There are some better-reviewed apps that have been carefully vetted by financial professionals.
• The once-daily financial updates. Instead of updating information in real-time like some other apps, Hiatus only updates financial information once a day. While this may be adequate for some, other users may want more frequent updates.

Who do we recommend the Hiatus app to?

Based on the popularity of the Hiatus application and the price that it’s offered at, we can safely say that Hiatus is suitable for anyone who is looking to save time and money. It’s a low-risk proposal if you want to try it out for one month to see if it’s worth it for your particular situation.

You might find that the app is quite thorough and saves you a ton of time and checking all of your accounts, including your insurance, savings, student debt, mortgages, and many other accounts you may not have thought to look through before.

If you are looking to get your finances in check and stay on top of things, Hiatus is a great place to get started.

Where can I use the Hiatus App?

At the moment, the Hiatus app and platform only provide services for users that live in the United States. Unfortunately, if you are living in another country, you may need to wait for its international app release for your country hopefully in the near future.

How to sign up for Hiatus App

It is easy to create a new Hiatus account. Just follow the steps outlined below:

1. Download the Hiatus app for Android or iOS. You can also visit the Hiatus app website to sign up.
2. Enter your email and set a password for your account.
3. Select your bank institution(s) through a third-party service called Plaid**.
4. You are now ready to get started with Hiatus and all the features it has to offer.

**Plaid is a safe and legitimate company that is used by many other major platforms, including Rocket Money (owned by the Rocket Company) along with services such as Venmo, so you can rest assured that is a completely safe connection.

Also, since Hiatus works by helping you to manage your finances, Hiatus needs to access your bank account information. There’s no way around it. If you don’t see your bank name on the list, you may use the Hiatus search function to look for it.

Hiatus app bill negotiations

Regarding the bill negotiations, it used to be that the app would charge 50% of any savings that its team of experts successfully negotiates. Fortunately, they have done away with this starting in 2022.

However, you do need to pay for monthly Premium status in order to get this bill negotiation feature.

Here’s what to expect regarding the bill negotiation process:

• You will be notified before any negotiations are to occur.
• You will need to authorize any negotiations.
• The negotiations will be executed by the negotiation team.
• You will need to fill out some information to help the team do their job.
• You’ll find out the results of the negotiations within 3 to 5 business days.

You can have peace of mind that none of your subscriptions or bills will be canceled without your prior knowledge. Since you and your authorization are an important part of the negotiation process, there will be no accidental cancellations made on your behalf.

How do I cancel my Hiatus subscription?

If you no longer need the Hiatus premium account service, all you need to do is remove the account and banking information from the Hiatus app. Keep in mind that this process is different depending on whether you have iOS or Android.

For iOS app

1. On the lower right-hand corner of your app, click the User icon
2. Tap More
3. Click on Account
4. Click Deactivate Account

For the Hiatus website and Android app

1. On the top left corner of the app, tap on the Icon
2. Tap on Account
3. Click Tap Here to Remove Your Profile
4. Click Okay

Even though this process seems simple and straightforward, it is essential that you do this before uninstalling the application from your phone. If you only uninstall the application from your iOS or Android phone, it won’t automatically cancel your subscription. You will still be on the hook and charged on a monthly basis.

Hiatus Alternatives

Is Hiatus legit?

Hiatus is indeed legit. It is commended as a great service that saves users a ton of money and provides a reliable negotiation team. Furthermore, the application is very easy to use. Most people give positive feedback regarding the fact that the Hiatus app does what it says it’ll do, at least for the iOS version. More on that down below.

Hiatus app reviews (by real users)

Hiatus is available on both iOS and Android.

On the Apple App Store, it’s got over 5,800 reviews with an average rating of 4.2/5 stars. That’s not bad at all.

However, on the Google Play store, it’s got over 300 reviews with an average of 2.7/5 stars, so it isn’t as well received on Android as it is on iOS.

Let’s check out some of the Hiatus app reviews below:

Reviews for iOS (Apple App Store)

“I learned about Hiatus through an ad on Instagram, and even though I didn’t think it would really help, I gave it a try. It pointed out a few iTunes subscriptions I forgot I was paying for. It informed me that my phone bill was higher than it should be. Hiatus then asked if I would like the team to negotiate with AT&T to try and lower my bill. I consented. A day or two later, they found $50 worth of internet data on my iPad not being used and asked if they could change the plan. I accepted. They saved me $600 a year. I still didn’t truly believe it until I called and the balance was $122 instead of $180. It happened so fast that the bill, which was already past due, reflected the savings. I’m amazed and so thankful I found Hiatus.”

I downloaded the app before I went to sleep, and I woke up to three notifications that they had found savings of just under $1000 for me over the course of a year. Super! Yes, they make money by charging you 50% of the amount saved, it’s disclosed right there in plain English, so I don’t know why people are surprised or don’t understand how it works. I do wish it were a smaller percentage, but I’m still saving a decent amount. I’ve verified savings with AT&T UVerse, Verizon, and SiriusXM.”

Reviews for Android (Google Play Store)

“Terrible and a rip-off. For several months, I’ve been charged for an app that wasn’t available to Android users. There isn’t one helpful thing to help lower or cut bills, or to cancel unused subscriptions. Great at taking your money though.”

“I wish I had read the reviews before installing this app [on Android]. It charges $10 a month without any indication that the app isn’t free. It takes money from your linked account without authorization or asking or showing a subscription option. I disconnected my account and I’m still being charged. I now have to close my bank account because they won’t stop charging me.”

Why is the Hiatus app experience so different on iOS vs. Android?

Unfortunately, the app has been developed mostly with iOS in mind. You can see that the majority of users are on iOS by a large margin. Hiatus seems to be placing priority and resources on iPhone users since they are the ones generating the majority of Hiatus’s revenue.

Personally, I’m an iPhone user and have had a great experience with Hiatus, so I choose to stick with them and can recommend them for the iOS.

However, I do not recommend trying the app if you’re an Android user until they fix the issues at hand. The worrying thing to me is not that the overall rating is 2.7 out of 5 stars. A lot of apps take time to improve and their ratings get better over time. The worrying thing is actually the fact that most of the recent reviews are generally 1 to 2 stars, meaning that the ratings are actually on a downward trend. I would give the Android version a wait for about a year or so to see if they’ve improved. In the meanwhile, there are other alternatives for the Android users.

How to contact Hiatus app customer service

You can get in touch with customer service by sending an email to support@hiatusapp.com. You can also chat with the team via the hiatus app itself. Unfortunately, Hiatus doesn’t provide any phone numbers for customers who prefer to communicate verbally.

In conclusion

Hopefully, this Hiatus app review has helped shed some light on both the good and the bad of it all. The Hiatus app can prove to be a very useful service given the right circumstances and if used in the correct way. If you are lacking in time, but are eager to get your bills, subscriptions, and charges under control, you may want to consider trying Hiatus to ease the load on yourself.

Still, the effectiveness of the Hiatus app depends on your particular situation. If you are already able to completely manage all your expenses, then the price you pay for the Hiatus service may be unnecessary. But, if you don’t have the time or the energy to be completely thorough in your expense monitoring, the cost may be worth it for you. In the end, it’s all about saving time and money. If the money you shell out to use the Hiatus app helps save you more than the amount you paid, it’s worth it. If it doesn’t, simply deactivate the account.

You may be skeptical at first, but it’s probably worth it to at least try it for a month. If you feel you don’t benefit from it, it probably won’t be the worst waste of $10 you’ve had in your life. On the flip side, it could be a potential game-changer for a lot of people with limited time on their hands.

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