Review by Man in the Middle

I’ve used Quicken since 1984, typically upgrading every time I get a major new version of Microsoft Windows. This time, however, I upgraded from Quicken 2012 Premier to Quicken 2013 Deluxe, primarily to use the new Quicken iPhone app. (I settled for Deluxe rather than Premier because I haven’t found myself needing the extra features of Premier.)nnLike last year, the upgrade and registration was easy and mostly automatic. It noticed and removed my previous version, and restored its data, saving a safety copy as it upgraded the data format for 2013. I also had no trouble setting up a new cloud account for use with the iPhone app. However, I did trigger an error message (org.hibernate.exception. LockAcquisitionException : An unexpected exception occurred.) when I asked to also have my budget synced to the cloud. So far as I can tell, the error was harmless, as I still see budget info on my iPhone 4 that matches what I see in the desktop app in Windows 7 Home Premium (64 bit.)nnThe mobile app shows the accounts I’ve chosen to sync with the cloud, some of which also automatically update themselves with the associated financial institution, and others of which are intentionally not set up to talk directly to their associated financial institution. (I particularly appreciate the latter group, as it’s my impression that Quicken’s Mint Web site only works with accounts that can be linked with the associated institution, and some of mine cannot be so linked.)nnThe mobile app gives me a quick overview of my current situation, both overall and in relation to my budget (which it automatically updates as my spending changes.) It also shows me the alerts I’ve selected, such as when spending in a particular category exceeds its budget by a specified amount, or when I’m charged a bank fee of $1 or more. (I wish there were an option to show bank fees above a penny, as I try very hard never to incur such fees.)nnOverall, two hours into using the new version, I’m happy to have upgraded, and will update this later if I notice any thing else important about the new version. [Update: Still no further problems after another week of use. A Quicken survey this week asked me to check the accuracy of my Quicken Mobile data, and it even correctly caught that I’d incorrectly-entered the associated account of a recent check in my Windows version of Quicken. Be sure you are fully updated (to R6 at the moment), as that may be why my experience has been more successful than that of some earlier reviewers.]nnRecommended, especially for mobile smartphone and tablet users.

Update: As of January 24, 2013, R10 is the latest update, and still working well for me.