Short answer: Trail Wallet is no longer actively maintained, so travelers who liked its model (one trip, one daily budget, expenses logged in seconds) need an actively developed iPhone app that keeps that model rather than a general finance app. Costari is built on the same idea, adds 150+ currency conversion, shared trips and trip statistics, and is free to download.
What happened to Trail Wallet
Trail Wallet was made by a two-person team and was, for years, the default recommendation for backpackers and long-term travelers on iOS. Development has stopped: the app still launches on current iOS versions, but it is no longer actively maintained and support is limited. For an app that handles the money side of a six-month trip, “still works for now” is a risky position: one iOS release is all it takes.
This is not a niche concern. Our own App Store reviews include a traveler who tried more than a dozen replacements after Trail Wallet stopped:
“My favorite travel app (Trail Wallet) was discontinued & I looked at over a dozen apps as a possible alternative - this was the only one with the simplicity & functionality that I was looking for.”
What made Trail Wallet worth replacing carefully
Most people who search for an alternative do not want “a budgeting app”. They want the specific shape of Trail Wallet:
- Trip-based, not month-based. Budgets belong to a journey with a start and an end, not to a calendar month.
- A daily budget front and centre. The screen answers one question: can I spend this today?
- Entry in under ten seconds. Amount, category, done. No receipt scanning, no bank connection, no sign-up wall before the first expense.
- Local currency in, home currency out. Type what the menu says; see the trip total in the currency you think in.
- Nothing else. No net worth tracking, no investment dashboard, no subscription-audit upsell.
General personal-finance apps fail this list on almost every line, which is why “just use your banking app’s budget feature” is unsatisfying advice for travelers.
How the options compare
| Option | Best for | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|
| Costari | Trip-based daily budgets on iPhone and iPad, 150+ currencies, shared trips, trip stats. Free to download. | iOS only, no Android version. |
| TravelSpend | Travelers who need both iOS and Android in the same group, plus a map view of spending. | Broader feature set than Trail Wallet had; some features sit behind the paid tier. |
| Splitwise / Splittr | Working out who owes whom after a group trip. | They settle debts, they do not run a daily trip budget. Different job entirely. |
| Spreadsheet | Planning the budget before departure. | Manual exchange rates and slow phone editing on the road. See spreadsheet vs app. |
| Expensify and similar | Business travel with receipts and reimbursement. | Built for approval workflows, not for asking “what can I spend today?” |
Moving across without losing the habit
- Do not migrate history you will never read. Export or screenshot the totals of past trips for reference and start the new app clean. Old expense-level detail from finished trips is rarely opened again.
- Recreate your categories first. Match the names you used in Trail Wallet so your muscle memory transfers on day one.
- Carry over your real daily average. The most valuable thing Trail Wallet gave you is what your travel actually costs. Use that number as the daily budget in the new app instead of guessing again.
- Switch mid-trip if you have to. Start the new trip with the remaining budget and the remaining days. The daily number stays correct even if the history is split across two apps.
Setting up Costari like Trail Wallet
- Create a trip with your dates and home currency.
- Enter your usual daily budget. Costari works out the trip total, or the reverse if you prefer to start from the total.
- Log expenses in local currency; conversion into your home currency is automatic across 150+ currencies.
- Keep an eye on the remaining daily budget on the trip screen, the equivalent of the number you used to check every evening.
- Invite anyone traveling with you to the same trip if you are sharing costs, and use the stats screen at the end to set the next trip’s budget.
Costari: Travel Spend
Trip budgets, 150+ currencies, shared trips and a remaining daily budget you can check in two seconds. Free on iPhone and iPad.
Frequently asked questions
Is Trail Wallet still available?
It still appears on the App Store and still runs on current iPhones, but it is no longer actively developed and support is limited. For a long trip, an actively maintained app is the safer choice: a single iOS update can break an unmaintained one at the worst possible time.
What is the closest app to Trail Wallet for iPhone?
Costari is built on the same model: trip-based budgets, a prominent daily budget, fast expense entry, and local-currency logging converted into your home currency. It adds shared trips and trip statistics that Trail Wallet did not have.
Can I use Splitwise instead of a travel budget app?
Only for a different job. Splitwise tracks who owes whom within a group; it does not run a daily trip budget or tell you what you can still spend today. Many travelers use a budget app for the trip and a splitting app for the settle-up. See the group trip expenses guide.