GoHenry: Kids & Teens Banking

GoHenry: Kids & Teens Banking for Android is a prepaid debit card system wrapped up within an educational app. The app designates specific tasks for kids aged six to eighteen, teaching them how to manage real money under full parental supervision.

What happens after signing up?

This app provides hands-on experience and learning to young money managers through spending disciplines and training. Through the companion interface, parents are able to control everything while kids receive a physical prepaid debit card that they can customize with dozens of designs. With automatic allowance and”chore payments,” you don’t have to hand over cash every week. You set it and forget it. You can instantly block or unblock the card, limit transaction by merchant category and set customizable spending and ATM limits (down to the dollar). The parental controls are thorough.

Teens aged 13 and above can use smart capabilities direct deposit for salaries; “Google Pay integration” for QR payments at merchants; free overseas transactions. Most apps allow children to track their savings goals. They can earmark funds for a specific purchase and watch their progress build up through autosave features. The Money Missions curriculum includes personalised courses containing interactive quizzes and games to learn budgeting, how to earn, and save. The application can also use a QR code to pay and receive money, and track your spending and cash flow to see where it all went.

Here is the catch, GoHenry is not free which means it doesn’t have a free version. Parents have the option to pay £3.99 per month for the Everyday account, or £5.99 for the Plus version. You can get all the free top-up you want once a month but each extra top-up is charged a small fee. The app will not allow you to deposit cash at all. Furthermore, there is no bank interest on savings balances until parents manually opt in and pay interest themselves.

According to valuable feedback from millions of families and great ratings at the app store, the educational value outweighs the cost for «money management for families» whose focus is on financial literacy. But compared to competitors like Starling Kite, which have free accounts that earn interest, the basic savings feature feels limited. Using the ATM is fee-free at participating locations, which helps ease the pain.

How It Measures Up to Its Competitors

GoHenry stands apart from players like Greenlight, FamZoo and Starling Kite, as it has a rich, well-made curriculum along with noteworthy parental control. Acorns is one of the acquisitions that made it a powerful player in the industry but the jury is still out if Acorns Early becomes the seat of the experience in the future. The app needs an internet connection to perform most of its functions. As such, the offline capability of the app is limited. This can be a downside when travelling or in areas with spotty internet service.

The design keeps both generations engaged: children appreciate the personalisation of the card and their independence to spend within the limits while parents value transaction alerts and merchant bans

Payments for chores tie the reward to the responsibility in a tangible way that is easier to grasp than lectures about saving.

Families really need to be serious about wanting structured financial education for their school-age kids. After all, they are paying a subscription fee. Plus, a monthly fees works as an investment for life skills, and not just a banking service. If you want basic features without a fee or interest-bearing savings,

look elsewhere. If you prefer hands-on money management training, with the comprehensive controls and a proven curriculum, GoHenry will allow you to turn your allowance into education – a complete package.