No-buy · for people doing a no-buy or low-buy challenge
NoBuy Jar is a no-buy tracker for people who want to stop buying on impulse without treating every purchase as a failure. When you walk away from something, you tap one big button, pick the amount, and coins drop into a virtual jar with a clink and a light tap from the phone. Things you still want go on a wishlist with a cooldown of 1, 3, 7 or 30 days, or any number you type, and when the wait ends the app asks whether you still want it. There is no account and no bank connection, and everything stays on your phone.
The home screen is a glass jar and one big button. Tap it, pick a preset amount or type your own, and put it in the jar. Coins fall, bounce and settle with a clink, the phone gives a light tap as each one lands, and the total counts up. Bigger amounts drop more coins.
Add the thing you want with its price and a category, plus a photo and a note on why you want it if you like. Pick a cooldown of 1, 3, 7 or 30 days, or type your own number. Each card shows how long is left, and an optional notification tells you when the wait is over.
Open an item whose cooldown has run out and the app asks one question: still want it? Buy it and it is kept as a planned purchase, with no red marks. Keep waiting and the cooldown starts again. Let it go and its price drops into the jar as coins.
Most no-buy challenges are tracked on a printed calendar, a list in a notes app, or a spreadsheet of what was spent. All of those record purchases. None of them marks the decision you made at the checkout page or in the store aisle, and they ask for typing at exactly the moment your attention is on the thing you want.
NoBuy Jar records the other side. The urge passes, you tap I resisted, pick an amount, and what you did not spend lands in the jar. The button sits on the home screen right after a one-screen welcome, so it works before you have set anything up or added a single wishlist item.
Anything you are tempted by goes on the wishlist instead of into a cart: a name, the price, one of the starter categories (Clothing, Electronics, Hobby, Beauty, Home, Other) or one you add yourself, an optional photo, and a note to your future self about why you want it. Each item gets its own cooldown. New items start at 7 days, and you can change that default in Settings.
Cooldowns are worked out from the moment you add the item, by the clock rather than by a running timer, so closing the app or changing time zones does not reset them. The list keeps items whose wait is over at the top, then the ones still cooling down in order of which ends first, then the ones you have already decided on.
If you leave the reminder on, a notification arrives when a cooldown ends. The wording is neutral, and it never puts the item's name on your lock screen.
A cooldown is not a lock. You can mark an item as bought while it is still cooling down, and buying after the wait is one of three equal choices. Bought items stay on the list and in your history in a muted gray, never red. There is no streak to break and no message about willpower.
That is deliberate. The first screen you see says two things: your records stay on this phone, and it is okay to buy because there is no penalty. The jar only counts what you resisted or let go. What you bought is a neutral line in the log, and the next urge is another chance to tap the button.
The History tab opens with this month's resisted total, how many times you held off, and a breakdown by category. Below it is a timeline of every amount you resisted, every item you let go, and every planned purchase, each with its date.
When you want to show someone, Share jar turns your total and this month's amount into an image card with the jar on it. The card never includes your wishlist, so what tempted you stays private.
NoBuy Jar is not a budget app. There are no savings goals, spending limits, or progress bars toward a target, and it never connects to a bank or a card. The jar is a tally of amounts you typed in, and no money moves anywhere because of it.
There is also no account, no cloud sync, no ads, and no analytics service; the app makes no network requests at all. The clink follows your phone's silent switch and can be switched off along with vibration, the animation simplifies when Reduce Motion is on, and Delete all data in Settings wipes the wishlist, history, jar and photos in one step.
NoBuy Jar is a record-keeping tool for spending less on impulse. It does not give financial advice, and the jar is a virtual tally on your phone, not an account.
No. The jar is a virtual tally of the amounts you enter when you resist something or let a wishlist item go. There is no bank or card connection and no payment of any kind, so your money stays exactly where it was.
Only on your phone. NoBuy Jar has no account and makes no network requests. The one thing that can leave the phone is the jar image you choose to share, and it shows amounts only, never wishlist items.
Nothing bad. Tap the item, choose I'll buy it, and it is recorded as a planned purchase. No streak resets and nothing turns red. The next time an urge passes, the I resisted button is right where it was.
That is up to you. Each item can use 1, 3, 7 or 30 days or a number you type, and new items default to 7 days, which you can change in Settings. If the wait ends and you are still unsure, Keep waiting starts the cooldown again.
Yes. Settings has separate switches for the clink and for vibration. The sound also stays quiet when your phone's silent switch is on, and with Reduce Motion enabled the falling coins are replaced by a quick count-up.
Settings has Delete all data. After one confirmation it removes the wishlist, history, jar total, categories you added and any photos, and the app starts over from the welcome screen.
Pick the channel you use.
