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The best finance and security apps for college students

If college marks the first time you're fully in charge of your finances and online presence, here are the tools to help you budget and keep you safe.

The browser and mobile app interfaces are pretty easy to use, and YNAB has a ton of instructional content for newbies that can point you in the right direction when you’re first setting up expense categories, debt trackers and sinking funds. The security and encryption measures are top-notch, with a zero-knowledge policy that ensures the company doesn’t store your data, as well as a bug bounty program that rewards ethical hackers who discover any vulnerabilities. It’s not a cure-all for online security woes, but VPNs do create a protected “tunnel” to keep out people who may otherwise have access to your data, like your internet service provider or hackers targeting public WiFi.

Get the Android app