Fast entry
Amount, category, account, done. Your own accounts, categories and currencies, no accounting vocabulary.
Runs on your phone, not on our servers
Track expenses privately, right on your device.
Record what you spend, scan a receipt, see where the money went. Receipts are read on your phone rather than sent away, so tracking works without a signal and your records stay with you.
- Works offline Tracking needs no connection
- On-device extraction Receipts are read here, not uploaded
- Local receipt scanning The image never leaves the phone
- No account required Install it and start. Nothing to sign up for
Features
Everything you need to keep track, and not much else.
The parts people use every day, with the work done on your device.
Receipts, read here
Photograph one, import a PDF, or share one in from any app. The reading happens on the device.
It asks when unsure
A clear receipt becomes a transaction. An unclear one waits for you rather than being guessed at.
Purchases that log themselves
Card purchases arrive without you opening the app, through an iOS shortcut or Android wallet notifications.
Where it went
Totals by category, account, tag or merchant, over any window, with search and filters to dig in.
Yours to keep
App lock, hidden amounts, CSV in and out, and a full backup file whenever you want one.
How it works
Three steps, and the third one often takes care of itself.
- 1
Add, scan or share
Type it in, photograph a receipt, or share an image or PDF in from another app.
- 2
It gets read on your phone
Expensed pulls out the merchant, amount, date and a likely category. Nothing is uploaded to do it.
- 3
Recorded, or handed back to you
A clear receipt becomes a transaction and says so. An unclear one waits for you. Either way it lands in your reports.
See it in action
Share a receipt in. Watch it become a transaction.
One tap from Photos, read on the device, filed in seconds. A short, silent clip - it plays as you reach it.
Setting up automatic logging on your phone? The support page walks through it for iOS and Android.
Privacy
Your finances do not need to leave your phone.
The sensitive part - the receipt, the amount, the merchant - is handled where it already is.
Receipt text is read locally
The photograph becomes text on your device. Uploading it would add nothing.
Extraction runs on-device
A model on your phone picks out the merchant, amount and date, and suggests a category. No external service touches it.
Tracking works offline
Entry, scanning, search and reports all work with no connection, so normal use gives the app no reason to reach the network.
You control what leaves
You start the exports and the backups. With backup off, your records stay on the device.
Backups go to your own account
Turn backup on and the file goes to your own iCloud or Google Drive. Expensed runs no server to keep it on.
No absolute promises
Local storage removes one kind of risk, not every kind. A passcode, encryption and current software still matter.
A cloud-based flow
- Receipt
- Internet
- External server
- Result
The receipt, or the text pulled from it, goes to a server. The result comes back.
How Expensed works
- Receipt
- Processing on your device
- Your transaction
The receipt is read on your phone, and the transaction it becomes never leaves it either.
Plenty of apps handle this responsibly in the cloud. The difference is where the work happens: Expensed does it on the device already holding the receipt.
The app
A calm interface for a dull, useful habit.
Five screens cover most of what you will do: see the month, add something, check a scanned receipt, read the breakdown, and decide what runs on your device.
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Home dashboard -
Add a transaction -
Review a scanned receipt -
Spending statistics -
On-device model
Screenshots from the iOS app, on sample data.
On-device processing
What “runs on your device” actually means.
The software that reads your receipt is downloaded to your phone and works there, rather than sending the receipt somewhere else.
Scanning a receipt does two things. The app reads the text in the image. Then a small language model on your phone works out which parts of that text are the merchant, the total and the date, and suggests a category to match.
Running on the phone means it works in aeroplane mode and on a train with no signal. It also ties results to your hardware: a recent phone runs quicker than an old one, and some devices cannot run it at all.
Some features need the model downloaded first. The app shows the size before it starts, and you can delete the model later.
Extraction helps; it does not always get it right. Faded print, odd layouts and poor lighting all trip it up, which is why an unclear receipt waits for you instead of being recorded. Keeping the work local also leaves less reason to send financial details anywhere.
The slightly more technical version
Optical character recognition converts the receipt image into raw text. That text is then passed to a compact language model running locally through the platform's on-device inference support, which returns structured fields - merchant, amount, date, currency, suggested category - rather than free text.
Model files are stored in the app's own storage and can be deleted from settings. Inference speed scales with available memory and the device's accelerator, so performance varies across the range of supported phones.
- Runs on the device The model is downloaded to your phone and executes there.
- Performance varies Newer hardware is faster; some devices may not qualify.
- Always review results Drafts are a starting point, not a final answer.
- A download may be required Some features need an on-device model before first use.
- Less to transmit Local processing reduces the need to send financial details anywhere.
FAQ
Common questions
What people ask before installing. The full list covers privacy, offline use, receipts, backups and purchases.
Do I need to create an account?
No. Install it and start tracking. There is no sign-up and no profile to fill in. Cloud backup, if you turn it on, uses your own iCloud or Google Drive account rather than an Expensed one.
Where is my financial data stored?
On your device, in the app’s own storage. It stays there until you export it or turn on backup to your own cloud account.
Are my receipts uploaded to a server?
No. Receipt images and the text read from them stay on your device. Cloud backup can include receipt attachments in the file it writes to your own storage account, and the app says so before you enable it.
Can I use the app without an internet connection?
Yes. Adding transactions, scanning receipts, browsing history and reading reports all work offline. A connection is needed only to install the app, download the on-device model, buy premium, or run a cloud backup.
Is receipt extraction always accurate?
No. Faded printing, odd layouts, handwriting, creases, poor lighting and uncommon languages all cause mistakes. When a reading does not settle - an unreadable total, an unclear merchant, something that is not a purchase - the receipt waits for you instead. Recorded transactions stay editable, so a wrong figure is a correction rather than a problem.
Why do I need to download an AI model?
The work happens on your phone, so the model has to live there. It downloads once and runs locally after that. Shipping it inside the app would burden everyone who never scans a receipt.
How do I back up my data?
Export the data yourself, or turn on backup to your own iCloud or Google Drive account. You start both deliberately; neither happens by default.
Is Expensed free?
Almost all of it. Entry, receipt scanning, automatic logging, categories, accounts, tags, recurring rules, reports, search, CSV import and export, and backup to a file all cost nothing. Cloud backup is the one feature behind a purchase.
Expense tracking that stays with you.
Record what you spend, scan a receipt when you have one, keep the details on your own device.
Feature availability can differ between iOS and Android, and between device models.