How the receipt scanner works
- In the app, open AI → Receipt and take a photo, or pick one from the gallery. A screenshot of a payment screen works too.
- The AI reads the receipt: the total you paid, the date and the shop, and chooses one of your categories. The shop's name goes into the note.
- Check the draft — amount, category, account and day — and change anything that is off.
- If the receipt mixes things, say food and dish soap, tap Split by categories.
- Tap Save. Only then does the transaction appear in your history, budgets and charts.
The point is speed without guesswork: you don't type the total or hunt for the date, but you still see every number before it counts.
Split one receipt by category
A supermarket receipt is rarely just food. Splitting turns one total into several transactions, one per category, so your food spending doesn't quietly include cleaning products.
Example: a receipt with milk, bread, cheese, dish soap and paper towels becomes two transactions — Groceries for the food, Household for the soap and towels. Together they add up exactly to what you paid.
- Up to five parts. Lines of the same category are merged, and the parts always add up to the receipt's total. If the sum can't be matched, the receipt stays as one amount — never a wrong one.
- The place matters more than the item. A restaurant, café or delivery receipt stays one transaction in one category, however many dishes are on it.
- A discount goes with the line above it; small extras like a bag or a bottle deposit go to the largest part.
- Switch back for free. After splitting, One sum ⇄ By categories flips between both versions without spending anything.
Splitting reads the photo once more, with a stronger model, and costs one more AI action — also when it turns out the whole receipt is one category.
What the AI reads — and what you check
- It reads the total paid, the date, the shop and the right category from your own list.
- It warns you about a blurry or dark photo, a receipt cut off at the edge, several receipts in one picture, an amount that was hard to read or a date it isn't sure of. The warning sits on the draft, so you know where to look.
- It doesn't save anything by itself, create categories or touch your existing transactions. A photo never becomes a recurring payment — that you can say by voice or set in the form.
Printed years are sometimes misread, so the date of a photo is checked against today. If it looks off, the draft asks you to confirm it.
Send the receipt to the Telegram bot
In the Telegram bot it is even shorter. Send the photo to @honestexp_bot — as a photo or as an image file (JPEG, PNG, WebP or HEIC). A caption such as “for the office” is used as a hint.
- The bot replies that it is reading the photo, then shows the draft: amount, category, account, day and the shop.
- For a mixed receipt, tap 🔍 Split by category; 🧾 One total ⇄ 🗂 By category switches between the versions.
- Tap ✅ to save. It is the same account as the app, so the transaction is there at once.
Receipt photos are not stored
- We don't keep your photos — not in our database, not in file storage, not in logs. A photo is processed in memory and discarded; in the bot it stays only in your Telegram chat.
- To be read, the photo is sent together with the names of your accounts and categories to Google's paid Gemini API, under which Google does not use your content to train its models.
- In the app, an unsaved draft with its photo stays only on your device, for up to 24 hours, and is removed when you sign out.
- There is no bank connection, ever. You decide what gets recorded, receipt by receipt.
What scanning receipts costs
Reading one photo is one AI action; splitting it is one more. If the AI fails, or finds nothing about money in the picture, the action is returned.
- A new account: 7 days of Pro with 20 AI actions to try it, no card needed.
- Lifetime: one payment of 19 $, everything for good, with 50 AI actions to test receipts and voice.
- The AI plan: 5,99 $ a month or 47,88 $ a year, for people who use AI every day.
Out of AI actions? Type the total by hand: amount, category, account — three taps.
Questions
Does every product on the receipt become its own transaction?
No. Lines are grouped by category — up to five transactions per receipt, which add up exactly to the total. One shopping trip doesn't turn into thirty rows in your history.
Can I use a photo from my gallery or a screenshot?
Yes. In the app, choose a picture from the gallery; a screenshot of a payment screen works too. In the bot, send it as a photo or as an image file.
What if the photo is blurry or the receipt is long?
The draft tells you — a blurry photo, a receipt only partly visible — so you can check the total. You can also retake the photo; reading it again is another AI action.
Do I need to connect my bank?
No. HonestExpenses never connects to a bank. You add expenses yourself — by photo, by voice or by hand.
Do you keep my receipt photos?
No. A photo is processed in memory and discarded. It is never written to our database, file storage or logs.