Frequently asked questions

No. Install the app and start tracking. There is no sign-up or profile. If you turn on cloud backup, Expensed uses your iCloud or Google Drive account.

Yes. Expensed works on both iOS and Android. Some features may differ because the two systems work differently.

Yes. Almost everything works offline. You only need the internet to install or update the app, download an AI model, update exchange rates, buy premium, or use cloud backup.

Yes. Every transaction is an expense or income, and your reports cover both.

Yes. Each account can use a different currency, so you can keep travel or foreign accounts separate.

Yes. You can add, rename, reorder, and remove categories and accounts.

No. Receipt images and scanned text stay on your phone. You can choose to include receipt files in a cloud backup, and the app tells you this when you set it up.

No. AI runs on your phone. Expensed does not send your receipts to an outside AI service.

No. Expensed does not connect to your bank or ask for banking details. Transactions come from what you enter, scanned receipts, imported CSV files, or purchase notifications already on your phone.

No. We do not sell your data or use your transactions for advertising. Read the privacy policy for details.

Someone with your unlocked phone may be able to open Expensed. Keeping data on your phone helps protect it from an online breach, but not from someone using the unlocked phone. Turn on the app lock and use a passcode.

Yes. Use a passcode, Face ID, or fingerprint lock, and keep device encryption on. These protect your Expensed data and everything else on your phone.

You need the internet to install or update the app, download an AI model, update exchange rates, buy or restore premium, and use cloud backup or restore.

Only cloud backup syncs in the background, and only if you turn it on. Everyday tracking does not use the internet.

You may need the internet to download an AI model once. Phones with built-in AI do not need this download. After that, scanning works offline, even in airplane mode.

No. Faded print, unusual layouts, handwriting, creases, poor lighting, and some languages can cause mistakes. Check each draft before saving it. You can edit it later.

AI can fill in the merchant, total, date, category, and account. It only uses categories and accounts from your own lists. You can change anything before saving.

Yes. The draft shows the receipt next to the details Expensed found. You can change anything before saving. You can also edit a saved transaction later.

It depends on your phone. Expensed uses Apple Intelligence or Gemini Nano when available. On other phones, you can download an AI model. AI is optional, so the model is not included with the app.

Yes. Use the share menu to send receipt photos, PDFs, or email attachments to Expensed. AI creates a draft for each file. Without AI, the files are added to a blank transaction for you to fill in.

Yes. Ask Emma can answer questions such as "How much did I spend this week?" It links to the transactions used in its answer. Emma can also draft an expense for you, but it will not save anything until you confirm it. Everything stays on your phone.

The two models are 1.2 GB and 2.4 GB. The app shows the size before the download starts. You can delete the model in settings. Phones with built-in AI do not need either one.

No. AI may run slowly or not work on older phones or phones with less memory.

The rest of the app still works. You do not need AI for manual entry, categories, accounts, search, reports, import, or export. The app tells you when a feature is not supported.

Speed depends on your phone, the image size, and what else is running. The first scan may take longer while the AI model loads.

Yes. You can get an alert when you get close to the limit, reach it, or go over it. Set the first alert at 50, 60, 70, 80, or 90 per cent. Each alert appears once.

No. Finished periods keep their original limit. The new amount applies from the start of the current period.

You can change the amount and alerts. To change the category, period, start date, or currency, end the budget and create a new one. Your old budget history will stay in the app.

No. Only expenses count. An overall budget includes every expense. A category budget only includes expenses in that category.

Each budget uses one currency. Expensed converts spending from other currencies using exchange rates stored on your phone. The rates update weekly, and budgets still work offline.

No. Each period is judged on its own.

No. Budgets are free, with no limit on how many you can keep. You can run one overall budget and one for each category at the same time.

Yes, for item splits. Add service charges and tax as a percentage or fixed amount. You can apply a charge to the items alone or include earlier charges. Split it equally or based on what each person ordered.

No. A pending split does not affect your transactions, balance, budget, or reports. When you settle it, Expensed adds your share as one expense.

Yes. Undoing a settlement removes the expense. For a group settlement, it also reopens every split in that round.

No. You enter their names yourself. There are no accounts, invitations, or syncing between people. You can send them a text summary of who owes what.

Each group has its own people and currency. When you settle up, Expensed finds the fewest payments needed to clear the balances. You can close a group and reopen it later.

Yes. Each person has a separate balance for each currency. One settlement can cover them all, with each payment in the right currency.

No. Splits and groups are free, with no limits on people, groups, or splits.

Yes. Your phone encrypts the app's private storage and ties it to your passcode while the phone is locked. No storage is fully secure, so use a passcode and keep your phone up to date.

Deleting a transaction removes it from the app. Old backups and exports may still have a copy, which you must delete separately.

No. The app works without it. But if you have no backup, you may lose your data if your phone is lost, reset, or broken.

In your iCloud or Google Drive account. Apple's or Google's terms apply. Expensed does not keep a copy.

Yes. Make a full backup on your old phone, move the file to the new phone, and restore it. The backup includes your transactions, categories, accounts, budgets, splits, and receipts. Cloud backup cannot move data between iCloud and Google Drive. Premium also does not transfer, so you must buy it again on the new platform.

Yes. Export your transactions as a CSV file, then save, share, or open it outside Expensed.

Yes. Choose which CSV columns contain the merchant, amount, date, category, and account. You can import files from other apps and spreadsheets.

Yes, if you turn on that option. Receipts make backups larger. CSV exports only include transaction data, not images.

A full backup includes budgets, groups, and splits. A CSV export only includes transactions, so use a full backup to move all your data.

Uninstalling Expensed removes its data from your phone, including transactions and receipts. Back up your data first if you want to keep it.

No. We do not have a copy of your data. Expensed cannot restore data that you did not back up or export.

Premium adds scheduled cloud backup to iCloud Drive or Google Drive. It tells you if a backup worked and lets you restore it on a new phone. These are the only premium features.

Premium is a one-time purchase with no subscription. The price depends on your country. Check the App Store or Google Play for your local price. Expensed also shows the price before you buy.

Open settings and tap Restore Purchases. Use the App Store or Google Play account that bought premium.

No. If you switch between iOS and Android, you must buy premium again. You can still move your data with a full backup.

Ask Apple for an App Store refund or Google for a Google Play refund. Their refund rules apply, and we cannot issue store refunds. Contact us if something does not work as described.

Expensed is made for phones. It also runs on tablets, including iPad, but uses a phone layout. There is no desktop or web version.

Mostly. Some features may reach one platform first because iOS and Android handle on-device AI and backup differently.

Android 15 and later marks a notification as sensitive when it looks like it holds a one-time code. Android then sends the full text only to apps that come with the phone. Expensed receives "Sensitive notification content hidden" in place of the real text. The purchase waits in To review, where you can enter the amount and the merchant by hand. To reduce this, open Settings → Notifications on the phone and turn off Enhanced notifications. To stop it, give Expensed the permission yourself, with a computer and one command:

1. On the phone, open Settings → About phone. Tap Build number seven times. This turns on developer options.
2. On OPPO, OnePlus, Realme, and vivo phones, open Developer options → Apps. Turn on Disable permission monitoring. Some versions name it Disable system optimization. ColorOS, OxygenOS, and FunTouch OS block adb from changing a permission. Without this step, the command fails with a security exception. Restart the phone.
3. Install the Android platform tools on the computer. On Windows:winget install Google.PlatformToolsOn Mac:brew install android-platform-toolsOn Ubuntu or Debian:sudo apt install adbOn Arch Linux:sudo pacman -S android-toolsOn any other system, download the platform tools from Google and unzip them.
4. On the phone, open Settings → Developer options. Turn on USB debugging. Connect the phone to the computer. If the phone asks about USB debugging, tap Allow.
5. In a terminal on the computer, run:adb shell appops set dev.xianthus.expensed RECEIVE_SENSITIVE_NOTIFICATIONS allow
6. Restart the phone. Purchases logged after the restart keep their details. If you reinstall Expensed or install a major Android update, run the command again.

Email [email protected]. Include your phone model and app version.