Log Expenses from a Receipt: Add Spending in Seconds with a Photo

The most common reason people abandon a budget isn’t a lack of motivation — it’s the effort of logging. Nobody enjoys getting home and typing up the three receipts in their wallet; it gets postponed a couple of days, and then the budget sits empty. Hano’s receipt scanning removes that step entirely: you photograph the receipt and the amount, merchant and category fill themselves in. This guide walks through it as if you’d never used the feature.

Who can use it?

Receipt scanning and voice entry are included in Hano’s Pro and Max plans (the same package as the in-app AI assistant). If you’re on the free plan, move to Pro or Max first — the first 7 days are free and no card is required. The feature works on both iPhone and Android.

Step by step: logging from a receipt

• 1. Open the Assistant tab. Tap Assistant in the bottom menu; you’ll see the input box you normally type into.
• 2. Tap the camera button. The camera icon to the left of the input box is for receipts. Tapping it opens a small sheet: Take a photo or Pick from gallery. Choose the first if the receipt is in your hand, the second if you photographed it earlier.
• 3. Fit the whole receipt in frame. Make sure the TOTAL line at the bottom is readable. Take the photo and confirm it.
• 4. Wait a couple of seconds. The screen says “Reading the receipt…” and a scan beam passes over the photo.
• 5. Check the confirmation card. Hano shows what it found as a card: amount, category, merchant and the number of instalments if there is one. If anything looks wrong, tap Discard.
• 6. Tap “Save”. Only at this step is the transaction written to your household budget. Nothing is added until you confirm it.

What Hano looks for on a receipt

• The grand total: it takes the TOTAL / AMOUNT DUE line. Subtotals, tax, discounts and “CASH / CREDIT CARD” lines are never logged as separate entries — otherwise one shopping trip would turn into three records.
• The merchant: the business name at the top of the receipt becomes the description (“Whole Foods”, “Shell”, “Starbucks”).
• The currency: it recognises the symbol on the receipt (₺, $, €, £, ₽). If it can’t read one, it assumes your household’s base currency.
• Instalments: if the receipt explicitly says “3 INSTALMENTS”, it picks that up and splits the amount across months.
• The category: it picks the closest match from the expense categories in your household, and falls back to “Other” when it isn’t sure. You can see the category on the card and change it later from the transaction detail.

Five tips for a good receipt photo

• Put the receipt on a flat surface and smooth out the creases.
• Keep the whole receipt in frame — especially don’t crop the bottom.
• Avoid casting a shadow; hold the phone directly above the receipt.
• Add light for faded thermal receipts — the more legible the print, the more accurate the result.
• For very long receipts, frame the bottom section so the total is visible.

What if the receipt can’t be read?

If Hano can’t extract an amount it won’t propose anything; it says “I couldn’t read an amount from this image” and writes nothing. Retake the photo, or just type the expense instead — “groceries 25” is enough for the assistant.

Hands full? Use your voice

You don’t even need a receipt. Hold the mic button on the assistant screen and say what you spent — “spent twenty five on groceries”. Hano transcribes it and drops the text into the input box, so you can read it, fix it and then send it. It never saves on its own.

Siri and quick shortcuts

On iPhone you don’t even have to open the app: say “Hey Siri, add to Hano”, Siri asks “What should I record?”, and you say the expense at that point. There’s no setup and no code to copy — it’s ready on a Pro account. The same action appears in the Shortcuts app, in Spotlight search, on the Action Button and in Control Center. Home-screen widgets also show this month’s net position and open the assistant in one tap.

On Android, long-press the app icon: the menu offers “Add by voice” and “Scan a receipt”. The first opens the mic, the second opens the camera straight to receipt capture. You can drag either shortcut onto your home screen to pin it.

Are my photos and recordings stored?

No. A receipt photo or voice recording is processed in the moment and discarded right after; it is never kept on our servers or in the database. The only thing saved is the transaction you confirmed: amount, category, date and description. On top of that, your transaction notes are end-to-end encrypted — encrypted on your device, unreadable even to the server.

Why scanning receipts keeps a budget alive

Behavioural research is clear: people who see their spending manage their spending — but only if logging is effortless. Receipt scanning turns three receipts from the grocery run into 15 seconds of work. The result is a household budget that shows real data at the end of the month instead of guesswork. Download Hano and scan your first receipt — the first 7 days are free.