Free App Scans Receipts on Your Phone, No Internet Needed
Track every grocery item without sending your data to the cloud.
A new free Android app lets you scan grocery receipts and automatically track your spending item by item. Unlike most budgeting apps that only show broad categories like "Food," this app breaks down every purchase—so you can see, for example, that you spent 150 euros on coffee last month. The app uses a small AI model that runs entirely on your phone, meaning your receipts never leave your device. That's a big win for privacy.
The developer fine-tuned a tiny vision model (0.8 billion parameters) specifically to read receipts. It extracts the store name, date, total, and each line item, then saves everything as structured data. The app is free and will remain free. If your phone struggles with the on-device processing, you can connect it to your own OpenAI-compatible server instead. The models will also be open-sourced so anyone can run them on their own hardware.
The app is currently available on Android; an iOS version is waiting for Apple's approval. The developer is asking for feedback from different devices and invites users to donate receipt images to improve the models. This is a personal project released through the developer's employer to simplify logistics. It's a promising tool for anyone who wants detailed spending insights without sacrificing privacy.
- The app reads receipts entirely on your phone, so your data stays private.
- It gives you a detailed breakdown of every item you buy, not just broad categories.
- It's free and will stay free, with an option to use your own server if needed.
Why It Matters
You can finally see exactly where your money goes without giving up your privacy.