Frequently Asked Questions

Everything you need to know about Expense Lens, from getting started to advanced power user tips.

Getting Started

An expense tracker that actually does the work for you. Snap a photo of a receipt, and AI extracts the merchant, amount, date, and currency — then files it into the right category. You focus on spending; we focus on tracking it.
Two ways. The native iPhone app is on the US App Store — camera, Face ID lock, offline capture, GPS mileage, hands-free voice. Android is in testing with the same tracker. Or install the web app to your home screen.
Nope. Every new account gets 5 free AI scans — 5 total, not 5 a month, no card, no clock. Manual entries and CSV imports stay free. Then pick a plan.
Email, password, Google, or Sign in with Apple. On iPhone: passkeys, plus Face ID, Touch ID, or device passcode. On the web a passkey is a second factor, not a way in.

Receipt Scanning & AI

JPEG, PNG, HEIC, WebP, and PDF. Uploads are capped at 10 MB each. Snap a paper receipt, screenshot a digital one, or drop in a PDF invoice.
It's good — handles most printed and digital receipts. Handwriting and faded thermal paper can trip it up. Edit anything it gets wrong; we log extractions and corrections.
Google Gemini extracts, with xAI as the fallback. Every chat turn goes to Gemini to work out what you asked, then to xAI to write the answer. The iPhone and Android voice assistant runs on xAI's realtime model, straight from the phone. So yes, your data leaves our servers — see the privacy policy.
Bulk upload is built in. Drag and drop multiple files — the progress window stays put until the batch finishes. Duplicates still save, but they get flagged for review.
One successful AI extraction — an upload, a forwarded email, a receipt shared from your phone. Manual entries and CSV imports never count.

Capture & Integrations

Type it in. Upload a file or batch. Snap a photo on web, iPhone, or Android. Share one from another app. Drop a PDF. Import a bank CSV. Or forward the email.
Every project gets its own inbound address at inbound.expense-lens.com. Forward a receipt there and it's extracted and filed into that project — no picking, no tagging.
Yes. Export from your bank, import the file, and the rows land as expenses. Plain parsing, not AI, so it costs you nothing from your scan allowance.
Not in the live product. QuickBooks Online is in testing.

Tracking & Insights

Per category, per month. A nudge at 80% and 100%, in the app and by email if you want. Suggestions come from your history — plain math, not AI.
Where the money went, by category and by month, with budget and forecast views. Month-over-month and annual comparisons come as reports. A receipt can also split into line items the AI read.
It spots repeating charges and flags them as recurring — including when the price quietly goes up. Handy for the streaming service that raised its rate and hoped you wouldn't notice.
Lens, the chat assistant, lives in the web app. Ask what you spent on travel last quarter, or to find a hotel receipt — it searches and answers. ⌘K palette too. 5 chats a day on the trial, more on paid plans.
Yes. On the web you enter start and destination and Google Maps does the distance. On iPhone it's Apple Maps; on Android, OpenStreetMap. Type the addresses, or on iPhone and Android record the drive live from GPS. You get a mileage report either way.
iPhone and Android, mileage only. Tap Voice Assistant under New, or ask Siri on iPhone, then talk while you drive: it starts and stops GPS trips, saves them as mileage, and logs trips you already took. xAI gets the audio, the transcripts, your addresses and coordinates, and the amount it saved.

Privacy & Security

In the United States. Expenses in Google's nam5 US database, receipt images in a US-CENTRAL1 bucket; processing runs in Belgium. Encrypted in transit and at rest. Full list in the privacy policy.
Yes, and you should know it. Receipt images go to Google Gemini, then xAI if that fails. Forwarded emails take the same path. Every chat turn goes to Google with your categories, projects and merchants, then to xAI, or Google again if xAI is down, with your amounts and expense lines. On iPhone or Android, a voice session sends xAI your audio, its transcripts, and the trip data it acts on — distances, addresses, coordinates, amounts. Nowhere else.
We don't sell your data, advertise against it, or track you across other sites. Other people only see what you export and send them. But it's a hosted service — our server code has administrative database access, and extractions and corrections get logged. Anyone claiming otherwise is selling you something.
Two-factor with an authenticator app on every authenticated route except the ones that complete login itself, rechecked every 24 hours — and if the check itself errors, the request is refused rather than waved through. Starting a voice session on iPhone or Android passes the same gate. Passkeys, plus Face ID, Touch ID, or the device passcode on iPhone. Receipt images go through an authenticated proxy, never a public URL.

Pricing & Billing

Web pricing:

Starter — $4.99/mo · 30 scans/mo · 20 chats/day · 1 project
Value — $9.99/mo · 75 scans/mo · 50 chats/day · 3 projects ← most popular
Pro — $19.99/mo · 200 scans/mo · unlimited chats and projects

Annual saves up to 18% ($49/$99/$199). Apple pricing may differ on iPhone. See full pricing →
Scanning stops at the limit — the counter is enforced, so no extra scans slip through. Manual entry and CSV import keep working, always free. Upgrade for a bigger allowance, or wait: your scan count resets every month, on the same day you subscribed, whether you pay monthly or yearly. The 5 trial scans never reset.
EU consumers get 14 days to withdraw from a paid subscription — as long as you haven't scanned on it. Scanning waives the right. Subscribed on iPhone? Apple handles that refund, not us. Email support inside 14 days; details in the terms.
Not a blanket one, no. EU consumers get a 14-day right of withdrawal on a paid subscription, as long as you haven't scanned on it. Subscribed on iPhone? Apple decides that one.
Two clicks in Settings, or your Apple subscription settings if you subscribed on iPhone, or Subscription in the Android app if you subscribed there. You keep access until your billing period ends. No cancellation fees, no guilt trips.
Stripe on the web — card details go to Stripe, never to us. On iPhone it's an Apple in-app purchase, and Apple's pricing may differ. On Android you pick a plan in the app and pay in the checkout that opens, then you are back in the app.

Reports & Export

Monthly and annual summaries with charts and breakdowns, month-over-month comparisons, and a business-versus-personal split for tax time. Foreign currencies keep their original amount and rate. PDF, CSV, or XLSX.
Schedule one and it arrives as PDF, CSV, or XLSX — by email, to Google Drive, or Dropbox. Reports are written to a folder we create. Pro adds a weekly digest.
On the web, a full CSV export of your expenses, behind two-factor. On iPhone: PDF, Excel, CSV, or “Everything”, plus mileage reports.
Not in the live product. Sharing is in testing. For an accountant, send a PDF or CSV.

Multi-Currency

AI detects the receipt's currency and converts at the rate from that expense's date — not today's. Rates from Open Exchange Rates, so your February trip to Japan uses February's yen rate.
158. Each project has its own base currency. Set it in Settings when that project is open. Click the ↔ icon on any expense to toggle original vs that project's base.

Account & Settings

Fully. Rename them, pick custom colors, choose icons, set monthly budgets, flag them business or personal. Tags are AI-generated as the receipt is read — no manual tag editor.
English and German. Budget alerts show up in the app and, if you switch it on, by email. iPhone and Android also do push notifications.
Settings → Delete Account. It runs immediately and sweeps every collection holding your data — expenses, categories, projects, receipts, logins, AI logs. What survives is non-personal, plus Stripe's own billing records. No undo, so export first.

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Last updated: September 13, 2026