Manual entry takes too much time
Opening an app, entering the amount, choosing a category — every single time. It's tedious, and people stop doing it after a week.
Built on EzBookkeeping · Open Source
Expense Tracking
that happens
automatically.
Stop manually entering expenses.
Your bank SMS can automatically add transactions into your personal expense tracker.
100%
Automatic
0
Manual entries
HTTPS
Encrypted
The Problem
Why EzBook?
Managing personal finances shouldn't feel like a second job.
Your bank SMS has everything
Every transaction generates an SMS with the amount, merchant, and account. All the data is right there — it just needs to be captured.
EzBook automates it all
When a bank SMS arrives, Apple Shortcuts reads it, extracts the data, and sends it straight to your EzBookkeeping dashboard. Zero effort from you.
Setup Guide
How it Works
Get up and running in three steps. After that, expenses track themselves.
Create your account
Sign up on EzBookkeeping — a powerful, open-source personal finance dashboard. It's where all your automatically-captured transactions will appear.
Configure your account
Before the automation can work, set up the building blocks that will be used when creating transactions automatically.
Accounts
Categories
Tags
These labels are referenced by the Shortcuts automation when it creates transactions on your behalf.
Setup Automation
Two shortcuts to download, then one automation to create manually. Tap each to expand.
- Asks for your username & password
- Generates a secure API key via EzBookkeeping
- Stores the key in Apple Notes on your device
- Your password is never stored anywhere
- Accepts amount, account & merchant from the Automation
- Reads your API key from Apple Notes
- Sends a POST request to EzBookkeeping over HTTPS
- Called automatically — no manual launch needed
- 1. Open the Shortcuts app and tap the Automation tab at the bottom.
- 2. Tap ＋ New Automation and choose Message as the trigger.
-
3.
Set Message Contains to a phrase unique to your bank's SMS — for example:
From HDFC Bank A/C * - 4. Select Run Immediately — no confirmation prompt needed.
- 5. For the action, choose Run Shortcut and select EzTrackExpense.
From now on, every SMS matching your keyword will silently call EzTrackExpense and log the transaction — no tapping required.
The Pipeline
From SMS to Dashboard
Every bank SMS triggers an automated chain that lands in your expense tracker.
Bank SMS
Arrives on your iPhone
Apple Automation
Triggers on matching bank SMS text
EzTrackExpense Shortcut
Extracts amount, merchant, account
POST API Request
EzTrackExpense sends transaction via HTTPS
EzBookkeeping Server
Records the new transaction
Your Dashboard
Expense appears automatically ✓
Privacy First
Your credentials stay
on your device.
One-time authentication
Your username and password are used only once — to generate an API key.
Stored locally in Apple Notes
The API key lives only on your iPhone in Apple Notes — never on any external server.
Password never sent again
All future requests use only the API key. Your password stays private, always.
All communication uses HTTPS
Every API call is encrypted in transit. Nothing travels in plain text.
FAQ
Common Questions
When a bank SMS arrives on your iPhone, an Apple Automation you create in the Shortcuts app detects that the message contains your bank's keyword (e.g. "From HDFC Bank A/C *"). It immediately runs the EzTrackExpense shortcut, which reads the SMS content, extracts the transaction amount, merchant name, and account details, then sends a secure POST request to EzBookkeeping — recording the expense instantly, with no tapping required.
No — that's the whole point! Once you set up the Automation in the Shortcuts app, it runs silently every time a matching bank SMS arrives. You never need to open any app. The expense just appears in your EzBookkeeping dashboard automatically.
The automation reads the SMS content sent by your bank. Since each bank formats SMS messages differently, the Shortcut may need a small adjustment for your specific bank's format. The Shortcut is designed to be customisable — you can edit the parsing logic in the Shortcuts app. Most major Indian banks (HDFC, ICICI, SBI, Kotak, Axis) follow a similar SMS pattern that's already supported.
Your API key is stored in a note in Apple Notes on your device. It never leaves your iPhone except when making HTTPS API calls to EzBookkeeping. Apple Notes are encrypted on-device, and if you have iCloud Notes enabled, they are synced end-to-end encrypted. If you ever need to revoke access, you can regenerate the API key from your EzBookkeeping dashboard and re-run the Setup Shortcut.
Absolutely. EzBookkeeping is a full-featured expense tracker — you can edit, delete, re-categorise, or add notes to any transaction through the dashboard. The automation creates transactions as a starting point; you remain in full control of your data.
Yes! EzBookkeeping is a fully open-source project. The source code is available on GitHub so you can audit it, self-host it, or contribute improvements. EzBook (this site) is built on top of EzBookkeeping — we host it for you at ezbookkeeping.onemore.org.in.
Built on Open Source
EzBook is proudly built on top of EzBookkeeping — a powerful open-source personal finance project. We believe in transparency, community, and software you can trust.
View on GitHub