Automatic Tracking
An automatic expense tracker that never asks for your bank login
Every other automatic tracker works the same way: connect your bank, hand your credentials to an aggregator, wait for transactions to import. Peggy takes the expense from the payment itself. Tap to pay with Apple Pay or Google Pay and the categorized expense is already there.
What "automatic" means without a bank connection
Short answer: the expense is captured at the moment you pay, not imported from your bank afterwards. When you pay with your phone, your phone already knows the amount and the merchant - it shows you a confirmation. Peggy reads that confirmation and turns it into a transaction with a category, an emoji and the right wallet. Nothing is linked, nothing is imported, and there are no credentials to hand over.
The difference from bank sync is timing and access. A synced app sees your entire account history, forever, through a third-party aggregator, and shows you a purchase when your bank gets round to posting it. Peggy sees one payment at a time, seconds after it happens, and has no standing access to anything.
In the app the setting is called Auto-capture, under Settings. It is off until you turn it on.
How it works on each platform
The result is the same on both. The mechanism differs because iOS and Android give apps different tools.
On iPhone - Apple Pay
iOS does not let apps read notifications, so Peggy uses Shortcuts instead. You create one Personal Automation - "When Transaction occurs" runs "Log Transaction in Peggy" - and iOS passes the amount and merchant straight to the app. Apple does not allow apps to create that automation for you, so Peggy opens Shortcuts and walks you through it. It takes about a minute, once. Requires iOS 16 or later.
On Android - Google Pay and Google Wallet
You grant notification access once, and Peggy watches for payment confirmations from Google Pay and Google Wallet specifically. Notifications from every other app on your phone are ignored and discarded without being read or stored. Revoke the permission in Android settings, or turn the feature off in Peggy, and it stops immediately.
In both cases the payment text is sent over an authenticated connection to Peggy's server-side function, which extracts the amount, merchant, currency and a suggested category, then saves the expense and confirms it with a notification. Your bank credentials are never involved, because there is no bank connection to involve them. The privacy policy sets out exactly what is read and what is ignored.
What it does not catch
Worth being straight about, because an automatic tracker that quietly misses things is worse than a manual one. Peggy sees what your phone pays for. It does not see:
- Cash. No payment confirmation exists.
- A physical card swiped, inserted or tapped directly rather than through your phone.
- Direct debits, standing orders and bank transfers. These happen at your bank, and Peggy is not connected to it.
- Online payments that do not go through Apple Pay or Google Pay.
For most people that leaves a handful of items a month rather than every purchase, and those go in the way they always have: say it out loud, snap the receipt, or type it. The honest pitch is not "you will never log an expense again" - it is that the everyday tap-to-pay spending that used to be the bulk of the work now handles itself.
Automatic tracking vs bank sync
These solve the same problem with different trade-offs. Neither is strictly better.
Completeness
Bank sync wins. It captures everything that touches the account, including the direct debits and card payments Peggy cannot see. If a complete ledger is the goal, a synced app gets you there with less effort.
Access and privacy
Automatic tracking wins, and not marginally. Bank sync means an aggregator holds standing access to your account history. Peggy sees one payment confirmation at a time and holds no access to anything. For a longer discussion, see our personal finance AI privacy guide.
Reliability
Automatic tracking wins on a technicality: there is no connection to break. Bank connections need periodic re-authentication and go dark when a bank changes its security setup. There is nothing equivalent to break here.
Speed
Automatic tracking wins. The expense appears seconds after you pay, while it is still fresh enough to correct or question. Synced transactions can take days to post, by which time the budget you were checking was already out of date.
Automatic expense trackers compared
Every app here tracks automatically. The column that matters is what it costs you in access to do so.
| App | Automatic tracking | How it captures | Needs bank credentials | Price | Platforms |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Peggy | Yes, no bank | Apple Pay + Google Pay notifications | No | €2.99/mo | iOS + Android |
| Monarch | Via bank link | Plaid / Finicity | Yes | $14.99/mo | iOS + Android + Web |
| Copilot | Via bank link | Plaid | Yes | $13/mo | iOS + macOS + Web |
| YNAB | Via bank link | Direct import | Yes | $14.99/mo | iOS + Android + Web |
| Rocket Money | Via bank link | Plaid | Yes | Free + $6-12/mo | iOS + Android + Web |
| Goodbudget | No | Manual entry only | No | $10/mo | iOS + Android + Web |
| Monefy | No | Manual entry only | No | Free + one-off Pro | iOS + Android |
Peggy
- Automatic tracking
- Yes, no bank
- How it captures
- Apple Pay + Google Pay notifications
- Needs bank credentials
- No
- Price
- €2.99/mo
- Platforms
- iOS + Android
Monarch
- Automatic tracking
- Via bank link
- How it captures
- Plaid / Finicity
- Needs bank credentials
- Yes
- Price
- $14.99/mo
- Platforms
- iOS + Android + Web
Copilot
- Automatic tracking
- Via bank link
- How it captures
- Plaid
- Needs bank credentials
- Yes
- Price
- $13/mo
- Platforms
- iOS + macOS + Web
YNAB
- Automatic tracking
- Via bank link
- How it captures
- Direct import
- Needs bank credentials
- Yes
- Price
- $14.99/mo
- Platforms
- iOS + Android + Web
Rocket Money
- Automatic tracking
- Via bank link
- How it captures
- Plaid
- Needs bank credentials
- Yes
- Price
- Free + $6-12/mo
- Platforms
- iOS + Android + Web
Goodbudget
- Automatic tracking
- No
- How it captures
- Manual entry only
- Needs bank credentials
- No
- Price
- $10/mo
- Platforms
- iOS + Android + Web
Monefy
- Automatic tracking
- No
- How it captures
- Manual entry only
- Needs bank credentials
- No
- Price
- Free + one-off Pro
- Platforms
- iOS + Android
Peggy prices shown here are euro-zone App Store prices. Your exact price varies by country and store, and is always shown before you subscribe.
Features and pricing can change. Confirm current details on each app's own listing before choosing.
Try automatic tracking
Turn on Auto-capture, pay with your phone, and watch the expense appear on its own. Voice, receipt scanning, shared wallets and AI chat cover everything else. €2.99/mo with a 7-day free trial, on iPhone and Android.
Peggy prices shown here are euro-zone App Store prices. Your exact price varies by country and store, and is always shown before you subscribe.
Frequently asked questions
Can an expense tracker work automatically without connecting my bank?
Yes, if it captures the payment at the moment you make it rather than importing it from your bank afterwards. Peggy does this by reading the confirmation your phone already produces when you pay with Apple Pay or Google Pay, then turning it into a categorized expense. No bank login, no third-party aggregator like Plaid, and no continuous access to your account history.
How is this different from bank sync?
Bank sync connects to your accounts through an aggregator and imports everything, which is more complete but requires handing over credentials and breaks when a connection needs re-authentication. Capturing at the moment of payment covers only what you pay for with your phone, but nothing is ever linked, there is nothing to re-authenticate, and the expense appears in seconds rather than days.
Does automatic tracking work on iPhone as well as Android?
Yes, through different mechanisms. On Android, Peggy reads payment notifications from Google Pay and Google Wallet after you grant notification access. On iPhone, you create a one-time Shortcuts automation that passes Apple Pay transactions to Peggy - iOS does not let apps create that automation for you, so the app walks you through it. Once set up, both work the same way from then on.
What does automatic tracking not catch?
Anything you do not pay for with your phone. Cash, a physical card swiped or inserted at a terminal, direct debits, standing orders and bank transfers all happen without your phone producing a payment confirmation, so Peggy cannot see them. Those still go in by voice, receipt photo or manual entry - which for most people is a handful of items a month rather than every purchase.
Does Peggy read all of my notifications?
No. On Android, Peggy only processes notifications from Google Pay and Google Wallet. Notifications from every other app are ignored and discarded without being read or stored. The feature is off until you switch it on, and you can revoke notification access at any time in Android settings. On iPhone the feature uses no notification access at all - it works through a Shortcuts automation you create and can delete.
Is my payment data sent anywhere?
The text of the single payment confirmation is sent over an authenticated connection to Peggy's server-side function, which uses an AI model to pull out the amount, merchant, currency and a suggested category. Only that text and the names of your own wallets and categories are sent. Your bank credentials are never involved, because Peggy has no bank connection of any kind. Our privacy policy describes this in full.
Do I have to review each automatic expense?
No, it is saved straight away and a notification confirms what was added. You can open it and correct the category, description or wallet like any other transaction. Reviewing is optional rather than a required step, which is what keeps it genuinely automatic.
Which wallet does an automatic expense go into?
By default the AI picks the wallet that best fits the purchase based on your wallet names and categories, which works well when you keep separate wallets for personal and shared spending. You can also set a default wallet so every automatic expense lands in the same place.