To track expenses from paper receipts, open a receipt scanner, point your iPhone at the receipt and let it read the total for you. In 6pm, Scan outlines the receipt, snaps it once you hold still and reads the shop and total on your phone. Check the category, tap Save. Group dinners can be split so only your share counts.
The receipt problem
Groceries at Trader Joe’s, dinner with friends, a hardware store run, the power bill. Paper receipts still show up everywhere, and their life cycle is predictable: wallet, crumple, trash. By the end of the month, “I think we ate out a lot” is the closest thing you have to data.
Typing in a $64.18 grocery receipt isn’t hard. Remembering to do it while carrying two bags is. Scanning is faster than typing, and better: you don’t have to remember the number at all.
How to scan a receipt with 6pm
Step 1: Open Scan
Open 6pm and tap Scan. The same camera reads QR codes and receipts, so there’s no mode to pick first. For speed, add the Scan QR control to Control Center (iOS 18 and later) or the Action button (iPhone 15 Pro and later); it opens the same camera.
Step 2: Point at the receipt
6pm finds the receipt and outlines it live. Hold still for under a second and it takes the shot (“Hold still and I’ll take it”), or tap the shutter yourself. The image is cut out and squared up, even if you shot it at an angle across a restaurant table.
Step 3: Check the card, tap Save
A card shows the shop, the total and a category. Tap to change anything. If the total is unreadable (faded, crumpled), 6pm asks instead of guessing: “I couldn’t find the total. How much was it?” Save it and the spend lands in your Inbox and comes off today’s number right away.
Already have a photo or screenshot of a receipt? Tap Choose a photo inside Scan, or share the image to 6pm from anywhere.
Where your receipt gets read
People ask, so here it is plainly.
First, on your phone. 6pm uses Apple’s on-device text recognition to read the receipt, then its own parser finds the total and the currency. Most clear receipts are done right there.
Only when the phone isn’t sure of the total or the currency is that one photo sent, once, to 6pm’s server and on to Anthropic’s vision model, which reads the total, currency, shop and time. 6pm doesn’t store or log the photo. Anthropic doesn’t train on it. Offline, 6pm simply keeps what your phone read.
Want everything to stay on the iPhone? Turn on on-device AI (Settings → AI) and receipts are read entirely on your phone, with a model you download once.
We never store your transactions; they live on your iPhone, encrypted. No bank login.
Three things a receipt scan does that typing can’t
Split the group bill
Birthday dinner, $240, six people. On a receipt of roughly $20 or more, 6pm offers Split: pick how many people (up to 20), and only your share is saved, with a note naming the total (“Split 6 ways · $240 in all”). You log $40, not $240, and your daily number doesn’t have a heart attack. (Who Venmos whom is still between you and your friends.)
Mark a utility bill paid
Scan the electric, water, phone, internet or rent bill and 6pm spots which bill in your plan it matches, by name, kind, or the exact amount near its due date, and offers to mark it paid this cycle. Because bills are set aside from your pay up front, paying one doesn’t knock your daily number a second time.
No duplicates
Scan the same receipt twice? 6pm tells you it’s already saved. Paid by card and your bank’s alert email shows up a few minutes later for the same amount? The two are merged into one item, marked “Seen 2 ways.”
Tips for a clean scan
- Use a dark background. White thermal paper on a white table is hard for any camera.
- Flatten curled receipts a little. 6pm squares them up, but it helps.
- Turn on the light in Scan in a dim bar.
- Scan early. Thermal receipts fade fast, especially in a pocket.
- Long grocery receipts: the total line is what matters. Make sure it’s in frame.
Receipt apps vs. a daily number
Plenty of receipt scanners exist, and some are great at archiving receipts for taxes or expense reports. 6pm isn’t a filing cabinet. It reads the receipt to catch the spend, then lets the photo go. The point isn’t a folder of receipts; it’s knowing what’s safe to spend tomorrow.
From receipt to tomorrow’s number
Every scanned receipt joins the Apple Pay taps, forwarded emails and voice notes in your Inbox. At 6pm, you close the day: each spend comes up as a receipt card (Keep, Edit, Not mine), and the last one stamps CLOSED.
Next morning: Safe to spend today. Your pay, minus bills, pots and Future you, spread evenly to payday. A big grocery run today means the next few days shrink a little. No adding up receipts on a Sunday night.
FAQ
What’s the easiest way to scan receipts to track expenses on iPhone?
Use an expense app with a built-in receipt camera. In 6pm, open Scan, point at the receipt, hold still, and save the card it shows. It takes a few seconds.
Are my receipt photos uploaded?
Receipts are read on your phone first. Only when the phone isn’t sure of the total or currency is that photo sent once to be read, and 6pm doesn’t store it. On-device AI mode keeps every receipt on the iPhone.
Can 6pm split a restaurant bill?
Yes. On a receipt of roughly $20 or more, tap Split and choose up to 20 people. Only your share is saved, with a note of the total.
Does it read receipts in other currencies?
Yes. Receipts are read in any country, and the spend keeps the currency printed on it.
Is receipt scanning free?
Yes. Scan, every other capture method and the daily close are free forever.
Try 6pm
6pm arrives on the App Store on Friday 6 November 2026 at 18:00 Vietnam time (6:00 a.m. Eastern). Got a receipt in your wallet right now? Join the public TestFlight beta and scan it: testflight.apple.com/join/a8UrvT5P. More at at6pm.app.
Every spend, caught.