How to track spending from QR code payments

To track spending from QR code payments, scan the code with your expense app instead of your banking app, so the amount is logged the moment you pay. 6pm reads Vietnam’s VietQR on your phone, logs the spend and opens your bank app to pay. Codes from Thailand, Singapore and elsewhere are recognised and logged in their own currency.

QR payments: fast to pay, easy to forget

If you live in or travel through Southeast Asia, you already know: the QR code is the cash register. A bowl of noodles in Hanoi, a mango sticky rice in Bangkok, a kopi at a Singapore hawker stall. You scan, your bank app pings, and you’ve forgotten about it before the spoon hits the bowl.

That speed is great at the counter and terrible for tracking. Your statement fills up with lines like “TRANSFER 0123…” that tell you nothing two weeks later. And manual tracking means opening a second app and retyping an amount you just saw. Nobody keeps that up past a few days.

The fix is simple: make the scan and the log the same action.

How it works in Vietnam: VietQR, end to end

Vietnam is where 6pm goes deepest, because it’s home. VietQR is the national standard (built on NAPAS 247 and EMVCo), and most shops, street vendors and friends splitting dinner use it.

1. Open Scan

Open 6pm and tap Scan, or skip the app: add the Scan QR control to Control Center (iOS 18 and later) or to the Action button (iPhone 15 Pro and later), or ask Siri to “Scan QR in 6pm.”

2. Point at the code

The code is read the instant the camera sees it, on the phone. 6pm sees the bank, account, amount and note inside it. If the code has an amount (common on printed bills), you confirm it. If it’s a static code taped to a counter, 6pm asks how much. Got the code as a screenshot? Pick it from Photos.

3. Pay in your own bank app

6pm never moves money. It counts. You pick your bank or wallet from 6pm’s list of Vietnamese apps, and 6pm hands you over:

• Many bank apps open with the account, amount and note already filled in. You check and confirm.
• Some, including Vietcombank and Agribank, open at their home screen.
• MoMo, ZaloPay and ViettelMoney can’t be opened to a transfer from outside, so you open them yourself.

Either way, the amount is on your clipboard, ready to paste.

4. “Did it go through?”

Banking apps don’t send you back, so when you return to 6pm it asks: Did it go through? Paid, Not yet, or Cancelled. If you’re mid-conversation and forget, the payment waits on your Lock Screen and Dynamic Island as a Live Activity with a Paid button.

Shop codes

Big chains often use NAPAS merchant codes, which don’t contain an account a person can type in. For those, 6pm logs the spend and offers Pay in your bank app with the amount copied: you scan the same code again inside your bank app.

Travelling in Asia: logging foreign QR codes

Here’s where travellers come in. Scan recognises a long list of national payment codes and tells you what you’re looking at:

Plus Laos, Myanmar, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Brazil’s Pix, SEPA transfer codes and more.

The honest part: 6pm doesn’t pay any of these. It says so plainly (“This QR pays by Thai PromptPay”), and you log the spend by hand with one tap, kept in that currency. Pay the way you normally would there, with a local wallet, a card or cash. If the code carries an amount, it’s filled in; if not, you type it.

Want the whole trip handled, with your home currency, the local currency and the switch done for you as you cross a border? That’s Travel mode, part of 6pm Max.

Why scan-to-log beats everything else for QR

• No retyping. The amount comes from the code, not your memory.
• No bank login. 6pm reads the code, not your account.
• No duplicates. If you also share the bank’s confirmation screen to 6pm, or a bank email arrives for the same amount within 20 minutes of the tap, 6pm merges them into one item marked “Seen 2 ways.”
• The number moves right away. A pending spend already lowers today’s number. Start the day with 250,000₫ to spend, scan a 45,000₫ lunch, and you’re at 205,000₫ before you’ve finished eating.

From scan to one number

Every scan lands in your Inbox. At 6pm (or whenever you set your close, from 3pm to 11:45pm), you swipe through the day: Keep, Edit, or Not mine. The last card stamps CLOSED. About a minute.

Next morning you get one number: Safe to spend today. It’s your pay minus bills, pots and Future you, spread evenly to payday. On the road, that’s the difference between “I think I’m fine” and actually knowing. QR is one of several ways in; the rest are in how to track spending automatically on iPhone.

FAQ

Can I track spending from QR code payments without connecting my bank?

Yes. Scan the code with 6pm before you pay. The code is read on your phone, the spend is logged, and payment happens in your own bank app. 6pm never asks for your bank login.

Does 6pm pay PromptPay, PayNow or other foreign QR codes?

No. 6pm only hands off Vietnam’s VietQR to a Vietnamese bank app. Foreign codes are recognised and logged in their currency, and you pay with whatever you normally use there.

Do all Vietnamese bank apps open with the amount filled in?

No. Many do; some, like Vietcombank and Agribank, open at their home screen, and MoMo, ZaloPay and ViettelMoney you open yourself. The amount is copied to your clipboard in every case.

What if I scan but don’t pay?

Tap “Cancelled” when 6pm asks, or mark it “Not mine” at the close. It stops counting.

Is QR scanning free?

Yes. Scan, every other capture method and the daily close are free forever. Travel mode is part of 6pm Max.

Try 6pm

6pm arrives on the App Store on Friday 6 November 2026 at 18:00 Vietnam time (6:00 a.m. Eastern). Heading to Asia before then, or just curious? Join the public TestFlight beta: testflight.apple.com/join/a8UrvT5P. More at at6pm.app.

Every spend, caught.