Scan a receipt with the camera

Point your phone at a paper receipt and AceMoney Receipts turns it into a receipt record: the page is cropped, read, and opened for you to check before it is saved to your account.

Before you begin

The first scan asks for camera access. On iPhone the prompt reads “AceMoney Receipts uses your camera to photograph receipts and to scan device enrolment codes. A receipt photo is saved to your AceMoney account.”; Android shows its own camera permission prompt. Allow it, or the scanner cannot open.
Reading a receipt works without a connection on the free plan, but saving needs one: the picture is uploaded to your account when you tap Save.

Scan a receipt

Tap Scan in the bottom bar. A sheet slides up with Photo Library, Camera and Manual Entry.
Tap Camera. The built-in document scanner opens.
Hold the phone flat above the receipt so the whole slip is in view, including the store name at the top and the total at the bottom. The scanner outlines the edges and captures the page once the outline is steady; you can also tap its shutter button and drag the corners of the outline if it missed an edge.
Accept the page with the scanner’s own keep or save control and finish the scan. The scanner closes and the app shows Processing Receipt… while it reads the page.
The New Receipt page opens with Payee, Amount ($) and Date filled in wherever the reader could make them out. Check them, pick a Category, and tap Save.

The receipt appears on the Home tab, sorted by its date. On the free plan an ad may appear after you save or cancel a new receipt.

Scan a receipt with more than one page

A long receipt does not have to fit in one picture.

Scan the first part of the receipt as above.
Instead of finishing, capture the next part of the receipt as another page. The scanner keeps every page you accept.
Finish the scan when the last part is captured.

The app reads every page and stores them as one long image on the receipt. The pages must belong to the same receipt: if you scan two different receipts as two pages, they are merged into a single receipt with a single total. Scan different receipts one at a time.

Retake a page

Inside the scanner, use its retake control before you accept the page.
After the scan, if the app shows the Photo quality warning, tap Retake to reopen the camera and scan again.
Before saving, tap Cancel on the New Receipt page to discard the scan and start over.

A saved receipt keeps its picture: there is no way to replace it later. To fix a bad picture on a saved receipt, scan the receipt again as a new receipt and delete the old one.

Why the app says the photo is blurry or has glare

After a scan the app checks the picture. If it looks blurry, or a bright reflection hides part of it, the Photo quality warning appears: “This photo looks blurry, which can throw off scanning accuracy. Retake it?” or “This photo has a lot of glare, which can throw off scanning accuracy. Retake it?”

Retake reopens the camera.
Use Anyway continues with the picture you have; expect to type more of the fields yourself.

For sharp pictures: put the receipt on a flat, plain surface, use daylight or room light rather than the flash, keep the phone parallel to the paper, and hold still while the scanner captures.

Record where the receipt was scanned

If Record Geolocation (“Save location with new receipts”) is on under More > Settings > Capture & OCR, the app fetches your location while the scan is being read, and the receipt gets a map pin. The first time, the phone asks for location access (“AceMoney Receipts uses your location to geotag receipts and to record a drive when you start one from the app.”). The switch is off by default. You can remove the location from any receipt afterwards with Delete Location.

Platform notes

iOS (iPhone and iPad)

The scanner is the built-in document scanner of iPhone and iPad, with its own keep, retake and save controls. The same app runs on iPad.

Android

The scanner is the document scanner provided by the system, with its own crop, retake and done controls. If Android closes the app while the scanner is open (for example to free memory), the capture is recovered when the app reopens, or the app says “Capture was interrupted — try again.”

Web

The web version has no camera. Add receipts by typing them in: see Receipts on the web.

Common questions

Do I need an internet connection to scan?

On the free plan the receipt is read on the phone, so scanning works offline; saving needs a connection because the picture is uploaded to your account. On Receipts Pro the reading service in the cloud reads new receipts, so a connection gives the best result; without one the phone reader takes over.

Is my photo sent anywhere to be read?

On the free plan, no: reading happens on the phone, unless you tap Sharpen with Cloud on a saved receipt. On Receipts Pro the picture is sent to the reading service. In both cases the picture is stored with the receipt in your account. Details: How receipts are read.

Can I scan several receipts in one go?

No. One scan makes one receipt. The multi-page scan is for one long receipt, not for several receipts. Scan each receipt separately.

Where is the picture kept and how do I see it again?

It is stored with the receipt. Open the receipt and tap View Receipt Snapshot to see it full-screen with pinch-zoom.

Can I add a receipt without a picture?

Tap Scan and then Manual Entry (“Create receipt without image”) to type a receipt. Payee, Amount ($) and Category are then required.

What if the document scanner does not open?

The app falls back to the plain camera and shows “Scanner failed, using standard camera”. Take the picture; the app crops it, or opens the Crop Receipt page if it cannot find the edges.

Troubleshooting

The camera shows nothing or the scanner does not open. Camera access was denied. Allow it in the phone’s settings for AceMoney Receipts, then try again.
“Scanner failed, using standard camera”. The document scanner could not start. The plain camera opens instead; frame the receipt and take the picture. The app crops it, or opens Crop Receipt for you to drag the corners.
The Photo quality warning appears every time. Move to better light, avoid shadows and reflections, and hold the phone still. Tap Use Anyway if the picture is readable to you.
“Failed to upload image. Please check your connection.” The upload timed out. Reconnect and tap Save again; the receipt is not saved until the upload succeeds.
“Image file is no longer available. Please try again.” The phone cleared the temporary picture before the app could read it. Scan again.
Payee or Amount came back blank. The reader could not find them. Type them in, then see the accuracy tips in How receipts are read.
An ad appeared after I tapped Cancel. On the free plan an ad can show after saving or cancelling a new receipt. Any paid plan removes ads.