Scan a receipt

A receipt scan reads the items off a photo of the receipt, so you do not have to type them. Before anything goes on the bill, you check what was read and put right anything that is wrong. You can start a bill with a scan, or add a receipt to a bill you already have.

How to scan a receipt

1. Press the + button in the app's bar, then choose Scan a receipt. On a bill, choose Scan a receipt from Add to this bill.
2. Press Take a photo. Your phone's own camera opens, with its lenses, zoom and flash, so you can go wide or close as you like. Take the photo and keep it. Or press Choose from photos to use one you already have. Flat and well lit works best. On a computer, Take a photo lets you choose a file.
3. On Frame the receipt, drag the frame onto the receipt. Zoom in to check the text can be read, turn the photo if it is on its side, and slide Straighten if the receipt sits at a slant. Press Use photo, or Retake to try again.
4. Wait while the receipt is read.
5. On Check the receipt, read down the items. Tap any item to change its name, how many, or the price each, or to remove it. A line marked Check this is one the reading was unsure of.
6. Press Looks right. A new bill opens with the items on it. A receipt added to a bill goes on its Items step.

Add item at the end of the list adds a line the reading missed. The photo at the top opens the receipt, and Side by side in it lays the receipt beside the list, as on a bill.

Name at the top of Check the receipt is the bill's name. When the receipt prints the place's name, it is the first suggestion under the field and is shown in the empty field, so a bill confirmed without typing is named after the place. Tap a suggestion to use it, or type your own. When no name was read, a new bill is named for the time of day, such as Dinner. On a bill you already have, its own name is kept unless you type another; the place's name replaces it only while the bill still has a name it was given for the time of day, so a name someone chose is never replaced. Only the organiser sees Name when adding a receipt to a bill.

The currency is shown at the top right of the list. If the receipt is in another currency, tap it and choose the right one before you press Looks right. The prices stay as printed; only the currency changes, and the bill is made in it, or takes it if the bill has nothing on it yet. A price the currency has no decimals for, such as 4.50 in yen, is marked Check this. Once a bill has items or payments, its currency is changed in the bill's settings.

When the receipt prints its currency, such as EUR on the total or the euro sign, and it is not the one the list is in, the list opens in the receipt's currency and a line at the top says Set to EUR from the receipt. Press Change to choose another. In a tab in another currency, the line says the tab counts the bill at its rate. When the currency is only likely, from the address or a sign several currencies share, the line says Might be that currency and the list stays as it was until you press Use. On a bill that already has items, the line points to the bill's Settings. Your own currency is never changed by a scan.

Free reads, and upgrades

Where upgrades are offered, each account has three free receipt reads a month, on any bill. Past them, once the photo is framed, Read this receipt? says what it would cost each person to upgrade the bill, which reads every receipt on it from then on. You can use a credit you hold, every credit as one press offered first, upgrade it, or press Type items instead: the photo is kept on the bill, and the Items step opens for you to type them. With a weekend pass running, nothing is bought: the offer says the pass upgrades the bill and when it ends, and Read it now reads the receipt. Someone who cannot buy an upgrade on the bill is told who can. Scanning from Start something keeps the photo on a new bill first, so nothing is lost either way. See Upgrades.

When the total does not match

The service, tax, tip or discount printed on the receipt are listed beneath the items, with the receipt's total. When the items and extras do not add up to that total, a line above the items says by how much. You can:

• Fix an item. Goes to the first line marked Check this, which is usually the one that was misread.
• Add as extra. Makes up the difference with one extra: service when the receipt says more, a discount when it says less.
• Ignore. Leaves it as it is.

Worked example: dinner at Luigi's

Maya scans the receipt from Luigi's Trattoria. Name suggests Luigi's Trattoria, read off the top of the receipt, and Maya leaves it. Say the reading gives:

Item	Read as	Price
Margherita		12.50
Diavola		14.00
Carbonara		15.50
Garlic bread		6.00
Peroni	3 x 5.20	15.60
Tiramisu	Check this	1.00

Beneath the items are their sum, Items 64.60, then Service 7.06 and the Receipt total 77.66. The line above the items reads: Items and service add up to 71.66. Receipt says 77.66 (6.00 off).

The Tiramisu was 7.00, and the reading took the 7 for a 1. Maya presses Fix an item, opens the Tiramisu and sets the price to 7.00. The line goes, because the items and service now come to 77.66, and Matches shows beside the Receipt total. When no total was read, the card gives the Total the bill comes to and says No total read, so compare it with the paper. Pressing Add as extra instead would have added 6.00 of service that nobody was charged, so fixing the item is the right choice here.

If something stops you

• The camera does not open. Take the photo with your camera app, then press Choose from photos.
• The receipt could not be read. Try again closer, or press Add by hand to enter the items yourself.
• The receipt was not read, and an upgrade is offered. This month's free reads are used. Upgrade the bill, or press Type items instead.
• You are offline. Reading a receipt needs a connection. Add the items by hand meanwhile.
• The extras did not come with it. On a bill that is not yours, a receipt adds its items alone. The organiser sets service, tax and tips.