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When your bank sends a transaction SMS, SpendSense intercepts it in the background the moment it arrives. The sender ID is checked against a hardcoded list of known Sri Lankan bank SMS sender identifiers.

If the sender matches, the message body is parsed entirely on your device to extract the transaction amount, merchant name, and whether it's a debit or credit. The result is saved to your local database in seconds — without opening the app and without any server contact.

OTP messages, promotional messages, and balance enquiry replies from bank senders are identified and silently discarded — only genuine transaction alerts are captured.

SpendSense automatically recognises SMS from the following banks and their known sender IDs:

Your bank not listed? Contact us at spendsense.support@gmail.com with a sample SMS and we'll add support for it.

A few things to check:

• Confirm the SMS is from a supported bank (see the list above). If your bank isn't listed, contact us with a sample SMS and we'll add support.
• Some banks change their SMS sender IDs periodically. If your bank recently changed its sender ID, it may not match yet. Contact us with an example and we'll add it.
• On dual-SIM phones, make sure the SIM receiving bank SMS is set as the default SMS SIM in your device settings.
• Ensure SpendSense is not being killed by battery optimisation. Go to device Settings → Battery → SpendSense → set to "Unrestricted" or "Don't optimise".
• OTP messages, promotional messages, and balance alerts are intentionally ignored — only debit/credit transaction alerts are captured.

Yes. SpendSense works fully without SMS permission — you can add transactions manually by tapping the + button in the navigation bar. You can also edit, categorise, and delete any transaction, and use all budgeting and insights features.

Only the automatic SMS capture feature requires the permission. If you later decide to grant it, you can do so at any time in Settings → SMS Permission.

No. SpendSense only processes messages from a hardcoded list of known Sri Lankan bank sender IDs. Messages from any other sender — friends, other services, or banks not on the list — are immediately discarded without any processing or storage.

SpendSense does not read your existing SMS inbox. It only intercepts new messages as they arrive in real time.

No. SpendSense has no servers. All your transaction data is stored exclusively in your phone's private local storage, which is inaccessible to other apps on a non-rooted device.

SpendSense contains no analytics SDKs, no crash reporting frameworks, and no advertising libraries. There is no technical mechanism by which your data can leave your device without your explicit action (the manual backup feature).

SpendSense also sets android:allowBackup="false", which prevents Android from silently including your transaction data in Google's automatic cloud backup.

Tap any transaction on the Home or Transactions screen. The edit sheet will slide up. Scroll down and tap Delete Transaction, then confirm. The transaction is permanently and immediately removed from your local database.

Two options, both immediate and irreversible:

• Uninstall SpendSense — all data is erased along with the app.
• Clear app data — go to your device Settings → Apps → SpendSense → Storage → Clear Data. The app remains installed but starts fresh.

If you plan to reinstall or switch phones, create a backup first via Settings → Data & Backup → Create Backup before clearing.

Go to your device Settings → Apps → SpendSense → Permissions → SMS → Deny.

SpendSense will continue to work normally for manual transaction entry, budgeting, and insights — only automatic SMS capture will stop. You can re-grant the permission at any time through Settings → SMS Permission inside the app.

All your data is permanently erased. Because SpendSense stores everything locally with no cloud copy, uninstalling is a complete and irreversible deletion.

If you may reinstall later or switch to a new phone, export a backup first: Settings → Data & Backup → Create Backup. Save the file somewhere you control — Google Drive, local storage, or email it to yourself.

Tap the transaction to open the edit sheet. You can correct the amount, merchant name, category, and date. Tap Save to update it. SpendSense will also learn your correction for that merchant and apply it to future transactions automatically.

Tap the + button in the centre of the bottom navigation bar. Enter the amount, merchant or payee name, category, and date. Tap Save. The transaction appears in your history immediately.

Banks occasionally change their SMS format without notice. SpendSense uses pattern matching to extract amounts and merchants, so a format change can cause some messages to be missed.

If you notice a transaction that wasn't captured, contact us at spendsense.support@gmail.com with the SMS text (you can redact account numbers). We'll update the parser and push a fix in the next release.

Go to Settings → Data & Backup → Create Backup. Android's share sheet appears and you choose where to save the file — local storage, Google Drive, email, or any other app. The backup is a portable JSON file containing your transactions and budget settings.

To restore, tap Restore in the same section and select a SpendSense backup file. A preview shows you what's in the file before you confirm. Note: restoring replaces all your current data — export a fresh backup first if you want to keep it.