How to track your spending without linking your bank

By Raj and the Sortd team · Last updated 11 October 2026

Most spending apps ask you to connect your bank. Some people would rather not hand over that access, and in many countries the connection isn't offered at all. You can still keep a full list of your spending. On iPhone you can log Apple Pay purchases automatically, scan paper receipts and import bank statements, with no bank login at any point.

Why apps ask for your bank login

Bank-linked apps read your transactions through a data company. Copilot Money, Monarch and YNAB, for example, use services such as Plaid, Finicity and MX. That gives them every transaction, but it means a third company can see your accounts, the link breaks now and then and has to be signed in again, and it only works where those services have a deal with your bank.

Ways to track spending without it

Log Apple Pay purchases on your iPhone

Apple's Shortcuts app can run an automation each time you pay with Apple Pay and pass the shop, the amount and the card to an app. This happens on your iPhone. Your bank isn't involved. See how to track Apple Pay spending automatically.

Import your bank statement

Almost every bank lets you download a statement as a CSV or PDF file. A spending app can read that file on your phone and add the purchases from it. This catches what Apple Pay doesn't: direct debits, transfers and card payments outside Apple Pay.

Scan paper receipts

A photo of a receipt gives the shop, the total and the date. This is handy for cash.

Type it in

A spreadsheet or a manual-entry app works anywhere. It is the most work, and the first method people give up on.

How Sortd does it

Sortd is a free iPhone spending tracker that puts all four together and never asks for your bank login:

• Apple Pay purchases are logged by themselves through one Shortcuts automation.
• Bank statements come in as a CSV, a PDF or a screenshot of your bank app, and are read on your iPhone.
• The receipt camera reads the shop, total, date and card.
• If a tap and a line in your statement are the same purchase, Sortd counts it once.

Sortd only keeps the last 4 digits of a card, to know which card you used. Your purchases stay on your iPhone, with an optional encrypted backup to your own iCloud. Sortd doesn't read your email and has no ads.

Join the beta

The trade-off

Without a bank connection, nothing sees a payment outside Apple Pay as it happens. Cash, direct debits and transfers come in when you import a statement or add them yourself. For most people that means one statement import a month, which takes a minute.

Questions

Is it safe to give a budgeting app my bank login?

Bank-linked apps use regulated data companies, and many people use them without trouble. It still means another company can see your accounts. If you'd rather not, you can track spending from Apple Pay, receipts and statements instead.

Which spending tracker doesn't need a bank login?

Sortd is a free iPhone spending tracker that never asks for your bank login. It logs Apple Pay purchases automatically and reads receipts and bank statements on your iPhone.

Will it see purchases I don't make with Apple Pay?

Not by itself. Add those by importing a bank statement, scanning a receipt or typing them in.