In much of Europe, your bank doesn't text you when you pay. It sends a push notification from its app: "€12.50 at the bakery", "Card payment of 34,90 € approved". That's useful for you and useless for most expense trackers, which either want your online-banking login or wait for an SMS that never comes.
As of version 2.17, Pocket Clear on Android can log those notifications as expenses. You choose which apps it reads, it reads them on your phone, and nothing about the notification is uploaded. No bank login, no Open Banking connection, no aggregator in the middle.
Why not just link the bank?
Open Banking made bank linking legal and standard in the EU and the UK, but linking still means a third-party aggregator gets read access to your account history, and the connection has to be re-confirmed every few months or the data stops. For a lot of people that's too much access for the job of "how much did I spend on groceries".
Your phone already knows about every card payment the moment it happens, because your bank's app tells you. Pocket Clear uses that, and nothing more.
How to turn it on
- Open the On-Device AI tab. In the Auto-log card, switch on Auto-log bank notifications, read what it does, and tap Continue.
- In Choose apps, tick only the apps that notify you about payments — your bank, your card, a payment app — and tap Save. Likely bank apps are suggested at the top.
- Tap Allow access. Android opens Notification access: switch Pocket Clear on. Android's warning says an app with this access could read all notifications; Pocket Clear only looks at the apps you picked.
- Make a small card payment. When your bank's notification arrives, the payment appears under Recent captures on the On-Device AI tab. Tap it to edit, long-press to undo.
What gets logged, and what doesn't
Only money that has actually left your account becomes an expense. Pocket Clear skips:
- money coming in, refunds, reversals and cashback;
- one-time passwords and "approve this payment" requests;
- offers, declined or failed payments, scheduled or upcoming debits, and balance-only alerts;
- ATM cash withdrawals;
- a payment in a currency other than your home currency;
- a payment that's already logged — the same amount at the same merchant on the same day isn't saved twice.
Each logged payment is filed using the category you used for that merchant before, the same way Capture picks a category. You can change it any time.
Built for European banks
Notifications are read in English, German, French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese and Dutch. That includes the way European apps write money — "12,50 €" with the currency after the amount — and the way they name the shop: "bei", "chez", "presso", "en", "bij". It's Pocket Clear's own rules doing the reading, so it works on any Android phone, with or without Gemini Nano.
What stays private
- Read on your phone. The notification text is read on the device and then dropped. It's never stored, never uploaded to Pocket Clear and never sent to an AI company.
- Only the apps you pick. Your messages, email and every other app's notifications are ignored.
- Only the expense is kept. The entry it creates is like any expense you type. On the free plan it never leaves your phone; with Pro Cloud Sync on, it syncs like the rest of your entries.
- Off until you turn it on. Switch it off in Pocket Clear, or remove Pocket Clear from Notification access, and it stops at once.
In India: your Messages app
Indian banks text you for every UPI and card debit. Pocket Clear never asks for permission to read your SMS on Android. Instead, in India the picker suggests your Messages app: pick it, and each new bank or UPI text's notification is read on your phone. Debits are logged; personal messages, OTPs, credits and offers are ignored and never stored.
On iPhone
Apple doesn't let any app read another app's notifications, so this one is Android only. On iPhone, the same job is done by a Shortcuts automation that logs each Apple Pay tap or each debit text from your bank: Auto-log Apple Pay and bank SMS with iPhone Shortcuts.
Every step, with screenshots, is in the help centre: Auto-log bank notifications (Android).
Questions
Does Pocket Clear read all my notifications?
No. It only looks at notifications from the apps you pick in Choose apps, such as your bank. Notifications from every other app are ignored and never read or stored.
Do I need to give Pocket Clear my bank login?
No. Pocket Clear never asks for a bank login and uses no Open Banking aggregator. It logs the payment from the notification your bank's app already shows you.
Is the notification text uploaded?
No. It is read on your phone and dropped. Only the expense it creates is saved, and that leaves your phone only if you turn on Pro Cloud Sync.
Does it work on iPhone?
No. iOS doesn't let apps read other apps' notifications. On iPhone, use the Apple Pay and bank SMS Shortcuts automations instead.
Does Pocket Clear read my SMS on Android?
It never asks for SMS permission. If you pick your Messages app in Choose apps, it reads the notification each new text shows, logs debits, and ignores everything else.
Let Your Bank's Notifications Do the Typing
Pick your bank app, and each payment logs itself. Read on your phone, no bank linking.