Log spends from bank SMS automatically on iPhone

iPhone apps aren't allowed to read your messages, but Apple's own Shortcuts app can. You set up a small automation once: when a bank SMS arrives, it hands the text to AlloCat, which picks out the amount and merchant and logs the spend. The message itself is not stored.

You'll need

✓ An iPhone on iOS 17 or later
✓ The Shortcuts app (already on your iPhone)
✓ AlloCat added to your Home Screen and signed in
✓ One recent bank debit SMS, to check its wording

⏱ About 3 minutes, one time.

1Get your AlloCat key

Open AlloCat → Profile → SMS Transactions → iPhone auto-capture → Create & copy my key. The key is copied for you.

Open setup in AlloCat

🔑 Your key is like a private mailbox slot: it lets your bank messages into your AlloCat account and can't read anything. Don't share it. You can switch it off or make a new one any time from the same screen.

2Add the shortcut and paste your key

The shortcut link will appear here once it is published.

Tap Add Shortcut.
In Shortcuts → My Shortcuts, tap ••• on “AlloCat Log”.
Tap the text PASTE-YOUR-ALLOCAT-KEY-HERE, select all, then Paste.
Tap Done.

Textalc_…your key…

Get contents ofallocat.xyz/api/shortcut/sms

If notify has any valueShow notification

What you should see: your key in the first action instead of the placeholder.

3Test it once

In My Shortcuts, tap “AlloCat Log” to run it. When iOS asks to let it connect to allocat.xyz, tap Always Allow.

You should see “✅ AlloCat is connected”, and the setup card in AlloCat turns green. Doing this now stops iOS from pausing your automation later to ask permission.

4Turn on AlloCat notifications

So tapping a spend notification opens AlloCat right at that transaction:

In Safari, open allocat.xyz, tap Share → Add to Home Screen.
Open AlloCat from the Home Screen icon (not from Safari).
Go to Profile → SMS Transactions → iPhone auto-capture → tap Turn on notifications → Allow.

Skipping this still works: the shortcut shows its own notification instead, but tapping that one opens the Shortcuts app, not AlloCat.

5Create the automation

Open Shortcuts → Automation tab → +.
Choose Message.
Tap Message Contains and type debited. Leave Sender empty.
Choose Run Immediately, and turn Notify When Run off.
Tap Next and pick “AlloCat Log”.

When I get a message

SenderAny

Message Containsdebited

Run Immediately

Notify When Run

What you should see before tapping Next.

⚠️ Don't use the Sender filter. Banks send from IDs like VM-HDFCBK, and iOS often fails to match them, so the automation silently never runs. Use Message Contains only.

“Run Immediately” is what makes it automatic. With “Run After Confirmation” you would have to tap a banner for every spend.

6Add a second keyword

Each automation matches one word. Repeat Step 5 with spent so card spends are caught too.

Keyword	Catches
debited	Most bank and UPI debit messages
spent	Credit and debit card spends
Rs / INR	Catch-all if your bank uses other words. Runs more often; AlloCat quietly ignores anything that isn't a spend.

Tip: open a real debit SMS from your bank and pick a word that is always in it but never in your chats.

7Check it works

On your next payment you'll get a notification like “🐾 ₹240 at Swiggy”. Open AlloCat and it's waiting under Profile → SMS Transactions → Pending. Once you allocate a merchant, AlloCat remembers it and files that merchant's future spends on its own (“🐾 ₹240 at Swiggy → Food”).

The setup card in AlloCat shows when the last spend came in, so you can always tell it's still working.

Troubleshooting

›Nothing happens when a bank SMS arrives

Open Shortcuts → Automation and check the automation is there and switched on.

Open it and make sure it still says Run Immediately — some iOS updates switch automations back to “Run After Confirmation”.

Check the keyword really appears in your bank's SMS (spelling matters).

›The shortcut ran but nothing shows in AlloCat

Run “AlloCat Log” by hand. If it says your key no longer works, make a new key in AlloCat and paste it into the shortcut (Step 2).

If it says to paste your key, the placeholder text is still in the shortcut.

The phone needs internet when the SMS arrives.

›It runs for every message

The keyword is too common. Use a longer phrase copied from a real bank SMS, such as “debited from”.

›Some payments are missed

Low Power Mode and Focus modes can delay automations. Adding the second keyword (Step 6) catches banks that word things differently.

You can always add a missed spend by hand in AlloCat.

›“AlloCat Log” isn't in the list when creating the automation

The shortcut wasn't added yet — go back to Step 2.

›I added the shortcut again and it stopped working

Re-adding the shortcut creates a new copy and your automation keeps pointing at the old one (or gets switched off). Open the automation, pick the new copy, and switch it on. To change your key, edit the existing shortcut instead of adding it again.

›How do I stop it?

Delete the automations in Shortcuts → Automation, and tap Turn off on the iPhone auto-capture card in AlloCat. That switches the key off immediately.

Your privacy

Sent: only the text of messages that match your keyword.
Kept: the amount, merchant, time, and one-way hashes used to avoid duplicates.
Not kept: the message itself. It is read once to find the spend and then discarded.

Details in our privacy policy.

allocat.xyz/guides/iphone-sms